The Yellow Dog by Georges Simenon Read Free Book Online Page B

hour. I’m calling from Monsieur Le Pommeret’s house … Hurry! He’s dead!’ And the voice
repeated, in a wail, ‘Dead!’
    Maigret looked around. Empty glasses stood on almost every table. Emma, her face drained, followed his eyes.
    â€˜Nobody touch a single glass or bottle!’ he ordered. ‘You hear me, Leroy? Don’t leave here.’
    Sweat dripping from his brow, the doctor snatched off
his scarf; at his skinny neck, his shirt was fastened by a toggle stud.
    By the time Maigret reached Le Pommeret’s apartment, a doctor from next door had already made the initial examination.
    A woman of about fifty was there. She was the owner of the building, the person who had telephoned.
    It was a pretty house of grey stone, facing the sea. Every twenty seconds, the glowing brush of the lighthouse beacon set the windows on fire. There was a balcony with a flagstaff and a shield bearing the Danish coat of arms.
    Outside, five people watched wordlessly as the inspector went in.
    The body lay on the reddish carpet of a studio crowded with worthless knick-knacks. On the walls were publicity shots of actresses, framed pictures clipped from sexy magazines and a few signed photos of women.
    Le Pommeret’s shirt was pulled out of his trousers, his shoes were still crusted with mud.
    â€˜Strychnine,’ said the doctor. ‘At least so far I’d swear to that. Look at his eyes. And notice especially how rigid the body is. The death throes took over half an hour. Maybe more …’
    â€˜Where were you?’ Maigret asked the landlady.
    â€˜Downstairs. I sub-let the whole second floor to Monsieur Le Pommeret, and he took his meals at my place … He came home for dinner around eight o’clock. He ate almost nothing. I remember he said there was something wrong with
the electricity, but the lights seemed perfectly normal to me. He said he’d be going out again,
but that first he’d go up and take an aspirin, because his head felt heavy …’
    The inspector looked questioningly at the doctor.
    â€˜That’s it! The early symptoms.’
    â€˜Which appear how long after absorbing the poison?’
    â€˜That depends on the dose and on the person’s constitution. Sometimes half an hour, sometimes two hours.’
    â€˜And death?’
    â€˜Doesn’t come until after general paralysis sets in. But there is local paralysis first. So he probably tried to call for help … He would have been lying on this couch …’
    The couch that had earned Le Pommeret’s place the name House of Depravity! Pornographic prints crowded the walls around the couch. A night light gave off a rosy glow.
    â€˜He’d have gone into convulsions. Like an attack of delirium tremens … He died on the floor.’
    Maigret walked to the door as a photographer started to come in and slammed it in the man’s face.
    â€˜Le Pommeret left the Admiral a little after seven o’clock,’ Maigret calculated. ‘He’d had a brandy-and-water … A quarter of an hour later, he drank and ate something here … From what you say about
the way strychnine works, it’s just as possible he was poisoned back there as here …’
    Abruptly, he went downstairs, where the landlady was crying, with three of her neighbours around her.
    â€˜The dishes, the glasses from dinner?’
    It took her a moment to understand what Maigret wanted. By the time she replied, he had already looked into the kitchen and seen a basin of warm water, clean plates and glasses laid out to the right, dirty to the left.
    â€˜I was just washing up when …’
    A local policeman arrived.
    â€˜Watch the house,’ Maigret told him. ‘Put everyone out except the landlady … and no reporters, no photographers! Nobody is to touch a glass or a plate.’
    It was 500 metres, through the