All language subtitles for Maigret S01E13 The Childrens Party_Track03-eng

(train whistle blowing)

(knocking)

- Passport, please

Thank you

Inspector Maigret?

Oh, I am so pleased to meet you.

Inspector Bergsma,
Netherlands Frontier Police.

To Amsterdam?

- Yeah.

- On business?

- I think so.

- Thank you

- Inspector Bergsma™?

- Yes?

- I'd be grateful if you
would ask the customs officer

to examine the suitcase of
the man down the corridor.

- I will do it myself.

- I'l shows you

- Customs.

Customs.

Dutch Frontier.

Open this case, please

(rustling)

(train whistle blowing)

(gunshot fires)

(dramatic music)

(train whistle blowing)

(tense music)

- One pair of trousers, old and filthy.

- One jacket, the same.

- An equally dirty shirt.

Why would anyone commit
suicide for the loss of those?

- Well, he seemed poor, but--

- When I first saw him, he
had 30,000 Belgian francs

- What?

Where was that?

- Last night in Brussels

I had to come up to
their police headquarters

to talk about some Hungarians
who were giving us trouble

Anyway, out of the conference
I went along to a restaurant

near the station, and there was this man,

counting out the money
in hundred franc notes

- Dressed almost in rags?

- Yeah.

I watched him do them up into a parcel.

Then I followed him to the post office

He posted the parcel to himself.

Louis Jeunet.

At 18 Rue la Roquette in Paris,

and he sent the parcel at the
cheap rate of printed paper

- What, 30,000 francs?

He did not think much of it.

- Looked to me as though he
was working under orders

so I followed him.

He took the Amsterdam Express

I noticed this suitcase.

You can buy one like it
almost anywhere, so I did

And just before you boarded the train,

I changed it for his.

- Oh, but you could not
know he would kill himself.

- Why?

What for?

Hold up his old trousers

You see, these are meant
for a much taller man.

They're not even his,

this isn't even his own suit.

- Any information about him, Doctor?

- Age 30, 35

Poor health, drank too much

He had done some manual
work, but I would not say

he was born to it.

- These look to have been
soaked in oil, or something

- Yeah but a long time ago, eh?

- Not ail.

Blood.

- Blood, you think so?

- I'm sure of it.

- The jacket?

- Oh.

Whoever wore this must
have wallowed in it.

Would you like a detailed report?

- Yes, I would very much

- You will be going back to Paris”?

- Yes, yes.

I think he was employed by someone,

I'll start our end.

- Well if there's anything we can do

you only have to let us know

Yes?

- They told me to ask
here if I wanted to see

one of your inmates

- Name?

- Mine?

Joseph Van Damme.

Export agent

Cigar?

- No, thank you

Who do you wish to see?

- The Frenchman.

What's his name?

Jeunet, the one who shot himself?

- Howr do you knows about him?

- There's a piece in the paper

- You think yeu might know him~

- I might.

There aren't many French in Amsterdam

I used to live in Paris, actually.

I'm Belgian from Liege

Will you have a cigar, monsieur?

They're a special brand
I export to America

- Thank you, very much.

Perhaps he could see the body?

- This way.

- Knows anything about it?

- No.

- Was it a headline in the paper?

- No, small paragraph

- Made by a tailor in Liege.

- Never saw him before in my life

- Why did you think you might have?

- Answer, please.

This is Inspector Maigret
of the French police

- The famous Maigret?

Monsieur, I am honoured

You must have lunch with me.

- Why did you think you might
have seen Louis Jeunet before?

- I didn't.

- Then why come here?

- Curiosity, call it that.

The sign of a lively mind, I always say

What time would suit you for lunch?

- I'm sorry, monsieur, I have
to return to Paris right away

- Pity.

Perhaps we shall meet again.

Good day.

Good day, monsieur.
- Good day

- I should like some
information about him.

- Yes.

I'll send it with the medical report

And I suppose you would like
photographs of the dead man?

- Yes please, for the press.

Liege, and Van Damme comes from Liege,

but Jeunet was a Frenchman from Mulsanne.

Or was he?

My passport has age,
height, colour of eyes,

colour of hair, right?

- Yes.

- His says age, height, colour
of hair, colour of eyes

- Ah.

A forgery.

- Yes, I think so

Yes, it's from that
printing works in Lille

that we rounded up six months ago

- So all we know about him is
that he is not Louis Jeunet.

- Well, we have an address,
which is more than we

sometimes start a case
with, and we have a cigar

- [Concierge] That's him

- [Lucas] It was in this morning's paper.

- I only have time for the headlines

- Have you a parcel
addressed to Louis Jeunet?

- Parcel?
- Yes, a parcel

Have you?

- Well, I'm not sure.

- Oh now, come on, come on

Let's have it.

- Oh.

- Come on, come on, we've not got all day.

- All right.

- Anything in there”?

- Not much.

Lot of ash.

The concierge says that
he worked for a factory

around the corner that makes beer engines

when he worked at all.

- What else did he do?

- Sat over here and drank,
by the look of the bottles

Mind you, we won't get
much out of the concierge

They don't care for the police round here

- Why should we?

- A little cooperation saves
a lot of trouble, madame.

- Arrived yesterday.

- Did he often get them like this?

- Every few months

- I see.

Is that when he started drinking?

- No, not especially

He drank when he felt like it.

- Alone?

- Mm.

Locked up in here.

- Do you know what's in this”?

- How would 1?

- By opening it.

Anyway, I know you haven't, because--

- Why?

- Well, I know what's in it

All right

You're all right, you can go

- All right.

{door closes)

- 10,000, 10,000, 10,000

30,000 Belgian francs.

- Enough for a lot of bottles of wine

- Is that how he spent it?

Or what did he do with it?

- Yes.

- I said you could go

- There's someone to see you

- Oh?

- This man.

It said he lived here so I came.

- You knew him?

- I was his wife.

{sobbing)

- What was his name?

- Louis Jeunet.

Like it says

Did he have much pain”

- None at all.

- Poor Louis.

I was afraid of something like this

- Why?

- Oh, he was never like anyone else

But I loved him.

He loved us.

- You have children?

- One.

A little boy

{sobbing)

We live with my mother now

Well, we did then,
except for the first year

of our marriage, before
things started getting bad

- When did you first meet him?

- About six years ago

He had a good job then,

as a machine operator in
a factory at Bellevue

- Where did he come from?

- He didn't say.

He didn't like to talk about himself.

- But you were happy?

- At first.

Well, I loved him all the time,

but he became strange

Take my face in his hands and look at me,

then he'd say, I love you

I do love you

As though he had to convince me of it

And then for a long time, he
wouldn't talk to me at all.

Wouldn't talk to us.

- You mean to you and your mother?

- She didn't like him.

All the rows began with her.

Especially when he started drinking

- When was that?

- About four years ago

Things got worse and worse until,

we keep a grocers in
the Rue Pont Saint Anne.

One night he stole some
money from the till and went

- So you haven't seen him for two years?

- Only once

He came past the shop and looked in

I think he wanted to see our child,

but when I ran out, he'd gone

Poor Louis.

Will they send his,

will they send him back from Halland?

- It can be done.

Now madame, if we can have
your signatory statement,

so if you will wait cutside in the car,

we'll take you to the headquarters,

and we'll drive you home.

- Not much help if she hasn't
seen him for two years

- Everything helps.

You sure there's nothing in there?

- They've been broken up
with a poker or something

I was going through them when you arrived

Maybe a quarter that survived

- [Maigret] That's all?

- Yeah.

- Now we know what he did with his money

Threw it on the fire.

{suspenseful music)

(casual music)

- Inspector Maigret?

I am the owner of the Cafe du
Paris in Rheims, Inspector

Perhaps you know it

A very good class of
establishment on the Rue Carnot.

We cater for all the
leaders of local society,

and all the very best people, oh.

Well, it's about this
photograph in the newspaper

Yes, that's the one.

I believe he was here yesterday week.

No, no certainly not one of
our regular customers, no

Oh, certainly Inspector

Certainly

I shall expect you then

- All right, I'll see
you as soon as possible

Well, what are the trains to Rheims?

- Sure you won't take the car?

- No, waste of a drive when
there may be nothing in it

- Huh?

- Well, it's draining the expense account,

and this isn't even official business yet.

- Ah, here we are.

Every hour from six til
1500, then every two hours,

except for the Rapide,
which leaves at 1830.

- Right.

Through the way home, please

- Ah very good, monsieur, very good

- Thank you

{speaking foreign language)

- That's very kind of you

I've earned it, let's see
if I can earn another.

- Yes, very difficult

- A Fine and a word with the patron

- Garcon, the patron

- Ah, bravo

- Thank you very much

I'm ready for this

- Monsieur, there's a gentleman
v¢ho wishes to speak to you

- Excuse me, monsieur.

- Yes, of course

- Monsieur.

- Chief inspector
Maigret, criminal justice

- Oh ves, my telephone call

What will you drink?

- I have ordered, thank you

Is this the man you saw yesterday week?

- Yes.

- What was he doing?

- Drinking

- Just that?

- Yes, he came in here about
this time of the evening,

and sat at that table over there

and ordered a Fine, and then another,

and then another, and I
particularly noted him

because, well, he wasn't
the sort of person

that we usually get in here

After all, we are the
leading cafe in the town

- Was he drunk?

- No, not exactly,

but he wasn't sober, either

As a matter of fact, I
was about to go over there

and suggest that he'd had sufficient

when he got up and left.

- Having spoken to nobody?

- No, but,

well a commercial traveller
who left shortly afterwards

said he did speak to Monsieur Belloir

Don't look now, but he's
the gentleman over there

by the billiard table.

- Oh, did he hear what he said?

- No.

But he said Monsieur Belloir
took this man to his house

and they both went inside.

But I'm sure there must
be some mistake, though

- Why?

- Well, this man looks like a
bedraggled, wretched creature,

not at all the kind of
person Monsieur Belloir

would want to entertain.

After all, he is the assistant manager

of the Bank of Loraine, young,

and doing extremely veell

- Married?

- Ch yes, and they have
a charming boy of five

And his wife, she's the
daughter of a wine shipper

Oh, a very highly-respected fam,

I trust you're not going to
make use of this information,

I mean, if you do, you won't
say you got it from me,

I mean, well you know what I mean,

in my position, I have to
be so very, very careful

- Don't worry, monsier.

Monsieur Belloir and I
have a mutual friend

- Oh.

- Why, if it isn't Inspector Maigret,

my dear inspector, what a lucky chance

Two days ago we meet in
Holland, and now here.

Maurice, meet the
inspector, Monsieur Belloir

- How do you do?

- Also from Liege?

- Yes, yes I am

- You see, always the detective

He knows that's where I come from,

so he thinks, uh-huh, perhaps his friend

is from the same town,

and so he is.

We were boys together.

Whenever I come to Rheims
I always look him up.

Won't you join us, Inspector?

Come on, Maurice, sit down

The inspector won't mind

Now what should we have?

This is a celebration.

A bottle of Blanc de Blancs?

Have a cigar, Inspector

Here, a bottle of Blanc du Blancs,

and the very best
- Monsieur

- What are we celebrating?

- Our meeting

You refused lunch in Amsterdam,

so I'll entertain you here.

- Are you on business?

- Mm-hmm, business

And you”?

- The same.

- A new case?

- No, no.

Louis Jeunet was here last week.

- Now isn't that interesting?

- Isn't it?

- This is @ man who
shot himself in a train

going to Amsterdam

- Oh, suicide?

- It generally is when you shoot yourself

Ah now, is that cool enough?

Yes, I think so

Open the bottle, Pierre.

- [ thought as the
inspector was investigating

perhaps there might be
some question of murder

- Why?

- Well, if a man kills himself,

that's usually the end of it, isn't it?

- Well, it depends what
he kills himself for

in this case, for the loss of an old suit

- Mad, quite mad

Ah, thank you Pierre

Good health, Inspector

- Did he seem mad to you?

- Tome?

- When he approached you last week?

- Approached me?

- Yes.

After he'd been sitting in that comer

drinking all evening?

- Oh, oh that man

- Don't tell me you've met him

- Well, after I'd left
here, he came up to me

in the street and asked me for a light.

- I see.

And you took him into your house

and gave him one,

- No, certainly not.

Whoever told you that?

That's absolute nonsense.

I told him I hadn't got any matches.

I thought he was trying to beg

He never came near my house

- Typical of the provinces.

Someone sees him come up to you,

and before you know where you are,

the rumour goes around that
he's your long-lost brother

It's the same at home.

You can't be too careful.

No, you can't be too careful

If it isn't Jef Lombard,
another old friend.

Inspector Maigret, who
is investigating a case

of great complexity involving a suicide

on a Dutch train.

- And also an old suit, bloodstained,

and 30,000 Belgian francs.

- Sit down, Jef.

- Yes, and a glass

Pierre, a glass for our friend from Liege

He still lives in Liege, don't you Jef?

- Yes, I work there

I'm a photographer.

- He paints, too

He's a real artist.

How is the old town, Jef?

- Oh, no different.

- Do you know it Inspector?

- Yes, oh yes

I've been there.

I hope to go there again.

Perhaps if I do, I can call on you

- Good idea.

Give him your card, Jef

- I'm afraid it's a professional card

That's all I have
- Never mind.

Perhaps I can come and
have my photograph taken

- Are you going. Inspector?

- Yes, I have to go back to Paris.

- Oh, well then I'll come with you

We'll just have time to
catch the last train

Goodbye, Maurice

Goodbye, Jef,

I hope to see you both soon

- What does he know?

- That's what Joseph has gone to find out.

- I should be glad to have
a companion on this journey

It's rather tedious
travelling alone at night

Ah, here she comes

(train whistle blowing)

(tense music)

- Ah, Patron

Anything new”?

- No, and you?

- Yes, this.

Don't go home yet.

Wait outside in the other office.

- Thanks.

- Now, what can you tell
me about the dead man?

- Will you tell me why
you brought me here?

- Answer my question

- I have nothing to say
unless you're charging me

with some crime.

- How about attempted murder?

- In that case, I shall want my lawyer.

I know the law as well
as you do, Inspector

- You'll need to.

- I can't think why

What have I done?

You fell onto the line at Rheims,

I suppose you must have
been craning over the edge

of the platform to see
if the train was coming,

and overbalanced.

Thank heavens no harm was done.

- I felt your hand on my back

- Of course, I tried to stop you

Anyone who saw us would tell you that

- Nobody saw us

- What a pity.

Some witnesses would have been useful.

Asitis, all I can say is
that you fell onto the line,

and all you can say is
that I helped you up

and made no attempt to escape.

- What about the dead man”?

- Just because we meet in Amsterdam

and then by pure chance in Rheims

where I have a friend of
the utmost respectability,

you assume that I have something to do

with the death of a man who
was known to have shot himself.

Now really, Inspector,
doesn't it sound silly,

even to you?

- They all came from Liege

- Well that's not an indictable offence.

- This comes from Liege, too

- It's a large town

- Yeah.

Yes, it's a large town

- So now, may I go.

- Mm-hmm.

- I may?

- As you say, i's not
crime to be born in Liege

- I can return to Holland?

- Or anywhere else you please

- Very well,

Goodnight, Inspector

- Goodnight, Monsieur Van Damme.

Lucas, quick, up.

After him.

- Do I need a gun?

- No, no.

He's not dangerous.

- What's he done?

- Pushed me under a train.

- Not dangerous”

- Oh, it's all right.

He helped me up again

Go an, get after him.

(shoring)

Hey. go on, wake up

- What, what?

- Who are you?

What do you want?

- Inspector Maigret?

- That's me.

- There's a picture on
this piece of paper,

I would never have seen it,

I never looked at the papers,

only my wife had wrapped some fish in it,

and I looked at it, and
the picture was on it

- Well who is it a picture of?

- My brother

- Come on in.

- No--

- Oh, it's all right.

I've got a much better one here

Now, is that him?

- Yes.

That's Jean.

- Jean?

What was his other name?

- Lecocq d'Arneville

- Jean Lecocq d'Arneville

So he's not Louis Jeunet?

- I'm his elder brother,
Armand d'Arneville.

My papers

I'm Belgian.

- From Liege?

- Born there.

- Good.

- Last 12 months, I've
been all over the place

- Mm-hmm, including prison?

- Yes, I joined the army and deserted

I'm a clerk at a furniture
factory at Yssac

- Says here you're a mechanic

- Well I was, then

I lost the job

I'm not much use at anything

- Mm-hmm.

Sit down, monsieur

Tell me about your brother

- Oh, Jean was different.

He wsas the brainy sort

He won a scholarship at the university,

and everyone said he should do well,

but how did he come to shoot himself?

- Have you any relations still in Liege?

- None.

You see, my father went
off with another woman

just about the time Jean was born

We had no money at all

We lived wretchedly.

My mother went more or less off her head

She used to nag at us all the time,

and in the end I couldn't
stand it any longer

I left.

Oh I did go back to Liege
after my bit of trouble

but they told me that my
mother had died in a home,

and Jean had left about
two years after me

- That would be about 10 years ago?

- No one knew where he'd gone

And I never heard of him again,

and then I saw this
picture, and he's dead,

and it's a shock.

- Did you know anyone
called Van Damme in Liege”?

- Van Damme?

There was a grocer of that name

- Or Belloir?

- Belloir?

- Lombard?

- No, there was a Dr. Belloir,

but the other one [ don't know.

It's a long time ago.

- All right.

Thank you, monsieur

- Do you think it would be
possible to see him, my brother?

- Tomorrow.

Here.

You can keep this

- Are you certain that he killed himself?

- Certain, monsieur

He died by his own hand.

- He was always so happy as a child

(sighs)

- By your own hand

With my help.

(phone ringing)

Yes?

Who?

Lucas?

Where are you?

- In Liege

Our man's waiting for a taxi

He seems to have got one now

I better leave you

- Lucas?

- What's the matter?

- It's Lucas.

He's followed a man all the way to Liege,

and he doesn't even know what his name is.

(laughing)

Ah well, I suppose I
better go and tell him.

- You know, it's curious

I often drink Belgian beer in France,

but when I'm in Belgium,
I drink English beer.

- And in England?

- Ah, there I drink Scotch whisky.

(laughing)

Well, how did you lose Van Damme?

- He must have known I vas following him

He dodged into the old town.

It's a maze of alleyways.

I didn't have a hope.

I'm sorry.

- Oh, it's my fault

I shouldn't have sent somecne
he hadn't seen before.

What did he do before you lost him?

- He went to the local newspaper office

- And?

- Asked to see back numbers.

- What year?

- Well they wouldn't tell me

I hadn't time to go fo the Belgian police.

I had no authority.

- I think they're open nowy,
they should be at this time

Get along there again, ask
to see the file for 1951.

- Good.

What am I looking for?

- I haven't the faintest idea.

Waiter.

Oh ves I have

Look for the one that's missing.

- The one that's missing.

And you”?

- I think I'l go and
see Monsieur Van Damme.

- You know who he is?

- Yeah, I think so

See you back here in one hour

- Monsieur.

- Oh.

- Jef, for heaven's sake

- I'm sorry

I can't help being nervous

- Do you think I'm not”

- It's different.

(phone ringing)

- There.

- Nows don't worry and keep calm

It's our only hope

Yes?

- A man to see you

- Perhaps it's a customer

- Oh no, Monsieur Belloir,

just an old acquaintance

- All right.

- Well, you must all be very
fond of your old university,

or college, whatever it was

Wherever I go, there's another reunion

- What do you want, Inspector?

- Just ane little piece of
information, Monsieur Van Damme

Did you ever know anyone
called Jean Lecocq d'Arneville?

Do pick up your cigar, Monsieur Belloir

It's burning a hole in
your friend's carpet.

- I can't stand it any longer!

I'm sorry, but really I can't

It's the waiting
- Yes?

- My wife's having a baby

The midwife's with her
now, alone in our bedroom.

I must go and see her

I'm sorry, excuse me

- Their first?

- No, their third.

They have two boys.

- They want a girl

- You gentlemen with
be the godfathers, yes”?

- Yes, that's why we're here

- That's what I thought you'd say

Monsieur Lombard doing well?

- [Joseph] Well enough

- Of course, in the provinces
there's no big money

to be made in photography.

- No.

Oh, Belfry at Rouge.

He was a painter, you said, didn't you”

That's not bad.

Quite a talent.

- One has to be outstanding
to earn a living

- And make some concessions
to popular taste

I shouldn't think that
would appeal to many people

- Jef is a fool.

- Isn't it strange how
artists become obsessed

by a subject?

Always a church, and
always men hanging from it,

from the clock, from the
finials, and the gargoyles

And always the same church

Do you know if?

- Yes.

It's the church of St. Pholien.

- 8t. Pholien?

Oh, I've seen a lot of churches in Liege,

but I don't remember
having seen St. Phoelien

- It was pulled down five years ago.

- They drove when you rode through.

- Ah.

- I thought these must have been done

some time ago

10 years ago, Mr. Van Damme”?

- No idea.

Jef's not as good as all that.

They might be any church

- Well let's say it's the
church of St. Pholien,

let's say it's 10 years ago

Something written on this one

Not much help, it's Francois
Villon, I should think

Picked and picked to a clever bone,

washed by rain, and seared by sun,

leave us forever swinging alone,

god forgive us for what was done.

-Agirll

It's a girl and they're both well

Oh, she's beautiful

- Congratulations, Jef.

- And mine!

- You must all drink to her health!

You don't mind Dutch gin, do you?

- Tell me, Monsieur Lombard,

what was it that God must forgive?

(dramatic music)

{sobbing)

(crashing)
(dog barking)

{suspenseful music)

{gunshot firing)

{tense dramatic music)

You seem very pleased with yourself,

- Patron.

Oh lovely town, Patron, delightful people.

- One of them just shot at me.

- Did he hit you?

- Well, we'll have to find out

- Well, I inspected the files

- Uh-huh?

- One paper was missing.

The 20th of November in 1951.

- Nine years and nine months ago

- I can ascertain that duplicate
copies of the daily paper

he kept at police
headquarters, sc I went there

and I made myself known

- And they entertained you”

- Well, they,

(chuckling) they're very amiable

- I'm sure they were

Did you see the paper?

- In the end.

- Would it be too much
to ask what was in it?

- No, no not at all

They had very bad floods
that year, Patron

The river rose, it covered everything

- I understand.

What else?

- Well, I made notes
of all the fatalities.

Masses of fatalities.

- Well was there anything about a church

called St. Pholien?

- 8t. Pholien?

He went on and on about St. Pholien--

- Well find it.

- I've got my notes here

Here we are.

The father of five,
run over by a town car

- Oh.

- It's here somewhere.

Here we are.

In the early hours of the morning,

a policeman made a strange discovery

- He won't be the only
policeman to do that

if you don't hurry up

- (laughing) The body of
a man was found hanging

from the door knocker at
the church of St. Pholien,

in the Sixth District.

It was discovered to be that of a student

called Klein, wha lived at
number 10 Rue Pont-au-Noir.

(laughing) Pont-au-Noir, what
a funny name to give a street

- Is that all?

- Yes, that's all

Oh, a man was bitten by a mad dog

- All right, all right Lucas.

I found out what I wanted to know.

- Good.

What now?

- Now you've just got
time to return to Paris

in the night train

- Oh but Patron,

what about, what about--

- Yeah?
- You?

- Me, I've got another call to make.

- If people are shooting
at you, you need help

- I understand the Belgian
police are most amiable?

- (laughing) Very friendly

You're not gonna call them in?

- No, not yet.

- Well then?

- We can't both stay away from Paris

on a case that may not
even be a case at all.

- What else could it be?

- I don't know, Lucas

I don't know.

At first I thought it was
some international conspiracy,

spying, drugs, scmething of that kind,

but now I'm not sure.

It looks like some sort of class reunion.

- Funny sort of class that spends its time

trying to kill you

- Yeah.

Two men have died.

How tall was Klein?

- lt didn't say, but he
must have been pretty small

to hang himself off of a door knocker

- Yeah.

Then three man have died.

- Who's the third?

- The owner of the suit.

Come on.

Let's go

(sighs)

{cat yowling)

- Want to go up?

- Klein's room.

- The top

Been here before?

- No.

- There's one up there now

- Who?

- 1 don't know names.

One of them.

{chortling)

(laughing quietly)

- So.

This is what you've been hiding?

Hardly your style

Not exactly the background
for a man of the world

like you, Monsieur Van Damme.

These are by Lombard, aren't they?

10 years ago?

Ah, he was better then than he is now

Ah, here's the man I'm looking for

The man who killed himself.

Jean Lecocqg d'Arneville

He was certainly better 10 years ago.

- Inspector?

- Hmm?

- How much?

- What?

- How much do you want?

50,0007

1007?

No, 200,000 francs?

After all, nothing can happen to you

if you drop the case

There's no official inquiry, is there?

And only a month's delay

That's all I ask.

- A month?

- No time at all.

- So it happened in December?

- I don't know what you mean

- Oh yes you do

You know very well that
there's an act if limitation

in this county on any crime,

no action be taken after 10 years

So it isn't the death of Klein
that's on your conscience

He died in February 1951

That's only three months to
go before the 10 years are up

So, what happened?

You only want one month”

What happened in December 19507?

- Nothing.

There's nothing you can find out.

- Then why are you so frightened”

- 200,000 francs down,

then later, perhaps we can
arrange something else

- De you wanna be hit?

- No, don't.

- Van Damme.

Whatever else you are, you're not stupid.

Sit down.

Now, there's one of you

You've put on weight in the last 10 years

No, don't be ashamed of it.

So have I.

Anyway, it means that the
suit doesn't belong to you

- No, no it isn't mine

- Come in, Monsieur Belloir

- Lombard.
- Where is he?

- He's on his way here.

He was with me.

I tried to stop him, but he broke away.

He's like a madman.

- Is he armed”?
- Yes.

- Where were you, in his house?

- Yes.

- Waiting for the results
of my interview with him?

- Yes.

- So the offer came from all of you?

- Not Jef.

He can't afford anymore

(weeping)

- Well.

- Here we were young

After it happened, after we
left here, I hadn't a soul

You two were successful.

You can't imagine what
it's been like for me,

scraping and saving for nearly 10 years

I married, I wanted children

Somehow we managed to
live fairly decently,

life was beginning to
look a little better

and now this happens

It's the end of everything.

- Which of you is going to tell me

what he's talking about?

- Can I come in?

I hope I don't disturb you

I couldn't resist coming up to take a look

at you all again

It seems a long time, doesn't it?

And you still owe me for
the month before you left

20 francs, remember?

I don't want it.

You needn't worry about that.

As a matter of fact, I've had it already

I hope you don't mind, but I sold a couple

of your paintings to a dealer.

Remember how you told me that one day

they'd be worth more than this house?

(laughing)

I got 20 francs for two

You still paint, eh?

- Sometimes.

- Well, here's all your early work.

Never painted it over
just in case you did vrell

You see, I never bothered
to rent this room again

I keep it as a storeroom.

(laughing) It is good to see you all

I don't remember you.

Were you one of them?

- No.

- No, I thought not

They were boys

My wife didn't want me to
let them have the room,

but I used to get a
good laugh out of them

Wide hats, they wore, and
long clay pipes they smoked

and each tried to wear odder
clothes than the others,

and they sit up here
talking, and painting,

and arguing until the dawn came up

Oh, girls there were, too.

Mm, pretty girls

And what's happened to her?

- She married a train driver.

- Fancy.

Well, well

I mustn't keep you

I expect you've things to talk about

But I've enjoyed seeing you all

(laughing) It's made me feel young again

See you later

- Things to talk about.

- What was this, some
kind of secret society?

- Of a sort.

That's what we called ourselves.

The Companions of the Apocalypse

- No, it was infantile

Why talk about it?

- It's too late now.

We've got to talk

- All right, well let me.

I've been waiting all these
years to tell someone

It was over 10 years ago

I was an art student, and so was Klein,

and we shared this room.

We wore ridiculous
clothes, and we were going

to put Picasso in his place

Neither of us had any
money, but gradually we made

friends with other students who had.

- I was studying economics

- I was on a commercial course.

- Yes, they were gonna ream
all the finances of the world.

And then there was Jean Lecocq d'Arneville

reading literature.

He was poor too, and he was
gonna be another Tolstoy

But he killed himself.

- And Klein killed himself, why?

- Well you must let me explain.

You must see how it was, the life we led.

We were all of us taken
by the mediaeval air

of this room.

We read Villon aloud and
thought him a splendid fellow

And then Klein found
the Book of Revelation

and we learned whole passages by heart

We'd sit up all night drinking cheap wine

and airing fantastic theories

Well, do you remember my great theory

that pain was an illusion?

- And stuck a knife into
your arm to prove it

- Yeah, I still have the scar.

- So have we all.

- Yes.

You see, it was harmless the way it began

It was just youth and high spirits

But some of us were
affected more than others.

You two went home at
dawn, and climbed through

your bedroom windows into
family life and family meals,

but Klein and I lived here.

This room was always with us

- And Jean d'Arneville?

- He went home to a mad
mother and not enough to eat

That was their main trouble, food

- We always brought some.

- Ch yes, but Klein got out of the habit

He would do nothing but drink

Then he tried sniffing ether,
and his girl was terrified

She never came here again

- Ner any of the girls

- So the six of us went on our own.

- Six?

- [Jef] Yes, there was Klein
and Belloir and Van Damme

and myself and Jean d'Arneville

- Five.

- And there was Mortier.

- I'l say it

And there was Mortier.

You see, we chose that
number from the book

Six.

Six, six, six

The mark of the beast.

However, Mortier was
never really one of us.

He was too rich.

His father dealt in offal,
and gave him a lot of money

- He used to pay his girls

- He never drank with us.

- He said we drank too much.

- But he used to come,

after the cabarets
closed, he'd come along,

and he'd condescend to talk with us.

- [Maigret] Well why did you let him

if you didn't like him?

- We didn't know how to stop him

We were young

That was the trouble,
young and full of wine,

and mad ideas.

Oh but Klein had the maddest.

How did it start?

- We decided that we were anarchists.

- Someone had thrown a bomb in Spain

- Oh ves, and we talked about if,

and Klein thought it must
be a wonderful thing to do,

to kill a man.

And we agreed

- One had to agree with Klein

He got so angry.

- Ch generally we'd take
up a subject like that

for @ week or two, and then drop it again

as we did with writers and
painters and philosophers

- There's always a new
one when you're young

- But Klein wouldn't drop
the subject of murder,

every time he was drunk
he would return to it.

- And the last time?

- Was Christmas night.

We were all drunk then, except Mortier,

who hadn't arrived.

He was dining with his family

- The rest of us had
brought food and drink

- Even Jean d'Arneville
had managed half a ham

and a bottle of burgundy.

- Klein was away on his
hobby horse shouting

how a man must kill to
prove his own strength,

how it's a law of nature for
the great to devour the small,

that pity was merely
weakness, and that life

was a skin disease of the earth.

- And then someone said, very well Klein,

if you really believe that,

why don't you kill someone yourself?

- He said I will.

- And then there was a pause.

Because the rest of us felt
that it had got too real

- You began to sing "Libera Nos"

- As a joke

I'd been a choirboy

- And then?

- It opened

Like that.

- Mortier came in, up the stairs

And he stood there,
wearing a dinner jacket

and looking pleased with himself

- Klein went up to him,

his hair down over his forehead.

And his tie round the back of his neck.

- [Joseph] Go and find us
something to drink, Mortier.

- Yes, and Mortier said,

you're drunk already

I only came to wish you a merry Christmas

- [Jef] To look at us
like animals in the zoo.

- [Maurice] Well that's
what you are, animals

Look at you, Klein

You're as drunk as a pig

- [Jef] Then this little pig says

go and buy some drink.

- [Joseph] Mortier was a bit frightened

Nobody was laughing,
but he was well-dressed

and full of food, and his hair was waved,

and he answered back--

- [Maurice] Not very gay, are
you there, Mortier Flateaux?

- [Jef] Go and buy some drink

- Yes.

That's what Klein said.

We heard it.

But the rest of us didn't see very much.

We were only half-vatching

We saw Klein strike at Mortier,

but we didn't see the knife.

Only the blood on his shirt front.

Look.

- No!

- Yes, this is my part of the story

I tell this.

It happened to me.

We saw the knife when he pulled it out

Mortier still stood there, swaying.

He always had large eyes,
but now they were enormous

You'd have thought they were drunk

apart from the blood

It was Klein who had fallen to the floor,

collapsed in a heap

Mortier stood there, one
hand on his jacket button,

the other hand went to his pocket.

He pulled out a small automatic

He wouldn't die.

He just stood there, looking round,

from one to the other, he was
trying to pull the trigger,

and someone, someone, jumped at him,

slipped in a pool of blood,
and they both went down,

there.

Mortier didn't want to die.

But when he did,

it was my hand round his throat.

My suit was soaked with his blood

- Your suit?

- Mine.

-Goon.

- That's the end of my part of the story.

- We put Klein to bed

And then took Mortier's
body down to the river

It was running fast.

A week or two later, there were floods

It was never found.

- Then we came back here,

and Maurice took off his suit.

- I went and found him one of mine.

- I left the suit here.

Made up some story for my parents

about falling in the river.

- Weren't there inquiries
when Mortier was missed?

- Yes, but he'd never
told anyone about us

Nobody knew, except the five of us

Klein and Jean d'Ameville stayed here

We three never came back.

- Two months later Klein hanged himself.

- [Jef] Yes.

- You drew pictures of hanging men

- I couldn't get it out of my mind

- You went to France and prospered

- I had te get out of Liege

- You did well in the export trade

- One has to live.

- And Jean Lecocq d'Arneville,
the man who killed himself?

- Five years later, he came to me

It was just after I'd
become assistant manager

at the bank.

He'd become just like Klein

- Yes, the same bitter, desperate look

- He never got over it

He tried, he married, but
it all turned to dust

He never opened a book again.

- And the money?

- He thought we ought all be like that

Guilty, haunted

He asked for money, and
we had to give it to him

He had my suit as proof.

- And do you know what
he did with the money?

- [Maigret] Burnt it

- And every franc that went up in flames

was the fruit of our work,
and our efforts to forget

- And why shouldn't we forget”?

We were children, then.

Now we have lives to lead.

- One more month, and
we would have been free.

- Which one of you shot at me?

- 1 did.

I only wanted to wound you to put you off,

I couldn't bear the thought
that after all this time

and paying out so much money,
it was to be for nothing

- You tried to push me under a train

- It was an impulse

There you were, I hardly
knew I was doing it

- And you helped to kill him

- A boy with my name did that

- You have one son now?

- Yes.

- You have three children?

- Now, yes.

- Well, you'd better go home to them.

{door closes)

- Do you think that helps?

- Yes, I do.

- As much as anything

Let's go home.

{solemn music)

- No Madame, no news yet.

When I left Liege, he was
about to make an arrest.

I should think he's done it by now

Yes, I can usually tell
when he's sure of his man.

No. of course, the moment
I see him, I'll tell him

Goodbye, Madame

Ah Patron, Madame Maigret.

Oh, she's hung up

- That's all right, I was just
going straight home anyway

- Oh.

Did you get them?

- No.

- So what happened?

- Nothing.

- Well, who were they?

- A children's party.

Here, lose that

- What about the money”?

- Ch yeah, 30,000 francs.

Well, it had better go to
Jean d'Ameville's family

- His widow?

- And his son.

It seems that if a man has money to lose,

he grows tough enough to survive