Bérenger finds evidence against the Killer and tries to report him

Bérenger finds evidence against the Killer and tries to report him in a scene where an accidental spill turns a companion’s briefcase into a cache of photographs, identity papers, names, and diary entries. The discoveries connect the repeated image of the Colonel to the Killer’s approach to victims, including Dany, and prompt Bérenger to act. But the evidence does not reach the authorities: the briefcase goes missing, and an Old Man says it was left at home. The sequence makes the attempt to expose the murders depend not only on what Bérenger uncovers, but on whether he can keep the proof in hand long enough to report it.

The briefcase spills its contents

Bérenger begins from reluctance rather than investigative purpose. Emotionally exhausted and depressed, he would rather have gone to bed, but agrees to accompany Édouard for a while because Édouard wants him to come. As they prepare to leave, Édouard puts on his black-ribboned felt hat and dark overcoat, while Bérenger also dons his hat. Édouard picks up the heavy, bulging black briefcase. Walking ahead, Bérenger turns his back as Édouard lifts the case over a table; it opens, and photographs spill out. The discovery begins by accident, before Bérenger knows what the case contains.

The photographs show a uniformed army officer with a moustache, decorations, and a Military Cross. Bérenger recognizes the same face across several images and identifies the familiar picture as the Colonel’s photograph. Édouard confirms that the man is a Colonel and seems to reach for the pictures while more keep pouring onto the table. Bérenger instead takes control of the inspection, plunging into the case for further photographs. His description of one image as having an expression that makes a viewer feel sorry for the man gives the picture a human appeal that contrasts with its role as an instrument in the murders.

A trail of names and planned killings

The photographs are only part of the evidence. Bérenger finds an address, an identity card, and a photograph of the man he identifies as the Killer. The latter image is clipped to the Colonel’s photograph, physically joining the suspected killer’s identity to the image already found in the case. He also discovers an address book containing the names and addresses of the Killer’s victims. The evidence moves from a recurring picture to an apparent identity and then to a record of people targeted; Bérenger concludes that the documents could enable the authorities to catch him.

Édouard then produces a small box, which Bérenger opens. Inside is a private diary. Its dated entries record a sequence of intended and completed acts: on January 13, the writer says he will kill; the entry for January 14 describes pushing an old woman wearing gold-rimmed spectacles into a lake the previous evening. Later entries report days with no one to kill, on January 23 and January 25. An entry dated January 26 recalls persuading two people to look at the Colonel’s photograph near the pool, while a February entry anticipates persuading a young blonde girl whom the writer has been pursuing to look at it. Bérenger recognizes that the girl must be Dany, his fiancée. The diary therefore connects the lure represented by the Colonel’s photograph to the Killer’s method and reveals that Dany had been singled out as a prospective victim.

From discovery to attempted report

The diary’s precision sharpens Bérenger’s urgency. After reading the recorded plans, he notes a time down to the second: twenty-three hours, nine minutes, and two seconds. Édouard remarks on the Killer’s attention to time, with a mixture of admiration and indifference. Bérenger turns that precision into a deadline of his own: they must notify the police, and they must hurry because the Prefecture offices close before nightfall. He fears the Killer may change his plan before the following day, so proposes that they go quickly to see the Architect, the Superintendent, and show the proof. Édouard observes that Bérenger is becoming a man of action. The change is visible in Bérenger’s insistence on converting private discovery into an official report.

That intention does not immediately secure the evidence. When Bérenger prepares to go, he notices that Édouard, who is painfully getting to his feet, no longer has the briefcase. Édouard first asks what briefcase Bérenger means, then remembers it and looks on the bench, where it is not. Bérenger points out that Édouard always carries it. The missing container matters because the photographs and papers Bérenger wants to show the authorities were gathered from it; without the case, the newly assembled proof is no longer available to him in the scene.

The proof slips out of reach

Later, an Old Man tells Bérenger that he should have said he was looking for his friend’s briefcase with the documents, and claims to know where it is. As a Policeman blows a whistle between two military trucks and orders people to move along, the Old Man says Édouard must have left the briefcase at home in the hurry to leave. Bérenger asks how he knew; Édouard agrees that the Old Man is right and asks whether he had been watching them. The explanation places the case not at the scene of discovery but back at home, while the exchange offers no account of whether Bérenger eventually manages to retrieve it or notify the police.

The episode thus gives Bérenger unusually concrete evidence—a linked pair of photographs, an identity card, addresses, and a dated record of killings—then interrupts the straightforward passage from evidence to justice. His resolve is clear, and the urgency is tied to both office hours and the Killer’s timetable; the outcome of the attempted report remains unresolved in this sequence. The briefcase becomes the hinge between revelation and action: it carries the proof into view, then its absence obstructs the very effort that the discovery sets in motion.