Topaz - Leon Uris [83]
“We appreciate your candor,” Inspector Steinberger said. “Now, we would like to be equally candid. We would like you to cooperate with the Sûreté.”
“In what way?”
“To keep Henri Jarré under surveillance. You see, Mademoiselle de Vore, he is suspected of passing NATO documents to the Soviet Union.”
For a moment she was stunned, trying to comprehend. Then a throaty little giggle emerged. “I’ll be damned,” she said and the giggle swelled into hard laughter.
“Well? Will you help us?”
“It will be a pleasure, Inspector Steinberger.”
“Good,” Jasmin said, “excellent.”
“Now, Mademoiselle de Vore, we need to establish certain patterns, habits of work, routines, et cetera, et cetera. I’d like to ask you a few questions about the duplicating machine in your supply room, the one adjoining your office. It’s a Repco, is it not?”
“Yes.”
“You use it to complete office files, make needed extra copies to advise other persons, or send copies with regular correspondence when required. In other words, the machine is used in normal daily office work?”
“Yes, that would be correct.”
“Who operates the particular machine in your office?”
“I do. For the entire building. As you can see from the way the supply room adjoins my office, I was annoyed in the beginning by people running in and out, so I set up an incoming basket for requests for duplicates. Generally speaking, at around three in the afternoon I run off copies and place them in an outgoing basket so they can be picked up in time for the late mail.”
“Now, Mademoiselle de Vore. Does Monsieur Jarré use this machine? Does he know how? Have you ever seen him use it?”
“Yes, I remember quite clearly. We had an old Thermo-Fax up to eighteen months ago. It was exchanged for the Repco. A few days after the new machine arrived I returned from lunch to find Monsieur Jarré in the supply room cursing and trying to operate the machine. He had made a mess of the fluid bag and was quite confused over the positive and negative papers. He asked me to show him how to operate the machine.”
“Did you think it odd?”
“Well, no. Some days I could be ill or for some reason not available when he needed copies of something. I didn’t think it strange.”
“Mademoiselle de Vore. Do you ever leave your office for long periods during the day?”
“Exactly what do you mean?”
“A half-hour, forty minutes, an hour?”
“Other than lunch?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, I am out of the office frequently.”
“Does Jarré send you out of the office?”
“Sometimes.”
“Would you explain that?”
“The Press Building is a ten-minute walk. I often carry dispatches there for personal delivery. Or I may be called to another office to record the proceedings of a meeting. Then, for one reason or another, I may be sent to nearly any building on the compound. I even come here, Colonel Jasmin. I deliver security files at least once a month, anyhow.”
“It would be safe to say, then, that you are out of your office at least once a week for a half-hour or longer?”
“Yes.”
“Long enough for Jarré to come to the supply room adjoining your office and make, say, ten or fifteen copies, clean up the used positive and negative papers, and return to his own office?”
“That would be sufficient time.”
“Do you recall ever seeing him in the supply room?”
“Once. I started out of the building, then returned to my office for my cigarettes. He was quite startled, but he covered it quickly. You know, I’ve always wondered why my Repco supplies ran out so fast.”
Inspector Steinberger and Colonel Jasmin alternated questioning to further establish Jarré’s working habits.
“He’s at his desk promptly at nine-thirty,” Justine de Vore said, “except Thursdays.”
“Why not Thursdays?”
“He takes the commuter train from Paris on Thursdays.”
“Every Thursday?”
“Yes. Sometimes