26. A Crime Solved, With a Bizarre Twist
Detective Robert Ledru went to the beach to investigate the crime scene, and noticed footprints leading up to and away from the corpse. After he examined them, he seemed troubled and remarked that they looked familiar. He ordered plaster casts made of the clearest footprints. When that was done, he sat right there on the beach and looked at the plaster cast footprints for hours. Finally, he got up and told the gathered gendarmes that there was no need for further investigation, as he had solved the crime and found the killer. There was a bizarre twist, however: the killer was none other than himself.
For the life of him, Ledru told the stunned listeners, he had no memory of shooting the victim. However, one of the footprints had a missing big toe and matched that of Ledru’s, who was missing a big toe. There was also an empty chamber in his revolver, which was always kept fully loaded. Finally, there were the wet shoes and socks he woke with that morning. From all the preceding, Ledru concluded that he had been sleepwalking on the beach that night, when he encountered and shot the victim.
