Maigret Sets a Trap: Inspector Maigret #48 by Simenon Georges

Author:Simenon, Georges [Simenon, Georges]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Crime, thriller, Classics, Historical
ISBN: 9780141982199
Amazon: 0141982195
Goodreads: 60390739
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 1955-07-12T08:00:00+00:00

The two men stopped and looked at each other, and Lapointe had the sense that Maigret was as keyed up as himself. It was the chief inspector who reached out to press the bell. They couldn’t hear it ring, so it must have sounded deep inside the apartment. A time that seemed rather long elapsed before finally the door opened, and a maidservant in a white apron, who could not be as much as twenty years old, stared at them in amazement and asked:

‘What is it?’

‘Is Monsieur Moncin at home?’

She seemed embarrassed and stammered:

‘I … I don’t know …’

So he was there.

‘If you wait a moment, I’ll go and ask madame.’

She had no need to go far. A woman who was still young appeared at the end of the corridor. On returning from shopping, she must have changed into a light peignoir because of the heat.

‘What is it, Odile?’

‘Two gentlemen who want to see monsieur, madame.’

She came forward, pulling the sides of the peignoir together and looking Maigret in the eye, as if he reminded her of someone.

‘And you wanted …?’ she asked, trying to understand.

‘Is your husband at home?’

‘Well …’

‘That means he is.’

She blushed slightly.

‘Yes. But he’s asleep.’

‘I’m afraid I must ask you to wake him.’

She hesitated, then said quietly:

‘To whom do I have the honour …’

‘Police Judiciaire.’

‘It’s Chief Inspector Maigret, isn’t it? I thought I recognized you …’

Maigret had unobtrusively moved forwards, and was now standing in the entrance hall.

‘Would you wake your husband, please? I suppose he must have got in late last night?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Does he usually sleep until eleven in the morning?’

She smiled.

‘Quite often. He likes to work in the evenings, and it can go on late into the night. He’s a creative person, an artist.’

‘So he wasn’t out last night?’

‘Not as far as I know. If you would wait a little while in the drawing room, I’ll go and get him up.’

She had opened the glass door into a drawing room which was furnished in a modern style, rather unexpected in this older building, but not aggressively so. Maigret thought that he could quite well live with a decor like this. Only the paintings on the walls, of which he made nothing at all, were displeasing.

Lapointe stayed on his feet and kept his eyes on the main door of the apartment. Not that he needed to, since by now all the exits were guarded. The young woman, who had departed with a swish of silk, was away only a few minutes and returned – not without having combed her hair.

‘He’ll be here in a moment. Marcel is rather shy and I tease him about it, but he doesn’t like to meet people without being properly dressed.’

‘You have separate bedrooms?’

She looked a little shocked at this, but replied simply:

‘Like many married couples, surely.’

It was after all almost standard, in a certain social milieu. It didn’t necessarily mean anything. What he was trying to discover was whether she was play-acting, whether she knew anything, or

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.