Inspector maigret omnibu.., p.41
Inspector Maigret Omnibus, Volume 1, page 41
Before starting down the gangway, she looked back with eyes full of hate at the dark ship, which was no longer the same to her now that she knew that a woman had been hiding on board.
Madame Maigret watched her, intrigued.
‘Come! You mustn’t cry! You know everything will all turn out all right.’
‘No, it won’t,’ she said with a despairing shake of her head.
She couldn’t speak. She could hardly breathe. She tried to look at the boat one more time. Madame Maigret, who did not understand what was going on, looked inquiringly at her husband.
‘Take her back to the hotel. Try and calm her down.’
‘Did something happen?’
‘Nothing specific. I expect I’ll be back quite late.’
He watched them walk away. Marie Léonnec turned round a dozen times, and Madame Maigret had to drag her away like a child.
Maigret thought about going back on board. But he was thirsty. There were still lights on in the Grand Banks Café.
Four sailors were playing cards at a table. Near the counter, a young cadet had his arm round the waist of the serving girl, who giggled from time to time.
The landlord was watching the card game and was offering suggestions.
He greeted Maigret with: ‘Hello! You back again?’
He did not look overjoyed to see him. The very opposite. He seemed rather put out.
‘Look sharp, Julie! Serve the inspector! Whatever’s your poison. It’s on me.’
‘Thanks. But if it’s all the same to you, I’ll order like any other customer.’
‘I didn’t want to get on the wrong side of you … I …’
Was the day going to end with the mark of rage still on it? One of the sailors muttered something in his Norman dialect which Maigret translated roughly as:
‘Watch out, I smell more trouble.’
The inspector looked him in the eye. The man reddened then stammered:
‘Clubs trumps!’
‘You should have played a spade,’ declared Louis for something to say.
5. Adèle and Friend
The phone rang. Léon snatched the receiver, then called Maigret. It was for him.
‘Hello?’ said a bored voice on the other end of the line. ‘Detective Chief Inspector Maigret? It’s the duty desk officer at Fécamp police station. I’ve just phoned your hotel. I was told you might be at the Grand Banks Café. I’m sorry to disturb you, sir. I’ve been glued to the phone for half an hour. I can’t get hold of the chief anywhere. As for the head of the Flying Squad, I’m wondering if he’s still actually here in Fécamp … Thing is, I’ve got a couple of odd customers who’ve just turned up saying they want to make statements, all very urgent, apparently. A man and a woman …’
‘Did they come in a grey car?’
‘Yes, sir. Are they the pair you’re looking for?’
Ten minutes later, Maigret was at the police station. All the offices were closed except for the inquiries area, a room divided in two by a counter. Behind it the duty officer was writing. He smoked as he wrote. A man was waiting. He was sitting on a bench, elbows on knees, chin in his hands.
And a woman was walking up and down, beating a tattoo on the floorboards with her high heels
The moment the inspector appeared, she walked right up to him, and the man got to his feet with a sigh of relief and growled between gritted teeth:
‘And not a minute too soon!’
It was indeed the couple from Yport, both a little crosser than during the domestic shouting-match Maigret had sat through.
‘Come next door with me.’
Maigret showed them into the office of the chief inspector, sat down in his chair and filled a pipe while he took a good look at the pair.
‘Take a seat.’
‘No thanks,’ said the woman, who was clearly the more highly strung of the two. ‘What I’ve got to say won’t take long.’
He now had a frontal view of her, lit by a strong electric light. He did not need to look too hard to situate her type. Her picture with the head removed had been enough.
A good-looking girl, in the popular sense of the expression. A girl with alluring curves, good teeth, an inviting smile and a permanent come-hither look in her eye.
More accurately, a real bitch, a tease, on the make, always ready to create a scandal or burst into gales of loud, vulgar laughter.
Her blouse was pink silk. To it was pinned a large gold brooch as big as a 100-sou coin.
‘First off, I want to say …’
‘Excuse me,’ interrupted Maigret. ‘Please sit down as I’ve already asked. You will answer my questions.’
She scowled. Her mouth turned ugly.
‘Look here! You’re forgetting I’m here because I’m prepared to …’
Her companion scowled, irritated by her behaviour. They were made for each other. He was every inch the kind who is always seen with girls like her. His appearance was not exactly sinister. He was respectably dressed, though in bad taste. He wore large rings on his fingers and a pearl pin in his tie. Even so, the effect was disturbing. Perhaps because he gave off a sense of existing outside the established social norms.
He was the type to be found at all times of day in bars and brasseries, drinking cheap champagne with working girls and living in third-class hotels.
‘You first. Name, address, occupation …’
He started to get to his feet.
‘Sit down.’
‘I just want to say …’
‘Just say nothing. Name?’
‘Gaston Buzier. At present, I’m in the business of selling and renting out houses. I’m based mainly in Le Havre, in the Silver Ring Hotel.’
‘Are you a registered property agent?’
‘No, but …’
‘Do you work for an agency?’
‘Not exactly …’
‘That’s enough. In a word you dabble … What did you do before?’
‘I was a commercial traveller for a make of bicycle. I also sold sewing machines out in the sticks.’
‘Convictions?’
‘Don’t tell him, Gaston!’ the woman broke in. ‘You’ve got a nerve! It was us who came here to …’
‘Be quiet! Two convictions. One suspended for passing a dud cheque. For the other I got two months for not handing over to the owner an instalment I’d received on a house. Small-time stuff, as you see.’
Even so, he gave the impression that he was used to having to deal with policemen. He stayed relaxed, with something in his eye that suggested he could turn nasty.
‘You next,’ said Maigret, turning to the woman.
‘Adèle Noirhomme. Born in Belleville.’
‘On the Vice Squad register?’
‘I was put on it five years ago in Strasbourg because some rich cow had it in for me on account of me having snatched her husband off her … But ever since …’
‘… you’ve never been bothered by the police! … Fine! … Now tell me in what capacity you signed on for a cruise on the Océan.’
‘First we’d better explain,’ the man replied, ‘because if we’re here, it means we’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. At Yport, Adèle told me you had a picture of her. She was sure you were going to arrest her. Our first thought was to hop it so we wouldn’t get into trouble. Because we both know the score. When we got to Étretat, I saw policemen stopping cars up ahead and I knew they’d go on looking for us. So I decided to come in voluntarily.’
‘Now you, lady! I asked what you were doing on board the trawler.’
‘Dead simple! I was following my boyfriend.’
‘Captain Fallut?’
‘Yes, the captain. I’d been with him, so to say, since last November. We met in Le Havre, in a bar. He fell for me. He used to come back to see me two or three times a week. Though from the start I thought he was a bit odd, because he never asked me to do anything. It’s true! He was ever so prissy, everything had to be just so! He set me up in a room in a nice little hotel, and I started thinking that if I played my cards right he’d end up marrying me. Sailors don’t get rich, but it’s steady money, and there’s a pension.’
‘Did you ever come to Fécamp with him?’
‘No. He wouldn’t have that. It was him who came to me. He was jealous. He was a decent enough sort who can’t have been around much because he was fifty and was as shy with women as a schoolboy. That plus the fact that he’d got me under his skin …’
‘Just a moment. Were you already the mistress of Gaston Buzier?’
‘Sure! But I’d introduced Gaston to Fallut. Said he was my brother.’
‘I see. So in short you were both being subsidized by the captain.’
‘I was working!’ protested Buzier.
‘I can see you now, hard at it every Saturday afternoon. And which of you came up with the scheme for sending you to sea on the boat?’
‘Fallut. He couldn’t bear the thought of leaving me by myself while he was away playing sailors. But he was also scared witless, because the rules about that sort of thing are strict, and he was a stickler for rules. He held out until the very last minute. Then he came and fetched me. The night before he was to set sail, he took me to his cabin. I quite fancied the idea because it made a change. But if I’d known what it was going to be like, I’d have been off like a shot!’
‘Buzier didn’t try to stop you?’
‘He couldn’t make up his mind. Do you understand? We couldn’t go against what the old fool wanted. He’d promised me he’d retire as soon as he got back after that trip and marry me. But the whole set-up was nothing to write home about! It was no fun being cooped up all day in a cabin that stank of fish! And on top of that, every time anybody came in, I had to hide under the bed! We’d been at sea no time when Fallut start regretting he’d taken me along. I never saw a man have the jitters like him! A dozen times a day he’d check to see if he’d locked the door. If I spoke, he shut me up in case anyone overheard. He was grumpy, on pins … Sometimes he’d stare at me for minutes on end as if he was tempted to get rid of me by throwing me overboard.’
Her voice was shrill, and she was waving her arms about.
‘Not to mention the fact that he got more and more jealous! He asked me about my past … he tried to find out … then he’d go three days without talking to me, spying on me like I was his enemy. Then all of a sudden, he’d be madly in love with me again. There were times when I was really scared of him!’
‘Which members of the crew saw you when you were on board?’
‘It was the fourth night. I felt like a breath of air out on deck. I’d had enough of being locked up. Fallut went outside and checked to make sure there was no one about. It was as much as he could do to let me walk five steps up and down. He must have gone up on the bridge for a moment, and it was then that the wireless operator showed up and spoke to me … He was shy but got worked up. Next day he managed to get into my cabin.’
‘Did Fallut see him?’
‘I don’t think so … He didn’t mention anything.’
‘Did you sleep with Le Clinche?’
She did not answer. Gaston Buzier sneered.
‘Admit it!’ he barked in a voice full of spite.
‘I’m free to do as I please! Especially seeing as how you didn’t exactly abstain from female company while I was away! Don’t deny it! Are you forgetting the girl from the Villa des Fleurs? And what about that photo I found in your pocket?’
Maigret sat as solemn and impassive as the oracle.
‘I asked if you slept with the wireless operator.’
‘And I’m telling you to go to blazes!’
She smiled provocatively. Her lips were moist. She knew men desired her. She was counting on the promise of her pouting mouth, her sensuous body.
‘The chief mechanic saw you too.’
‘What’s he been telling you?’
‘Nothing. I’ll recap. The captain kept you hidden in his cabin. Pierre Le Clinche and the chief mechanic would come to you there, on the quiet. Was Fallut aware of this?’
‘No.’
‘Although he had his suspicions and prowled round you and never left you alone except when he absolutely had to.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Did he still talk about marrying you?’
‘I don’t know.’
In his mind’s eye, Maigret saw the trawler, the firemen down in the bunkers, the crew crammed into the foredeck, the wireless room, the captain’s cabin aft, with the raised bed.
And the voyage had lasted three months!
All that time three men had prowled round the cabin where this woman was shut away.
‘I’ve done some pretty stupid things, but that …!’ she exclaimed. ‘Hand on heart, if I had to do it again … A girl should always be on her guard against shy men who talk about marriage!’
‘If you’d listened to me,’ said Gaston Buzier.
‘You shut your trap! If I’d listened to you, I know what kind of accommodation I’d be in now! I don’t want to speak ill of Fallut, because he’s dead. But all the same he was cracked. He had peculiar ideas. He’d have thought he’d done something wrong just because he’d broken some rules. And it went from bad to worse. After a week, he never opened his mouth except to go on at me or ask if anybody had been in the cabin. Le Clinche was the one he was most jealous of. He’d say:
‘“You’d like that, wouldn’t you! A younger man! Say it! Admit that if he came in when I wasn’t here you wouldn’t turn him away!”
‘And he’d laugh so nastily that it hurt.’
‘How many times did Le Clinche come to see you?’ Maigret asked slowly.
‘Oh, all right, the hell with it. Once. On the fourth day. I couldn’t even tell you how it happened. After that, it wasn’t on the cards, because Fallut kept such a close eye on me.’
‘And the mechanic?’
‘Never! But he tried! He’d come and look at me through the porthole. When he did that, he looked as white as a sheet … What sort of life do you think that was? I was like an animal in a cage. When the sea was rough I was sick, and Fallut didn’t even try to look after me. He went for weeks without touching me. Then the urge would come back. He’d kiss me as if he wanted to bite me and held me so tight I thought he was trying to suffocate me.’
Gaston Buzier had lit a cigarette and was now smoking it with a sarcastic expression on his face.
‘Please note, inspector, all this had nothing to do with me. While it was going on, I was working.’
‘Oh give it a rest, will you?’ she said, losing patience.
‘What happened when you got back? Did Fallut tell you that he was intending to kill himself?’
‘What, him? He didn’t say anything. When we got back to port, he hadn’t said a single word to me for two weeks. To tell the truth, I don’t think he spoke to anyone. He’d stay put for hours with his eyes just staring in front of him. Meantime I’d made up my mind to leave him. I was fed up with it all, wasn’t I? I’d have sooner starved to death: I’d never give up my freedom … I heard somebody walking along the quayside. Then he came in the cabin and said just a few words:
‘“Wait here until I come to fetch you.”’
‘Spoken like a captain. Didn’t he ever speak more … fondly?’
‘At the finish, no!’
‘Go on.’
‘I don’t know anything else. Or rather, the rest I learned from Gaston. He was there, down at the harbour.’
‘Talk!’ Maigret ordered the man.
‘Like she said, I was down by the harbour. I saw the crew go into the bar. I waited for Adèle. It was dark. Then after a while, the captain came on shore by himself. There were trucks parked nearby. He started walking, and as he did a man jumped him. I don’t know exactly what happened but there was a noise like a body falling into the water.’
‘Would you recognize the man?’
‘No. It was dark, and the trucks stopped me seeing much.’
‘Which way did he go when he left?’
‘I think he walked along the quay.’
‘And you didn’t see the wireless operator?’
‘I don’t know … I’ve no idea what he looks like.’
‘And you,’ said Maigret, turning to the woman, ‘how did you get off the boat?’
‘Somebody unlocked the door of the cabin where I was shut in. It was Le Clinche. He said:
‘“Go quickly!”’
‘Was that all?’
‘I tried to ask him what was happening. I heard people running along the quayside and a boat with a lantern being rowed across the harbour.
‘“Get going!” he repeated.
‘He pushed me on to the gangway. Everybody was looking the other way. No one paid any attention to me. I had the feeling that something horrible was going on but I preferred to make myself scarce. Gaston was waiting for me a little further along.’
‘And what did the two of you do after that?’
‘Gaston was as white as a sheet. We went into bars and drank rum. We spent the night at the Railway Inn. The next day all the papers were full of the death of Fallut. So first we took ourselves off to Le Havre, just in case. We didn’t want to get mixed up in that business.’
‘But that didn’t stop her wanting to come back and nose around here,’ snapped Gaston. ‘I don’t know whether it was on account of the wireless operator or …’
‘Just shut up! That’s enough! Of course I was curious about what had happened. So we came back here to Fécamp three times. So that we wouldn’t attract attention, we stayed at Yport.’
‘And you never saw the chief mechanic again?’
‘How do you know about that? One day, in Yport … I was scared by the way he looked at me … He followed me quite a long way.’
‘Why were you arguing earlier this afternoon with Gaston?’
She gave a shrug.
‘Because! Look, haven’t you got it yet? He thinks I’m in love with Le Clinche, that the wireless operator killed because of me and I don’t know what else. He keeps going on and on until I’m sick to death of it. I had my fill of scenes on that damned boat …’
‘But when I showed you that photo of you, on the hotel terrace …’
