Sitting
behind his wooden desk and a pile of papers in his Paris office, Inspector
Jacques Leveuf lit his early morning cigarette which he had the habit of
smoking with his coffee to start his day. No food or nutrition was needed in
this man’s morning; the sole rolled cigarette and the well prepared espresso
were enough to put him back on track to crack the toughest mysteries and
roughest cases the police would meet. But the past months had been a sequence
of eternal boredom for Inspector Leveuf as no “juicy cases” as he described
them had come to his office lately, but this winter Monday was like no other,
for on this day, all would turn around.
As
Inspector Leveuf sipped on his last drop of espresso and enjoyed the last puff
of his cigarette, his assistant, Miss Valerie Carion came rushing into the
office. Valerie was a young and beautiful girl from the small town of
Aix-en-Provence. Small in size but strong in personality; her baby face and
small blonde curls gave an innocent look that hid an imposing and determined
character. A very ambitious girl, she had great success in her university and
later her professional career which led her to rapidly reach the post of
assistant inspector in Paris. But despite her high intelligence and ambitions,
Inspector Leveuf still believed that she was an overly excited young girl who
expected too much out of her job.
“Inspector;
you must come quickly” cried the young girl with immense energy.
With his usual calm and serenity, Inspector Leveuf asked Valerie to calm down and sit to explain what is going on exactly. He did not expect her to surprise him or impress him with the case she had in hand as he had grown accustomed to her overreaction on every event and suspected that this time was no different than all the previous ones.
With his usual calm and serenity, Inspector Leveuf asked Valerie to calm down and sit to explain what is going on exactly. He did not expect her to surprise him or impress him with the case she had in hand as he had grown accustomed to her overreaction on every event and suspected that this time was no different than all the previous ones.
In
her continued excitement, Valerie explained to the inspector that the body of a
young man was found dead in the early morning in the area of Neuilly. She
explained that no signs of any struggle or injuries were visible on the body
and that no eye witness saw any events related to this death during the night.
All the residents of the area claimed that it was a calm night and no noise was
heard at any moment that would indicate any fight or accident had taken place.
“The
young man may have died from natural causes. Possibly a heart attack from drugs
or anything of the sort” answered the inspector in a calm and uninterested
voice.
“That
is true sir, but don’t you think we should check it, there might be more to it
than it seems” replied Valerie in her continued enthusiasm for the case.
After
discussion, Inspector Leveuf finally agreed to go down to the crime scene and
take care of the investigation.
Rushing
through the streets of Paris, the two finally arrived at the crime scene.
Inspector Leveuf got a briefing of the information gathered until this point.
The young man’s name was Jeremy Deschamps. A handsome young man of 31 years of
age, he worked as a lawyer in a private practice with two colleagues, one of
them identified the body to the police. Inspector Leveuf rolled a cigarette
while he watched the ambulance carry the body to move it to the laboratory for
examination. His mind continued to drift away, wondering until when he could
keep the patience in this job where no new events take place, where excitement
flies out the window like a young bird flying free of its nest. He continued to
believe that the autopsy would reach the conclusion that the young man died of
natural causes, and the case would be closed as hundreds others that have
passed casually in front if the inspector’s eyes.
The
hours of the day passed as if years, Inspector Leveuf felt he was getting older
and older with every tick of the clock. Just as he prepared himself to leave
his office and go back home, Valerie came rushing into his office with a look
on her eyes he had never seen before. For the first time since she had started
working with him, he saw in her eyes a mixture of fear and surprise. Her face
looked as if she had seen the face of God himself. Unable to hold back his
enthusiasm to such a look, Inspector Leveuf grabbed Valerie from the shoulders
and shook her while asking her: “what is the matter Valerie? What happened?”
Out
of breath, Valerie struggled to form her sentence: “autopsy result…must see…quickly!”
Inspector
Leveuf and Valerie rushed down to the laboratory to see the autopsy result. As
they entered the room and approached the doctor who was standing next to the
body, Inspector Leveuf could not believe his eyes. On the body, carved on the
chest of the young man, right at the heart, was the letter X. What did that
mean? How did it get there? Why was it done? Hundreds of questions raced
through the inspector’s head like a buffalo stampede. He could not make heads
or tails out of it. As he listened to the doctor’s report, he could not take
his eyes off the X mark.
The
doctor explained; “the man, 31 years old, died sometime between 11PM and 1AM.
The cause of death is arterial air embolism in quite large amount. We found
traces of a sleeping substance, probably administered through a drink. We do
not know at this point if the sleeping substance was self-administered or not,
but there was traces of alcohol consumption as well, in relatively large
amount, so he may have been with people drinking during the evening. The X mark
was made with a very sharp and small knife, probably a kitchen knife. It was
carefully done so as not to cut too deep, which is why there wasn’t much blood
flow”
“Was
his shirt torn?” asked the inspector.
“Excuse me sir?” replied the doctor.
The inspector turned and looked towards the doctor, repeating his question; “was the shirt torn at the area of the X mark or not?”
“Excuse me sir?” replied the doctor.
The inspector turned and looked towards the doctor, repeating his question; “was the shirt torn at the area of the X mark or not?”
“No
sir, the shirt was absolutely intact” explained the doctor.
Intrigued
by what he just saw, Inspector Leveuf walked out of the laboratory, thoughtful
and lost. He turned to Valerie, and with a determined voice he said; “Valerie,
this case is now officially a murder case. I will see you early tomorrow
morning. Go home and get some rest, we are going to have a lot of work in the
morning. Goodnight.”
*****
