The Day of the Jackal

During their scheduled meeting, the heads of the security services rule out the potential foreign assassins, prompting angry scrutiny from Colonel Saint-Clair. He mocks Lebel’s “pure detective work” (265), but the meeting is interrupted by a telephone call for Lebel from Bryn Thomas. Thomas’s team has found the name, Charles Calthrop. Later that night, Saint-Clair de Villauban brags about this to Jacqueline, who passes the information to Valmy. In Britain, Thomas continues his investigation. His team search Calthrop’s apartment; they are told that he left to fish in the Scottish Highlands. They find a passport confirming that Calthrop was in the Dominican Republic when the dictator was killed. Thomas knows how the Jackal obtained the fake passport, so he orders a thorough search of all available records. Eventually, they uncover Alexander Duggan as the likely false identity and tell Lebel.

Meanwhile, the Jackal approaches a border crossing between Italy and France. After a “brief moment of anxiety” (271), he passes through under the name Alexander Duggan. His car is not checked; his rifle and false identities are not found. He continues leisurely through France. He arrives in Cannes, appearing to the locals as “an English gentleman” (273). During his routine call with Valmy, however, he learns about Lebel’s progress.