OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

234 MAINLY MAIGRET
" The cap was an after-thought, and, as I said before, it was
just one thing too many. It spoilt the picture. But, seeing it
lying there on board Oosting's boat, she was suddenly tempted
to add a final clue. Getting rid of Cor for a second, she snatched
it up.
" Even then, she was perhaps only toying with the idea of
murder, getting a vindictive satisfaction out of the idea that she
could kill him, that he was in her power. . . . But wasn't the whole
evening conspiring to drive her forward?
" Conrad and Beetje holding hands during the lecture. Conrad
and Beetje laughing, talking, dancing together. Conrad and Beetje
riding off together. Always Conrad and Beetje! .. .
" Everything drifted on according to plan. The two rode off
together. Madame Popinga and the professor were in their rooms.
The hint was dropped, and Madame Popinga was peering out into
the darkness, her heart standing still. . . .
" Then Any slips by in her combinations. . . . She has only to
wait in the bathroom till Conrad comes round to the back widi
his bicycle. She waits. She shoots. She jumps into the bath and pulls
down the lid. . . .
" Duclos dashes in, picks up the revolver, then runs downstairs,
meeting Madame Popinga on the way. And when Any joins them
in her combinations isn't it obvious that she has rushed straight
out of her room? In her combinations! Don't forget that. For her
prudery has always been proverbial."
•
Drearily Maigret went on with the story:
" Only Oosting knew. He was standing in the cabin of his boat,
looking through one of the port-holes at the people going by. He
saw Any take the cap. . . .
" He was Conrad's friend. Wouldn't he be the first to avenge
him? Not a bit of it! Respect for his dead friend. Respect for the
name of Popinga. No scandal must be allowed to come near it.
And not only did he hold his tongue, but he even prompted Cor to
make a false statement to the police, designed to throw the blame
on some foreign sailor.
" As for the others, they all suspected different people. Liewens,
for instance, after seeing his daughter's letters, began to suspect her.
Thinking I was going to arrest her, he tried to shoot himself.