Free Dollmaker by J. Robert Janes Page A

the Captain to confer earnestly and quietly. It was Kaestner who said, ‘I did not have my gloves with me. They were in my bag which was on the bed in my room at the hotel here.’
    â€˜The gloves can then be examined,’ grunted the Préfet as if it really did not matter.
    Freisen leapt in. ‘They’ll be torn. They’re not new. This is crazy, Préfet. Crazy! You’re mad.’
    â€˜Mad or not, I aim to continue.’
    Ah Nom de Dieu , thought St-Cyr, does Freisen also think the Captain guilty?
    The Captain watched the Préfet with that same decisively piercing look as if through the periscope and Kerjean the enemy tanker.
    â€˜The conclusion?’ asked Kohler.
    Were the Bavarian’s eyes always so lifeless? ‘Ah yes, Inspector. The coroner concludes that as Monsieur le Trocquer stood near the inner rail of the spur, he was approached from behind and to his right. You yourselves found evidence of the Captain’s having left the railway for the nearby moor some distance towards the pits.’
    Shit, thought Kohler, he means to pin it on the Dollmaker even if the Captain didn’t do it!
    The Préfet continued. ‘The shopkeeper was challenged. He did not turn. He removed his glasses, isn’t that so, Chief Inspector St-Cyr?’
    Louis nodded curtly. The girl was ready to pounce again on every word. Her whole being was focused on the end of her pencil.
    Kohler thought her perfect. Naked, she’d be absolutely delightful but probably kept it all locked up for some lucky guy.
    â€˜The victim whipped off his glasses,’ said Kerjean decisively. ‘No doubt he was planning to pocket them for safety’s sake but …’
    Again the girl waited. When the pause grew, she glanced up, giving the Préfet the fullness of her eyes.
    He met her gaze with an emptiness of his own that said so much about where he really stood with the Occupier. ‘But the blow came, the glasses flew out of his hand. He collapsed and was carried forward and down by the force, thus striking his forehead on the outer rail, something that would most certainly have killed him had the other not done so.’
    Louis took out the cigarettes and offered the Captain one but if he knew of the package and the shed, the Dollmaker was far too clever to let on.
    Freisen, apparently, didn’t even notice they were American cigarettes nor did the girl who refused with a shake of her pretty head and said a quiet, ‘Not when I am on duty.’
    â€˜There is one other matter,’ said Kerjean, saving the cigarette for later but noting its origin. ‘The briefcase he was carrying is missing.’
    â€˜What briefcase,’ demanded Kaestner swiftly. A rise at last? wondered Kohler.
    There was a sigh from the Préfet. ‘That I think you know only too well. Of old brown leather and shabby, isn’t that so? Nothing special because not only had he been a man of little means all his life, Monsieur le Trocquer had not cared much about his appearance.’
    â€˜A moment, Préfet. How is it that this matter of the briefcase came to light?’ asked St-Cyr.
    It would not do to smile as the mackerel was pulled from the basket of sole to lie stinking on the cutting table. ‘The wife has said that before he left to catch the bus, her husband came upstairs to get the case. He was in a hurry and upset but did not say what was the matter or why he needed it.’
    â€˜But you and the victim had only just had a violent argument?’
    â€˜An argument? Ah no. A discussion perhaps. Yes, that’s the way it was. The money was missing, isn’t that correct? Monsieur le Trocquer was not forthcoming. I urged him to speak up so as to leave no suspicion in anyone’s mind.’
    â€˜But the daughter has told me several things were broken?’
    â€˜The daughter? Ah, a few bits of glassware. Monsieur le Trocquer got in a huff and threw out a hand. It was