OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

154 MAINLY MAIGRET
" I don't imagine anything," muttered Maigret. " Ym simply
investigating, eliminating. And, so for, you're the only person who
can be logically eliminated—that is, unless Duclos or your sister
were shielding you."
" You . •. you . .."
But Maigret went on talking to himself:
" Duclos could have fired the shot either from his room or the
bathroom. That's obvious. +.. Madame Popinga, for her part,
could have fired from the bathroom. But the professor was there
within a few seconds, and he saw nobody. . . . When he did see her,
it was coming out of her own room a moment later...."
Any seemed to be getting over her shyness. These technical considerations
seemed to reassure her. The angular half-fledged woman
was giving way to the fully fledged graduate in Law.
" The shot could have been fired from below," she said, her eye
brightening, her thin body tense. " The doctor says ..."
" Whatever he says doesn't alter the fact that the revolver which
killed your brother-in-law is the one Duclos was holding in his
hand . . . unless, of course, the murderer threw it up through the
bathroom window on to the sill inside,..."
" Why not? "
"Indeed! Why not?"
And Maigret turned, without waiting for her to lead the way,
and went down the stairs, which seemed too narrow for him, and
whose steps creaked beneath his weight.
He found Madame Popinga standing in the dining-room, apparently
not having moved since he left her. Any followed him i nto
the room.
" Did Cornelius come here often? "
" Nearly every day. He only had lessons three days a week,
Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. But he'd come just the same
the other days. . . . His parents live in India. ... It was only a
month ago that he learned of his mother's death. She was buried,
of course, long before he got the letter.... So we tried .. ."
" And Beetje Liewens? "
There was an awkward pause. Madame Popinga looked at Any
Any stared at the floor.
" She used to come...."
" Often? "
" Yes."
" Did you invite her? "