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XXII
Commissioner Aubry took hold of the enormous preserved albatross.
 Tied to the bird's neck with a green ribbon hung a photograph of the boy, with the inscription: To my beloved parents, remembered by Miguel. In the breast's whiteness I saw accumulated all of the longing for those days in which the light, "the gods' shadow," illuminates the whole coastal world like crystal; days which, for us, seemed once for all buried under the sandstorm.
In the same cage, wrapped in a page from a newspaper, we found a small quantity of arsenic. For about twenty minutes now, Commissioner Aubry, Andrea and I had been searching Miguel's room. The commissioner asked Andrea, "Do you think Miguel could preserve a bird like this all by himself?"
"I think so," the woman replied. "He has spent his life--"
"Why would he want to hide it?" Aubry interrupted.
"He knew it disgusted me. While living in this house, he was not allowed to execute animals. We had forbidden it. I believe you have to repress the cruelty of children."
Aubry showed her the packet of arsenic. "Did you know he had this poison?"
She had not known. She had not known that arsenic was employed in taxidermy and in the preservation of algae.
The commissioner told her she could go. We remained alone, considering the possible links of these discoveries to Mary's death. But there was a fatal lacuna in the relation of cause and effect that we were attempting to establish. Arsenic was not the poison which had killed Mary.
It had been necessary for Dr. Cornejo to testify to the boy's atrocious kiss to make the commissioner fully understand my vehemence regarding the preserved bird. From that moment, he gave me the respect I had earned. Aubry consulted me about everything. One might object to this manner of investigation. Why did Aubry not take fingerprints? Why did he not order an autopsy? Only a country detective, one will add, would select an unknown as his confidant. But it is not difficult to reply to these quibbles. Fingerprinting would do little to help (without doubt, the commissioner would find the prints of all of us); the autopsy would simply prove what everyone knew (that Mary had died of strychnine poisoning); finally, I am not a stranger. Aubry's approach to things, as within a family, had its advantages: confidence is created, the suspect gradually forgets to be cautious.
Manning, with ridiculous timidity, knocked at the door. He had something important -- he dared to pronounce the word important -- to declare. Gratefully I heard the commissioner's response, "I ask you to defer your revelation till we have had tea."
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