This Night's Foul Work Read Online Free PDF

corrected himself. ‘People who are split in two.’
    The doctor pulled a face.
    â€˜Let’s just say individuals who are made up of two distinct parts: one that kills, one that leads a normal life – and both halves are almost entirely unconscious of the other’s existence. It’s quite rare. For instance, that district nurse they arrested in Asnières, two years ago. This kind of murderer is dangerous, and recidivist, and almost impossible to spot. Nobody suspects them, not even themselves, and they go to extraordinary lengths to stop the other half of themselves from finding out.’
    â€˜I remember the nurse. So, according to you, she was a dissociated killer, was she?’
    â€˜Almost the classic case. If she hadn’t crossed the path of some genius in the police force, she’d have gone on killing people until the day she died, and denied it to herself. Thirty-two victims in forty years, without turning a hair.’
    â€˜Thirty-three,’ Adamsberg corrected her.
    â€˜Thirty-two. I’m well placed to tell you, I interviewed her for hours.’
    â€˜It was thirty-three, Ariane. I arrested her.’
    The doctor paused, then smiled.
    â€˜Ah, did you now?’
    â€˜So when the Le Havre killer cut open those rats, he was the other part of himself. Number Two, the murderous one?’ said Adamsberg.
    â€˜Are you interested in dissociation?’
    â€˜That case of the nurse still haunts me, and the Le Havre man sort of belongs to me too. What was his name?’
    â€˜Hubert Sandrin.’
    â€˜And when he confessed? Was he still the other one then?’
    â€˜No, that would be impossible, Jean-Baptiste: the other one never denounces himself.’
    â€˜But Number One couldn’t confess, because he didn’t know about the murder.’
    â€˜That’s the point. For a few moments, the dissociation stopped working and the barrier between the two selves opened up, like a crack in a wall. And, through the crack, Hubert Number One saw the other one, Hubert Number Two, and was overcome with horror.’
    â€˜And that sometimes happens?’
    â€˜Hardly ever. But dissociation is rarely perfect. There are always a few leaks. Odd words leap from one side of the wall to the other. The murderer doesn’t notice, but an analyst can surprise them. And if the jump is too abrupt, it can cause a breakdown, a personality crash. That’s what happened to Hubert Sandrin.’
    â€˜What about the nurse?’
    â€˜Her wall has stayed intact. She has no idea what she’s done.’
    Adamsberg seemed to be thinking, rubbing his cheek with his finger.
    â€˜That surprises me,’ he said quietly. ‘It seemed to me she knew perfectly well why I was arresting her. She came along like a lamb, without a word.’
    â€˜Part of her did, which explains her consent. But she has no memory of her actions.’
    â€˜Tell me something. How did the guy in Le Havre find out about his other self?’
    Ariane smiled broadly, flicking her cigarette ash to the ground.
    â€˜It was because of you and your rats. At the time, the local press made a bit of a song and dance about them.’
    â€˜Yes, I remember.’
    â€˜Well, Hubert Number Two, the murderer – let’s call him Omega – had kept newspaper cuttings, out of sight of Hubert Number One – let’s call him Alpha.’
    â€˜Until Alpha found the cuttings that Omega had hidden away?’
    â€˜Exactly.’
    â€˜Do you think Omega had wanted that to happen?’
    â€˜No. Alpha simply moved house. The cuttings fell out of a cupboard. And it detonated the explosion.’
    â€˜So if it hadn’t been for my rats,’ Adamsberg summed up quietly, ‘Sandrin wouldn’t have denounced himself. Without his case, you wouldn’t have started working on dissociation. Every psychiatrist and detective in France knows about your