The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien (19 page)

‘Come to the boat.'

The sailor he had called Vladimir polished off the bottle of champagne and then left as he had come, accompanied by Willy.

The first thing the inspector saw when he arrived on board was a woman in a dressing gown dozing on a dark-red velvet bunk. Her feet were bare and her hair uncombed.

The Englishman touched her on the shoulder and with the same poker face he had worn earlier he said in a voice entirely lacking in courtesy:

‘Out!'

Then he waited, his eye straying to a folding table, where there was a bottle of whisky and half a dozen dirty glasses plus an ash-tray overflowing with cigarette ends.

In the end, he poured himself a drink mechanically and pushed the bottle in Maigret's direction with a gesture which meant:

‘If you want one …'

A barge passed on a level with the portholes, and fifty yards further on the carter brought his horses to a halt. There was the sound of bells on their harness jangling.

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First published in French as
Le Pendu
de Saint-Pholien
by Fayard 1931
This translation first published
2014

Copyright 1931 by Georges Simenon
Limited
Translation © Linda Coverdale, 2014
GEORGES SIMENON ®
Simenon.tm
MAIGRET ® Georges Simenon Limited

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: 978-0-698-15096-6 (eBook)

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