15Fortified by the new tincture, Dufort walked quickly to the station. He wanted to meet the new gendarme and talk to Maron about the Gault case. But Maron was not in.
“I’m not sure when he’ll be back,” said the short man sitting at Therese’s old desk. Dufort noticed that his uniform was impeccable and wondered if he actually polished the buttons. “A woman came in about half an hour ago saying her husband was missing again. Maron seemed to know what it was about.”
“Ah yes, that would be Madame Vargas. Her husband suffers from dementia, the poor man.” Dufort paused, distracted momentarily by thinking about the parts of his old job he had liked, such as getting Monsieur Vargas home safe. Nothing sinister, nothing complicated, and an almost guaranteed happy ending. He shook his head slightl
