Chapter 18

OFFICER. Good-morning, Monsieur.

MOUZON. Good-morning, lieutenant. You can speak before this gentleman.

OFFICER [_saluting_] Our deputy--

MOUZON. Well?

OFFICER. Yes! He's the man!

MOUZON [_after a glance at Mondoubleau_] Don't let's go too fast. On what grounds do you make that assertion?

OFFICER. You will see. In the first place there have been four convictions already.

MOUZON. I know.

OFFICER. Then fifteen years ago he bought, from Daddy Goyetche, the victim, a vineyard, the payment taking the form of a life annuity.

MOUZON. Well!

OFFICER. He professed to have made a very bad bargain, and he used to abuse old Goyetche as a swindler.

MOUZON. Excellent!

OFFICER. Five years ago he sold this vineyard.

MOUZON. So that for five years he has been paying an annuity to the victim, although the vineyard was no longer his property.

OFFICER. Yes, your worship.

MOUZON. Go on.

OFFICER. After his arrest people's tongues were loosened. His neighbors have been talking.

MOUZON. That's always the way.

OFFICER. I have heard a witness, the girl Gracieuse Mendione, to whom Etchepare used the words, "It is really too stupid to be forced to pay money to that old swine."

MOUZON. Wait a moment. You say the girl Gracieuse?

OFFICER. Mendione.

MOUZON [_writing_] Mendione--"It is really too stupid to be forced to pay money to that old swine." Good! Good! Well?

OFFICER. I have another witness, Piarrech Artola.

MOUZON [_writing_] Piarrech Artola.

OFFICER. Etchepare told him, about two months ago, in speaking of old Goyetche, "It's more than one can stand--the Almighty's forgotten him."

MOUZON [_writing_] "The Almighty has forgotten him." Excellent. Is this all you can tell me?

OFFICER. Almost all.

MOUZON. At what date should Etchepare have made the next annual payment to old Goyetche?

OFFICER. A week after Ascension Day.

MOUZON. That is a week after the crime?

OFFICER. Yes, your worship.

MOUZON [_to Mondoubleau_] Singular coincidence! [_To the officer_] Was he comfortably off, this Etchepare?

OFFICER. He was pressed for money. Three months ago he borrowed eight hundred francs from a Mauleon cattle-dealer.

MOUZON. And what do the neighbors say?

OFFICER. They say Etchepare was a sly grasping fellow, and they aren't surprised to hear that he's the murderer. All the same, they all speak very highly of the woman Yanetta Etchepare. They say she is a model mother and housekeeper.

MOUZON. How many children?

OFFICER. Two--Georges and--I can't remember the name of the other now.

MOUZON. And the woman's moral character?

OFFICER. Irreproachable.

MOUZON. Good.

OFFICER. I was forgetting. One of my men, one of those who effected the arrest, informs me that when Etchepare saw him coming he said to his wife, "They've got me."

MOUZON. "They've got me." That is rather important.

OFFICER. And then he told his wife, in Basque, "Don't for the world let out that I left the house last night!"

MOUZON. He said this before the gendarme?

OFFICER. No, your worship--the gendarme was outside--close to an open window. Etchepare didn't see him.

MOUZON. You will have him cited as witness.

OFFICER. Yes, your worship. Then there's that witness for the defence too--Bridet.

MOUZON. Ah, yes--I have read the deposition he made in your presence. It's of no importance. Still, if he's there I'll hear him. Thank you. Well, draw up a report for me, in full detail, and make them give you the summonses for the witnesses.

OFFICER. Yes, your worship. [_He salutes and goes out_]