The Grand Banks Café (8 page)

‘Excuse me,' interrupted
Maigret. ‘Please sit down as I've already asked. You will answer my
questions.'

She scowled. Her mouth turned ugly.

‘Look here! You're forgetting I'm here
because I'm prepared to …'

Her companion scowled, irritated by her
behaviour. They were made for each other. He was every inch the kind who is always
seen with girls like her. His appearance was not exactly sinister. He was
respectably dressed, though in bad taste. He wore large rings on his fingers and a
pearl pin in his tie. Even so, the effect was disturbing. Perhaps because he gave
off a sense of existing outside the established social norms.

He was the type to be found at all times
of day in bars and brasseries, drinking cheap champagne with working girls and
living in third-class hotels.

‘You first. Name, address,
occupation …'

He started to get to his feet.

‘Sit down.'

‘I just want to say …'

‘Just say nothing.
Name?'

‘Gaston Buzier. At present,
I'm in the business of selling and renting out houses. I'm based mainly
in Le Havre, in the Silver Ring Hotel.'

‘Are you a registered property
agent?'

‘No, but …'

‘Do you work for an
agency?'

‘Not exactly …'

‘That's enough. In a word
you dabble … What did you do before?'

‘I was a commercial traveller for
a make of bicycle. I also sold sewing machines out in the sticks.'

‘Convictions?'

‘Don't tell him, Gaston!' the woman
broke in. ‘You've got a nerve! It was us who came here to …'

‘Be quiet! Two convictions. One
suspended for passing a dud cheque. For the other I got two months for not handing
over to the owner an instalment I'd received on a house. Small-time stuff, as
you see.'

Even so, he gave the impression that he
was used to having to deal with policemen. He stayed relaxed, with something in his
eye that suggested he could turn nasty.

‘You next,' said Maigret,
turning to the woman.

‘Adèle Noirhomme. Born in
Belleville.'

‘On the Vice Squad
register?'

‘I was put on it five years ago in
Strasbourg because some rich cow had it in for me on account of me having snatched
her husband off her … But ever since …'

‘… you've never been
bothered by the police! … Fine! … Now tell me in what capacity you signed on for a
cruise on the
Océan
.'

‘First we'd better
explain,' the man replied, ‘because if we're here, it means
we've got nothing to be ashamed of. At Yport, Adèle told me you had a picture
of her. She was sure you were going to arrest her. Our first thought was to hop it
so we wouldn't get into trouble. Because we both know the score. When we got
to Étretat, I saw policemen stopping cars up ahead and I knew they'd go on
looking for us. So I decided to come in voluntarily.'

‘Now you, lady! I asked what you
were doing on board the trawler.'

‘Dead simple! I was following my
boyfriend.'

‘Captain Fallut?'

‘Yes, the captain. I'd been with him, so to
say, since last November. We met in Le Havre, in a bar. He fell for me. He used to
come back to see me two or three times a week. Though from the start I thought he
was a bit odd, because he never asked me to do anything. It's true! He was
ever so prissy, everything had to be just so! He set me up in a room in a nice
little hotel, and I started thinking that if I played my cards right he'd end
up marrying me. Sailors don't get rich, but it's steady money, and
there's a pension.'

‘Did you ever come to Fécamp with
him?'

‘No. He wouldn't have that.
It was him who came to me. He was jealous. He was a decent enough sort who
can't have been around much because he was fifty and was as shy with women as
a schoolboy. That plus the fact that he'd got me under his skin …'

‘Just a moment. Were you already
the mistress of Gaston Buzier?'

‘Sure! But I'd introduced
Gaston to Fallut. Said he was my brother.'

‘I see. So in short you were both
being subsidized by the captain.'

‘I was working!' protested
Buzier.

‘I can see you now, hard at it
every Saturday afternoon. And which of you came up with the scheme for sending you
to sea on the boat?'

‘Fallut. He couldn't bear
the thought of leaving me by myself while he was away playing sailors. But he was
also scared witless, because the rules about that sort of thing are strict, and he
was a stickler for rules. He held out until the very last minute. Then he came and
fetched me. The
night before he was to set
sail, he took me to his cabin. I quite fancied the idea because it made a change.
But if I'd known what it was going to be like, I'd have been off like a
shot!'

‘Buzier didn't try to stop
you?'

‘He couldn't make up his
mind. Do you understand? We couldn't go against what the old fool wanted.
He'd promised me he'd retire as soon as he got back after that trip and
marry me. But the whole set-up was nothing to write home about! It was no fun being
cooped up all day in a cabin that stank of fish! And on top of that, every time
anybody came in, I had to hide under the bed! We'd been at sea no time when
Fallut start regretting he'd taken me along. I never saw a man have the
jitters like him! A dozen times a day he'd check to see if he'd locked
the door. If I spoke, he shut me up in case anyone overheard. He was grumpy, on pins
… Sometimes he'd stare at me for minutes on end as if he was tempted to get
rid of me by throwing me overboard.'

Her voice was shrill, and she was waving
her arms about.

‘Not to mention the fact that he
got more and more jealous! He asked me about my past … he tried to find out … then
he'd go three days without talking to me, spying on me like I was his enemy.
Then all of a sudden, he'd be madly in love with me again. There were times
when I was really scared of him!'

‘Which members of the crew saw you
when you were on board?'

‘It was the fourth night. I felt
like a breath of air out on
deck.
I'd had enough of being locked up. Fallut went outside and checked to make
sure there was no one about. It was as much as he could do to let me walk five steps
up and down. He must have gone up on the bridge for a moment, and it was then that
the wireless operator showed up and spoke to me … He was shy but got worked up. Next
day he managed to get into my cabin.'

‘Did Fallut see him?'

‘I don't think so … He
didn't mention anything.'

‘Did you sleep with Le
Clinche?'

She did not answer. Gaston Buzier
sneered.

‘Admit it!' he barked in a
voice full of spite.

‘I'm free to do as I please!
Especially seeing as how you didn't exactly abstain from female company while
I was away! Don't deny it! Are you forgetting the girl from the Villa des
Fleurs? And what about that photo I found in your pocket?'

Maigret sat as solemn and impassive as
the oracle.

‘I asked if you slept with the
wireless operator.'

‘And I'm telling you to go
to blazes!'

She smiled provocatively. Her lips were
moist. She knew men desired her. She was counting on the promise of her pouting
mouth, her sensuous body.

‘The chief mechanic saw you
too.'

‘What's he been telling
you?'

‘Nothing. I'll recap. The
captain kept you hidden in his cabin. Pierre Le Clinche and the chief mechanic would
come to you there, on the quiet. Was Fallut aware of this?'

‘No.'

‘Although he had his suspicions and prowled round
you and never left you alone except when he absolutely had to.'

‘How do you know?'

‘Did he still talk about marrying
you?'

‘I don't know.'

In his mind's eye, Maigret saw the
trawler, the firemen down in the bunkers, the crew crammed into the foredeck, the
wireless room, the captain's cabin aft, with the raised bed.

And the voyage had lasted three
months!

All that time three men had prowled
round the cabin where this woman was shut away.

‘I've done some pretty
stupid things, but that …!' she exclaimed. ‘Hand on heart, if I had to
do it again … A girl should always be on her guard against shy men who talk about
marriage!'

‘If you'd listened to
me,' said Gaston Buzier.

‘You shut your trap! If I'd
listened to you, I know what kind of accommodation I'd be in now! I
don't want to speak ill of Fallut, because he's dead. But all the same
he was cracked. He had peculiar ideas. He'd have thought he'd done
something wrong just because he'd broken some rules. And it went from bad to
worse. After a week, he never opened his mouth except to go on at me or ask if
anybody had been in the cabin. Le Clinche was the one he was most jealous of.
He'd say:

‘“You'd like that,
wouldn't you! A younger man! Say it! Admit that if he came in when I
wasn't here you wouldn't turn him away!”

‘And he'd laugh so nastily that it
hurt.'

‘How many times did Le Clinche
come to see you?' Maigret asked slowly.

‘Oh, all right, the hell with it.
Once. On the fourth day. I couldn't even tell you how it happened. After that,
it wasn't on the cards, because Fallut kept such a close eye on me.'

‘And the mechanic?'

‘Never! But he tried! He'd
come and look at me through the porthole. When he did that, he looked as white as a
sheet … What sort of life do you think that was? I was like an animal in a cage.
When the sea was rough I was sick, and Fallut didn't even try to look after
me. He went for weeks without touching me. Then the urge would come back. He'd
kiss me as if he wanted to bite me and held me so tight I thought he was trying to
suffocate me.'

Gaston Buzier had lit a cigarette and
was now smoking it with a sarcastic expression on his face.

‘Please note, inspector, all this
had nothing to do with me. While it was going on, I was working.'

‘Oh give it a rest, will
you?' she said, losing patience.

‘What happened when you got back?
Did Fallut tell you that he was intending to kill himself?'

‘What, him? He didn't say
anything. When we got back to port, he hadn't said a single word to me for two
weeks. To tell the truth, I don't think he spoke to anyone. He'd stay
put for hours with his eyes just staring in front of him. Meantime I'd made up
my mind to leave him. I was fed up with it all, wasn't I? I'd have
sooner starved to death: I'd never give up my freedom … I heard somebody
walking
along the quayside. Then he came
in the cabin and said just a few words:

‘“Wait here until I come to
fetch you.”'

‘Spoken like a captain.
Didn't he ever speak more … fondly?'

‘At the finish, no!'

‘Go on.'

‘I don't know anything else.
Or rather, the rest I learned from Gaston. He was there, down at the
harbour.'

‘Talk!' Maigret ordered the
man.

‘Like she said, I was down by the
harbour. I saw the crew go into the bar. I waited for Adèle. It was dark. Then after
a while, the captain came on shore by himself. There were trucks parked nearby. He
started walking, and as he did a man jumped him. I don't know exactly what
happened but there was a noise like a body falling into the water.'

‘Would you recognize the
man?'

‘No. It was dark, and the trucks
stopped me seeing much.'

‘Which way did he go when he
left?'

‘I think he walked along the
quay.'

‘And you didn't see the
wireless operator?'

‘I don't know … I've
no idea what he looks like.'

‘And you,' said Maigret,
turning to the woman, ‘how did you get off the boat?'

‘Somebody unlocked the door of the
cabin where I was shut in. It was Le Clinche. He said:

‘“Go
quickly!”'

‘Was that all?'

‘I tried to ask him what was
happening. I heard people
running along
the quayside and a boat with a lantern being rowed across the harbour.

‘“Get going!” he
repeated.

‘He pushed me on to the gangway.
Everybody was looking the other way. No one paid any attention to me. I had the
feeling that something horrible was going on but I preferred to make myself scarce.
Gaston was waiting for me a little further along.'

‘And what did the two of you do
after that?'

‘Gaston was as white as a sheet.
We went into bars and drank rum. We spent the night at the Railway Inn. The next day
all the papers were full of the death of Fallut. So first we took ourselves off to
Le Havre, just in case. We didn't want to get mixed up in that
business.'

‘But that didn't stop her
wanting to come back and nose around here,' snapped Gaston. ‘I
don't know whether it was on account of the wireless operator or …'

‘Just shut up! That's
enough! Of course I was curious about what had happened. So we came back here to
Fécamp three times. So that we wouldn't attract attention, we stayed at
Yport.'

‘And you never saw the chief
mechanic again?'

‘How do you know about that? One
day, in Yport … I was scared by the way he looked at me … He followed me quite a
long way.'

‘Why were you arguing earlier this
afternoon with Gaston?'

She gave a shrug.

‘Because! Look, haven't you
got it yet? He thinks I'm in love with Le Clinche, that the wireless operator
killed
because of me and I don't
know what else. He keeps going on and on until I'm sick to death of it. I had
my fill of scenes on that damned boat …'