Summary

The narrator, Jean Eyben, tells the story of his past in the past-tense from a narrative present almost 50 years after the events of the novel, which take place during the days he spent working at the Hutte Detective Agency when he was in his early 20’s. He tells readers that his only reminder of the agency is a blank case file he stole off Hutte’s desk and slipped into his briefcase on the day he quit.

His first assignment from Hutte had been to go to an apartment building on Rue de la Convention in the 15th arrondissement and ask the concierge if she had heard from Noëlle Lefebvre, a woman who had disappeared and who might have been living with a fake identity in the first place. Next, he was supposed to go to the post office with her general delivery...