Autumn, All the Cats Return by Philippe Georget

Author:Philippe Georget
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Europa
Published: 2014-09-02T16:00:00+00:00

Sebag spent a tedious and interminable afternoon. He was having a hard time getting over his recent disappointment. And above all, he couldn’t accept it. Why had he been so sure about this business of the cars? A white Clio or a SEAT of the same color, Spanish plates: in the end, wasn’t that simply a coincidence?

The work that he was doing didn’t distract him. Making neighborhood inquiries was the kind of thing he hated most about the routine of his job. Neither at law school nor at the police academy had he ever imagined that he would some day have to develop a sales rep’s techniques and qualities in order to get someone to open the door of an apartment. It had been a long time since just showing his police card was enough to convince people to listen to him and let him enter their homes. He always had to explain, persuade, convince. And sometimes to accompany the argument with a quick course in French law: crammed with American cop shows, people often demanded to see a warrant just to return a friendly greeting.

So Sebag and Molina walked for hours up and down the streets and stairs of Moulin-à-Vent. To save time, they’d split up, but the work just seemed even more tiresome.

Around 5 P.M., when he was beginning to despair, Sebag received a text message from his partner: “Got something. Meet me at no. 2, Rue du Perthus.”

He put his phone back in his pocket and said a quick goodbye to the little old lady who had just started telling him the story of her life, from her childhood in Cerdagne to her retirement in this neighborhood that she hated. He ran down the stairs of her building two at a time and came out on the Avenue Amélie-les-Bains. All he had to do was turn to his left. Then he saw Jacques a hundred meters away, talking to a little man with a paunch.

Molina quickly introduced them to each other:

“Charles Mercader lives on the third floor of this building, and he loves to do crossword puzzles on his balcony.”

The man stroked his mustache with satisfaction.

“Monsieur, please tell my colleague what you told me.”

Charles Mercader folded his pudgy hands on his belly and gladly obliged.

“The other day I was sitting on my loggia when I saw a car parked just below take off as if it had been the start of a Formula 1 race. The guy made his motor scream and then his tires squealed on the pavement. At the next corner he turned in the direction of the Saint Paul church, and almost immediately afterward, I heard what sounded like a collision. I thought it was probably just a fender bender, and I went on with my crossword, but about ten minutes later I heard the sirens of the emergency vehicles. Then I went down to see. At that moment, I obviously thought that driver must have caused the accident, but I was wrong: it was a van that had hit a scooter.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.