Part 5 (1/2)
”You will see.”...
”The garment is not pierced.”...
Juve began to smile.
”Monsieur,” said he, ”you must know that arms of high penetrating power, firing projectiles of small diameter, grooved projectiles, cause only the slightest graze in the materials they pa.s.s through: the damage is almost imperceptible. Numerous experiments have demonstrated this. You see the pa.s.sage of the projectile is so rapid, its gyratory movement so accelerated, that, in some way, the threads of the fabric are not broken: they are only pushed aside. They come together again after the pa.s.sage of the ball, and unless a very careful examination is made, one would never know that a projectile had perforated the material.”
The two policemen were undressing the corpse.
Scarcely had they undone the waistcoat than the s.h.i.+rt of the unfortunate man was seen to have a spot of blood on it, in the region of the heart.
”See,” cried Juve. ”It is just as I said: a ball of small diameter, propelled by a formidable power of penetration, has caused immediate death, producing a wound which has hardly bled at all, so precise and clean has the wound been!”
Juve again bent over the corpse.
”It is plain to see that this officer's death has been caused by a ball in the heart, right in the centre of the heart.”
The superintendent now protested:
”But what you are telling us, Juve, is terrible, it is inadmissible!
How could this person have committed suicide without having been seen in the act by someone? Without anyone finding his revolver? And that at the very moment when he leaned out of the window of the vehicle to give the chauffeur his instructions?”
Juve did not seem disposed to answer this. But, after remaining silent for a minute or two, he took the superintendent by the arm in familiar fas.h.i.+on, and drawing him away said: ”Let us return to your office, I have a couple of words to say to you.”
When the superintendent and the detective had entered the room, when they were alone together, when the detective had made sure that the double door was shut tight, and that not a soul could hear them, Juve, his hands resting on the writing-table, looked the superintendent straight in the face. The latter, having seated himself in his chair, waited for the detective to speak.
Juve spoke.
”We are thoroughly agreed, Monsieur, are we not, regarding the conditions of the accident?... This officer has been shot through the heart, when he was crossing the Place de l'etoile in a vehicle, and at the precise moment when he leaned over the door of that vehicle, and this, without anyone having seen or heard what happened?”
”Yes, Juve, that is so. This suicide is incomprehensible!”
”It is not a case of suicide, Monsieur.”...
”What is it, then?”
”A crime!”
”A crime!!!”
”This man has been killed by a shot from a gun, a shot fired from a distance. No one saw the a.s.sa.s.sin do the deed: the Place de l'etoile was crowded with people. It was a shot fired from a distance, because of an important point, Monsieur. The deceased was attached to the Second Bureau of the Ministry of War. At the time of his death he was the bearer of important doc.u.ments: one of these important doc.u.ments is missing! I a.s.sure you, Monsieur, this not only determines the fact of the crime, but furnishes us with the motive for that crime!”
The superintendent of police stared at Juve, speechless. At last he said:
”But it is impossible! Absolutely impossible, I tell you! What you are inventing now is impossible!... You forget that a shot from a gun, a shot from so powerful a weapon, makes a noise. Why, deuce take it, the detonation must be heard!”
”No, Monsieur! There are now weapons which are perfectly silent. For example, there are guns in which liquefied carbonic acid is used, which fires a projectile at more than 800 yards, and all that can be heard is a sharp snap when the projectile speeds off.”...
”But, look here, Juve! Such a crime as this partakes of the nature of a romance! The criminal must have taken aim in the midst of a crowd!