Read Online The Two-Penny Bar by Georges Simenon - Free Book Online

in and out of various sanatoriums, hospitals, hospices and young offenders’ institutions.
    He wasn’t afraid. He had the same answer to everything: his lung. He’d be living off it until the day it killed him.
    â€˜What do I care?’
    â€˜Are you refusing to tell me the name of the man at the Canal?’
    â€˜Don’t know what you’re talking about.’
    There was an ironic twinkle in his eyes as he said this. He bit off a large chunk of sausage and started chewing it assiduously.
    â€˜I know Lenoir wouldn’t have said anything,’ he murmured, after a pensive pause. ‘Not like that, right at the end …’
    Maigret stayed cool. He knew he had the upper hand. What’s more, he now had a new means of getting to the truth.
    â€˜Another beer, please, madame.’
    â€˜A good thing I brought three bottles up.’
    She gave Victor a curious look, as if trying to work out what crime he could have committed.
    â€˜To think you were well taken care of in the sanatorium and you left. Just like my son! He’d rather have his freedom than …’
    Maigret watched the canoes row past in the bright sunlight outside. It was nearly time for drinks. A sailing-boat containing James’s wife and two of her friends pulled in at the riverbank outside. The three women beckoned to a canoe, which
followed close behind. Other boats followed. The old woman sighed:
    â€˜My son hasn’t got back yet. I won’t be able to manage on my own. My daughter has gone to fetch the milk.’
    Nevertheless, she gathered up some glasses, which she took out to the tables on the terrace, then she dug some loose change out of a pocket concealed under her petticoat.
    â€˜They’ll need some pennies for the piano.’
    Maigret stayed where he was, one eye on the newarrivals and the other on his sickly companion, who continued to munch away unperturbed. And he noticed the Bassos’ villa in the background, with its blooming garden, its
diving-board next to the river, its two boats moored at the bank, the child’s swing.
    He gave a sudden start when he heard what sounded like a shot being fired in the distance. The people next to the river looked up too. But there was nothing to be seen. Nothing happened. Ten minutes went by. The guests from the Vieux-Garçon took
their seats around the tables. The old woman came out, carrying several bottles of aperitif.
    Then a dark figure ran down the Bassos’ lawn. Maigret recognized one of the police officers. He fumbled with the chain of one of the boats, got in and started rowing towards them with all his might.
    Maigret stood up and turned to Victor.
    â€˜You … stay put.’
    â€˜Happy to oblige.’
    Outside, everyone had stopped ordering drinks, intent on the sight of the officer rowing across. Maigret walked down to the reeds by the river and waited impatiently.
    â€˜What’s happened?’
    The officer was out of breath.
    â€˜Get in … I swear it wasn’t my fault.’
    With Maigret on board, he started rowing back across to the villa.
    â€˜It was all quiet. The greengrocer had just been round. Madame Basso was walking in the garden with the child. I don’t know why, I just had this feeling something was up – like they were expecting something. Then a car pulledup, a brand-new car. It parked just outside the gate, and a man got out.’
    â€˜Balding, in his thirties?’
    â€˜That’s right! He came into the garden and started walking with Madame Basso and the boy. You know where my observation post is … it’s a fair distance away. They shook hands. The woman walked the man back to the gate. He climbed
in and turned on the ignition. And before I could make a move, Madame Basso jumped in with the boy, and the car sped off.’
    â€˜Who fired the shot?’
    â€˜I did. I was trying to puncture a tyre.’
    â€˜Was Berger with you?’
    â€˜Yes. I sent