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pressured into giving up his accomplices. Maybe they could crack the case before his planned holiday.
    Achille removed his pince-nez and rubbed his tired eyes. Where are the damned files? He muttered a few expletives, made another futile search for cigarettes, and returned to his routine.

    Rousseau’s files arrived by special courier shortly after nine that evening. The late delivery led Achille to observe that his former partner had taken an overly broad interpretation of “afternoon.” Since his working day had begun at five A.M. , he decided to pack the files in a briefcase and carry them home to review in his study.
    Adele did not greet him with sharp words; rather, she gazed at him with a concerned frown that pricked his conscience. “Are you all right, Achille? You look so tired.”
    â€œI apologize for the late hour, my dear. It’s this new case. I’m afraid I’ve got a bit more work to do before I stop for the day. Please don’t wait up for me.”
    His wife’s concerned frown transformed into a pensive, red-lipped smile. Her soft hand brushed against his bearded cheek; she stood on tiptoe and kissed him gently. “Nonsense, darling,” she whispered. “I’ll see you later in bed.” She turned and disappeared up the shadowy hallway with a rustle of silk, leaving behind a trace of her seductive fragrance. Achille sighed and retired to his study, briefcase in hand.
    An hour later, he turned down the flame on his green-shaded kerosene desk lamp, then removed his pince-nez and blinked his overworked eyes into focus. His perusal of the files had raised more questions than it had answered.
    Kadyshev, Nazimov, and Boguslavsky’s association began in 1869, when the three were students at the Medical Academy in Saint Petersburg. They were “Narodniks,” members of the Chaikovsky Circle, a radical organization formed by Nikolai Chaikovsky. Ostensibly a literary society, the members of the circle sought to foment revolution through the printing and distribution of scientific and revolutionary material. Nazimova was also a member; she met Nazimov early in 1871 and they wed later that year.
    In the early days, the Narodniks used peaceful means—the education of the peasants and workers—to achieve their revolutionary ends, but they were frustrated by the peasants’ resistance and outraged by the brutality and repression of the Tsarist police. Harassed by the Okhrana, Chaikovsky left Russia in 1874. He sojourned in Kansas, living in a religious agrarian commune before returning to Europe to continue his revolutionary activities.
    Kadyshev, Boguslavsky, and the Nazimovs joined the People’s Will, a radical group of Narodniks. In 1881, several members of the People’s Will plotted and carried out the Tsar’s assassination. While there was no evidence linking Kadyshev, Boguslavsky, or the Nazimovs to the plot, they fled Russia to escape the police roundup and persecution that followed the assassination. Then, beginning in Geneva, there was an ideological split among the friends. The Nazimovs became “evolutionary,” non-violent anarchists aligned with the Russian social philosopher Peter Kropotkin, and formed a friendship with the French activist Louise Michel because of their mutual interest in the education (someone, perhaps Rousseau, had noted “indoctrination” and “propaganda” in the margins of their files) of the poor and working classes.
    Boguslavsky was a “revolutionary” anarchist, with an alarming interest in high explosives and electric detonators. Kadyshev was a follower of Karl Marx, which had put him at odds with the anarchists entirely.
    Achille closed the files and returned them to his briefcase. The political ideologies were of interest to him only to the extent they pertained to a motive for murder. According to French law, the anarchists and Marxists had a right to their beliefs and the