The Erasers

4

If the murderer’s trail has not been picked up, it is because Daniel Dupont has not been murdered; yet it is impossible to reconstruct his suicide in any coherent way…Laurent rubs his hands together faster… And what if Dupont weren’t dead?

The chief commissioner suddenly understands the oddities of this “wound,” the impossibility of letting the police see the “corpse,” Doctor Juard’s embarrassed looks. Dupont is not dead; it just took a little thought to realize that.

The motives of the entire story are not yet quite clear, but the point of departure is here: Daniel Dupont is not dead.

Laurent picks up his telephone and dials a number: 202-203.

“Hello, Cafe des Allies?”

“Yes,” a low, almost cavernous voice replies.

“I’d like to speak to Monsieur Wallas.”

“Monsieur Wallas isn’t here,” the voice answers, disgustedly.

“You don’t know where he is?”

“How should I know?” the voice says, “I’m not his nursemaid.”

“This is the police calling. You have a man staying there named Wallas, don’t you?”

“Yes, I reported him this morning,” the voice says.

“That’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking if this man is in your establishment. Has he gone up to his room?”

“I’ll find out,” the voice answers reluctantly. A minute later it adds with a note of satisfaction: “No one’s there!”

“All right. I’d like to speak to the manager.”

“I’m the manager here,” the voice says.

“You are. Then it was you who told an inspector that nonsense about some fictitious son of Professor Dupont?”

“I didn’t say anything like that,” the voice protests. “I said that sometimes young people came in here, they’re all ages-some young enough to be Dupont’s sons…”

“Did you say he had a son?”

“I don’t even know whether he had any! He never came in here, and even if he had I wouldn’t have stopped him from getting into every whore in the neighborhood-excuse me, Monsieur.” The voice suddenly grows gentler, making an attempt at correctness: “The inspector asked if any young people ever came in here; I said yes. Over sixteen is legal. Then he insinuated that maybe this Dupont had a son; I didn’t want to say no, so I said it was perfectly possible he had come in here to drink one day or the other…”

“All right. We’ll send for you. But from now on watch out what you’re saying; and try to be a little more polite. Monsieur Wallas didn’t say what time he’d be back?”

A pause. The other man has hung up. A threatening smile is already spreading across the commissioner’s face…when he finally hears the voice: “All he said was that he would sleep here tonight.”

“Thanks. I’ll call back.”

Laurent hangs up. He rubs his hands. He would have liked to announce his discovery to the special agent right away. He enjoys in anticipation Wallas’ incredulous astonishment when he will hear at the end of the wire: “Dupont isn’t dead. Dupont is in hiding at Doctor Juard’s clinic.”