OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

112 MAINLY MAIGRET
me away. For money, of course. You'd do anything for money,
wouldn'c you? "
" Oh, stop that damned nonsense! "
"And I should have guessed that was your game when you
tricked me into coming here."
She raised her arm to slap him, but he looked so frail and
wretched in his draggled pyjamas that she let it fall again;
"Get dressed!"
" Don't you order me about! I'll do what I damn' well please—
and I warn you you'll regret it!" He watched Sylvie from the
corner of an eye to see what effect his threat had had on her, but
she had her back to him apd was staring out of the window.
On the previous evening she had been summoned to the headquarters
of the Brussels Silrete and confronted by three police
officers. Two of them were smoking pipes. The detective who
had questioned her at the cabaret was sitting on a corner of the
table, beside a Belgian Police Superintendent. The third man,
w r ho kept pacing up and down the room, was a member of the
Paris Surete.
" Take your seat, Mademoiselle. Now let's hear why you told
us all those lies. ..."
She had found time to glance at the papers strewn on the table
and to notice a letter headed: Station Cafi, Charleroi.
With an effort she conjured up a smile, an air of injured
innocence.
" And wouldn't you have done the same thing in my place? "
she asked breezily.
The three men exchanged glances; then they too grinned, taken
by her effrontery.
For three days Sylvie had been expecting this to happen. She
knew the porter at the Palace had seen her taking away Elie's
luggage; and not only the porter but the boots, who had helped to
load it into the taxi. And as it's always the same taxis that use the
rank outside a big hotel, there had been no difficulty in tracing the
one she'd taken. The trail led to Charleroi, first to the Station Cafe,
then to No. 53, Rue du Laveu.
" Is he still lodging with youf parents? "
" I haven't a notion.... And that's the gospel truth."
" Are you aware that we could arrest you for aiding and abetting?
"
Her eyelids fluttered; she smiled again.