With these words he looked carefully around the room, but there was no more blood to be seen anywhere. Any spot would have been clearly visible on the light-coloured floor. There was nothing else to tell of the horrible crime that had been committed here, nothing but the great, hideous, brown-red spot in the middle of the room.
“Have you made a thorough search for the body?” asked the doctor.
The magistrate shook his head. “No, I have done nothing to speak of yet. We have been waiting for you. There is a gendarme at the gate; no one can go in or out without being seen.”
“Very well, then, let us begin our search now.”
The magistrate and his companion turned towards the door of the room but the doctor motioned them to come back. “I see you do not know the house as well as I do,” he said, and led the way towards a niche in the side of the wall, which was partially filled by a high bookcase.
“Ah—that is the entrance of the passage to the church?” asked the magistrate in surprise.
“Yes, this is it. The door is not locked.”
“You mean you believe—”
“That the murderers came in from the church? Why not? It is quite possible.”
“To think of such a thing!” exclaimed the notary with a shake of his head.