Maigret and the Tramp by Georges Simenon

Author:Georges Simenon
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780241304006
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2018-08-07T04:00:00+00:00

6.

‘You did tell me yesterday that the car was red, didn’t you?’

‘Yes, monsieur. As red as the red on that flag.’

He pointed to the black, yellow and red Belgian flag fluttering in the stern.

Hubert was at the helm, and the young blonde woman had joined the child inside. As for Jef, his face betrayed two contradictory feelings between which he seemed torn. On the one hand, Flemish hospitality dictated that he should welcome Maigret in the manner appropriate to anyone you received in your home, and even offer him a little glass of genever; on the other hand, he was still angry at being stopped in open country and he considered this new interrogation an affront to his dignity.

He kept his sly eyes fixed on the intruder, whose city suit and black hat stood out like a sore thumb on board the barge.

As for Maigret, he wasn’t particularly at his ease and was still wondering how to tackle his difficult interlocutor. He had had a great deal of experience of these simple, not very intelligent men, who think you are taking advantage of their naivety and who, because they don’t trust you, either become aggressive or withdraw into a stubborn silence.

It wasn’t the first time that Maigret had conducted an investigation on board a barge, although it hadn’t happened for a long time. He particularly remembered what used to be called a stable boat, towed along the canals by a horse that spent the night on board with its carter.

Those boats were of wood and smelled good because of the resin with which they were periodically coated. The interior was neat and tidy, not unlike that of a suburban house.

Here, through the open door, the decor looked more bourgeois: solid oak furniture, rugs, vases on embroidered doilies, a multitude of shiny brasses.

‘Where were you when you heard noises on the quayside? You were busy working on the engine, I think?’

Jef’s light-coloured eyes were fixed on him. He looked as if he was still hesitating as to what attitude to adopt and fighting against his own anger.

‘Listen, monsieur. Yesterday morning, you were there when the judge asked me all those questions. You asked me some yourself. And the little man who was with the judge wrote everything down. In the afternoon, he came back and made me sign a statement. Is that correct?’

‘That’s correct.’

‘And now you come here and ask me the same thing. I don’t think it’s fair. Because if I make a mistake, you’ll think I lied to you. I’m no intellectual, monsieur. I never had much schooling. Nor did Hubert. But we’re both hard workers, and Anneke is also a working woman.’

‘I’m only trying to check—’

‘There’s nothing to check. I was minding my own business on my boat, like you were in your house. A man was thrown in the water, and I jumped into the lifeboat to fish him out. I’m not asking for a reward, or congratulations. But that’s no reason for you to come and pester me with questions.

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