OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

264 MAINLY MAIGRET
4. Under the Sign of Mars
" I' MYSELF," said the Fecamp Superintendent of Police, sharpening
a blue pencil," must confess I haven't any illusions. It's very seldom
that one clears up these sea affairs. Just suppose you try to find out
the real truth about one of these common squabbles that break out
every day in port. When my men arrive on the scene they're hard
at it. But when they see the uniforms they all get together and turn
on them. Question them; they all lie. They contradict each other.
They complicate matters to such an extent that finally one just
gives up. ..."
There were four of them smoking in the office, which was already
filled with tobacco-smoke. It was evening. The superintendent of
the Le Havre Brigade Mobile, who was officially in charge of the
case, was accompanied by a young inspector.
Maigret was there in a private capacity. Seated in a corner beside
a table, he had said nothing.
" But it seems quite simple to me!" ventured the young inspector,
hoping to gain his chief's approval. " Robbery wasn't the
motive. Therefore it was a case of revenge. Who was Captain Fallut
most severe with in the course of the trip? "
But the superintendent from Le Havre shrugged his shoulders
and the inspector relapsed into silence, blushing.
" And yet. .."
" No, my boy, no. There's something else. First of all, this
woman you've unearthed, Maigret. You've given full particulars
so that the police can find her again? For instance, I can't quite
place her role. .. . The boat was away three months. She wasn't
even there when they went off, since no one notified us. . . . The
operator is engaged to be married... . Captain Fallut, from all
accounts, doesn't seem the sort of man to do anything foolish. . . .
And yet he drew up his will just before he was murdered."
" It would also be interesting to know who took the trouble to
bring the will here," sighed Maigret. " There's a little journalist,
the one who always wears a beige mackintosh, who declares in the
Eclair de Rouen that the Ocdan was sent by her owners on a mission
quite other than cod-fishing...."
"They say that every time!" growled the Fecamp superintendent.
The conversation languished. There was a long silence in which