Inspector Cadaver Read Online Free Page B

sat down to grind some coffee
in an old-fashioned coffee mill with a big copper lid.
    ‘You’re in luck: the rain has
stopped. Still, my brother-in-law should have advised you to bring boots; he is a local,
after all, and he knows these parts. We are in the depths of the marshes here. Can you
believe it, to get to some of my farms,
cabanes
we call them, you have to go by
boat come winter or summer! … Speaking of my brother-in-law, I am a little
embarrassed that he dared ask someone like you …’
    The question Maigret had been turning over
in his mind since the previous evening was this: was he staying with decent sorts who
had nothing to hide and were extending their warmest welcome to a guest from Paris, or
was he an undesirable outsider whom Examining Magistrate Bréjon had thoughtlessly
imposed on a nonplussed household who would gladly have dispensed with his services?
    It occurred to him to try a little
experiment.
    ‘Not many people get out at
Saint-Aubin station,’ he remarked, eating his soup. ‘I think yesterday there
were only two of us, besides an old peasant woman wearing a bonnet.’
    ‘That’s right.’
    ‘Is the man who alighted at the same
time as me from here?’
    Étienne Naud hesitated. Why? Maigret
was looking at him so intently he was ashamed of his wavering.
    ‘I’d never seen him
before,’ he said hurriedly. ‘You mayhave noticed that I
couldn’t decide between the two of you …’
    Changing tactics, Maigret continued,
‘I wonder why he’s come here, or rather who sent for him.’
    ‘You know him?’
    ‘He is a private detective. I’ll
have to make inquiries first thing to find out what he’s doing. I daresay
he’s staying at one of the two hotels you told me about yesterday.’
    ‘I’ll take you in a moment in
the cart.’
    ‘Thank you, but I prefer to walk, to
come and go …’
    Something had just occurred to him. Might
not Naud have been thinking he could go into the village early and meet Inspector Cavre
while Maigret was still asleep?
    Anything was possible. The inspector found
himself wondering whether the girl’s visit wasn’t itself part of a plan
devised by the whole family.
    The next moment, he was kicking himself for
thinking such things.
    ‘I hope your daughter isn’t
seriously ill?’
    ‘No. If you want to know the truth, I
don’t think she’s any more ill than I am. Despite our best efforts,
she’s heard whispers of what people are saying in town … She’s proud.
All young girls are. That’s her real reason for hiding herself away for three
days, I think … And, who knows, perhaps she’s a little ashamed with you
here?’
    ‘My word …’ thought
Maigret, remembering the visit the young girl had paid him in the night.
    ‘We can talk in front of
Léontine,’ Naud went on. ‘She’s known me since I was very small.
She’s been in the family since … since when, Léontine?’
    ‘Since my first
communion, sir.’
    ‘A little more soup? No? You see,
I’m in an unpleasant situation and I sometimes wonder if my brother-in-law
hasn’t made a mistake. You’ll say he knows all this stuff better than I do
because it’s his job. But since he’s been living in Paris, he may have
forgotten the way things are around here …’
    He seemed so happy to talk, like a man who
comes right out with whatever is on his mind, it was very hard to believe he
wasn’t sincere. He sat there with his legs outstretched, calmly filling his pipe,
while Maigret finished his breakfast. Warm and snug, the kitchen gradually filled with
the smell of percolating coffee, while outside, in the darkness of the farmyard, they
could hear the stable boy whistling as he groomed the horses.
    ‘Make no mistake. Rumours do go around
now and then about somebody or other. This time the accusation is a serious one, I know.
But I still wonder if it wouldn’t be better to treat it with contempt … You
accepted my brother-in-law’s invitation. You have done us the honour of coming.