Mejzlik’s Case

“Listen, Mr. Dastych,” Detective Captain Mejzlik said pensively , “the truth of the matter is that I’ve come to you for advice. I have a certain case I don’t know what on earth to do about.”

“Out with it then,” said Mr. Dastych. “Whom does the case concern?”

“Me,” sighed Dr. Mejzlik. “The more I think about it, the less I understand it. You know, a person could go crazy just thinking about it.”

“So who did what to you?” Mr. Dastych asked in a soothing voice.

“Nobody,” Dr. Mejzlik burst out. “That’s the worst part of it. I myself did something that I don’t understand.”

“Perhaps it’s not all that bad,” old Dastych consoled him. “Just what did you do, young man?”

“I caught a safecracker,” Dr. Mejzlik answered gloomily.

“And that’s all?” “That’s all.”

“And perhaps he wasn’t the right safecracker,” Mr. Dastych said helpfully.

“But he was; in fact he’s already confessed. He broke into the safe at the Jewish Benevolent Association; did you hear about it? His name was Rozanowski or Rosenbaum or something, from Lvov,” grumbled Dr. Mejzlik. “They found the safecracking tools on him and everything.”

“Well then, what would you like to know?” old Dastych encouraged him.

“I would like to know,” the police captain began thoughtfully, “how it was I caught him. Wait, I’ll tell you just what happened. A month ago, it was March third, I was on duty till midnight. I don’t know if you remember, but it had been raining for three days straight.

So I stopped in at a coffee shop for a moment, and after that I meant to go right home, to Vinohrady. But instead of that I headed in the opposite direction, toward Dlazdena Street. Tell me, please, do you have any idea why I went straight to that part of town?”

“Perhaps it was merely by chance,” Mr. Dastych ventured.

“Listen, in that kind of weather a person doesn’t drag his feet through the streets merely by chance. I’d like to know what, by all that’s holy, I was doing there. What do you think, could it have been some kind of premonition? You know, something like telepathy?”

“Aha,” said Mr. Dastych. “It’s entirely possible.”

“So you see,” Dr. Mejzlik said worriedly. “There we have it. But it could also have been some kind of subconscious notion that made me drop by to see what was happening at The Three Maidens.”

“That’s that cheap dive on Dlazdena Street,” Mr. Dastych recalled.