Read Maigret for Free Online Page B

now?’
    Maigret paced up and down,
     preoccupied.
    ‘What’s his name, your
     lover-boy?’
    ‘Eugène. There are two gold
     initials on his cigarette case: E.B
.
’
    ‘Do you want to go back to the
     Tabac Fontaine
tonight?’
    ‘If I have to.’
    ‘Pay attention to the one called
     Joseph in particular, the little guy who fetched the police.’
    ‘He took no notice of
     me.’
    ‘I’m not asking you to do
that
. Just listen carefully to what he says.’
    ‘Now, if you don’t mind, I
     have to clean my place up,’ said Fernande tying a kerchief over her hair.
    They shook hands. And as he descended
     the stairs, Maigret had no idea that there would be a raid in Montmartre, and that
     the police would swoop on the Tabac Fontaine and take Fernande to the
     station.’
    Cageot knew.
    ‘I should inform you of half a
     dozen women who are in an irregular situation,’ he was saying at that very
     moment to the chief of the vice squad.
    Fernande above all, who was going to be
     carted off in a meat wagon!

4.
    Maigret had just finished shaving and was
     cleaning his razor when there was a knock on his door. It was nine in the morning.
     He had been awake since eight, but, for once, he had lain in bed for ages watching
     the sun’s slanting rays and listening to the sounds of the city.
    ‘Come in!’ he shouted.
    And he took a sip of the cold coffee
     stagnating at the bottom of his cup. Philippe’s hesitant footsteps echoed in
     the room and finally reached the bathroom.
    ‘Good morning, son.’
    ‘Good morning, Uncle.’
    Maigret knew from his voice that
     something was wrong. He buttoned up his shirt and looked at his nephew, who had red
     eyelids and puffy nostrils like a child who had been crying.
    ‘What’s happened?’
    ‘I’ve been
     arrested!’
    Philippe said this as gloomily as if he
     were announcing that he would be going in front of a firing squad in five
     minutes.
    He held out a newspaper. Maigret glanced
     at it while continuing to get dressed.
Despite Inspector Philippe
     Lauer’s denials, examining magistrate Gastambide reportedly decided to
     have him arrested this morning
.
    ‘My
     photo’s splashed all over the front page of the
Excelsior
,’
     Philippe added melodramatically.
    His uncle said nothing. There was
     nothing to be said. His braces dangling, slippers on his bare feet, he padded to and
     fro in the sunshine, hunting for his pipe, then his tobacco and finally a box of
     matches.
    ‘You didn’t drop by there
     this morning?’ asked Maigret.
    ‘I’ve come from Rue des
     Dames. I saw the paper when I was having my coffee and croissant in Boulevard des
     Batignolles.’
    It was an exceptional morning. The air
     was fresh, the sun joyful, and the intense, animated bustle of Paris a frenzied
     dance. Maigret opened the window and the room reverberated with the throbbing life
     of the riverbanks, while the slow-moving Seine shimmered in the sunlight.
    ‘Well, you have to go, my boy!
     What can I say?’
    He didn’t want to get all
     sentimental over this kid who had forsaken his green valley in the Vosges for the
     corridors of the Police Judiciaire!
    ‘Naturally, it won’t be as
     cushy as home!’
    His mother was Madame Maigret’s
     sister, and that said it all. She mollycoddled the boy:
Philippe will be home
     soon … Philippe will be hungry … Have Philippe’s shirts been ironed?
     …
    And tasty little dishes, home-made
     desserts and liqueurs! And sprigs of lavender in the linen cupboard!
    ‘There’s something
     else,’ said Philippe while his uncle adjusted his detachable collar.
     ‘Last night I went to the Floria.’
    ‘Of course!’
    ‘Why of
     course?’
    ‘Because I advised you not to go
     there. Now what have you done?’
    ‘Nothing. I chatted with that
     girl, Fernande, you know. She hinted that she was working with you and that she had
     some mission to carry out at the café on the corner of Rue de Douai. Since I was
     leaving anyway, I followed