13 October 2027
Wednesday. The management let me look at the register for the year so far. It is longer than my casebook and considerably neater.
It tells one how many parties have stepped out of the lift this year, how busy the hotel is compared with the other cases under Hay Street, and how many parties named the culprit in time. I shall not copy the figures here. They change every evening, and I prefer my casebook to remain true for longer than a day.
I will say that I am kept busy. Some parties clear their names and some do not, and the ones who do not are escorted, in the story, to a cell. In practice they go out into Hay Street Mall and buy a gelato and plan their return. I have never once seen a party come back for the same case less determined.
Croissant has his own register. It lists pastries. It is also very long.
— Insp. A. Brochard, Gendarmerie
