Professor Dowell's Head by Alexander Beliaev

of the missing woman. The detective examined the scene of the disappearance and the footprints leading to the garden wall. The wall was high and ended in sharp spikes. He shook his head. What a woman! He noticed a piece of gray silk on one of the spikes, picked it up, and carefully put it away in his wallet. 70 Professor DowelVs Head "She was wearing this when she escaped. We'll be looking for a woman in gray." And assuring Kern that he would find "the woman in gray" within twenty-four hours, the detective left. The detective was experienced. He learned the address of Brigitte's last apartment and the addresses of her former girlfriends, talked with them, saw a photograph of Brigitte's at the house of one of them, and found out in which cabarets Brigitte used to perform. Several detectives were sent to the cabarets to look for her. "The bird won't fly far," he said confidently. But two days passed and there was no trace of Brigitte. On the third a habitue of a cafe in Montmartre told a detective that the resurrected Brigitte had been there the night she escaped. But no one knew where she went after that. Kern was more anxious. Now he wasn't worried only that Brigitte would tell his secrets—he was afraid that he would lose his valuable "exhibit" forever. Of course, he could make another one, from the head of Thomas, but that would take time and an enormous amount of energy. And then the new experiment might not work as well. Demonstrating the reanimated dog, naturally, would n