The Methods of Maigret ( PDFDrive )
stayed, perhaps even wrote home for their wifes or fiancées to come out.“Would you like me to bring them in one by one, Chief? Who do you want tostart with?”It was all the same to him.“I see the young De Greef crossing the square with his girl friend. Shall I goand get him?”He was being rushed and he didn’t dare protest. He had the consolation ofnoting that his colleague was as sluggish as he was.“These witnesses you are going to interview,” he asked, “are they summonedofficially?”“Not at all. They come because they are willing to. They have the right toreply or not. Most of the time they prefer to reply, but they can always demandthe presence of a lawyer.”It must have been spread around that the Chief Inspector was at the town hall,for groups of people, as in the morning, were forming in the square. Some wayaway, beneath the eucalyptus trees, Lechat was in animated conversation with acouple who finally followed him. A mimosa was growing just beside the doorand its sweet scent mingled strangely with the musty smell which pervaded theroom.“I suppose, with you, all this is more formal?”“Not always. Often, in the country or in small towns, the coroner’s inquest isheld in the back room of an inn.”De Greef seemed all the more fair because his skin was as bronzed as a Tahitinative’s. All he wore in the way of clothes was a pair of pale shorts andespadrilles, while his companion had a sunsuit covering her torso.“You wish to speak to me?” he asked suspiciously.And Lechat reassuringly:“Come in! Chief Inspector Maigret has to question everyone. It’s justroutine.”The Dutchman spoke French with hardly any accent. He had a net bag in hishand. The two of them were probably going shopping at the Co-operative whenthe Inspector had interrupted them.“Have you been living long aboard your boat?”“Three years. Why?”“No reason. you’re a painter, they tell me? Do you sell your pictures?”“When the occasion presents itself.”
“Does it often do so?”“It’s rather rare. I sold a canvas to Mrs. Wilcox last week.”“Do you know her well?”“I met her here.”Lechat came over to speak to Maigret in a low voice. He wanted to know if heshould go and fetch Monsieur Émile, and the Chief Inspector nodded his assent.“What sort of a person is she?”“Mrs. Wilcox? She’s fantastic.”“What does that mean?”“Nothing. I might have met her in Montparnasse, for she passes through Parisevery winter. We found we had friends in common.”“Have you often been to Montparnasse?”“I lived in Paris for a year.”“With your boat?”“We tied up at the Pont Marie.”“Are you rich?”“I haven’t a penny.”“Tell me: exactly how old is your girl friend?”“Eighteen and a half.”The latter, her hair falling over her face, her sunsuit molded to her figure,looked like a young savage and watched Maigret and Mr. Pyke with blazingeyes.“You aren’t married?”“No.”“Do her parents object?”“They know she’s been living with me.”“Since when?”“Two and a half years.”“In other words, she was only just sixteen when she became your mistress?”The word didn’t shock either of them.“Have her parents ever tried to get her back?”“They’ve tried several times. She came back.”“So they’ve given up?”
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- Page 16 and 17: CHAPTER 2« ^ »And so the first ro
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“Does it often do so?”
“It’s rather rare. I sold a canvas to Mrs. Wilcox last week.”
“Do you know her well?”
“I met her here.”
Lechat came over to speak to Maigret in a low voice. He wanted to know if he
should go and fetch Monsieur Émile, and the Chief Inspector nodded his assent.
“What sort of a person is she?”
“Mrs. Wilcox? She’s fantastic.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing. I might have met her in Montparnasse, for she passes through Paris
every winter. We found we had friends in common.”
“Have you often been to Montparnasse?”
“I lived in Paris for a year.”
“With your boat?”
“We tied up at the Pont Marie.”
“Are you rich?”
“I haven’t a penny.”
“Tell me: exactly how old is your girl friend?”
“Eighteen and a half.”
The latter, her hair falling over her face, her sunsuit molded to her figure,
looked like a young savage and watched Maigret and Mr. Pyke with blazing
eyes.
“You aren’t married?”
“No.”
“Do her parents object?”
“They know she’s been living with me.”
“Since when?”
“Two and a half years.”
“In other words, she was only just sixteen when she became your mistress?”
The word didn’t shock either of them.
“Have her parents ever tried to get her back?”
“They’ve tried several times. She came back.”
“So they’ve given up?”
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