Sandman by J. Robert Janes Read Free Book Online

to tell him something. ‘Look, we can delay the investigation until all the staff are assembled, but we think there may have been two eleven-year-old girls involved and we’d like to know what’s happened to the other one before it’s too late for her as well.’
    â€˜Too late …? Two girls …? But … but that is not possible. Mademoiselle Nénette, she was most distressed to find that her little friend had at last gone to join her parents in Chamonix. The mother had had a crisis of the nerves and had not been able to invite the child to be with them for the holiday.’
    How nice. The poor kid. ‘And the name of this friend?’ he asked, all business now, the black leather notebook flipped open, pencil ready.
    A sigh of resignation was released. ‘Andrée Noireau. She was staying at the convent school but … but had left for …’
    â€˜Chamonix.’ Kohler gave a nod. ‘So who accompanied Mademoiselle Vernet on her Sunday outing?’
    â€˜Why, the Mademoiselle Chamber. She is a student at the university, the daughter of one of Monsieur Vernet’s accountants.’
    â€˜A nanny.’
    â€˜Ah no, no, monsieur,’ countered Deloitte. ‘A member of the family since now nearly two and a half years, since the parents of our little Nénette went to England to die by the bombs of your Führer. Die , monsieur, in Coventry on the night of the fourteenth to fifteenth of November 1940.’ He paused. He realized he had been incautious. ‘Mademoiselle Chambert always accompanied the girls so as to … to give a little supervision yet allow them to assess each new situation and … and decide how best to handle things. Is that not the wisest way for one to ensure that young girls learn how to take care of themselves?’
    But they hadn’t, had they? said Kohler sadly to himself, his gaze one of emptiness. Mademoiselle Chambert had not been with them and Deloitte had suddenly realized this. He’d have to be loyal to the aunt and uncle. He couldn’t jeopardize his future, not in these troubled times, even though he might well want to.
    â€˜Just tell it to me plainly.’
    What has happened to Liline? wondered Deloitte anxiously. Why was she not there with Nénette? ‘I … I drove the two of them to Mass at the Notre-Dame this time, as they liked to experience other churches than our own when possible. Then I delivered them to the Jardin d’Acclimatation. Though they wished to take the métro , Monsieur Vernet had issued strict instructions they were not to do so because of … of this sadist.’
    â€˜Vernet had their safety in mind, so, okay, we’ll try to remember that,’ said Kohler bluntly. ‘And where, exactly, did you drop them off?’
    Had this one been a Hauptmann in the last war? wondered Deloitte uneasily, ‘I dropped them off at the puppet theatres and the giant doll’s house. They were to spend a little time there and then were to have tea in the children’s restaurant. Nénette was fond of taking tea. Her mother was British. The child used to say it made her feel closer to her dead mother.’
    The doll’s house might have suited the switching of the coats, but as for the rest of the outing, it had probably never happened. ‘At about what time did you drop them off?’
    â€˜At thirteen-ten hours—it’s in my log, in the glove compartment. Monsieur Vernet requires that I keep an accurate record of all trips just in case the authorities might wish to question his using his own car.’
    â€˜Don’t be blaming me for what’s happened, eh? Just stick to the matter at hand.’
    â€˜I will.’
    â€˜The eleven o’clock Mass?’
    â€˜The ten o’clock.’
    â€˜Two hours, then. What the hell did they do, Sergeant? Pray for that long?’
    Sergeant … ‘Mademoiselle Nénette wished to visit the