PROLOGUE
Paris, June 1923
The newsroom was already warm despite the early hour. Windows stood open to the street, letting in the noise of carts and motorcars along the boulevard. At a desk near the back of the room, a correspondent for The New York Times reread his notes before feeding a sheet of paper into his typewriter.
The story was short. A provincial councillor from Brittany had disappeared on his way to Paris. Before leaving home, he had told his family he was traveling to meet an American businessman. The police were attempting to identify this man and determine what had become of him.
The correspondent began to type. The keys struck in steady rhythm. Names were spelled carefully. Dates confirmed. The word American appeared more than once.
When he finished, he rolled the page free, initialed it, and carried it to the cable desk. The text was transmitted in coded form across the Atlantic, condensed to save cost, stripped to essentials.
The next morning, June 26, 1923, the article appeared in the New York edition.
The New York Times — June 26, 1923 FRENCH SEEK AMERICAN TO CLEAR UP MYSTERY Police Search for Man Whom Missing Finistère Councillor Left Home to See. Special Cable to The New York Times — PARIS, June 25. A search is being made by the Paris police for the mysterious American supposed to have been implicated in the disappearance of Pierre Quéméneur, of the council for the department of Finistère. Quéméneur disappeared more than a month ago between his home and Paris. Quéméneur had stated before he left home that he was going to Paris to conduct business with an American. He made part of the journey by automobile but whether he ever reached Paris is uncertain. Sometime after he was last seen a telegram arrived in his name to his brother-in-law asking for money and 60,000 francs was telegraphed to the address given. The money was never collected, and after some time an inquiry was begun by relatives to discover his whereabouts. A few years later a telegram was received from Havre, signed Pierre, saying all was well, but there has been no further communication. Quéméneur was a bachelor and lived with his sister, and his family cannot believe that this disappearance was voluntary. They suspect a crime and an active search is being made to ascertain by whom the telegram was sent from Havre and to establish the identity of the American with whom he had been doing business. The possibility is suggested that Quéméneur himself has gone to America but this suggestion is not regarded as probable. |