All language subtitles for Maigret S01E07 A Man of Quality_Track03-eng

{suspenseful music)

- A gentleman to see you, madame

- Madame Gallet?
- Yes.

- Inspector Maigret, criminal justice

- What, is anything wrong?

- Your husband is Emile Gallet?

- Yes.

- A traveller in silverware

for Maison Neal company of Paris?

- Yes.

- I'm sorry to have to
tell you, but he's dead

- Dead?

- He was found shot and
stabbed in a hotel room

in Sancerre the night before last

- But that cannct be sol
- I'm afraid it is.

- Night before last at Sancerre?

- Yes.

- Then how did he write
to me yesterday from Rome?

- Rome? Yesterday?

May 1?

(dramatic music)

{suspenseful music)

- The shot was fired from a
distance of five metres or so.

- From the lane.

- As you saw at the mortuary,

the bullet struck him above the eye

It would have killed him.

- Would have? It did
- No.

He died from the stab wound here

within a few moments of being shot.

- This was found where?

- When I came in, it was
lying a few centimetres

from his right hand

- EG, Emile Gallet, his own

- What a monster this assassin must be,

first to shoot and then to stab.

Certainly a stranger.

We don't have people
like that in Sancerre.

- Hmm.

Have you searched this lane?

- Myself Nothing, empty

Mind you, it goes nowhere. Nobody uses it

- What is over the wall?

- Monsieur Tiburce de St. Hilaire.

- A member of one of the
oldest families in France.

- The lane runs into his park,

but the gates have been locked for years.

No entry.

- All right, it's only me.

After all it's my hotel
you're having the murder in

A little refreshment, our local wine

Light, dry, very good
in this warm weather.

Madame Gallet wishes to know

when you are returning to Paris.

- Did her husband come down here often”?

- Once or twice a year

Don't ask me why, he never said

- Hmm. Who found the body?

- The maid, when she
came in in the morning.

- Is your hotel noisy?

- Ch, extremely quiet

Very good class clientele

- Yet nobody heard the shot.

- Well, there was a fair going
on in the street over there.

A roundabout.

- And a shooting gallery

Ah, the murderer knows this.

Yes. (mimicking gunfire)

And then another shot, and nobody notices

And that's where the assassin
will have come from, too

Bad types. here today, gone tomorrow

Shall I find out where they've moved to?

- Yes.

- Arrest them all, bring
them back for questioning?

- No, no, just find out where they are

Will you ask Madame
Gallet to come in, please?

- Yes, sir

- Thank you fer your assistance, doctor

- Shall I send the report here”?

- Please.

- Oh, you better go after your gunman.

- Gunman?
- Yes.

- Oh, the shooting gallery

I shall have them, Inspector. Never fear

- This way, madam.

- Ah, Madame Gallet

You may have a chair

I want to put a call through to Paris

Quai des Orfevres, Sergeant Lucas

I'll take it in here.

- Yes, sir

- A glass, Madame?

- No, thank you

Is this the room where Emile was found?

- Yes. Oh, perhaps you'd
rather go to another one

- No, thank you

I'd rather you say what you have to say

so that I can go home.

There's a lot to be done.

Why, even my san does not know yet

- His name?

- Henri Gallet, he works
in a bank in Paris

- I see.

How long had you been married, Madame?

- 28 years

- Was your husband always
a commercial traveller?

- Always. Poor Emile had no ambition.

My family offered him better jobs,

but he wouldn't take them.

No, whatever anyone said,

he still went trailing round Normandy

with his wedding present samples

- Around Normandy, yes.

Now, have you any idea why
he should be down here,

200 kilometres south of Paris?

- None whatsoever.

- Had he any relations here”?

- He had no relations. All dead.

- Any money of his own?

- Not a sou.

Mind you, he had once
when we were married.

30,000 francs

It all went into my father's paper.

- He owned a paper?

- "Le Soleil." It supported
the Royalist cause.

It lost money.

{phone ringing)
- Hm. Pardon, Madame

Yes, Maigret.

Ah, Lucas?

Any reports yet from Rouen

or from Maison Neal, the silversmiths?

Mm-hm.

Hm?

Ah.

Oh, I see

No, I should be coming
back to Paris this evening.

And I want you out here
tomorrow with some equipment

Yeah. Au revoir.

Madame.

The receptionist at the
Hotel le Repast in Rome

has said that your husband
used to call on her

once a quarter with a pile of
postcards addressed to you

These she would forward at
stated intervals for a small fee.

- But why? I mean, Normandy was his area

He was there for his firm
three weeks in every month

- Maison Neal have said that your husband

left their employment 15 years ago

- He wouldn't.

- So you see, there's a lot
to be found out about him.

- Lapointe? I'm off to
Sancerre with a patrol

You better come in and take over.

A holiday? (chuckling)

As special guest to the public prosecutor

No, it's not a holiday

It's a murder.

He hasn't told me another thing about it

- I don't know another thing about it

- Ah, Patron. Right, Lapointe.

- You ready to leave?

- Right away.

- Good.

It's the Hotel Lanoire.

The room is sealed.

There's a lot of burnt
papers in the grate,

see what you can get out of them.

- I better take a screen. You coming”?

- No, I'm going aleng to the
Villa Marguerite again first

There must be something
there that will tell us

what he was up to

- Shall I send the car back?

- No, come on by train later

- Who are the local police”

- There's an inspector.
He's away on holiday

But there's a Sergeant Bretelle in charge.

Ooh, very keen.

Given him a nice, long job to do.

Oh, and I've offered 15 francs to anyone

who saw Monsieur Gallet
the day before he died

- [Lucas] You may have to
pay the whole of Sancerre.

- I'l be glad if I have to pay anyone

As far as I can see, Monsieur
Gallet was invisible.

{sombre music)

(tyres squealing)

- Is that the undertakers?

- No, a police car.

- They ought to wait.

- I'l tell them.

- No, no.

All right, Henri. Come in, Inspector

- Madame, may I go through
your husband's papers?

- What?

- Your husband's papers

- Henri.

- This way, Inspector

- You are the son of Monsieur Gallet?

- Yes. This is not a suitable
time to call, Inspector

- I will bother you as little as possible

This was his desk?

- Yes.

And as for that absurd suggestion

that he wasn't working for Maison Neal,

really, I can't imagine
how it came to be made.

- It was made by them

- But can they deny their own letters,

their order books, their samples?

- Mm-hm.

- Written last month, you see

- Was this his typewriter?

- Yes. Why?

- An expert will be able to
tell us if it typed these

Hm, what's all this?

- My grandfather's newspaper

- Oh yes, "Les Soleil".

Yes.

"Dedicated to the restoration
of the Royal House of Bourbon

to the throne of France."

- I am a Republican

- Me too.

- What sort of a man was your father?

I mean, besides his politics.

He got any hobbies?

Fishing. I see

- Yes.

Of course, he was only here
for one week of the month.

He had a boat down at the river.

Used spend all this time down there

when he wasn't in here doing
accounts or mending clocks

- Hmm. Did he ever do this for a living?

- No, I don't think so

I mean, well, he wasn't a clockmaker

- What was he?

- Well, a commercial traveller

- And in his youth?

- Well, he hardly ever spoke of it.

He had an unhappy childhood, I believe

He was born in Nantes and
spent some years in Indochina

- The men are here.

- Now you must excuse us, Inspector

- Yes, of course

You wouldn't mind if
I attend the ceremony?

- That will hardly be necessary.

- No, it is a kind thought.

There will not be many people there

We keep ourselves very much to ourselves

There is no one of any
breeding in the district

Henri, see they don't
damage the furniture

One thing, Inspector

- Yeah?

- I returned from Sancerre by train.

Will my fare be refunded?

{quirky music)

(mellow music)

- Ah, Patron

- Any luck”?

Odd words.

A little offering on this
one, by the lock of him

- Little offering?
- Yeah.

His clothes are on the bed.

- Sure.

Hm, well, whatever he did,
it didn't make him rich

{someone knocking)
Come in

- Inspector, there's a woman to see you

- Name?

- Madame Canut.

Her husband works next
door for Monsieur Tiburce.

It's about the reward you offered

- Ch yes. Well, show her in

And I'll have a beer.

- [Lucas] Make it two

- This way, Madame.

- Ah, Madame.

That will be all, Monsieur

- 15 francs, they said,
for anyone who saw him

- Yes.

- And if they saw him
twice, would that be 30?

- It might be

- I wouldn't want my husband
to know I'd been to see you

- Oh, I'm unlikely to tell him

- You see, it would look
as if I had been spying

on Mr. Tiburce, but I couldn't
help seeing them together

- Monsieur Tiburce and Monsieur Gallet?

- Of course. In the afternocn, it was

That afternoon there was a reward for.

- Saturday

- Yes. I was looking for Baptiste

- Baptiste?
- My husband

He goes down to the
potting shed and sleeps

And I saw Monsieur Tiburce
and Monsieur Gallet

- How did you know it was Monsieur Gallet?

- I went to see the body

- Ah. Why?

- It's interesting, a body
in a small place like this.

I saw them talking together in the salon

It was an argument, almost a quarrel.

- Bid you hear anything they said?

- No, I was too far away, but I saw

- Ch yes, yes

10, five, 15 francs. Thank you, Madame

- Merci. And the other time?

- [Maigret] Tell me

- Well, it was in the morning

I was on my way to the butcher's

and I saw him coming across
the bridge from the station

- Was he alone?

- He met somebody he knew. A stranger

They both looked surprised.
Then they talked

- Hm. What was he like, this stranger?

- Like him, but young

And wearing horn-rimmed spectacles

- You sure?
- Certain

- Thank you, Madame

- As a matter of fact, I
did see him a third time,

but I don't know whether that would count.

- When was it?

- It was when I was coming
out of the butcher's.

He was just going into the hotel.

- No, Madame, that doesn't count

- Merci.

{Lucas laughing)

All right, all right.

I got my money's worth.

- Do you think you knows
who the young man is?

- I think so.

Well now. I must go and
see the aristocracy

- And me, Patron?

- You? Plenty of work for you.

- Thank you, Patron.

Shut the door.

Ah.

- Monsieur, there's one
of the inspector, too

- Oh, well, we won't
let it go to waste, eh?

Good luck.

- How long are you gonna stay here?

Well, you know how it
is In the summer season.

The hotel is full.

To tell the truth, I wasn't even able to

give Monsieur Gallet the
room that he asked for.

- You mean he didn't want this one?

- Well, he wanted one looking over

the courtyard right over the well.

But this was the only one that was free.

Anyway, it's a much better room, and, um

Oh no.

Do you think if he had taken that room,

he wouldn't have been shot?

- Possible.
{phone ringing)

Hello? No, he's out. Lucas here

How do you do, Lapointe” Hold on

No waste where there's pigs

- A very pleasant, dry muscat, Inspector,

bottled on the estate from my own vines

I'm sure you will appreciate that.

- Thank you, Monsieur.

- It's about this murdered man, isn't it?

What's his name? Grillet, Gallet?

- Gallet. You knew him, I believe.

- Well, not to say to you I'd
put it as strongly as that

I don't deny that I've
met him, of course I have

He came here some long time ago

Oh, this does suit you, I mean,

there is a demisec if you prefer it

- This is excellent.

- I knew your tastes
will be the same as mine

the moment I saw you on.

One can always tell a fellow
connoisseur. (chuckling)

Now where were we?

- You were going to tell me why

Monsieur Gallet came to visit you

- Yes, yes. Indeed yes

Well, you see, the St. Hilaire

are one of the old families of France.

It means nothing, but there it is

One can't escape one's destiny

As a matter of fact, I'm
the last of the line.

Perhaps it's just as well.

After all, these things,

there's no place for
them in the modern world.

- You were going to tell me why

Monsieur Gallet came to visit you

- Ah, yes

He came for a subscription

A little offering, as he called it

You see, my father was
well-known as a Royalist

Mind you, that's 40 years ago or more

I have no time for such rubbish,

but Gallet had got hold of my neighbours,

some list or other, and tried to touch me

for a few thousand francs for propaganda

I wouldn't pay, of course

So he lowered his sights and asked

for 100 for some destitute old family

In the end, I gave him
50 to get rid of him

- Why did he come and
visit you on Saturday?

- You have had your ear to
the ground, I can see that

Yes, he had the nerve to try again

- (indistinct)
- Oh, yes

At least I suppose so. I sent him packing

I didn't even let him in
the house. (chuckling)

- Oh, no thank you

I'm surprised you didn't
mention this before.

- Oh, weell, you know how it is

A name like mine, one wants
to keep out of the papers

The poor wretch had shot
himself, and that was that.

- He was shot from a
distance of five metres.

- Was he?

Was he, well well

Some tramp, I should think, wouldn't you?

- Did you hear a shot?

- No, I heard nothing

We go to bed early in these parts

But look here, you mustn't go

Let's finish the bottle.

Oh, let's have another one.

- Thank you, no. I have
to return to Paris.

- What, you're leaving?

- Oh, I shall be back

- Show the inspector out, Baptiste

{ominous music)

- I have an idea.

- So have I.

- As to the identity of the murderer

- Ah?

- Among the fairground people
I questioned was an acrobat

- Yes?

- Well, he could creep along
the lane, fire the shot,

and hop over the wall and away.

- And the knife wound?

- Well, perhaps he's a
knife-thrower as well.

- Did you ask him~

- No.

- You should.

- He's moved on to Bourges.
That's 35 kilometres away

- By tomorrow, he'll probably
be 75 kilometres away

Look, shut the door!

Oh, Patron

Well, how was the aristocracy?

- Telling lies.

- But Monsieur de St. Hilaire
is a respected citizen

- But he tells lies.

- I found out what these letters are.

- Begging letters?

- (chuckling) What's the use?

I might as well chase acrobats with him.

- Acrobats?

- Well, it's only a theory,
Inspector, you see--

- Sergeant, let me tell you something

Theories should always be kept in here

Never show them until
you have absolute proof

This way, you get a
reputation for brilliance

Now, I'm sure you've have lots to do

So have we.

- Inspector.

- (chuckling) A shame. He
thinks this is his big chance

- He talks too much, and he
respects Monsieur Tiburce

- Who lied about what?

- Why, about meeting with Monsieur Gallet

That woman, Madame Canut,
saw them there together

He said he never went in.

Oh, anyway, I think we knows

what Monsieur Gallet's little racket was.

- Oh, these?

- Hm, what do they say”

- I've got one here that's
nearly complete. I'll read it.

"On behalf of the Legitamist Party,

I have the temerity to
beg a little offering

to assist the ancient and noble family

of Bolivar Saint-Durmond to
live in dignity worthy of"

and there it stops.

- Yeah, well, it seems
quite a good little racket

You see, he had a complete
list of the subscribers

to his father-in-law's Royalist paper.

So we knew they'd fall for
this sort of thing, eh?

Anyway, much more fun than
being a commercial traveller

- More profitable, too. Oh, Lapointe rang

Gallet's life was insured
for 100,000 francs.

- By himself?

- 10 years ago

- The premiums must've been enormous

- Especially since he wasn't fit

Here's the medical report.

He had a chronic liver complaint.

- Expectation of life three years

- See about the bruises
on the back of his hand?

- Hmm. Oh yes.

Very interesting

However, now at the moment,

I'm going back to Paris
ta see the family again

- And me, Patron?

- You?

{Lucas chuckling)

- 100,000 francs. 100,000, Henri?

- I think it's disgusting
- Henri!

- All those years in which
there was never enough money,

thinking that we were poor

I could have read law as I wanted.

- Well, you've done very well at the bank

- And what are they going to say

when they learn that
my father was a crook?

- I forbid you to say that. He's dead

He was a good man

He gave thought to my future.

Besides, there's no reason
why anyone should know

- Inspector Maigret.

- Oh, Inspector. Is there any news?

- Have you found the man?

- Not yet.
- Really?

One would think that in a
small town like Sancerre

it would be easy.

- Where every movement
is observed. Yes, indeed.

Madame, I should like to go to
your husband's papers again.

I don't wish to distress you.

I'm sure Monsieur Henri can tell me

all I want to know about them.

Shall we?

- Really, Inspector, you do
come at the most awkward times.

It's very nearly lunchtime

- Won't be long.

Now, what were you doing
in Sancerre on Saturday?

- On Saturday”?

- Yes. On Saturday

It was the day before your father died.

You saw him there and you spoke to him.

- Well, I didn't goto
Sancerre to see him.

We met by accident

- Why did you go to Sancerre?

- To see my mistress.

- You keep her at a distance?

- She's on holiday. She lives in Paris

- Her name?

- Eleanore Boursin.

- Mm-hm, her address in Sancerre?

- The Panssion Amin.

In Paris she has an apartment
at 27 Rue de Turenne.

- Where you live together?

- Please, Inspector

My mother doesn't know of our friendship.

- Hmm. Did your father knows?

- He suspected

- And disapproved?

- Yes.

- Did you know your
father was in Sancerre?

- I'd have kept out of his way if I had

- What did you talk about?

- Well, I accused him of spying on me

He said that I was not to talk like that,

that I was lacking in respect

And so I walked on to the station

and left him standing there.

(Maigret tutting)

- Sad, sad

- What?

- That your last words
would have been an anger.

- Yes. Pity.

- Where's the typewriter gone”?

- 1 took it into town to have it cleaned.

- Be careful with it. We might need it.

That's all.

Oh, except that I should like a copy

of your father's photograph.

- That is the only one

- May I take it?

- Well, it seems hardly right.

- It'll help me greatly

- Very well, but take good care of it

Henri, get some tissue
paper to wrap it in

The frame is silver.

(mellow music)

(engine starting)

- Anything for Monsieur Gallet?

- Nothing for Gallet

- Uh, has there ever been?

- Yes.
- When?

- Every few months

- What?

- A letter.

- Hm. The address of sender?

- No.

- Anything on the back?

- A name
- What name?

- Monsieur Jacob.

- Thank you, Madame

{Lucas sighing)

- Sorry

- I suppose you've got to breathe

- Still at it.

- Yes, still at it

- Thundery weather

- Yeah.

- I found that acrobat.

- You didn't arrest him?

- No, he can't throw knives

- Oh.

- Well, anything new?

- There's a bit here from
a different kind of letter

Monday at 200

There might be more

The paper is different from the others.

- Wonderful.

- What?

- Science.

- Sergeant, will you do something for me?

When the Paris evening train comes in,

get me a Paris evening paper.

- Inspector.

- You should carry a copy of this

- Yes.

Ah, there is a bit more of that letter

- Chalk.

- Shall I climb it for you, Patron?

- I'm not that old.

- Alley-oop

- You know, he climbed up here.

- And aver?

- Perhaps. I'm not sure

{thunder rumbling)

We're in for a storm.

- We are.

Do you want a clothesbrush™

- No, a bottle of wine

- Good.

Monsieur Tardivot? A bottle
of white in a hurry, please

- You know, there's a stream over

the other side of the wall, and some mud,

but there's no mud on these, though.

Or in his socks.

So he must've only gone
up to the top of the wall

He didn't go over it,

but there is a mud on the
other side of the wall.

That means that somebody climbed up there.

- You think they met at
the top like two cats?

- I don't know what they did

{Maigret sighing)

And I don't know who you are

- [Lucas] Git-le-Couer

- Rue Git-le-Couer?

- It looks like it.

- Monsieur, I withdrew the cork.

- Oh, goed

- Will that be all?

- Yes. Thank you

- Emile Gallet.

School at Nantes, some time in Indochina

You married above your station,

vou lived in a Paris suburb

You gave up your job 15 years ago

in favour of confidence trickery.

But you went on persuading your family

that you were still a
commercial traveller.

Trouble with your hands, fond of fishing,

an unhappy childhood, and
a son who doesn't love you

- And very old

- Yes, not very long to live

Now.

On Saturday, he comes down here,

where he's a regular visitor.

- Asks for a room
overlooking the courtyard

- Does he?

- Monsieur Tardivot said
the one by the vrell

- Oh, I see

Then he sees his son, whose
mistress is staying down here

Then he visits the local squire.

And he comes back here.

Later that night, he's standing here

He's shot from outside, here

But he doesn't die at once, he lives

To be stabbed with his own knife.

- After a struggle.
- Why?

- The bruises on the back of his hand.

- Oh, yes. Anything else?

- He burned all his letters.

- Or someone did.

Ah. we're not there yet

- Where does insurance fit in?

- Don't go, Madame Boursin.

You saved me a visit.

- How did you know my name?

- No one else has come down here.

- It's not private.

- No, but it doesn't go anywhere.

- You spoke to Henri?

- Yes. Come in, through the window

How long have you known Henri?

- Three years

- Will you marry?

- Ch yes, when we can afford
to, but it's a little delicate

- Oh.

- You see, my husband vas
a textile engineer at Lille

and he was killed in an accident.

His firm denied liability

and I had to sue them for compensation

It took two years.

Well, if I'd married, it
might've affected the amount

- Have you received it yet?

- Yes. And we will marry

But really, there's not much point

until we've made enough to be independent.

- Not many people manage that.

- We shall.

You see, Henri's bank does a
lot of business on the Bourse.

So naturally he knows quite a
bit about stocks and shares.

He invests for both of us.

- On the same account?

- Oh no, that wouldn't be wise

No. My money is in my own name.

- May I ask what it amounts to?

- About 15,000 at
yesterday's share prices

Industrials may have moved
up a point or two today

- And your lover?

- About 30,000

He takes bigger risks and quicker profits

with his own money.

Well, that's only right.

When we top 200,000,

we shall marry and move down to Provence

Henri is not very strong, you know

- Like his father.

- I never knew him.

- Hmm.

Where were you on Saturday night?

- Here.

In Sancerre, at the Panssion. Asleep

- And Henri?

- With his mother, I suppose

He had come to see me earlier in the day.

Of course, you know that

He wanted my signature
on a deed of transfer.

- Thank you, Madame

- Is it true that Monsieur Gallet carried

100,000 francs' worth of insurance?

- Yes.

- What a stupid way to tie up one's money.

- YWhy doesn't he save up
and buy a cash register?

- Jacob
{thunder rumbling)

- Jacob?

- Yes, the name Jacob, Rue Git-le-Couer

- Git-le-Couer, Jacob

Anything else”

- The words, as before, the figure is 200.

Might be 2000.

(thunder crashing)

Here it comes.

- A name and a street.

That's going to mean some
walking for Lapointe

- Well, this will cool things down a bit.

- Hello, hello

Yes, I want to make another call to Paris

Same number. No, I'll hold on here

Jacob, Jacob

Well, that's a Jewish name,

should narrow it down to a few hundred.

(thunder crashing)

Lucas, get down!

- I've been shot!

(glass breaking)

{suspenseful music)

- The rain will have done good

- If there was no hail. Check.

He threatens the lives.

- {clearing throat) The policeman.

- Inspector, Baptiste.

My dear sir.

- How long have you been here?

- How long? All day

- When did you come, doctor?

- Four o'clock.

- You've been here all the time since?

- Every minute

- Three games of chess,
the last one nearly over

- Well, that is & matter of opinion

- Your help is needed, doctor

My assistant's been wounded.

- Shot?
- Yes.

From the top of your vrall

- My wall?
- Yes.

I've been up there, you
can smell the powder

- Then the assassin may
still be in the grounds

- Possibly.

Come, please, doctor

- Has the bullet remained in the victim?

- Just nicked his ear. but
he's losing a lot of blood

- Oh, I'm afraid this
is the end of our game

- Never mind. It looked like checkmate.

{ominous music)

{typewriter clacking)

- Good.

- And now please will you tell
me why I've been arrested?

All right, all right.

Don't tell me why I've been arrested.

Just tell me, is this a free country?

- You haven't been arrested.

- No, oh, no arrest, no

Only picked up by a
police van from the corner

I've sold papers on for 25 years

Only brought to police headquarters,

only told nothing but wait, wait, wait

But what am I waiting for?

May I ask that?

- Chief Inspector Maigret

- What does he want?

A nice magazine, perhaps?

All right

You give him this, and let me go

- Shopping, Lucas?

- Ah, Patron. Monsieur Jacob

Lapointe found him.

- Ah.

- And here's all about him.

- Except why I'm here

(Maigret whistling)

- Who sent you letters?

- Oh, that?

You might suppose I too wonder about that,

but after all, it is no business of mine

- It will be to the prosecutor

- To receive letters sent to
me and pass them on unopened?

- For meney

- For meney, of course

- Well, who'd you pass them on to?

- A woman.

- Describe her.

- Tall, well-dressed, blonde. All right.

Mean, though

There was money in those letters

and she would only give me a franc a time.

- [Maigret] How do you
know there was money?

- I could tell.

- [Maigret] Was it always the same woman”

- Who took the letters? Yes.

There was a man who came.

I think he was the sender.

- Lucas, you got that paper?
The one we got in Sancerre?

- Ah.

- There, is that him?

- Yes, that's him.

- That was yesterday's
paper. Didn't you see it?

- I don't read papers, only sell them

Besides, I haven't seen
him for a long time

Two years.

- Is that when the letters began?

- Yes.

First the woman comes
and asks me will I do it.

I know that if I don't,

the Algerian who sells
peanuts will get the job,

so I say yes

Then comes the first letter,
and after that, the man

He asks me about the woman.

What do I know that I haven't
already told you? Nothing

So he hides behind a tree
and waits, follows her

But she goes into half
a dozen metro trains

and finally loses him by going into

a block of flats with two ways out

- [Maigret] How do you know?

- He tells me so when he comes again

Again he tries, but I
suppose he does not succeed,

for I don't see him no more.

But the letters still keep
coming every two months

- [Maigret] And still a woman

- Yeah. And now may I go”

- Yes.

Lucas, ring down and tell
them to run him back.

- That will put the Algerian in his place!

- Transfer.

- And If he sells any of my
dailies, I'll put him in the car

and send him straight back to you

- Let's have a car for Rue
Git-le-Couer right away

- Here, to cheer up the invalid.

- I got something better than
that here if you'd like it

- The vice squad's down
the passage on the left

Well, what do you think?

What does it look like to you?

- Oh, I've seen better in Marseilles

- Not that. His information.

- Oh, blackmail

- Yes.

Monsieur Gallet was being
blackmailed by his son's mistress

- At the son's instigation

- Yes, yes.

I think that Monsieur Gallet, junior,

must have found out about
his father's little racket.

He didn't say anything. He just squeezed

And every squeeze brings

that villa in Provence a step nearer

Charming way for a son to behave.

- But they wouldn't have wanted him dead.

- [Maigret] No

- Unless he was going to expose them

- Hows could he? They hadn't
even committed a crime.

- Blackmail?

- Now, you know as well as
I do that under our code,

it's impossible for son
to blackmail his father.

The law hasn't envisaged
a family like this

(phone ringing)

- Inspector Maigret's office, Lucas

Ah, Madame! How are you?

No, I'm fine now, thanks. Just a scratch

My left ear.

Mimi never liked that ear anyway

Yes, he's here. Hold on

Madame.

- Hello? Yes, it's me

No, I'm unharmed. It's Lucas who got shot.

Yes, he's sitting here now
with a turban on his head

locking like a pasha surveying his harem

- There's a man here wants to see you.

I think he's mad.

He says he daren't come
to see you at your office

in case someone's following him

He's the assistant tax collector for Senatoise

- Senatoise? That's not even my district.

Oh, well, what's he want?

Yeah.

What?

All right, I'll come at once.

There's @ man at my home who says

he knows who killed Monsieur Gallet.

{suspenseful music)

- Have you ever been in
the colonies, Madame?

- I've never been out of France.

- Ah, then you cannot
understand how things are

No, no

It is only us old colonial hands who know

Someone's coming. I can
hear them on the stairs.

- It's my husband

- Are you sure it is not an imposter?

Speak to him through the door

- I think I know my husband's
footsteps after 25 years

Hello, darling.

That's him.

- Inspector.

My name is Patin, Louis Potin

I know you will excuse me for coming here,

but they're so devilish cunning,

I wouldn't put it past
them to watch your office.

- They?

- The Tonkinese.

They are the murderers of poor Emile

- Oh.

- Yes, for revenge. The
knife, you see. It's typical

Of course, you don't know them, but I do

I've lived in Indochina
for many years, in Hanoi

A bad climate for Europeans

And very few wines will
stand up to it at all

However, where duty calls, there
one must go, isn't that so”?

- Yes, no doubt

When did you first meet Monsieur Gallet?

- Oh, when I was there

I suppose the last time I saw
him was about 25 years ago

He was a lawyer's clerk.
(chuckling) What times we had

- Oh, did you?

- Yes, things were always
lively when Emile was around

Drink, girls. (chuckling)
And all manner of jokes

Well, he played one tco many

- What was that?

- He arranged a mock manage
with a Tonkinese girl

I was the best man, and the
chap from the trading company

played the priest with
a couple of acolytes

from the Port Authority.

You couldn't help laughing

Well, I mean to say,

Emile had made up a
long rigmarcle in verse

Oh, not for Madame's ears, of course

Even if I could remember
it, which I can't.

Not right, really, of course.

Wouldn't do it now.

When he went away, he left her

Well, that's what I mean about revenge.

The girl's family, knives

Poor Emile. He was a card, though.

- Was he? Why did he leave?

- He said he'd found out
a way to make a fortune

- Ah. He was a card, was he?

Are you sure you recognise
his picture from the paper?

- How could I, after 25 years”?

Time marks us all, and he'd grown a beard

Oh no, it was the name that caught my eye

And the fact that he'd been in Indochina.

I suppose the life he'd led told on him,

though he kept himself fit.

- It doesn't sound like it.

- He was a great footballer

Played outside left,
very fast and accurate

Left-footed, you see

- Was he left-handed, too?

- Oh yes

We missed him when he went
away, I can tell you that

I played centre forward, you know

- Have you any photos
of your football team?

- Oh, yes indeed. One taken every season.

- Perhaps I'l be able to
come and see them sometime.

Thank you very much for your information

- My card

- Thank you

- I think we should leave
the building separately

-Oh, sodo I

- Beware, Inspector. Your
life may be in danger too

Au revoir, Madame

- Au revoir, Monsieur

- And to you, Inspector

- Allow me.

I suppose it's the sun
that makes them like that.

- And the rum.

Look at that. Would you
say that fellow was a card”?

A lively fellow, a footballer?

No, he looks melancholy and

- Yeah, what?

- Well, distinguished

- Yes, he does, doesn't he?

- Well, of course, people change

- Net in some things

Saint-Fargeau, five seven four six.

- What time would you want your dinner?

- If Madame Gallet says
he was left-handed too,

I'll have it at eight.

- And if not?

- Still at eight, only tomorrow night.

{suspenseful music)

- was, um, just
reconstructing the crime

- That's as far as you need go

Now, I want to talk to Monsieur
Tiburce de St. Hilaire.

- Oh, I think he's at home.

- Well then, fetch him.

- He's to come here?

- Yes, at once, in the name of the law

- Inspector, will you be dining?

- No, not now. Later. Bottle of wine now

How deep's your well?

- 30 metres.

- Good, good

- We've never been short of
water since I've been here.

- Uh-huh. Did Monsieur Gallet ever fish?

- No.

- Good.

- I'l chill the wine.

- I can't think what the
inspector wants ta see me for

at this time of the
night, it's most annoying

Oh, good evening, Inspector

This is a curious spot for a rendezvous

- Yes, isn't it?

Come inside.

- Well, I said, did you want
him here, being out here

And you said yes, and--

- Yes, quite, Sergeant.
Thank you very much

Come in, Monsieur Tiburce,
through the window

You know it's quite easy.

-Dol?

- Hm. Have you got a match?

- I have a lighter.

- I see you're left-handed

- Well, it just happened
to be in that pocket

Monsieur Gallet was right-handed

I asked his wife.

- Are you reconstructing the crime?

- Perhaps.

(thunder crashing)

No, stay there. Don't move

I don't expect there'll be
anybody up on the wall, do you?

- I think you forget who I am.

- Tell me.

- Very funny

- I want to know all about you

{thunder rumbling)

No. don't move, stay there

Now, tell me

When did your father die?

- When I was 12.

- Your mother?

- Soon after I was born.

- You were brought up by relations?

- No, I had none. I was the
last of the St. Hilaire.

There was just enough money
left after my father died

to let me go to boarding
school at Bourges

I stayed there on the holidays as well.

- For how long?

- Until [ was 19.

- And then?

- Then I almost starved
until I got my legacy at 28

- I see.

From a relative in Indochina, wasn't it?

- Yes, a cousin. I never knew him

- Very sad story.

Exactly like his, only
he never had the legacy

He had to go on being
a commercial traveller

until he took to his little crime.

And even then he was
so afraid of his family

that he had to pretend to
go on selling silverware

He was a sick man.

He was being blackmailed,
and he came down here to die.

He asked for a room overlooking the well

You see what he could do?

He could lower this stone down the well,

tie the other end to the gun.

He fires a shot, his hand unclenches

Down goes the stone and the
gun, never to be recovered

It's a suicide that looks like murder,

and the insurance company pay up.

- Clever.
- Very clever

But he couldn't get the room he wanted,

so he had to think of something else

Now, go and get me his revolver

Let me see it.

- Wedged between the
stones, under the creeper

- Come on in.

Very clever.

A clockwork attachment
like photographers use

when they want to include
themselves in the picture

You wind it up, and it gives you time

ta step ‘round in front of it

before the spring works the shutter,

or in this case, the trigger.

-5,0007

- Made from an old alarm
clock, I should say

-6,0007

Not there's anything you can do, you know

There's a limit to the time in
which you can bring a charge

I looked it up

- There are various charges
which might be brought

- Yes, but not murder

You know that I didn't kill him.

- Sit down, Monsieur Gallet

Tell me what you did do.

- I have no need to say anything

- No, but you can come with me and meet

Monsieur Louis Potin, hm?

And perhaps look at some photos
of your old football team

in which you, Emile Gallet,
played outside left

- (laughing) Potin,
our mad centre forward.

All right, where shall I start?

- In Indochina.

When a man came into
your solicitor's office

in Hanoi to make a will.

- Yes, he looked like an old trapper,

been living in the jungle
and the fever was on him.

He said he hadn't got long to live,

that he wanted to leave all his
money to his cousin Tiburce

who was the only other person

bearing the name of St. Hilaire

- Hm, how much?

- 1200 thousand francs.

- So you saw the opportunity
to make a fortune

- Well, as a matter of fact,

I was coming back to France anyway

Things had gotten a bit
too hot out there for me.

But I had an awful job to find Tiburce

In the end, I ran him
to earth at Le Havre

but he was down to his last few centime.

- [Maigret] Which made it easy for you

- Yes, I told him that I
was going to the States,

that I wanted an impressive
name to bluff them with.

I said I knew his from someone at Bourges.

That's where he went to school.

- I know.

And how much did you offer him

for the name Tiburce de St. Hilaire?

- 10,000. About 2,500 new francs

- And he jumped at it

- Oh, yes

He said he'd never had any good with it

and I was welcome to it.

We were about the same
age, he had no friends

All mine were in Indochina
So we simply exchanged papers

Mind you, I very nearly starved.

And then I saw a report that
the old St. Hilaire had died,

and I was on the lawyer's
doorstep the next morning

- And how long before the
real Tiburce de St. Hilaire

was on yours?

- Oh, he took a little time to find me,

but he did in the end.

- And claimed his inheritance?

- Went down on his knees for
it, but he wouldn't go to law.

In the end, I gave him a
few francs and he went away

- But he came back.

- Oh yes, every few months

And generally I used to give him

the few odd notes in my pocket

and he'd go away quite happy,

but on Saturday it was different

Saturday he wanted 5,000 or nothing

Well, of course it was nothing

He made a bit of a row

but I was firm and he
eventually went away

- Yeah.

And then?

- Later that evening I was strolling along

the other side of that wall.

And I saw him sitting on top of it

I didn't say anything, I
just waited under the tree

I thought he was coming over,
but he climbed back this side.

When he was out of the way,

I climbed over the wall to have a look.

And there he was, standing here

And as I looked, there
was a shot from the wall

and the side of his face went red,

but he just stood here without
moving, seemed to be waiting

He was waiting for the other two bullets.

The explosion of the first
one jammed the mechanism

Waiting for his own death

When it didn't come, what did he do?

- He took out his knife.

He didn't seem to dare at first.

And then he made up his mind
and plunged it into his heart

- And you, what did you do?

- 1, oh, well, I did what I thought best.

I mean, after all, he was
dead. Nobody could help him

I had a look at the gun
I didn't like to touch it

I came in here to see
if he'd left any papers,

but he'd burnt everything

- After which you said
no more and went home.

- Well, I couldn't without
giving the whole story away

- So you left the weapon in place,

still loaded and ready to fire?

- Yes, but how could it?

The spring was jammed,
you said so yourself.

- When the rain cooled it
down, the spring contracted

and it fired again, twice

- Well, how was I to
know that would happen?

- You knew there was a risk,

and you knew which way the gun pointed

Did you, by any chance
hope that I would be next?

- Why, no, I never thought of that

- No, nor of anything else
but Tiburce de St. Hilaire.

- There's nothing you could do.

It's over 20 years since
I've had the money.

The act of limitation is quite definite

- Quite.

- I'm sorry to be so long, Inspector

I've chilled the wine.

- Never mind, Monsieur Tardivot

My friend Emile here will drink it.

Goodbye, Monsieur Gallet

There's nothing to stop you

captaining the football team now

- Gallet, Gallet?

- Oh, yes, you must ask him about it

He used to play outside left

Goodbye

- What does he mean?

- Have a drink, Tardivot

- Is your name Gallet? Is it really?

He called you that. What does he mean?

{sombre music)

- Aristocrat.

Oh, Emile.

I can't wait to tell the family.

- Surely all the evidence
points to suicide

- Who would choose such a bizarre method

of committing suicide without
an overwhelming motive?

- Well, the insurance company will-

- No, their capital is 95 million

Your father had been paying
very heavy premiums for 10 years

and they'd have had to
pay out soon anyway

No, I think they'll
fall in with the theory

that he was conducting
a very rash experiment

Unless, of course,

they learned that his
son was blackmailing him

- If you think that,

why don't you make your accusation openly?

- Because legally I can
take no action against you

And also because I think your poor father

had enough disappointments in his life.

I'd like to spare him one more.

He stood and waited for
death in that manner

so that we should think it was murder

and your mother should get the insurance

I suppose he loved her.

Perhaps he even loved you

- That is surely a family matter
which need not concern you

- Not in the slightest.

I suppose you will be
marrying Madame Boursin soon

- Probably
- Hmm.

Well, you're very well
suited to each other.

I wish you joy