Chapter I.II

Squinting from the sunlight, Galbraith came close to the facade of a three-story building overlooking a majestic green square. He stretched out his hand to the brass handle of the double door, but the next second a young sergeant with a blue cap on his head came out to meet him. Galbraith stepped sharply to the side, making way for him, but the young man stopped in place and looked at the inspector with a slight squint.

- Good afternoon, mister Galbraith, - sergeant raised his hand to his cap.

- Hi, Saussure, - inspector answered with some bewilderment.

- Mister chief inspector Schaeymoure wants to see you, - he reported in a brave tone

Hearing this, Galbraith involuntarily lost heart.

- What this is regarding? - he asked the young man in a stammering voice.

- He's waiting for you in his office, - Saussure ignored his question and moved on.

Galbraith could not resist the pleasure of looked away this cheerful young man, who, putting on his cap as he walked, walked quickly up the street, slightly tilting his curly head forward. "Interesting", Galbraith thought, "what made this young man so happy"...

Inspector entered the doors of the police department, but he was in no hurry to immediately go up to the second floor.To begin with, he decided to verify the veracity of the sergeant's words and looked into the duty officer's room, where he found old Pauling, who, as always, was sitting at his desk. At that moment, he was pouring himself some coffee, and a little further away, two policemen were dozing on a sofa by the window. When the inspector appeared, Pauling shuddered slightly and, putting the coffee pot on the table, raised his head.

- Excuse me, does mister chief inspector Schaeymoure really need me now? - Galbraith asked the old man.

- Of course, - answered duty officer. - Have you forgotten that today is a meeting on the Pharqraut's case?

- What? - hearing his friend's name, Galbraith perked up.

- Everyone else is already in the chief inspector's office, only you is missing, - the old man blinked his eyes.

- Why didn't anyone warn me about this in advance?

- I wanted David to notified you, - Pauling had in his assistant. - But mister chief inspector Schaeymoure persuaded not to disturb...

Galbraith did not listen to the old man to the end and left the duty officer's office. Wow, Schaeymoure did not specifically warn him in advance about the important meeting. It seems that mister chief inspector wanted to make his employee look like an idiot, who is supposedly always out of work. Galbraith ran up the stairs to the second floor and first ran into his office. The disorder that reigned on the desk indicated that the owner of the office had not touched his papers for several days. But the inspector didn't care about that - taking off his light gray jacket, he hung it over the back of his chair and, straightening his tie, went back out into the corridor.

Approaching the door to the chief inspector's office, Galbraith hesitated a little. Taking a breath, he knocked quietly and, carefully opening the door, stuck his head inside. As might be expected, mister chief inspector Schaeymoure himself sat at the head of the mahogany desk. He was about fifty years old, but his neatly combed back black hair and carefully shaved face made him look younger. Under his strict black frock coat one could see a white shirtfront with a coffee-coloured tie.

Schaeymoure did not seem to notice inspector entering. He didn't even take his eyes off the open folder in front of him, he just raised his eyebrows slightly and flipped through the page - as it was clear, this document aroused his interest. Galbraith shrugged and walked towards the long table, on which stood a decanter of water and four glassful.

He pushed back his chair and was about to sit down, but at that moment mister chief inspector took his eyes off the documents and signalled to everyone present to get up from their seats. The rest of the meeting, who were inspector Pharqraut, medic Maurice and young lieutenant Nelissen, immediately obeyed. Schaeymoure rose from his seat and, coughing politely, spoke:

- So, gentlemen! - he raised his anemic hand. - I hereby declare this meeting in session. I'll leave it to inspector Pharqraut to briefly summarize the facts.

After these words, Schaeymoure sank into a deep armchair and gave a sign to the young inspector with a slight nod of his head. Pharqraut pulled his black leather briefcase from under the table and, opening it, pulled out a thick folder. Galbraith accepted a hefty stack of snow-white A4 sheets from his friend's hands and began to look at them. They were covered from top to bottom with typewritten text, and the printing ink had not yet dried and therefore smudged a little under Galbraith's fingers. Everyone else also received a stack of papers, and Pharqraut, having finished the distribution, returned to his place and stood next to the chair.

- Attention, gentlemen. Don't rush to read these papers, - said the inspector, noticing how medic Maurice began to flip through the pages impatiently.

Everyone present took their eyes off the stack of papers lying in front of them and stared with interest at the young inspector. Galbraith couldn't help but notice how Pharqraut bit his lip and became embarrassed when stout Maurice yawned noisily, covering his mouth with his hand.

- So, - he began a little hesitantly. - On the agenda we are dealing with one case. The papers I gave you are a photocopy of the drafts of my material, which I am writing as part of my investigation. Now I want to briefly convey to you the essence of this case, and you will become familiar with the details at a time convenient for you.

After these words, Pharqraut extended his hand to the decanter standing in the middle of the table and poured himself a full glassful. After drinking the water in one gulp, the inspector put it on the table and, wiping his lips with the back of his hand, looked around at those gathered attentively.