Maigret's Madwoman

by Georges Simenon

  ‘That’s where he lives. If Bob hasn’t phoned him, Marcel will have. And he’ll be a tougher nut to crack.’

  6.

  He came towards them through the immense sun-filled lounge. He was wearing a cream silk suit and approached with his hand outstretched.

  ‘Good day to you, Marella,’ he said to the local police chief.

  Then, pretending not to have noticed Maigret before:

  ‘Well, well! Monsieur Maigret. I wasn’t expecting the honour of a visit from you.’

  He was a good-looking man, strongly built but carrying no extra fat. He must have been about sixty, but, at first sight, one could take him for fifty.

  The room had been tastefully furnished, no doubt by an interior decorator, and its proportions made it look rather like a stage set.

  ‘Where would you like to sit? In here or on the terrace?’

  He led them out to the terrace, where some luxurious reclining chairs were shaded by parasols.

  A butler in a white jacket had followed them and stood waiting, almost to attention.

  ‘Let me offer you something. What would you say to a Tom Collins? At this time of day, that’s still the most refreshing drink.’

  Maigret indicated that he would accept one and Marella followed suit.

  ‘Two Tom Collinses, Georges, and the usual for me.’

  He was close-shaven and his hands were well cared for, the nails impeccably manicured.

  ‘You arrived this morning?’ he asked Maigret as if engaging in casual conversation. He seemed quite relaxed.

  They could see the sea stretching out to infinity and a motor yacht rocking gently in the little private harbour beneath them.

  ‘I came on the overnight train.’

  ‘Don’t tell me that it was just to see me.’

  ‘I didn’t know when I arrived in Toulon that I’d be paying you a visit.’

  ‘I’m all the more flattered.’

  Despite his friendly manner, one could sense in his eyes a certain steeliness which he was doing his best to conceal under a veneer of cordiality.

  ‘So you’re away from your usual stamping ground, inspector?’

  ‘Very true. But my friend Marella here is on his own territory.’

  ‘And we get on extremely well, Marella and I. Don’t we, Marella?’

  ‘As long as you give me no cause to trouble you.’

  ‘I lead such a quiet life! As you know, I hardly ever go out. This house has almost become my entire world. A friend might call now and then, a pretty girl on occasion.’

  ‘And would you count Marcel, known as Big Marcel, as one of your friends?’

  He assumed a shocked air.

  ‘That shabby character who came to see me yesterday?’

  ‘But you did allow him to visit.’

  ‘Because, on principle, I prefer to give everyone a chance in life. In days gone by, I’ve needed a helping hand myself.’

  ‘And that’s what you gave him?’

  The butler returned with two large frosted tumblers and a smaller glass containing tomato juice.

  ‘You will have to excuse me, I never touch alcohol. Your very good health. I believe you had just asked me a question.’

  ‘I asked you whether you gave a helping hand to your visitor.’

  ‘Unfortunately, no. I can’t see a job for him in any of my businesses. You see, Monsieur Maigret, these days I’ve become a businessman, and a lot of water has flowed under the Pont-Neuf since we last met.

  ‘I own twelve cinemas on the Côte d’Azur, including two in Marseille, one in Nice, one in Antibes and three in Cannes, not to mention the one in Aix-en-Provence. And I have a nightclub in Marseille, plus three hotels, one of them in Menton. All of them perfectly in order with the authorities, is that not so, Marella?’

  ‘Perfectly.’

  ‘And I have a restaurant in Paris, Avenue de la Grande-Armée, near the Arc de Triomphe, which my brother runs. It’s a very elegant restaurant with excellent fare, and you are cordially invited there whenever you wish.’

  Maigret was looking at him imperturbably.

  ‘As you might imagine, I wouldn’t have a job in any of those concerns for a third-rate little pimp.’

  ‘Did he leave the sample with you?’

  Giovanni, despite his self-control, could not help registering this with a slight movement.

  ‘What sample do you mean? Perhaps this is a case of mistaken identity?’

  ‘You arranged for Marcel to come and see you, because Bob the barman phoned you and informed you about some very big deal, something of international proportions.’

  ‘I’m afraid I don’t understand. Was it Bob who told you this fantastic story?’

  ‘It was something that might interest the Americans.’

  ‘But I don’t do any business with Americans.’

  ‘I’m going to tell you a little tale, Giovanni, and I hope you will derive some profit from it. There was once upon a time in Paris a charming old lady, who got it into her head that certain objects in her apartment had been moved when she was out.’

  ‘I don’t see where—’

  ‘Wait. The old lady came and asked police headquarters for protection, and at first we thought she was a little mad. Still, I did intend to call round, if only to reassure her.’

  ‘Ah, I might have read about something like this in the papers.’

  ‘Yes, it was mentioned but just in a small paragraph, and they didn’t know the details.’

  ‘A cigar?’

  ‘Thank you, but I prefer my pipe.’

  ‘Marella, what about you?’

  ‘Gladly, thank you.’

  There was a box of Havanas on the table and the two men each took a cigar.

  ‘Forgive me, I didn’t mean to interrupt you. So, you went to see this old lady.’

  ‘No, I haven’t got there yet.’

  ‘I’m listening.’

  ‘She had a niece, a middle-aged woman with a pronounced taste for younger men. For almost six months now, for instance, she’s been living with this man, Marcel, whom you received here yesterday.’

  Giovanni started to look interested.

  ‘Well, the old lady was murdered before I had had the chance to make my promised visit.’

  ‘What kind of murder?’

  ‘She was smothered. Someone pressed a cushion against her face. At her age, she wasn’t able to resist for long.’

  ‘I’m wondering what any of this has to do with me.’

  ‘I told you that Marcel was the niece’s lover. Two witnesses have stated that they saw him, at least once, inside the building where the aunt lived.’

  ‘Do you suspect him of having killed her?’

  ‘Either him or the niece. It comes to more or less the same thing.’

  ‘What were they after, then?’

  ‘The sample.’

  ‘And that is …?’

  ‘The object that Marcel showed you.’

  ‘What kind of object?’

  ‘You know better than I do, since there’s a strong chance it’s in your possession at this time.’

  ‘I still don’t understand.’

  ‘The object is a revolver. I will admit right away that I don’t know any of its details, or what makes it so significant.’

  ‘I’ve never owned a gun in my life, as you should know. In the old days when I was a young tearaway, I was often questioned by the police, and no one has ever been able to charge me with carrying an unlicensed gun.’

  ‘Yes. I know that.’

  ‘So in that case, I fail to see why I would have accepted a revolver offered me by some lowlife.’

  ‘Don’t worry. I’m not going to ask my friend Marella to have your villa searched from cellar to attic. You are far too prudent to have left this object somewhere where we might discover it.’

  ‘Thanks for the compliment. Another Tom Collins?’

  ‘One’s enough, thank you.’

  Marella had never seen Ma
igret work in such a low-key way. He was speaking in a quietly casual voice, as if he attached no importance to his words, yet you could tell that every one of them counted.

  ‘I wasn’t expecting, when I came here today, that you would admit the purpose of Marcel’s visit. I simply intended to warn you. He can’t have told you that this revolver is closely connected to a murder. An unpremeditated one, actually. The old lady, who used to go and sit on a bench in the Tuileries Gardens in the afternoon, returned home sooner than usual, for some reason. She surprised the visitor, man or woman—’

  ‘You mean it could be the niece?’

  ‘That’s right, the niece. Whoever it was grabbed a cushion and pressed it down on the old lady’s face for as long as it took. So you see now how this “international” affair would not look well alongside your present activities, I mean your cinemas, hotels, restaurants and so on.’

  Maigret stopped speaking and looked at him calmly. Giovanni was rather unsettled but managed not to let it show too much.

  ‘I must thank you for the warning. If that fellow comes back here, he’ll immediately be shown the door.’

  ‘He won’t come back unless you send him a message, and I know that you won’t do such a thing.’

  ‘Did you know about this, Marella?’

  ‘I found out about it yesterday.’

  ‘And you’ve told your colleague Maigret that I have become an important businessman, in good standing with all the regional authorities, including the prefect?’

  ‘Yes. I told him.’

  ‘It only remains for me to repeat that this affair has nothing to do with me.’

  Maigret stood up with a sigh.

  ‘Thanks for the Tom Collins.’

  Marella rose in turn and Giovanni walked them through the large lounge to the marble staircase outside.

  ‘You will always be welcome, gentlemen.’

  They got back into the car.

  ‘Don’t go too far,’ Maigret said to Marella, as they drove out of the grounds. ‘There must be some café somewhere where we would have a view of the villa’s harbour.’

  They did not leave Sanary but stopped in front of a blue-fronted bistro outside which four men were playing pétanque.

  ‘What’ll you have?’

  ‘A glass of rosé. The Tom Collins left me with a nasty taste in the mouth.’

  ‘I didn’t understand what you were doing,’ Marella said quietly. ‘You didn’t press him. You looked as if you were believing what he said.’

  ‘In the first place, he’s not the kind of man who would talk.’

  ‘True.’

  ‘And what have I got against him? He agreed to see this petty crook after a phone call from Bob the barman. I don’t even know what the revolver looks like.’

  ‘Does it really exist?’

  ‘It exists all right. It was when they were looking for it that the old lady’s visitors moved things around in her apartment. But can you see us, even with all your men, turning up at that big barn of a villa with a search warrant? Would Giovanni just have put it in a drawer in his bedside table? We’ll soon see if I’m right.’

  They did see, a quarter of an hour later. A man in a peaked sailor’s cap went down to the little yacht and the engine started almost at once.

  A few moments later, Giovanni was making his way down the harbour steps and going aboard.

  ‘It’s too hot for him to handle, do you see? He’s in a hurry to get rid of it. Anyway, the deal’s a nonstarter now.’

  The yacht left the harbour and set out to sea, cutting a powerful swathe through the water.

  ‘In a few minutes’ time, the revolver will be at the bottom of the Mediterranean, God knows how many metres down. No chance of finding it.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘So, really, now I’m finished with the Toulon end of the case.’

  ‘I hope you’ll have dinner with us. We have a spare bedroom these days, unlike when you were last here.’

  ‘I’m taking the night train back.’

  ‘Do you have to?’

  ‘Pretty much. I’ll have a busy day tomorrow.’

  ‘The niece?’

  ‘Among other things. Can you keep Marcel in your sights? And it wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep an eye on your man Bob, who seems to me to have a lot more going on than minding the bar. Do you think Giovanni’s affairs are really above board?’

  ‘I’ve been trying to nab him for years. Characters like that, even when they start acting like choirboys, always keep in discreet touch with the underworld. As you just saw.’

  The white yacht, having traced a wide circle out at sea, was already returning to harbour.

  ‘He must be feeling better now he’s got rid of the famous “sample”.’

  ‘What are you planning to do before you catch your train?’

  ‘I’d like to see Marcel again. Do you think he’s likely to be at Maria’s place?’

  ‘No, that’d surprise me. After what he was told about her current boyfriend, he’ll be wary. He’s a false tough guy – he doesn’t actually like to take risks.’

  ‘The Amiral, then?’

  ‘He might well go there, yes.’

  By the time they reached the bar it was five in the afternoon, another quiet time for business. Bob wasn’t behind the bar, but sitting at a table opposite Marcel.

  The latter could not suppress an exclamation on seeing the two policemen.

  ‘What, again!’

  ‘Yes indeed, again. We’ll have a carafe of rosé, Bob.’

  ‘How many times do I have to tell you I didn’t kill the old bird?’

  ‘Happy to take your word for it, sunshine. Doesn’t alter the fact that we’ve got you placed at Quai de la Mégisserie.’

  Maigret had chosen to address him familiarly, in a jocular tone.

  ‘I’m still waiting for you to offer any proof of that. And for you to tell me what I’m supposed to have been doing there.’

  ‘The sample.’

  ‘I don’t get it.’

  ‘Someone a lot smarter than you, just now, didn’t get it either. And yet he’s been around a long time.’

  ‘You went to see Giovanni?’

  Marcel had turned pale. Bob was returning to the table with glasses and a carafe.

  ‘What did he say?’

  ‘Something about an international affair, was it? One that might interest the Americans in particular?’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘Never mind. But I should warn you that there’s no point now your going along to the villa in Sanary, hoping to get a sum of money of any kind.’

  ‘You saw Giovanni?’ Bob asked in turn as he sat down.

  ‘Just come away from there.’

  ‘And he was willing to tell you he’d seen Marcel?’

  ‘And that you had telephoned him.’

  Maigret was drinking the rosé de Provence in small sips. Another two hours and the train would be taking him back to Paris.

  He turned to Marcel again.

  ‘If you really didn’t kill the old lady, I strongly advise you to tell the whole truth and to come back to Paris with me.’

  The man’s long hands were clenched nervously.

  ‘What do you think, Bob?’

  ‘It’s nothing to do with me. I was just helping out a friend, that’s all. I don’t know anything about this business.’

  ‘Why should I come back to Paris?’ Marcel asked.

  ‘For a stay in the cells.’

  ‘But I already told you—’

  ‘I know, I know. It wasn’t you that killed the old lady. But if it was her niece, then you can still be charged with aiding and abetting.’

  ‘And you’re advising me to leave Toulon, so as to be arrested?’

  ‘It’s possible that staying here might be a less safe bet.’

  The man looked cocky.

  ‘No, inspector. I’m not that stupid. If you’ve got an arrest warrant, show me, and y
ou can take me away. You know very well you can’t do that, because you’ve got no evidence, apart from these two so-called witnesses who saw a checked suit on the stairs.’

  ‘As you wish.’

  ‘That’s what I get for keeping my nose clean for years.’

  ‘You’d have done better to go on keeping it clean.’

  This time Marella paid for the drinks. Then he looked at his watch.

  ‘There’s still time for you to come and say hello to my wife. And you can see our new house.’

  It was out of town on a hill. The villa wasn’t large but it was very attractive and welcoming.

  A boy of about fifteen was mowing the lawn and his machine made a noise like a huge insect.

  ‘You know my son, Alain.’

  ‘He was a baby when I saw him last.’

  ‘As you can see, the baby’s grown up.’

  They went inside to the large living room. Madame Marella came out of her kitchen, a rolling pin in her hand.

  ‘Oh, sorry! I didn’t know you’d brought a guest.’

  Maigret kissed her on both cheeks. Her name was Claudine, and he had never seen her without a smile on her lips.

  ‘You’ll stay for dinner, I hope? I’m just making a strawberry tart.’

  ‘No, he’s catching the overnight train back to Paris.’

  ‘Have you been down here long, Monsieur Maigret?’

  ‘Just since this morning.’

  ‘And you’re going back already?’

  ‘Thanks to your husband, who has been a great help to me.’

  ‘What can we offer you?’ said Marella. ‘I notice you didn’t turn your nose up at our Provençal wine. I’ve got some in the cellar that’s a lot better than what you get at the Amiral.’

  The two men spent an hour together chatting about this and that. Fifteen-year-old Alain came to shake Maigret’s hand.

  ‘Not in school?’

  ‘Perhaps you’ve forgotten that it’s Saturday?’

  And it was true, Maigret had forgotten. The events of the week had been linked in such a way that he hadn’t kept track of the days.

  ‘What class are you in now?’

  ‘Fourth year, Latin stream.’

  ‘Do you want to follow your father into the police force?’

  ‘Oh no! We never know what time he’s going to come home, and when you’ve gone to bed, there’s always a risk the phone will ring and wake you up.’