Free Maigret by Georges Simenon Page B

removed his shoes, his
     jacket and his detachable collar and rolled up his shirt sleeves.
    Half an hour later, he was still working
     on Audiat, who was stretched out on the bed, scrawny and naked, with the mark of his
     garters on his calves. The ugliest wound was the one on his knee. Maigret
     disinfected and dressed it. He had put sticking plasters on the few minor scratches
     and finally got the injured man to drink a large glass of rum.
    The radiator was scalding hot. The
     curtains weren’t drawn, and the moon was visible against a patch of sky.
    ‘Well, your friends are utter
     bastards, aren’t they?’ sighed Maigret suddenly.
    Audiat pointed to his
     jacket and asked for a cigarette.
    ‘What alerted me was that you were
     so twitchy. You’d guessed that they’d go after you too!’
    His gaze steadier, Audiat eyed Maigret
     with suspicion. When he did open his mouth, it was to ask a question.
    ‘What does it matter to
     you?’
    ‘Keep still, you’re still
     very shaken. Let me tell you why it matters to me. A thug – someone you know –
     killed Pepito, probably because he was afraid he’d say too much about the
     Barnabé business. At around two in the morning, the thug in question came looking
     for you at the Tabac Fontaine.’
    Audiat knitted his brow and stared at
     the wall.
    ‘You remember! Cageot called you
     outside. He asked you to bump into the fellow who’d be coming out of the
     Floria
at any moment. And thanks to your testimony, that’s the fellow
     who’s been locked up. Now supposing that were a member of my
     family—’
    His cheek on the pillow, Audiat
     murmured:
    ‘Don’t count on
     me!’
    It was around four. Maigret sat down
     beside the bed, poured himself a glassful of rum and filled a pipe.
    ‘We have plenty of time to
     chat,’ he said. ‘I’ve just looked at your papers. So far you only
     have four convictions and they’re not serious: pickpocketing, fraud, accessory
     to the burglary of a villa—’
    Audiat was pretending to be asleep.
    ‘Only, if I’ve done my sums
     correctly, one more conviction and it’s exile to the colonies for you. What do
     you think?’
    ‘Let me sleep.’
    ‘I’m not stopping you from
     going to sleep. But youwon’t stop me from speaking. I know
     that your friends aren’t home yet. Right now, they’re arranging things
     so that tomorrow, if I report their registration number, a garage owner will swear
     that their car didn’t leave his garage this evening.’
    Audiat’s swollen lips stretched in
     a blissful smile.
    ‘Except that I’ll tell you
     one thing: I’ll get Cageot! Whenever I’ve made up my mind to get
     someone, I’ve nabbed them in the end. Now the day when Cageot is hauled in,
     you will be too, and no matter how much you protest—’
    By five in the morning Maigret had drunk
     two glasses of rum and the air was blue with pipe smoke. Audiat had tossed and
     turned so many times that he had ended up sitting up in bed, his cheeks red and his
     eyes shining.
    ‘Was it Cageot who planned last
     night’s little surprise? Most likely, eh? Eugène couldn’t have thought
     of that all by himself. And if that is the case, you must be aware that your boss
     has no qualms about getting rid of you.’
    A resident kept awake by Maigret’s
     monologue stamped on the floor. The room was so hot that Maigret had removed his
     waistcoat.
    ‘Give me some rum.’
    There was only one glass, the water
     beaker, and the two men took it in turns to drink from it, without realizing how
     much alcohol they were downing. Maigret kept harking back to the same subject.
    ‘I’m not asking much from
     you. Simply admit that, immediately after Pepito’s death, Cageot came to fetch
     you from the café.’
    ‘I didn’t
     know that Pepito was dead.’
    ‘You see! So you were at the Tabac
     Fontaine, as you were last night, with Eugène and probably the little hotel owner
     too. Did Cageot come in?’
    ‘No!’
    ‘Well, he