Maigret 52: Maigret Has Scruples (1987) by Georges Simenon

Author:Georges Simenon
Format: epub
Published: 1987-07-30T16:00:00+00:00

5

It was just as he was going downstairs with Lapointe that the idea struck Maigret.

“I’ll be with you in a minute. Wait for me.”

And, still hesitating, he made for the inspectors’ office. His idea was for one of his men to start shadowing Xavier Marton at the entrance to the Magasins du Louvre. He did not know precisely why, in fact. Or rather, he felt that several things might happen. To begin with, Marton was capable of changing his mind at the last moment, as had happened the first time when he had left Maigret’s office during the latter’s absence. Or else his wife, who admitted having followed him the previous days, might well shadow him again.

If she accosted him in the street, wouldn’t he accompany her to the Avenue de Châtillon? There were other possibilities too. And, even if nothing happened, Maigret would not be sorry to find out how the electric train salesman behaved while taking this important step, whether he hesitated, whether he stopped on the way, for example, to steel himself by drinking a glass or two.

Janvier risked being recognized. Another inspector working on his own, Lucas, for instance, who was free, but who had never seen Marton, might not be able to recognize him, from his description, among all the staff coming out.

“Lucas and Janvier! Cut along, both of you, to the Magasins du Louvre. When the staff come out, don’t show your face, Janvier, but just point out Marton as he goes by and you, Lucas, will do the shadowing alone.”

Lucas, who did not know much about the case, asked:

“Do you think it will be a long job, that he’ll go very far?”

“Here, probably.”

He nearly added:

“Above all, no taxis, no expenses!”

For there are certain administrative rules of which the public knows nothing but which, for the men of Police Head-quarters, are sometimes of great importance. When a crime, or an offence, is committed, and when the police, in consequence, make investigations on the basis of powers delegated by the judiciary, the professional expenses of the chief-inspectors, inspectors, and technicians are as a rule chargeable to the culprit. If he is not arrested, or if the courts later find him not guilty, the Ministry of Justice foots the bill.

If on the other hand it is a case which Police Headquarters are investigating on their own initiative and if, in the end, there is neither crime nor culprit, then the bill for expenses is charged to the Prefecture, that is to say to the Ministry of the Interior.

Now, for the police, this makes an enormous difference. The Ministry of Justice, which always thinks that the criminal will pay, is not too close-fisted, and does not make a fuss about a taxi more or less. The Prefecture, on the contrary, scrutinizes every bill, demanding an account of the most trifling comings and goings which cost the treasury anything.

In the present affair, wasn’t Maigret working to ensure that there was neither a crime nor a culprit?

This meant therefore

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