Félicie by Georges Simenon

other. Where did he meet
her? What kind of relationship was it? He gives Maigret a thorough looking over from head to
foot, calls the waiter and whispers something to him; the waiter looks as if he’s saying
he doesn’t know, that this is the first time the couple …
    Meanwhile Félicie, sick with panic, suddenly
gets to her feet and lurches in the direction of the washroom. Has her gullet become so
restricted that she is about to regurgitate the strawberries which she has just eaten so
daintily and with such enjoyment?
    In her absence, Maigret and the stranger look at
each other more openly. Perhaps customer 13 is thinking of coming over to exchange a few words
with Félicie’s companion?
    The door with frosted glass panes which leads to
the cloakroom also leads to the kitchen. The waiter comes and goes. He has red hair! Just like
the ship-owner’s son who wanted to marry Félicie when she lived at Fécamp. How
can he not smile? She takes her cue from whatever catches her eye: she sees a red-haired waiter,
she is asked if she had been very unhappy, her brain works with the speed of lightand lo! the waiter is transformed into the son of a ship-owner who …
    She is away a long time, too long for
Maigret’s liking. The waiter has also been gone for some time. Customer 13 is thinking,
thinking like a man who is about to reach a decision.
    Eventually she emerges. She is almost smiling. As
she returns, she pulls the veil back down over her face. She does not sit down again.
    â€˜Coming?’
    â€˜I ordered coffee. You like coffee,
don’t you?’
    â€˜Not now. It would only make me
jumpy.’
    He pretends to go along with this, calls the
waiter and looks him straight in the face as he settles the bill. The man’s cheeks become
slightly flushed. It’s so obvious! She has given him a message to give to customer 13.
Perhaps she scribbled a few words on a scrap of paper with an instruction not to give it to the
person it is intended for until after she has left.
    As they leave, the inspector’s eye falls
accidentally on the heavy overcoat on its peg with its pockets wide open.
    â€˜We’re going back to Jeanneville now,
aren’t we?’
    She takes his arm with a gesture that might well
seem spontaneous.
    â€˜I’m so tired! It’s been a
strain.’
    She grows impatient when he just stands there,
not moving, on the edge of the pavement, like a man who is undecided.
    â€˜What are you thinking? Why aren’t
you coming? There’s a train in half an hour.’
    She is horribly afraid. Her
hand trembles on Maigret’s arm, and he is seized with an odd impulse to reassure her. Then
he shrugs his shoulders.
    â€˜Of course … Taxi! … Get in!
… Saint-Lazare station, suburban lines.’
    What a weight of anguish he has taken off her
shoulders! In the open-topped taxi, where the sun nuzzles them gently, she feels a need to talk
and talk.
    â€˜You said you’d stay with me. You did
say that, didn’t you? Aren’t you afraid of how it might look? Are you married?
… How silly of me. You’re wearing a ring.’
    An anxious moment at the station. He just buys
one ticket. Is he just going to see her to her compartment and then stay behind in Paris? But
she has forgotten he has a pass, and he settles heavily on the seat and gives her a look tinged
with self-reproach.
    He will be able to catch up with grey-haired
customer 13 whenever he likes, since the man is a regular at the restaurant. The train shudders,
and Félicie believes she is out of danger now. At Poissy, they walk past the
café-dansant, where the proprietor, standing at the door of the wooden building, recognizes
Maigret and gives him a wink.
    The inspector cannot pass up an opportunity to
tease Félicie.
    â€˜Just a minute, I think I’ll ask him
if Pegleg ever showed up here and watched you dancing …’
    She pulls him away.
    â€˜No