J. Janes - Dollmaker

The gun was being used as bait, even a fool could have seen this, thought Kerjean. ‘I did it as a friend, Jean-Louis.’

‘Yes, but you also did it to keep tabs on Madame Charbonneau and the Captain. My question, though, and it can be answered by her husband also, is did the two of you ever share a package of American cigarettes?’

‘Several times,’ said Charbonneau. ‘We were both given them from time to time, myself most often.’

‘Good. And did you ever leave a handkerchief in Victor’s presence, madame?’

‘I shed lots of tears. I did not know if I could stand things much longer.’

‘Please just answer the question.’

‘Then hundreds of times. Will that be enough?’

He ignored the bitter outburst. ‘Monsieur,’ he asked of Charbonneau, ‘where did you leave your bicycle on the morning of the murder?’

It was coming now, and she did not know if she could stand it.

They exchanged a glance, the two of them, then Charbonneau said, ‘In the shed where I always left it when I went to that place.’

‘And the Captain knew of this?’ he asked.

‘Yes. We … we spoke now and then. I knew he was seeing Hélène but …’

‘But you could not have openly challenged him for fear of trouble even though you hated him for what he was doing to your wife. You needed somewhere quiet.’

The pianist turned to look at the woman and as he did so, his hand went out to cover hers. ‘Hélène, you must forgive me. I should have talked it out with you. Together we could have explained things to Angélique.’

‘I don’t need anyone to explain things to me!’ seethed the child, scowling at the table.

‘I think you do,’ cautioned the Chief Inspector quietly. ‘Let us hope we have the opportunity but let us return to that shed.’

Drawing on his pipe, he gave it a moment. Schultz had sat up stiffly and that was good. Charbonneau had pushed himself away from the table a little. ‘Madame, you arrived in great haste. Automatically you went into the shed because you knew your husband always left his bicycle there.’

‘Yes. I … All right, I left mine leaning against his. There, does that satisfy you?’

‘Hélène …’ blurted the pianist, his look so desperate it flicked to the pistol and for a moment he could not tear his eyes from it.

‘Madame, the man you heard challenging Monsieur le Trocquer spoke French, did he not?’ asked St-Cyr.

The depth of sadness in her eyes said, Please don’t betray us.

‘Yes. I… I didn’t hear all of it. I … I can’t say how fluently it was spoken.’

She threw a glance at Schultz. Kohler had to shout inwardly, Bad French, madame? Was that it, eh?

Schultz had twice let his gaze pass swiftly over the Beretta, weighing up his chances. But so, too, had the Préfet and the pianist.

‘What, please, did you hear?’ asked Louis.

She must not tell him. ‘I … I can’t remember. I’m sorry but … but it all happened so suddenly. I was terrified. Monsieur le Trocquer would not listen to me. He was going to tell Johann. I knew I would be sent away, that no matter how much Johann might once have felt for me, he would not only hate me but loathe the very thought of having ever been intimate with such a one. I’m not vermin. I’m just a human being like everyone else.’

‘Schultz, take that grin off your mug or I’ll wipe it clean.’

‘Hermann, please ! Let’s get to the bottom of this.’

‘The Dollmaker killed him, Jean-Louis, and that is why I arrested him,’ said Kerjean gruffly.

They looked at each other. ‘Ah no, Préfet, not quite. Please, you had much to hide and to protect, and Monsieur le Trocquer, in exposing Madame Charbonneau to the Dollmaker, could free himself of the loss of the money and only expose yourself. You warned Madame Charbonneau of trouble but refused to assist her in any way because, Victor, you were in too much of a hurry. You knew she would try to find her husband but you also knew they would not silence that shopkeeper before he spoke to Herr Kaestner. They were far too gentle, far too soft for such a thing, isn’t that correct? Remember, please, she did not know of the doll until confronted with it.’

Ah damn the Sûreté, damn Doenitz. ‘You will never prove I killed him.’

There was that curt nod Kohler knew so well. ‘You didn’t tell us of the shed, Victor,’ went on the Sûreté. ‘You claimed not to know of the bicycle tracks. You let us find the handkerchief and the cigarette package you placed in that shed so that we would be led to the affair between the Dollmaker and Madame and would suspect the Captain or the pianist but not yourself. Never yourself. You “borrowed” the money, but kept that to yourself and Madame Charbonneau. You argued with that shopkeeper violently, I believe, just as Paulette told me. You tried to warn him off but he refused to listen. He had now the opportunity to get back at you for putting the squeeze on him, and he wasn’t about to let you forget it. Not for a moment. Paulette must have overheard the whole thing.’

‘I did not kill that girl, Jean-Louis, nor did I kill her mother. The Captain was at the shop when Madame le Trocquer died. Herr Kaestner had a spare key to that cell of his and the use of a car.’

‘But no one knew of that key except yourself, Victor, and the Fräulein Krüger — she can be asked. When confronted with the matter, she will tell us. But in any case, I think you left it handy and she picked it up. You came back for it probably, but she denied knowing where it was.’

‘Pah! You’re crazy. The Captain killed them to protect his … his precious sense of “honour”.’

‘No, Victor. The Dollmaker knew exactly what you would do. He needed the mother and daughter dead — yes, yes, of course — to protect his reputation. He did leave his cell using that key after the others had returned him to it from the party. He found the body of Paulette and then that of her mother. Before this, he went straight to this house to leave a little something for Madame Charbonneau. Please, I have it here and fortunately it did not get wet.’

Opening the crumpled handkerchief he had used to protect it, St-Cyr tumbled the tiny white pill on to the table.

There was a moment of silence as they all looked at it.

‘He then went back to his cell, Victor, knowing you would also take care of Monsieur Charbonneau because you had to.’

‘I didn’t kill anyone, Jean-Louis. I’m not a murderer. I’m a policeman , damn you!’

Mentally St-Cyr ran through the sequence: the woman’s catching up with Le Trocquer on the railway spur, her backing away, the altercation she overheard — the Préfet — the killing, her dropping the doll at the sound of the switch-bar, her tremulous viewing of the body and race to leave the area all the time feeling someone else, someone she did not know but only sensed — Herr Schultz — was watching her.

The husband quickly recovered the doll and the briefcase. The Captain, having caught sight of the woman or perhaps her husband, came along the railway spur to set his satchel aside and then find first, the fragments of bisque. He left the tracks and then found the body. He waited. He turned in the alarm twelve hours later. He knew the woman and her husband had been there but he also was convinced Kerjean had taken the money.

‘You did it, Victor.’

‘Then give me my gun and let me finish myself.’

He shook his head. ‘You would only kill Herr Schultz so as to gain his silence and then try to kill my partner for the same reason. Lastly myself and …’ he paused, ‘since there are only four cartridges, it would be a toss-up between the couple but as Monsieur Charbonneau, with all his bicycle riding and digging, is the far stronger of the two, you would kill him and then deal with Madame. Even Angélique would not survive. The cause you support is greater and while one can sympathize, one cannot condone your actions. That, please, is from another police officer.’