Ellery Queen's Crime Cruise Round the World by Ellery Queen

Author:Ellery Queen [Queen, Ellery]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Georges Simenon

The Man from Out There

(translated by Suzie deSurvilliers and Bolton Melliss)

Something different from Georges Simenon, creator of Inspector Maigret. . .not a bulldoggish manhunt in the streets and bistros of Paris—rather what might be termed a “moody murder.” Was it a dream or a nightmare come true? For years, Boussus had dreaded a possible confrontation with the man he had doubly wronged. And now—was it happening?. . .

If you ever land in this paradise that is the island of Porquerolles, a few miles south of the sleeping Hyères, it is possible they may tell you different stories about the sinking of The Mirrored Armoire. It is even possible, depending on whether you speak to Chief Skipper Grimaud, to Pirate’s-Head-Tadot, to the Nerve, to Maurice-the-Bouillabaisse, or to others you will find playing cards in the shade of the meager eucalyptus in the square, that you will hear still other accounts.

I would have you know that none of them is lying. But, lacking knowledge of the only truth, they imagine various “truths.” And as time goes on there will be still more. . .

As to the exact time it happened, there is no evidence at all. The church clock which, among other things, tells its own whimsical hours, is several kilometers from the headland of Mèdes. This promontory is itself a good distance from the Notre Dame farm; and the people of the farm—that day, as on any other—were bent over in the burning light of the vineyards. Might one perhaps have been able, with binoculars, to witness the tragedy from the deck of a warship anchored in the bay of the Salines?

The fact remains that Boussus—the big Boussus, as he was called—had left his flowering home on the square and arrived at the harbor about six in the morning, dressed in pajamas, his dirty feet in espadrilles, and a straw hat like a helmet on his head. He hadn’t shaved or washed. In a basket he was carrying a bottle of the rose wine of the island, a two-pound loaf of bread, a can of anchovies in piquant sauce, and a thick slice of roquefort cheese.

Casimir, who had drawn up his nets at dawn, saw him board his ship, the Royal Girella, better known as The Mirrored Armoire. As on every night, the motor made a fuss before starting. While it was warming up, Boussus settled himself astern, under a striped red-and-yellow awning, opened his folding chair, made sure his boulter fishing lines were in order, and took out of the water the container of hermit crabs he was going to use for bait.

A short time later the Royal Girella, not over six meters long (in the country they said twenty-eight shirt tails long), was cutting the silken water in the direction of Mèdes, at the extreme tip of the island.

Boussus had his place to fish and he never changed it. The headland of Mèdes is a sheer rock, out of sight of all habitation. Barely twenty meters farther out a rocky peak emerges from the deep water.

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