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with him for theres bad fellos that have got it in for him. I wil be
     back in 2 or 3 days with the ship. Dont look for the cuttletts I ate them. Yor
     brother for life.
    Maigret bowed his head, thrown so
     off-balance that he paid no further attention to Julie.
    Fifteen minutes later, Captain Delcourt
     was telling him that the
Saint-Michel
was probably in Fécamp and that if
the north-westerly winds held steady, the
     ship would arrive the following night.
    ‘Do you know the position of every
     single vessel?’
    And Maigret, uneasy, looked out at the
     shimmering sea, with only a single plume of smoke visible in the distance.
    ‘The ports are all in contact with
     one another,’ replied the harbourmaster. ‘Look! There is the list of all
     the ships due in today.’
    He pointed to a blackboard hanging on
     the wall of the office, with the list written out in chalk.
    ‘Have you discovered something?
     Well, don’t rely too much on what people say. Even important people! If you
     only knew how much petty jealousy can flourish around here …’
    After waving to the captain of a
     freighter heading out to sea, the harbourmaster looked out of his office window at
     the Buvette de la Marine and sighed.
    ‘You’ll
     see …’
    By three o’clock, the officials
     from the public prosecutor’s office had finished their work. A dozen or so men
     filed out of Joris’ cottage and walked through the little green gate towards
     the four cars that awaited them, surrounded by onlookers.
    The deputy public prosecutor gazed
     around him appreciatively.
    ‘The duck hunting here must be
     superb!’ he remarked to Monsieur Grandmaison.
    ‘We’ve had a disappointing
     season. But last year—’
    The mayor suddenly dashed over to the
     first car as it was pulling away.
    ‘You’ll all stop in at my house for a moment,
     I hope? My wife will be expecting us …’
    When Maigret was the only man left, the
     mayor turned to him with just enough bonhomie to appear polite.
    ‘Ride back with us, inspector. You
     are invited as well, naturally.’
    Only Julie and the two women remained in
     Captain Joris’ cottage, along with the local policeman at the door, to await
     the hearse that would deliver the body to Caen.
    The atmosphere in the cars had already
     taken on the festive air that often enlivens the trip when convivial companions
     return from a funeral. While Maigret perched uncomfortably on a jump seat, the mayor
     was chatting with the deputy public prosecutor.
    ‘If it were up to me, I would stay
     here all year round, but my wife is not that fond of country living. So we spend
     most of our time at our house in Caen – although my wife has only just got back from
     Juan-les-Pins, where she spent a month with the children.’
    ‘How old is your boy
     now?’
    ‘Fifteen.’
    The lock workers watched the cars drive
     by. And almost immediately, on the road to Lion-sur-Mer, they arrived at the
     mayor’s residence, a large Norman villa on a property surrounded by white
     fencing and strewn with animal lawn ornaments.
    Standing in the front hall in a dark
     silk dress, Madame Grandmaison welcomed her guests with the delicately aloof smile
     befitting her station in life. The drawing room
was at their disposal; cigars and liqueurs were set out
     on a table in the smoking room.
    All these people knew one another. The
     social elite of Caen were having a reunion. A maid in a white apron took
     everyone’s hats and coats.
    ‘Really, judge: you’ve never
     visited Ouistreham – and you’ve lived in Caen for
how
long?’
    ‘Twelve years, dear
     madame … Ah! Here’s Mademoiselle Gisèle!’
    A girl of fourteen had come in to
     curtsey slightly to the guests, already holding herself like quite the lady – and,
     like her mother, acutely conscious of her social position. Meanwhile, however, no
     one had remembered to introduce Maigret to the mistress of the house.
    Turning to the deputy public prosecutor,
     that lady