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 Only 10 days after the arrest of the dentist in the Rue des Acacias (DEF), M finds himself there again, this time investigating the murder of Manuel Palmari, a criminal M had known for 20 years, and who he suspected to be behind the string of jewel robberies over that period. Palmari's mistress Aline was out shopping at the time, with a police tail. M interviews almost all the tenants of the building, then goes to the Palmari's Clou Doré restaurant with Lapointe, and talks to the new owner, manager and headwaiter, Jean-Loup Pernelle, who tells M of a hotel Palmari owned. While there he notices a certain M. Louis, and he leaves Lapointe to watch him.
After M leaves, M. Louis makes a phone call, and Lapointe sees most of the number. A check reveals that it's to the tenant opposite Manuel Palmari's apartment, Fernand Barillard. M goes to the hotel, learns it is owned by Aline, and that she met Barillard there. M goes to visit him, and tells him he knows he and Aline are behind the crime, then goes and tells Aline the same thing.
Later, while talking to someone in the diamond district, M realizes the significance of the deaf-mute in the attic, Jef Claes. He rushes back to the building, but he is too late: Jef has been hanged in his basement shop, belonging to Barillard. Barillard's wife, the former Mina Claes, had been Jef's adopted granddaughter, from when they were bombed in Douai during the war. Barillard had enlisted him as the gang's diamond cutter. M arrests Barillard and Aline, allowing them to meet at the QDO where they attack each other.
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Maigret of the Month: May, 2009
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