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By Root 1337 0

to demonstrate the singular qualities of intelligence and energy on which he prided himself. He was the son of a prosperous cattle farmer in Normandy. He had studied law at Caen, entering the profession relatively late in life. As a result of his peasant upbringing and his father’s untimely bankruptcy, promotion had been slow. He had been deputy prosecutor at Bernay, Dieppe and Le Havre, but had had to wait a further ten years before being appointed as public prosecutor at Pont-Audemer. He was then transferred, as deputy prosecutor, to Rouen, and had served as examining magistrate there for the last eighteen months. Now, however, he was over fifty. He had no private income, and his meagre salary hardly sufficed to cover his most immediate needs, so he had had to continue to work as a poorly paid magistrate in order to earn a living - the sort of job which none but the mediocre would happily resign themselves to, and which anyone worth their salt would suffer only as an irksome prelude to something more lucrative. Monsieur Denizet was actually very intelligent and extremely sharp-witted, an honourable man, who took pleasure in doing the job he did and rather relished the authority vested in him, as he sat in judgement with absolute power to acquit or to condemn. The one thing that tempered his passion for justice was his longing for promotion. There was nothing he desired more than to receive a decoration and to be transferred to Paris, which was why, after the first day of the hearings, when he had insisted that his sole concern was to establish the truth, he now proceeded more circumspectly, alert to the many hazards that might spell the end of his career.

A friend of his, it should be said, had advised caution the moment the inquiry began, urging him to speak with someone at the Ministry of Justice6 in Paris. Denizet had gone to Paris and had had a long conversation with the Secretary-General, Monsieur Camy-Lamotte, a person of considerable influence, responsible for all legal appointments and in close touch with the Tuileries. Monsieur Camy-Lamotte was a man of distinctive appearance. Like Denizet, he had started his career as a deputy prosecutor, but thanks to family connections and the influence of his wife, he had become a Member of Parliament and had been awarded the title of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. The Grandmorin affair had landed on his desk because the Rouen prosecutor, unwilling to take on a sordid affair involving a former colleague who had been murdered, had taken the precaution of referring the matter to the Minister of Justice. He in turn had passed it on to his Secretary-General. By a strange coincidence, Monsieur Camy-Lamotte and President Grandmorin had been students together. Camy-Lamotte was a few years younger than Grandmorin, but had remained one of his closest friends. There was little that he didn’t know about him, including his insatiable sexual appetite. He assured Denizet that the tragic death of his friend had been a great sadness to him and impressed upon him how passionately he desired to see the guilty party brought to justice. At the same time he made it clear that the Tuileries regretted the current spate of exaggerated rumour and suggested to Denizet, without of course wishing to appear presumptuous, that what was needed above all in this investigation was tact. In short, Denizet was led to understand that he should not try to rush things through too quickly and that he should take no decision without prior consultation. He returned to Rouen convinced that the Secretary-General had set up a separate inquiry into the affair. The truth needed to be ascertained in order, if necessary, to conceal it.

The days went by. Monsieur Denizet, although doing his best to remain patient, was becoming increasingly irritated by the jokes in the press. The detective in him was itching to get the investigation under way. Like a hound with its nose to the wind, he wanted to track down the villain and have the honour of being the first to solve the mystery, even if he was subsequently told