The Methods of Maigret ( PDFDrive )

should have kept your letter, don’t you think?”
Maigret didn’t find it so very surprising. He would have liked to talk about it
with Mr. Pyke, whose bathing trunks were drying in patches.
“Do you want to see the hut? I’ve shut it but I’ve got the key in my pocket; I
shall have to give it back to the fishermen, as they need it.”
No huts for the moment. Maigret was hungry. And he was also anxious to see
his English colleague in less informal attire. It made him feel awkward, for no
very definite reason. He was not accustomed to conducting a case with a man in
swimming trunks.
He needed some more white wine. It was decidedly a tradition on the island.
Mr. Pyke went upstairs to dress and returned without a tie, with open collar, like
Lechat, and he had found time to procure, probably at the mayor’s grocery, a
pair of blue espadrilles.
The fishermen, who would have liked to speak to him, still didn’t dare. The
Arche had two rooms: the room where the bar was, and a smaller one with tables
covered with red check tablecloths. These were laid. Two tables away, Charlot
was busy sampling sea urchins.
Once again he raised a hand in salute as he looked at Maigret. Then he added
idly:
“How goes?”
They had spent several hours, perhaps an entire night, alone together in
Maigret’s office five or six years before. The Chief Inspector had forgotten his
real name. Everyone knew him as Charlot.
He did a little bit of everything, procuring girls for licensed brothels in the
Midi, smuggling cocaine and other goods; he dabbled in horses too, and at
election time became one of the most active electioneering agents on the coast.
He was meticulous in his personal appearance, with measured gestures, an
imperturbable calm, an ironical twinkle in his eye.
“Do you like Mediterranean cooking, Mr. Pyke?”
“I don’t know it.”
“Do you want to try it?”
“With pleasure.”
And Paul, the proprietor, suggested:
“Some small birds, to start with? I’ve a few cooked on the spit, brought in this
morning.” They were robin redbreasts, Paul unfortunately announced as he
served the Englishman, who could not help gazing tenderly at his plate.