Cécile is Dead by Georges Simenon Read Free Book Online Page B

of the impression of gruffness that he gave, he viewed most human weaknesses with
     considerable indulgence, but there were certain people who made him bristle and feel
     physically uneasy in their vicinity. Monsieur Dandurand was one of them.
    This revulsion went so far that Maigret was
     never entirely at ease in the presence of his colleague Cassieux, who, as head of the
     Drug Squad, also had the Vice Squad as part of his remit.
    It was Cassieux who had mentioned to him the
     man generally known as Monsieur Charles, a provincial lawyer
involved in a nasty case involving minors. He had served a
     two-year prison sentence before ending up in Paris.
    The case had some remarkable features and
     cast a strange light on human destiny. Struck off the professional register, and now
     living under a false name in the capital, where he was previously unknown, Dandurand
     still had a large enough income to indulge his tastes as he pleased. He cut a lacklustre
     and repellent figure as he walked around the streets for much of the day, an evasive
     expression in his eyes, showing a little liveliness and alacrity only when he was in
     pursuit of a potential victim in the crowd.
    There were reports of the former lawyer
     being seen in the areas around Porte Saint-Martin, Boulevard Sébastopol and the
     Bastille. He was one of those who wait in the shadows for workshops and department
     stores to close, and then, with their shoulders hunched, often enter the dimly lit
     corridor of an establishment catering for special tastes.
    He soon knew all those establishments, and
     in return all the madams who ran them soon knew him and would ask, ‘Good evening,
     Monsieur Charles, and what can I offer you today?’
    He made himself at home; he liked the
     atmosphere of such places and came to need it daily. Soon word went round that he had
     been a lawyer, and now and then he was asked for advice. Finally he was allowed behind
     the scenes, not as a client but as a friend.
    â€˜Did you know that the house in Rue
     d’Antin is for sale? Dédé’s been in difficulties and is off to South America
     next week. With five hundred thousand francs in cash.’
    To look at Maigret,
     you might have thought he was dreaming. Head lowered, eyes fixed on the faded red carpet
     on the floor, he suddenly jumped. He thought he had heard a noise above his head. For a
     moment he thought it was in Madame Boynet’s apartment, and the idea of Cécile
     …
    â€˜That was Nouchi,’ said Monsieur
     Dandurand, with his peculiarly joyless smile.
    Of course, since Cécile was dead.
    Cécile was dead! At this very moment the
     commissioner of the Police Judiciaire, out at an evening bridge party with friends, had
     been describing, in a few words, the broom cupboard, the body slumped against the wall
     and the tall shape of Maigret observing the scene.
    â€˜And what did
he
have to
     say?’
    â€˜Nothing. He just dug his hands into
     his pockets, but I think it was one of the hardest blows of his career. He went straight
     off, and I’d be surprised if he gets any sleep tonight. Poor old
     Maigret.’
    Maigret himself knocked out his pipe against
     the heel of his shoe and let the ash fall to the floor.
    â€˜You’ve been looking after
     Madame Boynet’s affairs, have you?’ he asked slowly, grimacing as if the
     words tasted bitter.
    â€˜I knew her in Fontenay-le-Comte, and
     her sister too. We were almost neighbours. I met her again when I rented this apartment.
     She was a widow … I suppose you didn’t know her when she was alive? I won’t
     say she was mad, but she was certainly eccentric, and obsessed with money. She kept her
     entire fortune at home with her, she was so terrified of being robbed by the
     banks.’
    â€˜And you took
     advantage of it!’
    Maigret had no difficulty in imagining the
     man in those establishments that he frequented, closeted with the middle-aged