The Carter of ’La Providence’ (18 page)

Dr Michoux was deeply absorbed in studying his cufflink.

‘Who could have known that Mostaguen would step into that doorway to light his cigar?' continued Servières' resonant voice. ‘No one, right? Le Pommeret and I live on the other side of town; we don't go past that vacant
house. At that time of night, there'd be no one but the three of us out in the streets … Mostaguen isn't the type to have enemies. He's what you call a good-natured fellow – his sole ambition is to get the Légion d'Honneur some day …'

‘Did the operation go well?'

‘He'll pull through … A funny thing is that his wife made a scene at the hospital. She's convinced it has to do with some woman! Can you imagine? The poor man would never dare even lay a hand on his secretary!'

‘Give me a double,' Le Pommeret told the waitress as she poured the mock absinthe. ‘And bring some ice, Emma.'

Some customers left, since it was now dinnertime. A gust of wind blew in through the open door and set the tablecloths in the dining room flapping.

‘You'll read the article I've written on this business – I think I've covered all the hypotheses. Only one makes sense: that we're dealing with a madman. We know everyone in town, and we can't for the life of us
work out who might have lost his mind … We're here every night. Sometimes the mayor comes by to play a game with us. Or else Mostaguen. Or sometimes, for bridge, we go and fetch the clockmaker who lives a few doors away.'

‘And the dog?'

The journalist shrugged. ‘No one knows where it came from. At first we thought it belonged to the coaster that arrived yesterday – the
Sainte-Marie
. But apparently not. They do have a dog on board, but it's a Newfoundland, and
I defy anyone to say what breed this hideous hound is.'

As he spoke, he picked up a pitcher of water and poured some into Maigret's glass.

‘Has the waitress been here long?' the inspector asked quietly.

‘Oh, for years.'

‘She didn't go out last night?'

‘She didn't budge … She waited for us to leave before she went up to bed. Le Pommeret and I, we were going over old times, memories of the good old days when we were handsome enough to get ourselves women without paying for them.
Isn't that right, Le Pommeret? … He's not saying a thing! Once you get to know him better, you'll see that when it comes to women he can go on all night … You know what we call the house he lives in, across from the fish market? The House of Depravity!'

‘To your health, inspector,' said the man in question, not without embarrassment.

Maigret noticed just then that Dr Michoux, who had barely opened his mouth, was leaning forwards to examine his glass against the light. His brow was furrowed. His face, by nature colourless, wore a look of enormous anxiety.

‘Just a minute!' he exclaimed suddenly.

He put the glass to his nostrils, then dipped a finger in and touched it to the tip of his tongue.

Servières burst into loud laughter. ‘He's letting the Mostaguen business get to him!'

‘What's the matter?' asked Maigret.

‘I think we'd better not drink this … Emma, go and ask the pharmacist to come over right away. Even if he's at dinner …'

That created a chill. The room looked emptier, more dismal. Le Pommeret tugged nervously at his moustache. Even the journalist squirmed in his seat. ‘What's bothering you?'

The doctor was still staring gloomily at his glass. He rose and went to get the Pernod bottle from the shelf. He twisted it in the light, and Maigret made out two or three small white granules floating in the liquid.

The waitress returned, followed by the pharmacist, whose mouth was full.

‘Here, Kervidon, analyse the contents of this bottle and the glasses right away.'

‘Today?'

‘This minute!'

‘What shall I test for? What do you have in mind?'

Maigret had never seen the pale shadow of fear spread so swiftly. In seconds, all the warmth had drained from the customers' expressions, and the rosy blotches on Le Pommeret's cheeks looked artificial.

The waitress leaned an elbow on the till and licked a pencil before setting down some figures in a black oilcloth-covered account book.

‘You're crazy!' Servières exclaimed with some effort.

It rang false. The pharmacist held the bottle in one hand, a glass in the other.

‘Strychnine,' whispered the doctor.

He shoved the pharmacist out of the door and came back to the table, his head low, a yellow pallor to his complexion.

‘What makes you think—' Maigret began.

‘I don't know – just a hunch … I saw a grain of white powder in my glass, and the smell seemed odd to me.'

‘The power of suggestion!' declared the journalist. ‘If I described this in my article tomorrow, it would close every bistro in Finistère.'

‘You always drink Pernod?'

‘Every evening before dinner. Emma's so used to it that she brings the bottle as soon as she sees our beer mugs are empty. We have our little habits. Evenings, it's calvados.'

Maigret went over to the liqueur shelf, reached for a bottle of calvados.

‘Not that one. The flask with the broad bottom.'

He picked it up, turned it in the light, saw a few specks of white powder. But he said nothing. It was unnecessary. The others had understood.

Leroy entered and announced off handedly, ‘Well, the police haven't seen anything suspicious – no drifters reported in the vicinity. They don't understand it.'

The silence in the room suddenly registered, the dense throat-grabbing anguish. Tobacco smoke coiled around the electric lights. The green felt of the billiard table spread like a trimmed lawn. There were a few cigar butts on the floor in the
sawdust, along with gobs of spittle.

‘Seven, carry one …' Emma counted, wetting the tip of her pencil. Then, raising her head, she called into the wings, ‘Coming, madame!'

Maigret tamped his pipe. Dr Michoux stared stubbornly at the floor, and his nose looked more crooked than ever. Le Pommeret's shoes gleamed as if they had never been used for walking. Servières shrugged his shoulders from time to time as he
mumbled to himself.

All eyes turned towards the pharmacist when he came back with the bottle and the empty glass.

He had run and was breathless. At the door, he gave a kick, trying to drive something away, muttering, ‘Filthy mutt!'

He was no sooner inside the café than he asked: ‘It's a joke, isn't it? Nobody drank any?'

‘Well?'

‘It's strychnine, yes! Someone must have put it into the bottle less than half an hour ago.' He looked with horror at the full glasses, at the five silent men.

‘What's all this about? It's outrageous! I have every right to know! Last night, a man was shot right near my house, and today …'

Maigret took the bottle from his hand. Emma came back from the dining room, looking impassive, and from over the till turned towards them her long face with its sunken eyes and thin lips. Her Breton lace cap was slipping as usual to the left on her
unkempt hair, which it did no matter how often she pushed it back in place.

Le Pommeret strode back and forth, his eyes on the gleam of his shoes. Servières, unmoving, stared at the glasses, then suddenly, his voice choked by a sob of terror, cried, ‘Good God!'

The doctor hunched his shoulders.

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First published in French as
Le Charretier de la Providence
by Fayard 1931
This translation first published 2014

Copyright 1931 by Georges Simenon Limited
Translation © David Coward, 2014
GEORGES SIMENON ®
MAIGRET ®

Cover photograph (detail) © Harry Gruyaert /Magnum Photos
Front cover design by Alceu Chiesorin Nunes

All rights reserved

The moral rights of the author and translator have been asserted

ISBN: 978-0-698-15094-2 (eBook)

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