M. Lecoq

Lecoq arrives at Prosper's examination with the deference of subordinates trailing him and the calm of a man who has seen every variety of guilt. He waves aside the searchers who want to strip the prisoner's boots, ends the formalities with a word, and leaves Prosper to a cell he wrongly believes is private. Behind the official procedure stands a professional eye that misses nothing, and his presence signals that the theft at Fauvel's bank has graduated from a household scandal into a case the whole Paris police force is watching.