Lock No. 1 by Georges Simenon Page B

cap. On the quayside, workmen stood still, as if
     life had been suspended. A foreman was waiting for him by the door.
    â€˜Were you the one who stopped the
     crusher?’
    â€˜I thought …’
    Ducrau was first to start up the stairs.
     Maigret followed. He heard footsteps and voices coming from much higher up. A door
     on the first floor opened, and Jeanne Ducrau flung herself into her husband’s
     arms. She was limp. He straightened her up, looked round for something to support
     her, deposited her like a parcel in the care of a fat neighbour who was
     snivelling.
    He continued up the stairs. Oddly
     enough, he turned round to check if Maigret was still with him. Between the third
     and fourth floors, they met a police inspector coming down, who took off his hat and
     began:
    â€˜Monsieur Ducrau, may I say
     …’
    â€˜Dammit!’
    He swept him aside and continued up the
     stairs.
    â€˜Detective Chief Inspector, I
     …’
    â€˜Later,’ growled
     Maigret.
    â€˜He left a note which …’
    â€˜Give it to me!’
    He grabbed it
     literally on the wing and pushed it into his pocket. Only one thing really counted:
     the man climbing the stairs, his breath laboured, who stopped outside a door with a
     brass knob, which was opened at once to admit him.
    It was an attic room. The light entered
     from above, and fine dust particles danced in a shaft of sunlight. There was a table
     with books on it, a chair covered with the same red plush as the one downstairs.
    The doctor was seated at the table
     signing the preliminary report and was too late to prevent Ducrau from snatching
     back the sheet that covered the body of his son.
    He did not say anything, not one word.
     He seemed more surprised than anything else, as if he had been confronted by some
     inexplicable sight. And utterly inexplicable it was, a strange ruination: a tall,
     slim young man whose pallid white chest was visible though a gap in the jacket of
     his pyjamas, which were blue with thin stripes. Around his neck was a wide blue
     circle. His features were horribly convulsed.
    Ducrau took a step forwards, perhaps to
     kiss the dead boy, but he did not do so. He seemed frightened. He looked away, at
     the ceiling, then at a spot by the door.
    â€˜From the attic window,’ the
     doctor said quietly.
    He had hanged himself, at first light,
     and it was his parents’ maid, bringing him his breakfast as she always did,
     who had found him.
    At the same moment, Ducrau, showing
     surprising presence of mind, turned to Maigret and barked:
    â€˜The letter!’
    So he had seen and
     heard everything during those terrible moments as he climbed the stairs!
    The inspector took the letter from his
     pocket, and his companion grabbed it from his hands and read it at a glance then
     lowered his arms wearily.
    â€˜How stupid can anyone
     be!’
    That was all. And it was truly what he
     thought. It sprang from the depths of his soul, more tragic than any number of
     rolling phrases.
    â€˜Read it, then!’
    He turned his anger on Maigret, who had
     not been quick enough to pick up the note which had fallen on to the floor.
I was the one who attacked my
     father and I have taken the law into my own hands. I say sorry to everyone.
     Mother must not be sad.
    Jean
    For the second time, Ducrau was
     overcome by a fit of laughter which left him gasping.
    â€˜Can you imagine?’
    He had not protested when the doctor had
     put the sheet back over the body and was not sure whether he should stay there, go
     downstairs, stand or walk about.
    â€˜It’s not true!’ he
     said once again.
    Eventually, he laid a large hand on
     Maigret’s shoulder, a heavy, weary hand.
    â€˜I’m thirsty!’
    His cheeks were almost purple, his
     forehead glistened
with sweat, and his
     hair was stuck to his temples. And the undeniable smell of ether, which had been
     used on a woman who had fainted, filled that