Free Friend of Madame Maigret by Georges Simenon Page A

I’m looking for a chair, if you want to know.”
    He picked one up by its back and straddled it, still smoking his pipe.
    â€œDo you intend to stay here?”
    â€œUnless Monsieur le Juge asks me to leave.”
    â€œDo stay, Maigret.”
    â€œI protest. If the interrogation is going to be conducted in these circumstances, I object strenuously, on the grounds that the presence of a member of the police in this office obviously tends to affect my client.”
    Maigret refrained from muttering: “Make your little song and dance!”
    And he watched the young lawyer with an ironical expression. The latter was obviously not in earnest over a word he was saying. It was part of his system. In every interrogation so far he had precipitated incidents, for the most futile or extravagant reasons.
    â€œThere’s no regulation to prevent an officer of Police Headquarters from being present at an interrogation. So if you don’t mind, we’ll go on where we left off.”
    All the same Dossin was influenced by Maigret’s presence and he took a little while to find his place in his notes.
    â€œI was asking you, Steuvels, if you are in the habit of buying your clothes ready made or if you have a tailor.”
    â€œIt depends,” the prisoner replied after reflecting.
    â€œOn what?”
    â€œI hardly bother about the way I dress at all. When I need a suit, I sometimes get it ready made, but I’ve also had them made for me.”
    â€œBy which tailor?”
    â€œI had a suit cut several years ago by a neighbor, a Polish Jew, who has since disappeared. I think he went to America.”
    â€œWas it a blue suit?”
    â€œNo. It was gray.”
    â€œHow long did you wear it?”
    â€œTwo or three years. I forget.”
    â€œAnd your blue suit?”
    â€œIt must be ten years since I bought a blue suit.”
    â€œBut the neighbors saw you dressed in blue not so long ago.”
    â€œThey must have confused my suit with my overcoat.”
    It was true that a navy blue overcoat had been found in the flat.
    â€œWhen did you buy this overcoat?”
    â€œLast winter.”
    â€œIsn’t it unlikely that you would buy a blue overcoat if your only suit was brown? The two colors don’t match particularly well.”
    â€œI don’t try to be smart.”
    All this time Maître Philippe Liotard was staring at Maigret with a look of defiance so intense that he seemed to be trying to hypnotize him. Then, just as he would have done in court to impress the jury, he shrugged his shoulders, a sarcastic smile on his lips.
    â€œWhy don’t you admit that the suit found in the wardrobe belongs to you?”
    â€œBecause it doesn’t.”
    â€œHow do you account for someone having managed to put it in that place, seeing that you practically never leave your house and your room can be reached only by going through the workshop?”
    â€œI don’t explain it.”
    â€œLet’s be reasonable, Monsieur Steuvels. I’m not trying to trap you. This is the third time at least that we’ve tackled this subject. According to you, somebody entered your home, unknown to you, to place two human teeth in the ashes of your furnace. Note that this person chose the day when your wife was absent and that in order to make sure she would be absent he had to go to Concarneau—or send an accomplice—to dispatch a telegram about her mother’s illness. Wait! That’s not all.
    â€œNot only were you alone at home, which is hardly ever the case, but furthermore, that day and the following one, you had such a big fire going in the furnace that you had to carry the ashes out to the dustbins seven times.
    â€œOn this point we have the evidence of your concierge, Madame Salazar, who has no reason to lie and who is in a good position, in her lodge, to keep an eye on the comings and goings of her tenants. On Sunday morning you made five trips,