Maigret's Holiday by Georges Simenon Page A

understand, Monsieur Maigret, that a young woman like Odette – I knew her as a
little girl too, and she wasn’t stuck-up in those days – I say that a young
woman like her isn’t made to live with a witch … and old Madame Bellamy is
just like a witch … It’s not a walking stick but a broomstick she should
have between her legs …’
    Maigret briefly thought of the interrogation
that the gentle Mansuy had conducted in front of him, when he was questioning Polyte.
The latter had stubbornly clammed up, opening his mouth when forced to only to deny all
evidence.
    In contrast, these two talked nonstop, and
yet it was just as difficult to get close to the truth.
    He sensed that it was within reach. He had a
whiff of it, trying in his mind to put each of them in their place around the family
dinner table, for example, but there was always a detail that was wrong, that
rang
false
.
    It is not easy to see people through the
eyes of a butler, of Madame Popineau’s lover.
    â€˜Before being ill, how did Madame
Bellamy spend her days?’
    Poor Francis! La Popine encouraged him to
talk, almost prompting him, like at school. He wanted to be helpful and tried to express
himself as clearly as possible.
    â€˜I don’t know … First of
all, she would stay in her room till late morning and have her breakfast brought up to
her.’
    â€˜At what time?’
    â€˜Around ten o’clock.’
    â€˜Just a moment
… Do the doctor and his wife sleep in separate rooms?’
    â€˜Well, there are two bedrooms and two
bathrooms, but I’ve never known Monsieur to sleep in his room.’
    â€˜Even these last two days?’
    â€˜I’m sorry! … Since the
3rd of August, he has slept alone … In the daytime, Madame often used to go into
Mademoiselle’s music room … She would sit in a corner and read, listening to
the music—’
    â€˜Does she read a lot?’
    â€˜Whenever I see her she’s nearly
always got a book in her hand.’
    â€˜Does she go out?’
    â€˜Rarely without Monsieur … Or
without her mother-in-law—’
    â€˜She never goes out alone?’
    â€˜She has done.’
    â€˜More often recently than
before?’
    â€˜I don’t know … It’s
a big house, you see … In the scullery there’s a little notice board …
It’s Monsieur’s mother who put it there … We are three servants, the
cook, Jeanne and myself … On the notice board, we find our timetable for the whole
day … At such-and-such a time we must be in such-and-such a room, doing
such-and-such a job, and all hell breaks loose if we are found elsewhere
…’
    â€˜Did the two sisters get on
well?’
    â€˜I think so, yes …’
    â€˜At the table, was Lili more cheerful,
or more talkative, than Odette?’
    â€˜It’s six of
one and half a dozen of the other …’
    â€˜I’m going to repeat my earlier
question and I urge you to think hard: are you sure that it was the 1st of August, two
days before her sister died, that your employer fell ill?’
    â€˜I’m certain.’
    â€˜Where does the doctor see his
patients?’
    â€˜He doesn’t see them in the
house but in the annexe at the bottom of the garden. The annexe has a direct entrance
from a little sidestreet—’
    â€˜Who opens the door to the
patients?’
    â€˜No one. They ring the bell and the
door opens automatically. The patients go into a waiting room. There are very few,
nearly always by appointment … Monsieur doesn’t need to do that, you
understand?’
    â€˜Drink up, Monsieur Maigret, and let
me refill your glass.’
    He drained it and they all clinked glasses
again. Francis and La Popine were both slightly overwhelmed by Maigret’s gravity,
by the huge effort he was making and which they vaguely sensed.
    â€˜It’s so hard,’ said La
Popine, as if