Maigret's Dead Man

Is anyone inside? Don't know, sir.

Come on.

Kitchen.

Come out.

Come out!

Thank you.

Monsieur.

Come on, quick. Come on!

Hey.

Good afternoon.

What can I get you? A token for the phone.

And to drink? Er, whatever you want.

Um, a Suze citron.

Police Judiciaire. What department, please?

Putting you through.

Maigret.

Look, you don't know my name but you've met my wife, Nina.

She says she's met you. Who is this? My name won't mean anything to you, but they're going to kill me.

I've tried to come and see you but they would've shot me. Who?

I don't know how many, at least two.

And since the 2:20 they've been trying to get me on my own so they can kill me. Help me.

Where are you? I tried to get a policeman at the Place du Chatelet to arrest them,

but he couldn't see anyone. They'd disappeared.

"I'm Nina's husband. She says you've met her."

Nina who? I'm at the Cave du Beaujolais. Oh, no.

Hello?

Hello?

"Yes, sir?" Get me the Cave du Beaujolais. "Sir."

Janvier? Chief. Get down to the Cave du Beaujolais, find the man who just rang here.

Should I bring him in? No, just talk to him. Find out who he is.

"I'm afraid that number is engaged, Inspector. I can't get through."

Righto. Phone, Chief. Says you know him. Nina's husband.

He's here.

Where are you now? "They've swapped over now, it's the big one."

I'm going to try and lead him to the Canon de la Bastille.

"Can you meet me there? Do you know it?" Yes.

Who are these men?

I doubt that's him either.

Hoax?

There you are. Ah. Do you want a drink? Mwah. Mwah.

Did you get a description? "Fawn raincoat, mid-thirties,

small. He said he was the sort of man you see a lot of."

Can you get word out to the city police that if a man wearing a fawn raincoat has had an accident,

"or been in a fight or anything like that, they're to call me."

I've had a call from the Jours Heureux in the Rue du Faubourg. They said a frightened, anxious man

approached the bar with a message to ring you. It reads,

"I'll try and get to you, they're blocking all the routes."

Come on.

And an envelope, please.

"another farmhouse has been attacked near the town of Goderville."

As with the burglaries on the 12th of August and the 21st of September,

the perpetrators ransacked the property and murdered the owner.

On this occasion, a farmhand was also killed.

"Police are following up reports of unusual..."

"if anyone has any information..."

"Police Judiciaire. What department, please?"

"Hello." Joe, it's Albert.

"Albert, what can I do for you?" Can you come and meet me? "Sure. When?"

I've got an idea. "Oh, yeah?"

Nina.

He said I'd met her.

Professionally?

There was a madam called Nina, worked in the 18th.

But that was years ago.

She was 60 then.

The police in the Picardie farm murders think someone got off

the Paris train at Goderville at 3:30 in the morning. Having travelled from Paris?

That's what it says here. Who'd take a route like that?

That train stops at every station along the line.

Someone who really wanted to get to Goderville.

Who's on tonight? I am.

As far as you can tell, he was dead.

I can try.

That's fine with me.

Not a hoax. Chief,

this gentleman saw the body get thrown from the car.

Was he alive? No.

He's been stabbed in the heart, sir.

What kind of car?

It was a cream and blue Citroen with a Paris registration.

The last two numbers were a seven and a five.

Thank you.

Can I ask you to confirm your name and address, please? Of course.

Can you get some details from this gentleman here? Sir.

Thank you for your help.

Who's done this?

It feels like an underworld job, Chief.

A settling of scores.

Who is he? He had nothing in his pockets, Chief, no wallet or anything.

Looking at how they've wrecked his face,

I'm not sure even his own mother would recognise him. That's how they do it.

Watch the chief. He's going to get in the van with this one.

No, he won't.

He will. This one's got under his skin.

I'll stay with him.

Thank you.

Do you have to smoke while we're doing this? Hmm.

Antiseptic in the air.

Where did you qualify?

Is his suit handmade?

It's off-the-peg, average stuff.

He's poor all right, or at least his childhood was.

How can you tell? By looking at his teeth.

Where did you qualify? What else, Paul?

His hands don't suggest any particular occupation.

They're well-kept. He's got tender feet though, with dropped arches,

They're well-kept. He's got tender which indicates a life standing up.

Any scars on the body? Any old wounds?

I don't think he's underworld, Maigret.

Time of death?

Between eight and ten last night. Well, good night, gentlemen.

What did they damage his face with?

Something heavy. Not fists.

After he died? Yeah, that's right.

It was the knife that killed him but...

..it's like he's been held down and operated on.

The bruises on the arms,

this knife wound to the heart. It's vicious, Maigret.

I'd like to get a mortician to reconstruct his face,

see if we can get a recognisable photograph.

All right. I'm going to open him up

and see what he last ate.

Those of a weak disposition should look away.

We need to find the cream-and-blue Citroen.

Janvier, take a man and do nothing else. Hmm, Chief.

And I want witnesses from the bars from which the dead man called.

Are people going to recognise him from this? They might.

Those bars were the Cave du Beaujolais,

the Canon de la Bastille, and the Jours Heureux.

And we believe he tried to call the switchboard from the post office in the Rue de Faubourg.

People are creatures of habit, so the same time of day is when we'll get witnesses.

People are creatures of habit, so the His last suspected location was the post office,

three hours before he died.

I want to know where he went after that, why the phone calls stopped

and where he ate.

Well, he was killed shortly after his last meal, which was...

cream cod, an apple, and white wine to drink.

So we should check the menus of all the cafes and bistros, all of them.

Thank you.

Fingerprints? He's not known to us.

Your registration number is 1808 AD38?

Have we had any cream-and-blue Citroens

reported missing in the last few days? And can you tell...

He asked for an envelope and a stamp. He posted it before he left.

Has the box been emptied since? Every three hours. He posted it after he make a phonecall.

- Has the box been emptied since? - Every three hours. He posted it

What have you got?

I have a cream-and-blue Citroen stolen eight days ago, but its registration doesn't tally, so...

It's not our car.

What do you do when you get home, Janvier?

I give my wife a kiss. Hmm.

When I get home I get changed out of my suit jacket.

You think he went home after calling you?

That would explain why the jacket and the trousers don't match.

Moers, do you have a knife?

Yes, of course.

There we are.

Put the tip through here.

The two holes don't align. He wasn't killed wearing his raincoat.

No, he was killed indoors without the coat,

and they faked it to look outdoors.

All right, your dead man is speaking to me at last, Maigret.

In the arch of his shoe

there's an odd sort of mud.

It's earth saturated with alcohol, probably wine.

The type of soil you find in a cellar

where a cask has been broached.

"Police in Picardie are still working around the clock..."

I've said everything I saw, gentlemen.

There's nothing else I can add. "on the slow train to Le Havre"

on the night of 8th October,

the night of the third vicious attack on a wealthy farmer.

The attack follows similar burglaries and killings

on the nights of 21st September and 12th August.

The murders in each case have been calculated.

"Calls have been made to the Police Judiciaire in Paris..."

What drink did the dead man order? A Suze citron.

May I have a Suze citron?

And a token for the phone.

Where did he stand? Just there.

Do you want a Suze citron?

No. Beer.

He said, "Since the 2:20 they've been trying to get me alone and kill me."

What's the 2:20? A train? Or a horse race. I don't know.

Oof.

Get his photo around the train stations and race tracks,

and check on the times of trains and races.

"And they're off."

"slipping into stride at the tail of the field..." Well?

Yeah, it's difficult to tell,

but if this is who I think it is, you see him a lot.

Do you know his name? No - but he's here every meeting.

Thank you.

Sir.

What's he doing?

Walking through the same areas as Dead Man.

"racing on the outside..."

Here you are.

This letter he posted, was that to you?

No, nothing's arrived.