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    The Circle Game
    The Circle Game
    The Circle Game
    Ebook84 pages1 hour

    The Circle Game

    By Eugene Lapole

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    About this ebook

    Book 4, The Circle Game. Maigret, newly arrived in England, is given an appointment as a detective by his mentor, Lord Belmont, much to the disgust of those he has to work with. Being thrown a ‘bone’ (a seemingly hysterical nurse in training thinks her friends, university students, are being murdered) intended to make a mockery of him, results in the unraveling of a gruesome series of cold-blooded murders and though the perpetrators are caught they cannot be prosecuted. By the time Maigret gets the case the murders are over and with only one possible suspect the problem becomes how to prove him responsible. In this story Maigret meets his nemesis, who, after The Tattoos, where he is met again, plays an incidental part in other stories and influences some of Maigret’s decisions; also, he meets the reporter, Eugene Lapole, who ends up writing accounts of his cases for The Daily Post newspaper.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEugene Lapole
    Release dateOct 17, 2015
    The Circle Game
    Author

    Eugene Lapole

    BIOGRAPHY Eugene Lapole is a retired English teacher who taught creative writing and drama for thirty years, writing plays for his students to produce. He's a devoted advocate of the plain and simple style of writing, interested in the matter of facts of history, and in all the sciences. While teaching, he worked for twenty years on an etymological dictionary (not published) and wrote poetry. After retiring he spent several years working on edited versions of Herodotus, Livy, and several other Classical Historians, with a particular interest in forensic analysis of their texts, in an effort to clear up many 'mysteries' and 'problems' posed by the imperative of their time (lying to please their patron, for one). For a more recreational pass time he started to write murder-mysteries, but with a twist. These were called in general The Unfortunate Cases of Inspector Maigret, (of which 30 plus have been written) because none of those cases could be solved in a traditional manner. In some cases the guilty party could not be brought to justice, for one reason or another and yet Maigret strives to find a satisfactory solution. All the stories are presented in pure dialogue with no external narrative. Thus they read like plays or film scripts.

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      Book preview

      The Circle Game - Eugene Lapole

      THE CIRCLE GAME

      A Smashwords edition published by Eugene Lapole

      Copyright 2013

      Ω

      This e-book is licensed for personal use only and may not be resold or given away. If you would like to share this book please purchase a copy for each recipient or send them a recommendation. If you are reading a copy not purchased please go to smashwords.com and purchase your copy: the author needs something for his efforts.

      This is Book 4 of the first series of eleven books. If you have not read Book 1 and if you distribute a recommendation to read Book 4 via your e-mail and social networks, the author is willing to give you a thank-you copy of Book 1: The Paragon. Contact him at his e-mail address with a cc copy of the e-mail you’ve sent out recommending the story and he’ll return a free download.

      Ω

      E-mail address for Eugene Lapole, the pen name for the author, is care of riyadhbawa followed by the @ symbol followed by gmail com.

      Ω

      For reasons of how e-books are loaded I’ve placed a character list along with place and setting at the end of the story. Because these stories are presented in dialogue only they have the value of a play. The character list serves as something of a cast and may prove helpful.

      COVER ART by Yevgenia Watts: her art work is readily available on line off a google search of her name. The black and white covers are quite different from her watercolours which I find exceptional. Well worth a look, and not too expensive!

      THE CIRCLE GAME

      1

      Witherspoon: Consider yourself lucky, Maigret. If I had my say you would not have this job.

      Maigret: I’m sorry to hear that.

      Witherspoon: You’re not qualified. No field experience. Too damn young. What is it with you people? I call it abuse of privilege.

      Maigret: Oh dear. I only asked to be useful. I didn’t ask to offend you.

      Witherspoon: You don’t say no to Lord Nigel Belmont.

      Maigret: He’s a good friend of my father’s.

      Witherspoon: That’s what I mean. Well, you are on your own. You won’t get much help from us and that’s a fact. We’ve put you in the back where we don’t have to see you.

      Maigret: The feeling might become mutual. When Father wrote to me he said, ‘Look here, son, I have some strings I can pull. Since you like reading detective stories that should qualify you as a detecting policeman. I’ll see what I can do.’

      ... Good lord, this place looks more like a storeroom. Does a housekeeper come with it? And what a lovely view if I could see out the windows.

      Witherspoon: Funny, eh? Any housecleaning you do. And you are welcome to choke on the dust.

      Maigret: And these stacks of files, what are they?

      Witherspoon: Unsolved cases. Be my guest, browse through them. Be a bloody detecting policeman and solve them one a day then in ten years you might be done.

      Maigret: I can see why you need me. Close the door when you leave. I’m going to do some housecleaning.

      Ω

      Hermione: Excuse me, are you detective Maigret?

      Maigret: Yes. Come in. I might be a detective, I’m actually not sure. No one has bothered to tell me. I’ve been housecleaning for a week, like a beetle in a pile of dung. I was praying they would send me a cleaning lady, but I fear you are not one.

      Hermione: No, I’m sorry.

      Maigret: They sent you to talk to me? That must mean your problem is either hopeless or ridiculous. Anything sensible, as you can see from these piles of unsolved cases, they keep to themselves.

      Hermione: Probably my problem is both. I’ve been trying for a week to have someone take me seriously and I fear now it is too late.

      Maigret: Look at me. Hmm, you are really worried, that’s plain to see. Something unexpected has caught you by surprise and to come here three times it must be some serious misdemeanour. But they don’t believe you. They think you are being hysterical?

      Hermione: I suppose. Three people, maybe five are dead. Is that serious enough?

      Maigret: And they wouldn’t listen to you? I should be glad that they did not, as it gets me out of this beastly hole. I’m going to lunch and taking you with me, there’s a nice pub a few streets away. You will explain everything to me there. I promise to listen and not laugh or disbelieve you. Then we will see if there is anything I can do to help you. Don’t be impatient. You’ve had to wait a week, so a little more time won’t matter; I can take my time to hear everything you have to say.

      Hermione: Thank you. It’ll be a relief to talk to someone.

      Maigret: Navigating the outer office is a trial. They are like predators waiting to pounce. ... Ahh, detecting policeman Witherspoon. I’m glad to find you at your desk as usual. I am, as you know, busy tidying up and happened to glance through these three files. They were pretty straightforward. I wrote down who the guilty party is. The clues are all there in the various reports. I leave them to you to find.

      Ω

      Hermione: Did you really solve them, just like that?

      Maigret: No. One I’m pretty sure of, the other two I guessed. But I needed something to cheer up my morning other than your unexpected visit and saying that seemed like a good idea at the time.

      Hermione: But won’t it get you into trouble?

      Maigret: Of course. But there is nothing the Chief Inspector can do. Apparently you don’t say no to a lord. I wrote a note to myself inviting me to the lord’s house for high tea and had it delivered here. It was almost as good as... that nameless thing boys and girls like to do. ... Taxi! Taxi! ... The Cock and Bull. It’s a quaint pub with a name they won’t change, but they make excellent meat pies. Fodder for the English belly. I’ve yet to find a decent French restaurant.

      Ω

      Hermione: Where do I begin?

      Maigret: Give me a brief first. Then fill in the details or I can ask questions.

      Hermione: It was supposed to be a game. No one was supposed to get killed. But I think one of the players has murdered some of the others. Let me start again....

      2

      Jonathan: Listen, Henri, it is a hare-brained scheme at best.

      Henri: Then stop complaining about your cut allowance and how frugal you have to be. We still have the money a hundred bricklayers earn in a year to waste on our nonsense.

      Jonathan: Which barely pays my club membership and polo fees.

      Henri: Don’t exaggerate. And you complained bitterly about being bored,

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