Duval and the Empress's Crown

by Michele McGrath

  “So you went out of the room and answered the summons and then?”

  “I went into the passageway and opened the door that leads into the street. One of the men escorting the Princesses stood outside. He said that the Princesses wanted another look at their jewellery.” The lad cast a furtive glance at Robart and his master as if he thought he had said something wrong. “I didn’t have time to fetch Robart. Once I had the door open, the ladies got down from their carriage. I stepped to one side and they brushed right past me. I couldn’t have stopped them without being rude.” His voice had a whine in it as if he expected censure.

  “You did just as you should have done,” Margueritte said reassuringly and the lad seemed relieved.

  “Please open the door and stand in the doorway, Jacques. Are the rest of you in the positions you were when the door opened?”

  Robart nodded. “I was here, beside the desk with the safe key in my hand.”

  “Christophe?”

  “Sitting at my bench.” He sat down at a workbench which ran crossways to the others.

  I walked round watching them all. Fournier scribbled a plan of the room into his notebook. I picked up a wooded box from one of the tables and took it over to Robart.

  “Let us suppose that this box is the Empress’s crown. Robart, will you put it down exactly where you left it.” All of our eyes were glued to the box as Robart placed it on his worktop. “Now, can anyone see it from the position he is in?”

  “I can, of course,” said Robart.

  “Did you see it?” I persisted.

  The man frowned. “Yes, I think so.”

  “You’re not sure?”

  “I didn’t really look at it. I was watching Princess Caroline. I may have glanced at it, but I don’t remember.”

  “A minute,” Fournier said to me. “You say you may have glanced at the workbench at that moment. Only a casual glance, perhaps? Think hard; are you aware of anything missing? A space where something had been before perhaps?” He looked hard at Robart as he asked the question.

  Robart frowned and stared at his bench as if he had never seen it before. Then he slowly shook his head.

  “I don’t remember. I really can’t be sure.”

  “Christophe, can you see the box on Robart’s bench?”

  “No. The large vice blocks it, but I wasn’t looking anyway. I wanted to finish those damned earrings and as I said before, I kept my head down.”

  “Jacques, where did you go after the Princesses had entered the room?”

  “I held the door for all of them and closed it afterwards. Then I went and sat on that stool by the fire.”

  “Why there?”

  “One of my jobs is to heat the soldering irons; it’s my usual place.”

  “Go and sit there then.” The boy obediently went over to the fire.

  “Can you see the crown from where you’re sitting?”

  “No, this stool is too low and the back of the workbench blocks my view.”

  “Stand up,” I ordered. Jacques got to his feet and turned towards Robart’s bench.

  “Can you see the box?” I repeated.

  “Yes.”

  “Did you stay in the same place all the time during the Princesses’ visit?”

  “No, Christophe asked me to bring him a length of gold wire from one of the drawers.”

  “Damn it, so I did,” Christophe snorted. “I’d forgotten that.”

  “Do what you did then. Go and show me.”

  The boy walked to the other side of the room, looking at the floor straight ahead of him, opened the drawer, took out a wire. He brought it over to Christophe, who took it absently and put it on his bench.

  “Why did you want it, Christophe?” Fournier asked.

  “To demonstrate to Pauline how her earrings would look if I made them shorter. I used a twist of the wire to pull the two halves of the earring tighter together.”

  “Jacques, did you look down the whole time you fetched the wire?”

  Jacques nodded.

  “You never glanced around once, just now. Was that really what you did or can’t you remember?”

  Jacques shook his head. “It’s what I did, Monsieur.”

  “Why?” Fournier asked.

  Jacques looked at him and gave a crooked grin. “I didn’t want to step on one of the ladies’ dresses. If I had soiled it or torn it, I would have been in real trouble.”

  I couldn’t help smiling. There was such a ring of truth in the lad’s words.

  “So you did not see the crown this morning?”

  “I did when Robart was working on it. He showed me how he was adjusting the lining.”

  “You never told us that.” I swung round to Robart.

  “It was well before the Princesses arrived. It is part of the lad’s training though I don’t suppose he’ll have to work on crowns much in the future. He’d gone back to the fire by the time I went to get the safe key.”

  “So Jacques, let us be clear. Did you see the crown at any time after you had shown the Princesses into the room?”

  “No, I don’t think so. I don’t remember looking at Robart’s bench. I suppose I would have seen it if I had, but I didn’t. I just wanted to keep out of the way and not do anything wrong,” said Jacques, the whine back in his voice.

  “Thank you.” I smiled at him and he gave me a watery smile in return but he was still nervous. I wondered if it was his nature or whether there was another reason. We would have to find out something more about Jacques.

  “Now,” I turned to the others, “I would like you all to replay the scene for me. Monsieur Margueritte and I will take the parts of the Princesses and their equerries. You must tell us which way to move. Try to do exactly as you did this morning and speak out if anything is different.”

  They moved awkwardly at first as they followed my instructions, but gradually they warmed to their task and began to remember more details. At the end of an hour, I believed that they had told me all they knew. I had a grasp of what had really happened that morning, although the main question had not been answered, of course.

  “None of you went near the crown then,” I summarised. “Some of you could have seen it on the bench but no one remembers doing so. Is that correct?”

  “That’s right,” Robart said, speaking for them all while the others nodded their agreement.

  “For the whole time the party was in the room, you, Christophe, sat at your workbench and you never left it. Both Robart and Jacques confirm that.”

  The big man’s shoulders dropped suddenly as if he had been holding them tightly and just relaxed. Why was he so tense?

  Another question to be answered later, I thought.

  “For part of that time you spoke to Princess Caroline and Princess Pauline,” I continued. “Robart brought you their jewels from the safe. You did not fetch them yourself.”

  “No, Citizen, I couldn’t. Robart had the only key.”

  “Jacques was behind Christophe, heating up the soldering irons as he had been told to do earlier and keeping out of the way.” I looked over at Jacques who nodded.

  “Jacques also did not go near Robart’s bench and both Christophe and Robart vouch for him.”

  “No, he never moved, except to bring me the wire,” Christophe said. “Then he went back to the fire and stayed there until the party left.”

  “You, Robart, were the only one who moved. You went twice to the safe. Once to bring Caroline’s and Pauline’s jewels to Christophe, once to fetch Élisa’s which you showed to her at one end of your workbench. The opposite end to where you put the crown?”

  Robart nodded. “That’s right. I made Princess Élisa’s jewellery first and Christophe made the others to the same pattern. I set up the original designs with Monsieur Margueritte, which he sent to the Emperor for approval.”

  “Did Princess Élisa want any changes made at this time?”

  “No indeed. She said she was very happy with her regalia, but then she’
s easier to please than her sisters.”

  “The two men, Dupré and Saint Victor stayed with you and Princess Élisa?”

  “Yes. They wanted to know how a jeweller works, once the pattern has been decided.”

  “And in that time you all stood near your workbench?”

  “Yes.”

  “The crown was at the other end of the bench?”

  “It was.”

  “You saw it?”

  “No, as I have already told you, I didn’t even glance at it. I’d almost forgotten it was there, God forgive me.”

  “Then Pauline made difficulties and you went over to help Christophe?”

  “I did, but it didn’t take very long. She’s a vain woman. Tell her she looks beautiful in anything and her objections melt away like snow. I found that out when I dealt with her before.”

  “You left the others beside your bench?”

  “I did.”

  “Then your attention was distracted at that moment?”

  “Yes, but I never thought any harm would come of it in such company.”

  I turned to Christophe and Jacques. “Did Princess Élisa or either of the equerries move about after Robart left them?”

  “No, Citizen. I don’t think so but I didn’t have time to look around me. Pauline would have flayed me if she thought I wasn’t paying attention to her. You don’t want to see her in a temper, believe me.”

  “They moved, Monsieur,” Jacques interrupted suddenly.

  “What did they do?” I asked quickly.

  “They were all looking at something on the bench, passing it between them.”

  “The crown?”

  “No. It sparkled but it wasn’t gold enough; a necklace perhaps.”

  “Go on.”

  “Princess Élisa’s scarf slipped off her arms and fell on the floor. The man with the frogged coat bent down and picked it up. He shook it and gave it back to her.”

  “Where was the other equerry?”

  “Beside the bench. They all talked and laughed together.”

  “Did he stay still when the other man was picking up the scarf?”

  “Yes…” The lad’s face suddenly changed and he frowned.

  “What is it? What have you remembered?” Fournier asked.

  “Someone moved.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “I caught a flash out of the corner of my eye, but when I looked, nothing seemed to be different.”

  “You may have imagined it,” I suggested and the boy nodded.

  “I’m not certain.”

  “Robart, let us go through this again. Where was the crown from the last time you held it in your hand?”

  “It was on the bench when I went to fetch the key. I am sure it was there when the Princesses came into the room. I never looked at it when I brought the jewel cases to Christophe and after that, I am not sure...”

  “And when you returned to the bench?” I prompted him.

  “I was concentrating on what I was doing, trying to keep them all happy. I didn’t look. Oh how I wish I had!” The man’s voice was shaking with his distress.

  “Did none of these three people mention the crown to you?”

  “No one said a word, I swear it! That’s right isn’t it?” Robart swung round to his colleagues.

  “Robart’s right, Citizen,” Christophe growled, “not one of them said anything about the crown and neither did we. We would have heard if they had.”

  “Odd. If they had seen it, surely they would have mentioned it.”

  “I agree but they did not.”

  Fournier looked at me and I nodded. This was another point to be investigated later on, preferably with the men individually. I continued,

  “At the end of the Princess’s visit, Robart, you locked their jewel cases in the safe?”

  “I did. I took Princess Élisa’s and collected the other two from Christophe. I put them all away before I showed the party out. I remember making a little joke about it, saying that you could never be too careful about leaving things lying around.”

  “But you did not lock the crown away?”

  “I never thought about it, perhaps because I left it on the far end of the bench and I would have had to fetch its case from the safe. I should have, of course. I must be getting old and forgetful.”

  “You fool Robart!” Margueritte muttered.

  “A fool indeed, Monsieur, I admit, but who would ever imagine such a thing could happen with the Emperor’s sisters in the room.”

  “When you had shown the party out, what did you do next?”

  “I returned to the workshop to continue my work. That’s when I remembered the crown. I went to look for it, to lock it away, but the crown wasn’t there.”

  “And then?”

  “I asked Christophe and Jacques if they had moved it. They both said that they hadn’t. Then all three of us began to search. The crown isn’t small. It’s impossible for it to fall into a crack or roll under something, like an earring. We searched everywhere, but we found nothing and then the Patron returned.”

  I looked enquiringly at Margueritte, who answered,

  “I also searched. When it was obvious that the crown wasn’t here in the workshop, I asked everyone to strip off their garments which they did. The crown was not on their persons. At that point I went to the Police. With a theft of such importance, Monsieur Réal took me in to tell my tale to the minister himself.” The man’s hand twitched and I had a sudden humorous thought that he wanted to cross himself. I couldn’t say that I blamed him. Fouché has that effect on some people. It is as if they are confronting the Evil One himself.

  “I would like to thank you all for your help,” I said.

  “What happens next, Monsieur?”

  “We must find the crown in time for the coronation. Don’t leave Paris. If you remember anything else, come and tell us. Monsieur Margueritte, for obvious reasons, I must send one of our agents to stay with you while this matter is under investigation. He will not know exactly why he is here, only that a theft has occurred. I would be grateful if none of you would enlighten him any further. Your premises and those of your employees will have to be searched again by our men. I regret the necessity but it cannot be helped. I’m sure you understand. In the meanwhile, I suggest that you get on with your work. I will return if I have any more questions to ask you. Perhaps I might even be in the happy position to be able to tell you that the crown has been found.”

  “Please God; may it be the latter, Monsieur,” Margueritte said, to which I mentally added Amen.

  5

  8 Frimaire, Year XIII

  (Thursday, November 29, 1804)

  Fournier and I went to the Rose as soon as we finished at Margueritte’s. I wanted an opportunity to discuss what we had found out and what we needed to do as a result. One of us would have to go back to the jeweller’s and question the women. None of them had been present when the crown went missing, but they might have seen something unusual either before or afterwards. We had not been talking very long when Lefebvre came in. We had a bottle of wine on the table in front of us but Fournier called for another as soon as he saw Lefebvre.

  “Not enough left for three and I need it to help me put my thoughts in order,” he explained.

  “Any luck?” I asked Lefebvre.

  “Not the faintest hint of a whisper,” he replied. “I spoke to everyone I knew and found out absolutely nothing. I didn’t press too hard, of course, in case I gave the game away. The usual types don’t want to chance getting caught, with Paris in such ferment.”

  “Someone was willing to take the risk, though,” Fournier said dryly. “Not like you to fail.”

  “I haven’t yet. I’ve set it about that I’ll pay well for information if anything unusual comes on the market. If it does, then someone will tell me about it.”

  “Sure of that?”

  Lefebvre nodded. “What about you two?”

  Fournier told him our story while I
sat sipping my well-watered wine, deep in thought.

  “What are you frowning about?” Lefebvre asked me.

  “All the things that need to be done.”

  “As I see it,” Fournier interjected, “there are several leads to be followed up.”

  “And they are?”

  Fournier grinned. When I was learning the trade of a Police agent, he was one of my mentors, along with Gilbert, my deceased father-in-law. Every night they used to grill me about the witnesses we had spoken to and what we had seen. Now I was using their own methods against him.

  “Several odd things were mentioned,” he said, turning over his pages of notes. “Why did Madame de Herlay’s servant, Simon, ask Margueritte to visit his mistress when she did not want to see him? That’s suspicious for a start.”

  I nodded. Fournier counted on his fingers.

  “Two. Did the apprentice, Jacques, simply make a mistake or did he lie about Simon’s visit? Did Simon invent the whole thing and if so, why? Is there any connection between Simon and Jacques, outside their work?”

  “Agreed. Those things must be checked.”

  “Three. Jacques told us he spotted some movement around Robart’s workbench. He was the only one who did.”

  “He said the Princess and the equerries were handling a piece of jewellery. A necklace he thought. Another thing to find out about.”

  “Four. Christophe was definitely uneasy. I wonder why?”

  “Perhaps he has secrets he does not want us to unearth.”

  “Maybe he does, but at this moment we have no time for any minor peccadilloes.”

  “Five. The equerries, Dupré and Saint Victor. Do we know anything about them?”

  “I don’t,” I said.

  “Dupré? Alexandre Dupré?” Lefebvre asked, looking up and setting down his beaker with a snap.

  “Not sure of his Christian name. Do you know him?”

  “If he’s the same man, he owes money to a couple of friends of mine.”

  “Who are these friends?”

  “Better for you not to know. Let’s just say they lend cash to men with gambling debts. Not men to take liberties with. They hurt their enemies.”

  “So we need to find out if this is the same Dupré.”

  “You will or Fournier. I don’t mix in such exalted circles. I’ll find out what I can about the apprentice and Madame de Herlay’s servant. You two stick to the aristos.”