Chez les Flamands

I have commented in the past about Maigret not being involved in miscarriages of justice, but the odd story I have just finished - Chez les Flamands - appears to be one such. From Volume IV of the collected works.

Another story involving rivers, canals, barges and barge life. Maybe one day I will work out what proportion of the Maigret stories involve strong watery content. With this one being set in Givet, on the Meuse, on the eastern end of the border between France and Belgium, during one of the regular times of flood, when barge traffic is more or less suspended for the duration.

Maigret is summoned to Givet to help a cousin of a cousin of his wife, or something like that, falsely suspected in being involved in the murder of a French girl, the unmarried mother of the son of her, that is to say the cousin's brother, with the French girl and her brother being (not unreasonably) keen to make what they can of it. All mixed up with race and class as the cousin is Flemish and from a middle class family and the girl is French and from a working class family. With Simenon somewhere in between...

Maigret has no official standing in Givet and is poking around in a private capacity. Needless to say, after a few days he gets to the bottom of what is rather a grubby matter. The cousin of a cousin is guilty after all: she lured the French girl into her bedroom and then bashed her head in with a hammer, subsequently dumping the body in Meuse with the help of her brother. Some provocation but plenty of premeditation, with it looking like a guillotine job to me. But having solved the crime, Maigret walks away, not sharing his findings with the local police, with whom he had been in close contact. The cousin is not charged with anything, although it all rather ends in tears in other ways.

My French is not that hot, so maybe I have read it wrong, despite reading it twice. But if not, why has Maigret walked away? Do considerations of family loyalty stretch that far? Normally he is a great stickler for making sure that justice, if not justice according to the letter of the law, gets done. Further reflection needed.

PS: Givet is at the end of a finger of France sticking into eastern Belgium and the site of a once important fortress, controlling this part of the Meuse, called the Fortress of Charlemont. Not to be confused with the equally important fortress of the same name in Ireland. The view of the canal running to the west of the Meuse proper, just to the north of Givet proper, is taken from StreetView. I think Simenon has taken a few liberties with the geography of the place.