Maigret and the Minister (original) (raw)
Auguste Point, the Minister of Public Works, calls M at home, to ask that he come visit him personally — unofficially — on an extremely sensitive manner. M learns that he had recently received a copy of the Calame report, the contents of which, if revealed, would no doubt cause a major scandal and shakeup of the government. But within a day of receiving it, it is stolen. The press soon learns, somehow, that he has received it, so if it doesn't appear, he will seem to be guilty of hiding it to protect himself or members of his government. Shortly afterwards, Jules Piquemal, who gave him the report, disappears, last seen with a mysterious unknown man, who eventually seems to be the same man who burgled Point's apartment for the report.It appears that Joseph Mascoulin, a powerful and power-hungry muckraking deputy, is aware not only of Point's having received it, but of its disappearance. He had apparently met the missing Piquemal before Point saw him. Various false leads finally suggest that Eugène Benoît, an ex-CID man turned private detective, probably in Mascoulin's employ, was the man who stole the document and spirited Piquemal away. M traces him to his fishing lodge, where he discovers Piquemal, and the connection with Point's parliamentary secretary, Jacques Fleury. The document is gone, but Mascoulin no doubt has a photostat copy. Point's innocence is proven, but his reputation is broken. The only provable crime seems to be Benoît's burglary, and there the case ends.
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