The Methods of Maigret ( PDFDrive )
“You must do as you wish,” she sighed finally, as he was putting his hand tothe doorknob.And he felt something like a pang at leaving her all alone, aging, anxious, inthe little bedroom into which the setting sun penetrated through the atticwindow, casting everywhere, on the painted wallpaper and the counterpane, apinkish hue, which looked like the pink of face rouge.“A white wine, Monsieur Maigret!”Noise, all of a sudden, movement. The bowls players, who had finished theirgame on the square, were crowding around the bar and speaking at the tops oftheir voices, with a strong accent. In a corner of the dining room, near thewindow, Mr. Pyke was at table opposite Jef de Greef, and the two men weredeeply engrossed in a game of chess.Beside them on a bench, Anna was sitting smoking a cigarette at the end of along cigarette holder. She had dressed. She wore a small cotton dress underwhich one felt she was as naked as beneath her sunsuit. She had a well-roundedbody, extremely feminine, so expressly made for caressing that despite oneselfone imagined her in bed.De Greef had put on a pair of gray flannel trousers and a sailor’s jersey withblue and white stripes. On his feet he wore rope-soled espadrilles, likepractically everyone else on the island, and that was the first thing the so strictMr. Pyke had bought.Maigret looked around for Lechat but didn’t see him. He was obliged toaccept the glass of wine which Paul was pushing toward him, and the people atthe bar squeezed themselves together to make room for him.“Well, Inspector?”They were appealing to him, and he knew that in a few minutes the ice wouldbe broken. Possibly the islanders had only been waiting since the morning forthis particular moment to make his acquaintance? There was quite a crowd ofthem, about ten at the least, most of them in fishermen’s clothes. Two or threehad a more bourgeois look, probably small tenants.Too bad, whatever Mr. Pyke might think. He had to drink.“You like our island wine?”“Very much.”“But the papers claim you only drink beer. Marcellin said it wasn’t true, thatyou didn’t pull a face at a flagon of Calvados. Poor Marcellin! Your health,Inspector…”Paul, the patron, who knew how these things develop, kept the bottle in his
hand.“It’s right, that he was a friend of yours?”“I knew him once, yes. He wasn’t a bad fellow.”“Certainly not. Is it true what the papers say, that he came from Le Havre?”“Certainly.”“With his accent?”“When I knew him some fifteen years ago he hadn’t got any accent.”“You hear that, Titin? What have I always said?”Four rounds… Five rounds… and words bandied rather at random, for thesake of saying them, like children throwing balls into the air.“What did you feel like eating this evening, Inspector? There is bouillabaisse,of course. But perhaps you don’t like bouillabaisse?”He swore that he liked nothing better, and everyone was delighted. It wasn’tthe moment to get to know personally the people who surrounded him andformed a rather confused mass.“You like pastis as well, the real stuff, which is banned? A pastis all round,Paul! I insist! The Chief Inspector won’t say anything.”Charlot was sitting on the terrace with a pastis in front of him, busy reading apaper.“Have you got any ideas yet?”“Ideas about what?”“Well, about the murderer! Morin-Barbu, who was born on the island andhasn’t left it for seventy years, has never heard o£ anything like it. There havebeen people drowned. A woman from the North, five or six years back, tried todo away with herself by taking sleeping tablets. An Italian sailor, in the course ofan argument, stabbed Baptiste in the arm. But a crime, never, Inspector! Hereeven the bad ones become as gentle as lambs.”Everybody there was laughing, trying to talk, for what counted was to talk, tosay anything, chat over your drink with the famous Maigret.“You’ll understand better when you’ve been here a few days. What you oughtto do is to come and spend your holidays here with the wife. We’d teach you toplay bowls. Isn’t that right, Casimir? Casimir won the Petit Provençalchampionship last year, and you must know what that means.”From the pink it had been a short while ago, the church at the far end of thesquare was becoming violet; the sky was gently turning a pale green and the menbegan to depart one after the other; now and again a shrill woman’s voice could
- Page 2 and 3: The Methods of Maigretalso publishe
- Page 4 and 5: downpours. It had been raining like
- Page 6 and 7: mistaking the question in the Engli
- Page 8 and 9: “Tell me Langlois… By the way,
- Page 10 and 11: friends who is an expert on consump
- Page 12 and 13: to be seen there. Everyone knows ev
- Page 14 and 15: “I don’t know.”It was true. O
- Page 16 and 17: CHAPTER 2« ^ »And so the first ro
- Page 18 and 19: And off they went. The land was fla
- Page 20 and 21: turn: all this in an odd silence.Th
- Page 22 and 23: “Where?”“To the water. Paul l
- Page 24 and 25: is sixty-five. It appears she had h
- Page 26 and 27: should have kept your letter, don
- Page 28 and 29: Paul’s a good chap. But there’s
- Page 30 and 31: wearing a butcher’s yellowish apr
- Page 32 and 33: stayed, perhaps even wrote home for
- Page 34 and 35: “They prefer not to think about i
- Page 36 and 37: “It’s she who runs the Sirènes
- Page 38 and 39: friendship, I sometimes act as her
- Page 40 and 41: “Of course.”“Were there other
- Page 42 and 43: that it was all futile, that he oug
- Page 44 and 45: for the open air.<P“Le Petit Var
- Page 46 and 47: “What about?”“I know perfectl
- Page 48 and 49: to her apron strings and that is wh
- Page 50 and 51: “When?”“When Justine dies.”
- Page 54 and 55: be heard calling in the distance:
- Page 56 and 57: one probably doesn’t come across
- Page 58 and 59: CHAPTER 5« ^ »He had thought abou
- Page 60 and 61: Marcellin ever happen to go up to s
- Page 62 and 63: It is always ridiculous to play the
- Page 64 and 65: could be heard. Only the movement o
- Page 66 and 67: had only had occasion to visit Porq
- Page 68 and 69: again the coughing sound which made
- Page 70 and 71: imagined to be unique.“Won’t yo
- Page 72 and 73: He understood now why Ginette had m
- Page 74 and 75: This did not seem at all surprising
- Page 76 and 77: bare toes and his hands, as nimble
- Page 78 and 79: The page from the Grand Hotel was t
- Page 80 and 81: “Including the big money?”“In
- Page 82 and 83: “I would like you to try to remem
- Page 84 and 85: “She hasn’t left me for a secon
- Page 86 and 87: “Inspector Lucas. If he’s not t
- Page 88 and 89: “Are you taking notes?” Mr. Pyk
- Page 90 and 91: “ ‘Is that you?… it’s me…
- Page 92 and 93: which she waited for several months
- Page 94 and 95: working the slot machine while his
- Page 96 and 97: “What are you thinking about?”
- Page 98 and 99: Paris.”He didn’t trouble to ret
- Page 100 and 101: It sometimes happened to him, espec
hand.
“It’s right, that he was a friend of yours?”
“I knew him once, yes. He wasn’t a bad fellow.”
“Certainly not. Is it true what the papers say, that he came from Le Havre?”
“Certainly.”
“With his accent?”
“When I knew him some fifteen years ago he hadn’t got any accent.”
“You hear that, Titin? What have I always said?”
Four rounds… Five rounds… and words bandied rather at random, for the
sake of saying them, like children throwing balls into the air.
“What did you feel like eating this evening, Inspector? There is bouillabaisse,
of course. But perhaps you don’t like bouillabaisse?”
He swore that he liked nothing better, and everyone was delighted. It wasn’t
the moment to get to know personally the people who surrounded him and
formed a rather confused mass.
“You like pastis as well, the real stuff, which is banned? A pastis all round,
Paul! I insist! The Chief Inspector won’t say anything.”
Charlot was sitting on the terrace with a pastis in front of him, busy reading a
paper.
“Have you got any ideas yet?”
“Ideas about what?”
“Well, about the murderer! Morin-Barbu, who was born on the island and
hasn’t left it for seventy years, has never heard o£ anything like it. There have
been people drowned. A woman from the North, five or six years back, tried to
do away with herself by taking sleeping tablets. An Italian sailor, in the course of
an argument, stabbed Baptiste in the arm. But a crime, never, Inspector! Here
even the bad ones become as gentle as lambs.”
Everybody there was laughing, trying to talk, for what counted was to talk, to
say anything, chat over your drink with the famous Maigret.
“You’ll understand better when you’ve been here a few days. What you ought
to do is to come and spend your holidays here with the wife. We’d teach you to
play bowls. Isn’t that right, Casimir? Casimir won the Petit Provençal
championship last year, and you must know what that means.”
From the pink it had been a short while ago, the church at the far end of the
square was becoming violet; the sky was gently turning a pale green and the men
began to depart one after the other; now and again a shrill woman’s voice could
Change language