"Not so loud," cautioned M. Simon. "My dear fellow, I assure you I couldn't help it, I had nothing to do with it."
Coquenil stared at him incredulously. "Aren't you chief of the detective bureau?"
"Yes," answered the other in a low tone, "but the order came from—from higher up."
"You mean from the préfet de police?"
M. Simon laid a warning finger on his lips. "This is in strictest confidence, the order came through his office, but I don't believe the préfet issued it personally. It came from higher up!"
"From higher up!" repeated M. Paul, and his thoughts flashed back to that sinister meeting on the Champs Elysées, to that harsh voice and flaunting defiance.
"He said he had power, that left-handed devil," muttered the detective, "he said he had the biggest kind of power, and—I guess he has."