VIII
THE SEARCH FOR THE CRIMINAL
"It's astounding!" declared M. de Maufil. "We have already examinednearly two hundred persons and found nothing."
"That may be," replied Juve, "but we may discover the culprit by the twohundred and first hand held out to us."
"There is one thing you forget, M. Juve."
"What is that?"
"If the culprit gets wind of our method of investigation, if he has anynotion that you are inspecting the hands of all those who desire toleave the hospital, he won't be such a ninny as to come and submit toyour inspection."
Juve nodded approval of the comment.
"You are right; but I have taken means to obviate that difficulty."
Since he had begun his inquiry on the spot, from the very moment whenthe revolver shots had rung out, the great detective was growing moreand more sure that the arrest of the mysterious offender would be amatter of considerable time. The buildings of the establishment wereextensive, and it was easy for a man to move about them withoutattracting attention. They offered really strange facilities for hiding.
"Mr. Director," said Juve, "I fancy we have inspected pretty well allthe persons who leave Lariboisiere as a rule, at this time?"
"That is so."
"Then we must now change our plan. Let us leave a nurse here to detainthose who come to ask for passes, and begin a search of the hospitalourselves. I shall post my officers in line, each man keeping in sightthe one behind and the one before him. At the foot of every staircase Ishall leave a sentry. Then, beginning at the outer wall of the buildingwe will drive everyone on the ground floor toward the other end. If wedon't round up our man there, we will proceed to the floor above."
"A good idea," replied M. de Maufil. "We shall catch him in a trap."
When Doctor Chaleck found that the inspector watching the exit leadingto the main door in the Rue Ambroise Pare refused him leave to pass outof the hospital without the sanction of the great detective, he hadperforce to retrace his steps. Skirting the bushes in the courtyard hetook his way toward the medical wards, turning his back on thedirectoral offices, where he might have encountered our friend Juve. Hehad taken off his white uniform and was dressed in his street clothes.He halted at the entrance to the long glazed gallery which extends tothe operating rooms of the surgical department. Turning suddenly, he sawin the distance and coming his way Inspector Juve, accompanied by thedirector. He noticed at the same time the cordon of officers preparingto sweep the hospital from end to end. Mechanically, and as if bent onputting a certain distance between him and the new-comers, he turnedinto the glazed gallery, and reached the far end of it. He was about togo into the surgical ward when a nurse stopped him.
"Doctor, you can't go in just now; Professor Hugard is operating and hasgiven express orders that no one is to be admitted."
Chaleck turned up the gallery again, but abruptly swung round again ashe caught sight of Juve and the director just entering the gallery,driving before them half a dozen patients and orderlies. Chaleck joinedthis little group, which had pulled up at the end of the gallery and wasmaking laughing comments on the rigid inspection to which Juve was justabout to subject them.
"Now's the time to show clean hands," joked a non-resident, "eh, MissVictorine?" he added, smiling at a buxom nurse whom the chances of dutyhad blockaded in the corridor.
"Depend upon it," growled one of the accountants of the administrativedepartment, shrugging his shoulders, "they are making a great fuss overnothing. After all, no one is hurt. Just one more pistol shot; in thisneighbourhood we have ceased to count them."
An old man, who had his hand bandaged, suggested: "Perhaps they'll bewanting to arrest me since the culprit is wounded in the fingers, theysay."
Dignified and calm, Juve did his best to restore liberty to each of thepersons brought together. They had only to show their two hands held upin front of the face, the fingers apart. M. de Maufil, at a sign fromJuve, immediately bade the attendant hand the person in question a cardbearing his name and description. Armed with this "Sesame" he could comeand go unimpeded all over the hospital.
Pointing to a large door at the extreme end of the corridor, Juve asked:
"What exit is that?"
The other smiled. "You want to see everything, don't you?"
The director, opening the heavy door, made room for Juve, who entered avery narrow passage, damp and quite dark. The passage, a short one,opened on a vast apartment, much like a cellar, lighted by air-holes inthe ceiling and intensely cold. A noise of running water from open tapsbroke with its monotonous splash the silence of this place, solelyfurnished with a huge slab of wood running from one end to the other.Upon the slab dim and lengthy white shapes were outstretched, and whenhis eyes grew accustomed to the twilight, Juve recognised the vagueoutline of these weird bundles. They were corpses swathed in shrouds.The heads and shoulders alone were visible, and on the brows of the deadtrickled icy water, dispensed sparingly but regularly by duck-billedtaps that overhung the inclined plane.
The director explained: "This is the amphitheatre where we keep thebodies for post-mortems. Do you want to stay any longer?"
"There is no access to the room except by the door we came in at?"
"None."
"In that case," rejoined Juve, "and as there is no furniture here for aperson to hide in, let us look elsewhere. It's a rather gruesomeplace."
"You're not used to the sight, that's all," replied the director, as heled the way back to his office.
Juve looked at his watch. "Well, I must leave you now and make a reportto M. Havard. I'm afraid the murderer has slipped through our fingers."
"But you'll come back?"
"Of course."
"What am I to do meanwhile?"
"Nothing, unless you care to go over the hospital again."
"And the passes? Are they to be in force still? We have no one in theplace but the staff."
"That is essential," replied Juve. "I must know with certainty who comesin and goes out. However, anyone known to your doorkeeper who wishes toleave need only sign in a register."
The Exploits of Juve Page 9