A Man's Head

Author:Georges Simenon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2010-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

“As far as I can tell, they’re the ones,” said the man in the Hôtel George V, examining the bundles of banknotes that Maigret had handed him. “But there was much more than that. There was ten thousand in hundred-franc notes, the rest in thousands. A hundred thousand francs altogether.”

A few moments later he had rung through to the bank. “Hallo! Have you got the numbers of the notes I sent for yesterday? Not the thousands—only the hundreds.”

He jotted down the numbers with a pencil, rang off, and turned to the inspector.

“Yes, they’re the ones. I hope there’s not going to be any trouble?”

“Not the slightest . . . Are Mr. and Mrs. Kirby in?”

“They went out half an hour ago.”

“You saw them yourself?”

“As clearly as I see you.”

“Are there many exits?”

“Two, but the other’s only used by the staff.”

“You told me Mr. and Mrs. Kirby got back at three o’clock this morning. Since then, has anybody been to see them?”

Maids, porters, and lift boys were asked in turn. And there seemed no doubt whatever that between three o’clock and eleven the Kirbys had not left their rooms, nor had they received any visitors.

“Have they sent anybody out with a letter?”

No. That too seemed out of the question.

From the previous afternoon up till seven that morning Radek had been in custody. He could not have communicated with anyone during that time. At seven he had been released with hardly any money in his pockets. Toward eight he had given Janvier the slip at the Gare Montparnasse.

And then at ten o’clock he was back at the Coupole with at least eleven thousand francs in his possession, of which ten thousand at any rate had incontestably been in William Kirby’s pocket the evening before.

“Do you mind if I go upstairs and have a look around?”

It was referred to the manager. He didn’t like the idea, but couldn’t very well say no. The lift took Maigret up to the third floor.

It was the typical suite of a palatial hotel. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, two sitting rooms. The beds were still unmade, the breakfast trays still there. In one bedroom a valet was brushing Kirby’s dress clothes, while in the other his wife’s evening dress was thrown over the back of a chair. Various objects were lying about: cigarette cases, a lady’s handbag, a walking stick, a novel.

Back in the street, Maigret took a taxi and drove around to the Ritz where he was assured that the Kirbys with Miss Edna Reichberg had sat at table No. 18 the night before. They had arrived about nine and had not left till after half past two. No, the maître d’hôtel had noticed nothing unusual.

“But those notes! . . .” groaned Maigret as he crossed the Place Vendôme.

He stopped suddenly and was nearly caught by the wing of a limousine.

“Why the devil should Radek have shown them to me? Worse still—they’re in my pocket now, and I should be hard-pressed to find a legal reason for their being there .

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.