“Maigret’s Revolver” Haunts Part 1 of Season 2’s Second Case
"Gotta love America; some countries would give you a plaque. They give you a bazooka."
Maigret’s second case of Season 2 catches him just as he’s heading home to dinner with friends. Lucas says Guichard wants him to take over a drowning case; the victim, au pair Olga Borysenko (Kinga Barbara Tóth), died while swimming in the lake behind the house of her employer, plastic surgeon and reptile-obsessed Dr. Armand Giroux (Avery Davis). The death was initially ruled an accident; however, the family refused to accept the findings, had the body exhumed, and are claiming Giroux sexually exploited and murdered her.
(I know I’m a city girl and all, but the idea of someone swimming in a lake in a developed area instantly gives me hives.)
Maigret instinctively questions why this is being handed to him. Lucas says Guichard believes Giroux is innocent, Olga’s family are ambulance chasers, and they need someone to handle this “delicately.” That alone would raise a whole field of red flags, even if Guichard hadn’t told Kernavel at the end of last week that he plans to entrap Maigret to punish him and reassign the team. It doesn’t help that Giroux is hanging around the morgue, abusing his hospital privileges to gain insider information. Maigret is deeply unimpressed; amusingly, so is Moers, who bluntly tells Giroux the results won’t be ready until tomorrow: “Go away.”
Giroux demands to know if anything unexpected turned up. Moers gives him a look of disdain and asks if Olga being three months pregnant at the time of her death counted. Giroux turns ashen as Maigret tells him to report to the station for an interview the next morning and puts Lucas on watch at his house in case he decides to skip town. A lower-ranked cop might have been intimidated by Giroux walking up to the car, declaring there was no need for this; he has three kids he’s been raising since his wife died, he can’t just leave the country. Lucas just shrugs. Defeated, Giroux says he’ll send out his assistant, Martin (Krisztián Csákvári) – the one who fished Olga out of the river – with a plate of food.
