Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 26, No. 4. Whole No. 143, October 1955

Meanwhile, Gaby was slipping on his left shoe.

“This way,” she said.

He was about to ask her why she was leading him in a direction opposite to that of the exit when he saw the reason for himself. The cashier of “No. 89” was emerging from her cage with a yellow envelope in her hand, and above the cage itself hung a sign saying Closed.

“Come with me,” said Gaby. “Only the central cash register is still open.”

The Little Doctor, taking in every detail of the scene around him, almost lost track of the young woman who was leading him against the tidal wave of outgoing customers.

“Thirteen hundred and sixty francs,” said the central cashier.

Turning around to look over his shoulder, the Little Doctor thought he saw the cashier from “No. 89” about to enter an elevator with the yellow envelope still in her hand. Gaby put a parcel into his hand and looked at him anxiously, as if wondering whether he had discovered some clue. Dollent shrugged his shoulders and dug into his pocket for the sixty francs in small change.

“Will you be back tomorrow?” Gaby asked him curiously.

“Perhaps... Yes, I think I will.”

Once outside, the Little Doctor was so at a loss what, to do with the slippers that he took advantage of the swirling crowd to drop them on the sidewalk...

“Hello,” said a voice on the telephone shortly after he had reached his hotel. “Inspector Lucas speaking. We’ve traced Galmet’s bank account to the branch of the Credit Lyonnais nearest to the place where he was living. He seems to have deposited about ten thousand francs a week, except for a dozen or so deposits of as much as 50,000. The deposits have been spread out over the last twenty years... Hello... Are you there?”

“Yes, go on.”

“But in the last three months his weekly deposits were considerably larger than usual. 350,000 francs last week; 150,000 the week before; 100,000 the week before that. And in the two preceding months around 50,000 francs every week...”

“Well, well — that adds up to quite a pile!”

“Yes, and the way he accumulated it is quite irregular. His net assets after the last twenty years are some 3,000,000 francs, because of course he had also made withdrawals. Then he added about 1,500,000 francs in the last three months alone. And that’s not the whole story. An individual has just come to us and said that he’s a real estate agent. About ten days ago Justin Galmet went to his office on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin and told him that he was looking for a little house in the country, preferably on the Loire River. They had got to the point of negotiating for the purchase of a house worth between two and three million francs, in the vicinity of Cléry. In fact the deed was to be drawn up next week.”

“Did Galmet go to look the place over?”

“Yes, last Tuesday. He went in a taxi, which must have set him back quite a bit of money, in the company of a pretty young woman, who obviously looked upon this as her future home.”

“And you’re holding out on her name in order to give me a surprise...”

“How did you guess it?”

“Never mind, out with it! Gaby?...”

“You’re very close. But it’s someone even more unexpected. And I know it for certain. While you were walking off with your parcel a short time ago, I waited at the exployees’ exit with my real estate agent. He identified her without any trouble, especially since he had spotted from a distance her mustard-color coat...”

“Well then...”

“Alice! The girl from the jewelry department. Look here, Doctor, I don’t want to hurt your feelings or disappoint you. But, contrary to what I told you earlier in the day, I’m beginning to believe that this case is up our alley after all. Do you follow what I mean? It looks like the simple matter of a policeman turned thief... Hello... Why don’t you say something? Have I rubbed you the wrong way?”

“Me?”

“Then, for heaven’s sake, say something! I’m still at my office. Will you come have a drink with me before going to bed?”

“No, thanks.”

“Sure you’re not angry?”

“Sure!”

Now Lucas was the one who had nothing to say. Warm-hearted fellow that he was, he couldn’t bear to offend the Little Doctor.

“You’ll beat me to it another time,” the Inspector went on. “Meanwhile, do you want to have some fun? I’ve summoned this girl, Alice, to my office for tomorrow morning. I don’t know whether we’ll have to get tough with her, but it may prove an interesting session.”

“Good night.”

“Will you come tomorrow morning?”

“Perhaps. Good night. Right now I’m terribly sleepy.”

And this was quite true, for as usual, when he was called in on an investigation, the Little Doctor had tucked away more drinks than were good for him.

It was by sheer chance that the Little Doctor boarded the same subway car as Alice. It was the rush hour and the car was so crowded that he could study her unobserved.

“I wonder what a girl like her was thinking about when she tried to lie her way out of trouble and then suddenly finds herself called up before the police,” he said to himself.