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Updated: June 14, 2025
He was so near the confessional that he could hear a faint murmur of voices Alice's sweet tones and then the priest's low questions. Five minutes passed, ten minutes! Groener looked at his watch impatiently. He heard footsteps on the stone of the choir, and, glancing up, saw Matthieu polishing the carved stalls. Some ladies passed with a guide who was showing them the church.
"Name of a pipe!" he muttered. "Not your cousin?" Groener nodded with half-shut eyes in which the detective caught a flash of black rage, but only a flash. In a moment the man's face was placid and good-natured as before. "Yes," he said quietly, "my cousin has run away. It makes me sad because Sit down a minute, M. Matthieu, I'll tell you about it."
The guard stepped forward and obeyed, handling the man none too tenderly. Whereupon the accused once more lost his fine self-control and was swept with furious anger. "Mark my words, Judge Hauteville," he threatened fiercely, "you have ordered handcuffs put on a prisoner for the last time." "What do you mean by that?" demanded the magistrate. But almost instantly Groener had become calm again.
Groener had not been near the hairdresser; he had gone straight through into the second courtyard, and from there he had hurried up the main stairway. "The one that leads to Madam Cecile's?" questioned M. Paul. "Yes, but Cecile has only two floors. There are two more above hers." "You think he went higher up?" "I'm sure he did, for I spoke to Cecile herself.
It is true you kept your answers to the important words within your normal tone of reply, but in at least five cases you went beyond this normal time in answering the unimportant words." Groener shrugged his shoulders. "The words are unimportant and so are the answers." "Do you think so? Then explain this.
Groener rose and paced back and forth nervously. What a time the girl was taking! Then the door of the confessional box opened and a black-robed priest came out and moved solemnly away. Enfin! It was over! And with a feeling of relief Groener watched the priest as he disappeared in the passage leading to the sacristy. Still Alice lingered, saying a last prayer, no doubt.
Then a dim shape took form upon the floor, more and more distinctly until the dissolving lens brought a man's body into clear view, a body stretched face downward in a dark red pool that grew and widened, slowly straining and wetting the polished wood. "Groener," said the magistrate, his voice strangely formidable in the shadows, "do you recognize this room?"
Now, my friend, you've had your little fling and it's my turn. We are coming to a part of this examination that you will not find quite so amusing. In fact you will realize before you have been twenty-four hours at the Santé that " "I'm not going to the Santé," interrupted Groener insolently. Hauteville motioned to the guard. "Put the handcuffs on him."
Groener had evidently decided to make the best of the situation for he answered at once: "The grand opera house." "Good! Now another! What is that?" "The Bastille column." "Right! And this?" "The Champs Elysées." "And this?" "Notre-Dame church."
"No, M. Groener, I won't leave you." "Good! Now then!" He threw down some money for the drinks, then he hailed a passing carriage. "Rue Tronchet, near the Place de la Madeleine," he directed, and as they rolled away, he added: "Stop at the nearest telegraph office." The adventure was taking a new turn. Groener, evidently, had some definite plan which he hoped to carry out.
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