Detective-Inspector Herrion was a forceful man, and he had set himself
the task of finding Sir Raife, the missing baronet, and he had
determined to run Malsano to earth. On the day when he had let Lesigne
slip through his fingers at Raife's flat in the Rue Lafayette, Herrion
had a suspicion that he had been tricked by the innocent-looking old
lady, who appeared to be so busy dusting out the apartment. The flat of
Monsieur Henri Vachelle was, therefore, kept under observation, but
Malsano was far too wily a criminal to be trapped easily, and the flat
was deserted, and the gang found fresh quarters. Herrion was sitting in
his room at the obscure little hotel that he affected, when the
telephone bell rang, and, removing the receiver, he took a message to
the effect that, if he would call at the prefecture, there was important
news awaiting him.
Hastily seizing his cap he started off. He was met at the entrance by a
sergeant, who said: "Quick, Mr Herrion, I think we have found your
missing `Baron.' Will you come with me to the Avenue des Champs
Elysees?"
A taxi was in waiting, and they entered together. As the car sped
towards the famous avenue, the sergeant told Herrion: "We have received
a letter, an anonymous letter, saying that a burglary will be committed
to-night. The house is surrounded, and it is believed that it is the
gang of that old scoundrel, Malsano. The gang is in force, and the
cunning old reprobate has chosen the house of the Lady Remington, who is
the wife of your missing `Baron.'"
Herrion was agitated, a weakness the astute detective-inspector seldom
allowed himself to indulge in. With a smile of satisfaction the little
man remarked: "If that man Malsano is in this affair, for heaven's sake
don't let him escape. It looks as if we are in for a breezy time. I
have no power here, and I can only look on. Mind, the men of Malsano's
gang do not hesitate to shoot. Shoot on the least suspicion. Shoot
first, not to kill, only to maim."
The gendarme looked at Herrion, raising his eyebrows as he said:
"Monsieur Herrion, we shall not be unprepared, and we are not so tender
with our criminals as you gentlemen across the Channel. We, too, have a
score to settle with this Malsano. And there is that mysterious woman,
who seems to be all over Europe at the same time. I have seen her. Ma
foi! She is clever and beautiful, too."
Herrion replied: "Yes, that is the woman who is responsible for Sir
Raife Remington's downfall. She is dangerous, but she is the decoy and
the tool of that doctor fellow Malsano."
The taxi stopped at a corner of a street, and they alighted. Seven or
eight men were secreted in doorways, and the sergeant approached each
one separately and gave them whispered instructions. Herrion's position
was quite unofficial, but his popularity with the police of Paris had
made it possible for him to be present and to participate in the
"round-up," or coup.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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