OU_214051 UNIVERSA - Osmania University

3o2 MAINLY MAIGRET
be carrying contraband. Oh! nothing will persuade me to go on
board a fishing-boat again! . . . Consider that it went on for three
months. And then the finish! . .. One killed the moment we
arrived. The other ... It is true that he's not dead, isn't it? "
They had come to the end of the quay, and the woman hung
back.
'* Where is Gaston Buzier? "
" At the hotel. He knows that it's no time to be bothering me
and that for two pins I'd leave him. ..."
" Are you going back to him? "
She shrugged her shoulders in a gesture which implied:
" Why not? "
A trace of her coquettish manner reappeared. As she left Maigret,
she murmured with a strained smile:
" Thank you, Inspector. You've been very good to me. I . . ."
She did not dare finish. But it was an invitation and a promise.
" All right! All right! " he growled as he hurried off.
And he pushed open the door of the Rendezvous des Terre-
Neuvas.
•
With his hand on the handle he could hear quite clearly a confused
noise from inside the cafe, as if about a dozen men were
talking at once.
But as soon as the door was open, there was a complete silence,
without any transition. And yet there were more than ten people
in the room, in two or three groups, who must have been shouting
across to each other from table to table.
The proprietor came up to Maigret and shook hands, not without
a certain embarrassment.
" Is it true what they're saying, that Le Clinche has shot
himself? "
His customers were suddenly very busy with their drinks. P'tit
Louis was there, the Negro, the Breton, the chief engineer, as well
as some others whom the inspector was beginning to know by sight.
" It's true! " said Maigret.
And he noticed that the chief engineer stirred uneasily on the
bench, which was upholstered in oil-cloth.
" A fine trip!" growled a voice from one corner in a strong
Norman accent.