Georges Simenon - Maigret on the Riviera

Maigret on the Riviera

Liberty Bar
the 17th episode in the Maigret Saga
1931

Georges Simenon

translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury

MKM XHTML edition 1.0

contents

1
The Dead Man and His Two Women

It began with the feeling one has at the beginning of a vacation. When Maigret got off the train at Antibes, half the station was bathed in a blaze of sunlight, through which people moved like shadowsshadows in straw hats and white trousers, with tennis rackets in their hands. Spring had burst out suddenly, and the air hummed with the heat. On the other side of the platform were cactuses and palm trees and, farther off, a strip of blue sea.

Someone dashed up to him.

Superintendent Maigret? I recognized you at once from a photograph in the papers. Im Inspector Boutigues.

Boutigues. What a name.

The young inspector had already relieved Maigret of his luggage and was leading him toward the exit. He wore a pearl-gray suit and boots with half-cloth uppers; he had a red carnation in his buttonhole.

Is this your first visit to Antibes?

Maigret mopped his forehead and tried to keep up with his guide, who threaded his way nimbly through the crowd. Finally, they climbed into a cabnot a taxi, but a good old-fashioned fiacre, with a cream-colored top fringed by little tassels.

The dandling of the springs, the crack of the drivers whip, the dull sound of the horses hoofs on the hot, soft asphalt brought back a long-forgotten sensation.

Well have a drink first Oh, yes! After a journey like that Driver! Stop at the Caf Glacier, will you?

The Caf Glacier was right around the corner.

The center of Antibes, the inspector explained.

It was a charming square, with a garden in the middle, cream- or orange-colored awnings on every building. Under one of them, on the terrace of the caf, the two men sat down and sipped anisette. Opposite was a shop window filled with bathing outfits, beach robes, and other such articles; on their left, a window full of cameras. Beautiful cars were parked along the curb.

Yes, it was more like a vacation than

Would you rather see the prisoners first or the house where he was killed?

The house, answered Maigret, hardly more conscious of what he was saying than if Boutigues had asked him How are you?

The vacation feeling continued. Maigret smoked the cigar Boutigues had offered him. The horse trotted along the road by the seashore. To the right were villas hidden among pine trees; to the left, rocks, then the expanse of blue sea uninterrupted except for two or three white sails.

Shall I tell you where we are? Weve left Antibes behind us and from here on its Cap dAntibes. Nothing but villas, most of them pretty grand.

Maigret, blissful, was ready to accept anything that was said. His head seemed to be full of sunshine. His companions carnation made him blink.

Boutigues, you said?

Yes. I come from Nice A Niois, or, rather, a Nicen!

In other words, the real thinga Niois to his fingertips, to the marrow of his bones.

Lean over this way a little. You see that white house? Thats it.

Maigret wasnt taking it seriously; he couldnt bring himself to believe that he was on a job, that he was here because somebody had been killed.

True, his instructions had been somewhat unusual:

A man named Brown was murdered at Cap dAntibes. The newspapers are blowing it up. Its a case that needs tactful handling and no trouble.

Understood.

During the war, Brown had worked for French intelligence, the Deuxime Bureau.

Doubly understood.

So here he was, with his head full of sunshine, having traveled almost six hundred miles to be tactful. The fiacre stopped. Boutigues took a key from his pocket, opened a gate, and led the way up a gravel path.

This is one of the poorest villas on the Cap.

Even so, it wasnt bad. The air was heavy with the sweet smell of mimosa. Small orange trees still bore a few oranges. There were some queer-shaped flowers that Maigret had never seen before.

The place across the way belongs to a maharajah. Hes probably here now Farther along on the left is a famous writer, a member of the FrenchAcademy. And beyond him is a ballet dancer who lives with an English lord.

Yes! But what Maigret wanted more than anything was to sit down on the bench by the house and have a nap. After all, hed been traveling the whole of the previous night.

Id better explain the household first.

Boutigues had opened the door, and they were standing in a cool room with windows looking out on the sea.

Brown lived here for at least ten years.

What did he do?

Nothing. He must have had private means Lived here with two women. Brown and his two women: thats how people spoke of them.

Two?

Only one was his mistress: Gina Martini.

Has she been arrested?

Yes. Her mother, too The three of them lived here without a servant.

The house had certainly not been kept any too well. There were a few beautiful things in it, perhaps, a few pieces of good furniture, and here and there some objects that had had a moment of splendor. But everything was dirty, and the good things and the bad were jumbled together indiscriminately. There were too many carpets, antimacassars, and hangings; too many dust collectors.

Now, here are the facts. Theres a garage next to the house, where Brown used to keep his old-fashioned car. He used it mostly for shopping in Antibes.

Yes, sighed Maigret, who was watching a man with a split reed fishing in the clear water for the sea urchins that lay on the bottom.

For three days, however, the car was left standing in front of the house. People noticed, but nobody bothered about it. It was nobodys business And it wasnt till Monday evening

Just a moment. Its Thursday now, isnt it? Go on.

On Monday evening, a butcher was driving back to Antibes in his van. He saw the old car startyou can read his statement. As he came up behind it, he thought Brown must be drunk. The car was lurching forward. Then it went along steadily for a while. But at the first bend, it crashed into the rock at the side of the road.

The butcher stopped, but before he could do anything, two women got out of the car and started running.

Were they carrying anything?

Three suitcases It was getting dark. The butcher didnt know what to do. Finally, he simply drove past the women and reported what hed seen to the first policeman he found the one in Place Mac. Word was sent out. Before long, the women were spotted making for the station at Golfe-Juan. Thats a couple of miles from here in the other direction, over toward Cannes.

Did they still have the suitcases?

Theyd dropped one on the way. It was found yesterday in a clump of tamarisks They were upset, and found it hard to explain their conduct. They said they were hurrying to see a sick relative in Lyon. But the man who caught them was smart enough to ask them to open their bags. And what did he find but a pack of bonds, some large-denomination notes, and other valuables!

It was apritif time, and a large crowd was gathering. It escorted the two women, first to the police station and then to the local jail, where they were locked up for the night.

The house was searched?

First thing next morning. Nothing was found. The two women pretended they didnt know what had become of Brown. Around noon, a gardener pointed out a place where the earth had recently been dug up. And a couple of inches deep they found Browns body, fully dressed.

What did the two women say to that?

They changed their tune at once. What they said now was that, three days before, Brown had driven up to the house. They were surprised when he didnt put the car away at once. Gina looked out the window and saw him staggering up the garden path. She thought he was drunk Then he fell full length on the front steps.