Part 5 (1/2)
”No, his ordinary medical adviser, Doctor Pujol, who happens to be a friend of mine and who had recommended me to him as a solicitor, was ill.
The doctor whom I saw at his death-bed must have been a local pract.i.tioner.”
”I have his name and address here,” said the Prefect of Police, who had turned up the certificate. ”Doctor Bellavoine, 14 Rue d'Astorg.”
”Have you a medical directory, Monsieur le Prefet?”
M. Desmalions opened a directory and turned over the pages. Presently he declared:
”There is no Doctor Bellavoine; and there is no doctor living at 14 Rue d'Astorg.”
CHAPTER TWO
A MAN DEAD
The declaration was followed by a silence of some length. The Secretary of the American Emba.s.sy and the Peruvian attache had followed the conversation with eager interest. Major d'Astrignac nodded his head with an air of approval. To his mind, Perenna could not be mistaken.
The Prefect of Police confessed:
”Certainly, certainly ... we have a number of circ.u.mstances here ... that are fairly ambiguous.... Those brown patches; that doctor.... It's a case that wants looking into.” And, questioning Don Luis Perenna as though in spite of himself, he asked, ”No doubt, in your opinion, there is a possible connection between the murder ... and Mr. Mornington's will?”
”That, Monsieur le Prefet, I cannot tell. If there is, we should have to suppose that the contents of the will were known. Do you think they can have leaked out, Maitre Lepertuis?”
”I don't think so, for Mr. Mornington seemed to behave with great caution.”
”And there's no question, is there, of any indiscretion committed in your office?”
”By whom? No one handled the will except myself; and I alone have the key of the safe in which I put away doc.u.ments of that importance every evening.”
”The safe has not been broken into? There has been no burglary at your office?”
”No.”
”You saw Cosmo Mornington in the morning?”
”Yes, on a Friday morning.”
”What did you do with the will until the evening, until you locked it away up your safe?”
”I probably put it in the drawer of my desk.”
”And the drawer was not forced?”
Maitre Lepertuis seemed taken aback and made no reply.
”Well?” asked Perenna.
”Well, yes, I remember ... there was something that day ... that same Friday.”