Chapter 27

Summary

• Breitwieser spends a troubled night in a Swiss basement holding cell in the police station from where he was detained before.
• The next morning, a police inspector named Roland Meier pays him a visit.
• Meier assumes Breitwieser to be a petty thief seeking to profit off lightly protected museums.
• He questions Breitwieser about the disappearance of a bugle from the Wagner Museum.
• Despite denial from Breitwieser, Meier, who prefers patience and persistence, reveals the events of the theft day.
• An employee at the museum noticed the missing bugle after seeing a man engaging in suspicious behavior.
• Breitwieser shows signs of distress after hearing that the evidence against him was already collected before he could tamper it.
• Meier attempts to coax a confession out of Breitwieser by bluffing about the fingerprints found in the crime scene and assertions about him being spotted on the night of the theft.
• Breitwieser, realising the inspector's lies, continues to deny his involvement.
• Breitwieser has an idea to let his accomplice stealthily return the stolen bugle, believing it can help him get away. However, he discovers he can't make phone calls as he's a high-security inmate.
• Inspector Meier grows suspicious of Breitwieser's composed behaviour and thinks he might be a serial art thief.
• Permission is granted to Meier to keep Breitwieser in high-security cells and to carry out an international search of his house in France.