Free The Grand Banks Café by Georges Simenon Page B

end, mingled
     with the rank smell of cod while men prowled round a cabin, as determined and
     pugnacious as dogs.
    â€˜Sleep well!’ he said,
     pulling the blanket up to his chin.
    The kiss he placed on the forehead of
     his drowsy wife was solemn and sincere.

6.
     The Three Innocents
    The staging was basic: the setting was
     the same as for most confrontations of witnesses and accused. This one was taking
     place in a small office in the jail. Chief Inspector Girard, of the Le Havre police,
     who was in charge of the investigation, sat in the only chair. Maigret stood with
     his elbows leaning on the mantelpiece of the black granite fireplace. On the wall
     were graphs, official notices and a lithograph of the President of the French
     Republic.
    Standing in the full glare of the lamp
     was Gaston Buzier. He was wearing his tan-coloured shoes.
    â€˜Let’s have the wireless
     operator in.’
    The door opened. Pierre Le Clinche, who
     had been given no warning, walked in, brow furrowed, like a man in pain who is
     expecting to get more of the same treatment. He saw Buzier. But he paid him not the
     slightest attention and looked all round him, wondering which man he should
     face.
    On the other hand, Adèle’s lover
     looked him up and down, a supercilious smile hanging on his lips.
    Le Clinche had a crumpled air. His flesh
     was grey. He did not try to bluster or conceal his dejection. He was as lost as a
     sick animal.
    â€˜Do you recognize this man
     here?’
    He stared at Buzier, as if searching
     through his memory.
    â€˜No. Who is he?’
    â€˜Take a good look at him, from
     head to foot …’
    Le Clinche obeyed, and the minute his
     eyes reached the shoes, he straightened up.
    â€˜Well?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜Yes what?’
    â€˜I understand what you’re
     getting at. The tan shoes …’
    â€˜So that’s it!’ Gaston
     Buzier suddenly burst out. He had not said a word until then but his face was now
     dark with anger. ‘Why don’t you tell them again that I’m the one
     who did your captain in? Go on!’
    All eyes were on the wireless operator,
     who looked at the floor and gestured vaguely with one hand.
    â€˜Say it!’
    â€˜Perhaps those weren’t the
     shoes.’
    â€˜Oh yes!’ Gaston crowed,
     already claiming victory. ‘So you’re backing down …’
    â€˜You don’t recognize the man
     who murdered Fallut?’
    â€˜I don’t know …
     No.’
    â€˜You are probably aware that this
     man is the lover of a certain Adèle, who you most certainly do know. He has already
     admitted that he was near the trawler at the moment the crime was committed. Also
     that he was wearing tan-coloured shoes.’
    All this time, Buzier was facing him
     down, bristling with impatience and fury.
    â€˜That’s right! Make him
     talk! But he’d better be telling the truth or else I swear I’ll
     …’
    â€˜Hold your tongue! Well, Le
     Clinche?’
    The young man passed his hand over his brow and winced,
     literally, with pain.
    â€˜I don’t know! He can go
     hang for all I care!’
    â€˜But you did see a man wearing tan
     shoes attack Fallut.’
    â€˜I forget.’
    â€˜That’s what you said when
     you were first interviewed. That wasn’t very long ago. Are you sticking to
     what you said then?’
    â€˜No, that is … Look, I saw a man
     wearing tan shoes. That’s all I saw, I don’t know if he was the
     murderer.’
    The longer the interview went on, the
     more confident Gaston Buzier, who also looked rather seedy after a night in the
     cells, became. He was now shifting his weight from one leg to the other, with one
     hand in his trouser pocket.
    â€˜See? He’s backing down! He
     doesn’t dare repeat the lies he told you.’
    â€˜Answer me this, Le Clinche. Thus
     far, we know for certain that there were two men