"On the following Wednesday, June 3rd, Fremat recovered possession of the costumes ordered on the 27th. When I counted them, in the afternoon, I found that four were missing: the large black cloak and three costumes of Jewish priests...."
(Quoted from Dossier, Cote 669.)
The Inspector, having discovered that three black gowns and a black cloak had been let out by M. Guilbert to the Hebrew Theatre and not returned to him, went, of course, straight to that theatre. I can imagine the Inspector's feelings, and his thoughts. Would he find the missing garments there? Had they merely been mislaid? Or had they been stolen! And when? If they had been stolen on the 30th, a few hours before the double murder, then, as he had said, he held the clue of clues!
What did he hear at the theatre?—That the three black gowns and the black cloak had been stolen.
Here again, I can do no better than quote from the Dossier, the evidence given either to M. Hamard, Chief of the Sûreté, or to M. André, the examining magistrate in charge of my case, after I had been arrested.
After confirming on every point the statements made by Mme. Rallet, M. Goldstein stated, among other facts:
"None of the artists were told off to check the deliveries of costumes made by the firm Guilbert, and the messenger was in the habit of placing the baskets of costumes in the vestibule, near the box-office of the Hebrew Theatre. Any one could easily make his way into the theatre, for the door, opening inwards, had only to be pushed, and is never closed...
"For the performance of May 28th, all the costumes were there... But things were different on May 31st. On that day at about 7 P.M., I opened the basket which had been put down in the vestibule the day before, by the messenger from Guilbert's. The ropes of the basket were undone. I also found at once that, contrary to custom, the costumes were in disorder. Feinberg, who was standing near me, told me that he had noticed the same thing on the previous evening (May 30th)... At the moment when every one had to put on his costume, we found that the gowns of the Jewish priests were missing... M. Feinberg sent Gabriel, the watchman of the theatre, to Guilbert's. But the shop was closed...
"... In spite of all our searches, throughout the theatre, it has been impossible to trace the four missing costumes..."
(Dossier, Cote 677.)