Read Online A Crime in Holland by Georges Simenon - Free Book Online Page B

compass didn’t work. Emergency flares, whatever you can think of. Sometimes even a dinghy!’
    â€˜So that doesn’t prove anything.’
    â€˜No. See the Jewish chandler over there, he makes his living from this second-hand trade.’
    â€˜So your investigation …’
    Pijpekamp turned away, looking awkward.
    â€˜I told you that Beetje Liewens hadn’t gone straight home. She retraced her footsteps. That’s how you say it, yes? In French?’
    â€˜Yes, yes, go on!’
    â€˜Maybe she didn’t fire the gun …’
    â€˜Ah.’
    The Dutchman was definitely ill at ease. He felt the need to drop his voice, and to take Maigret towards a completely deserted part of the quayside before going on.
    â€˜There’s that timber yard … You see what I mean. The
timmerman
 … In French you say the sawyer, so, yes, the
sawyer claims he saw Beetje and Monsieur Popinga. Yes. The two of them.’
    â€˜Hiding behind a stack of timber, you mean?’
    â€˜Yes, and I think …’
    â€˜You think …?’
    â€˜There may have been two other people nearby. That’s the thing. The boy from the college, Cornelius Barens. He’s been wanting to marry that girl. We found a photo of her in his satchel.’
    â€˜Really?’
    â€˜And also Monsieur Liewens, Beetje’s father. Very important man. He raises cattle for export. He even sends some to Australia. He’s a widower, and she’s his only child.’
    â€˜So
he
might have killed Popinga?’
    Pijpekamp was so embarrassed that Maigret almost felt sorry for him. It was clearly very painful for him to accuse an important man, someone who raised cattle for export to Australia, no less.
    â€˜If he saw, you know …’
    Maigret was relentless.
    â€˜If he saw what?’
    â€˜Near the timber stacks. Beetje and Popinga …’
    â€˜Ah yes.’
    â€˜This is completely confidential …’
    â€˜Good Lord, yes. But what about Barens?’
    â€˜He might have seen them too. And perhaps he was jealous. But he was back in college five minutes after the shooting. That’s what I don’t understand.’
    â€˜So to sum up,’ said Maigret, in the same solemn tones
he had used when speaking to Duclos, ‘you suspect both Beetje’s father and her admirer, Cornelius.’
    There was an awkward silence.
    â€˜And you also suspect Oosting, whose cap was found in the bath.’
    Pijpekamp made a gesture of discouragement.
    â€˜And of course, there’s also the man who left a Manila cheroot in the dining room. How many cigar shops are there in Delfzijl?’
    â€˜Fifteen.’
    â€˜That doesn’t help. And finally, you suspect Professor Duclos.’
    â€˜Because he was holding the gun. I can’t allow him to leave. You do see that.’
    â€˜Absolutely!’
    They walked on about fifty metres in silence.
    â€˜So what do you think?’ said the Groningen policeman, at last.
    â€˜That is the question. And that’s the difference between us. You think something. In fact, you think a great many things. But I’m not aware of thinking anything yet.’
    Then suddenly a question:
    â€˜Did Beetje Liewens know the Baes?’
    â€˜I don’t know. I don’t think so.’
    â€˜Did Cornelius know him?’
    Pijpekamp rubbed his forehead.
    â€˜Maybe, maybe not. Probably not. I can find out.’
    â€˜That’s it. Try to find out if they were acquainted at all before the murder.’
    â€˜You think …?’
    â€˜I don’t think anything at all. One more question. Can they get wireless reception on Workum?’
    â€˜No idea.’
    â€˜Another thing to find out, then.’
    It was hard to say quite how it had happened, but now there was a kind of hierarchy between Maigret and his companion, who was looking up to him almost as if he were his superior