Maigret's Dead Man Page #5

how she answers the next question.

Where is the man who would visit you

and tell you which farms to attack?

Please answer the question.

What is his name?

She has an hour to think about

answers to those questions,

and to think about how,

in this country,

we still send murderers

to the guillotine.

She needs to start co-operating.

She has a child now.

Chief Inspector,

I would like to point out

that that woman is not Czech,

she is Slovak.

Those people from the rural east,

they are uneducated.

Some are no better than peasants

from the Middle Ages.

No better than animals.

I feel I need to point that out

to you.

If she's fit to move, Maigret, I

want her transferred this evening

to La Sante.

Excuse me?

Whose are those flowers?

Nobody's now. The lady in this room

went home a few minutes ago.

Would you mind taking them

to Room 270?

Of course.

Thank you.

Why?

Because the room is cold,

and because there's

a woman with a child in there.

Where is she going?

La Sante's a prison infirmary.

She'll be well looked after.

La Sante's a prison infirmary.

May I travel with her?

Be my guest.

No! Get back!

No! No! Pietr!

Agh! Agh!

Aargh!

No!

Who is he?

He saw your notice in the newspaper.

Oh.

"Friend of Albert

with the cream-and-blue Citroen,

for your safety's sake,

urgently contract Maigret at home,

for your safety's sake,

discretion assured."

Is that right?

Yes.

I've come because your reputation

is good. This is not a trap.

You can speak in confidence here.

Please, sit down.

No.

I knew Albert. I ate at his place.

I knew him.

And on the day he died?

He rang up.

Said he'd been racing.

Said he'd realised who

the Picardie gang were.

Said if we helped him,

he might get some money out of them.

Who's "we"?

I'm not telling you that.

But my mate does cars.

Paint jobs, ringers.

Anyway, the car we used to get to

Albert's place

broke down, didn't it? Pile of crap.

And when we got there he was dead.

The thing is,

the thing is I'm on parole.

I've been inside eight out of

the last ten years, Maigret.

I ain't going back.

And you'd been seen in a place where

a man was murdered.

That neighbour woman sawme, yeah.

I ain't going back inside. I can't.

I understand.

And police don't take much interest

if a gangster's found dead in

the street.

You don't sniff around that

for long.

So we dumped him

like he was an underworld hit.

His face smashed in, like they do,

so no-one could trace the body.

Then we got rid of the car.

Where's Nina?

She's safe.

With someone I know out at Arpajon.

She's a good woman.

Hmm.

Hmm.

Thank you.

One more thing.

This envelope came for me the day

after. I think it's from him.

At first I thought it was a betting

ticket, but it's for a train.

How could Albert come by the

train ticket to Goderville?

Francine?

Where are you going?

We're on in five. No.

Jean wants to meet.

We're leaving Paris.

What do you mean?

He's taking me away.

He says to the Riviera.

I don't have to do this any more.

Oh, Francine. What?

Do the show, darling.

Don't burn your boats here.

You'll be back. Jean won't want me

coming back here.

He loves me.

Men like Jean come and go, babe.

No, you're wrong about him.

You're wrong.

Come out.

No. I'm not coming out.

How often did the man in the fur coat

take them all to the racetrack?

Oh... After each burglary,

that's all.

They'd take the jewellery

they'd stolen.

Silver cutlery and stuff.

That's where his fence is?

I honestly don't know,

but I know you can get rid of

things. Get your coat. Why? I'm not

leaving!

Because there's a race meeting

and he knows we're closing in.

I think he'll try to shift

what he's got left.

What's that got to do with me?

You're going to identify him for us.

No.

Come on, get up, get up.

"The riders

are on the track and parading for

race three,

and they are led out by number

one...

The next is the grey, Jolly Breeze,

ridden by..."

We're looking for

a man in his thirties,

possibly in a fur coat.

Will he be armed? He may be.

If we get a positive identification,

let's isolate him before we move in.

I don't want him

shooting in this crowd.

"..mounting a strong challenge on

the outside..." Let's hope so.

Go, ten!

"..it's a fifth win by..."

Look, that's him, on the stairs.

How much do you think I've won?

You go and get the winnings,

I'll see you in a bit.

Where are you going?

To get some more champagne.

Excuse me? Excuse me, miss?

Yes?

I'm Inspector LaPointe with

the Police Judiciaire.

I wonder if you'd mind accompanying

me outside. Why?

I'd rather explain outside.

My boyfriend is coming back with

champagne. He'll be joining us.

Come with me, please.

I want 10,000...for all of this.

Get off! Let me go!

No!

No! No! No!

Agh!

No! No!

No! No! No!

No! No!

Thank you very much for coming.

Your boyfriend's name is

Jean Tonnelier.

He has a wife and three children,

and lives in a two-room tenement

in St Denis.

You may have just seen them.

Six months ago he was a foreman

on the shop floor at Citroen. No,

that's not right.

Jean and I dine at Maxim's.

And we've had rooms at the George V.

The jewellery and coat

I am wearing today are worth more

than you can make in a year.

This man Tonnelier...

Dacourt.

..would get to know some of

the Czechs

who would turn up for casual work at

Citroen. He would manipulate them,

sleep with their woman,

and he heard them

talk of the wealthy farms

that they'd worked on in the summer

in Picardie.

He is a film producer. He is a

ringleader of murderers and thieves.

He kept them high on dope

in conditions you wouldn't keep

an animal. No.

He got them to murder and rob

the farms they knew in Picardie

in order to fund his life at Maxim's

and the George V. No.

And you.

No.

And he had a cafe owner called Albert

Rochain murdered because he thought

Albert was about to expose him

for what he really was.

How can a man sleep as calmly as

Jean if he has done the things you

say he has?

He is like many men,

some who commit crimes

and some who don't,

he lived a life where other people

were not people.

They were just "things".

And this is the file

that contains details of what your

boyfriend and his accomplices did...

..in order to steal the things that

you're wearing.

You'll be seeing more of me over

the next few weeks, Maigret. Indeed.

The station master from Goderville

is on his way to identify Tonnelier,

then we'll be transferring him.

Did she know anything?

No.

Right.

Were you there

when they killed the man

Were you there

who recognised you at the racetrack?

It puzzled me how he'd got hold of

your train ticket.

But I think it was because he was

a compulsive gambler

who checked the floor

for winning slips

that had been discarded by accident.

The papers that morning were full of

stories of a suspect who had taken

an unusual train journey

to Goderville.

And when your victim

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