Inspector Lognon

Inspector Lognon, known among his colleagues as Old Grouch, is the investigator responsible for the 2nd arrondissement, where Louise Laboine’s body is found. He emerges as a painstaking, self-conscious policeman who wants the chance to distinguish himself and does not welcome Maigret’s coincidental arrival in what he regards as his own territory. Yet his rounds and interviews yield evidence, making him more than a comic rival: his diligence matters to the investigation even when his pride complicates his place within it.

Identity and Position

Lognon’s professional identity is closely tied to a specific patch of the city. The 2nd arrondissement is his sector, and the discovery of a crime there while he is on duty gives the case a personal as well as official importance. Maigret has forgotten that this is Lognon’s district; the narration observes that remembering would not necessarily have helped, since Lognon might not have been on night duty at the station on Rue de la Rochefoucauld. That qualification makes their encounter a coincidence rather than a planned crossing of jurisdictions.

The scene at Place Vintimille establishes the ground on which their uneasy relationship plays out. A police car stands near the iron railing around the small garden, while several men gather around the light-colored body. Lognon has stepped away from the group to inspect the newcomers. He recognizes Maigret and Janvier, just as Maigret recognizes him. His short, spare figure is set among the men at the scene, but his attention is already on what the arrival of the senior investigator might mean for his own case.

Work and Investigation

For Lognon, this is not simply a crime in his territory; it may be the opportunity to distinguish himself that he has awaited for years. The narration presents that hope alongside the frustrating coincidence of Maigret arriving almost at the same moment. In Lognon’s eyes, the timing could look deliberate, although the account gives no indication that Maigret arranged it. His professional ambition is therefore shown through a misunderstanding that precedes any argument: the two men can stand at the same scene while assigning different meanings to Maigret’s presence.

Lognon’s diligence becomes clearer in his account of the enquiries he has made. He says he repeated the previous night’s rounds, this time more carefully, and that they produced no result until four minutes past three. He records the precise time and place: outside the night club Le Grelot, he spoke with a taxi driver named Léon Zirkt, aged fifty-three, who lived at Levallois-Perret. The exactness of the details gives his work the quality of a written report rather than a vague recollection; while speaking, he takes a piece of paper from his pocket.

His information connects the taxi driver’s account with what the barman had said about the young woman. A man had approached her to ask whom she was looking for. She said she was a friend of the bride and only wanted to speak to her. Once Lognon has delivered this point, he gets up, indicating that he has nothing more to produce. The account does not make his contribution solve the case by itself, but it shows the patient, incremental method behind it: repeated rounds, a late-night conversation, a remembered statement, and a detail that can be checked against another witness.

Relations with Maigret

Maigret anticipates the personal grievance before Lognon expresses it. On seeing him at the scene, he mutters, “That does it!” because he expects Lognon to accuse him of intruding on purpose. This is Maigret’s reading of the situation, not a reported accusation by Lognon. The distinction matters: the friction is real in Maigret’s expectations, but the evidence here does not show Lognon openly challenging him. His sensitivity is conveyed through the territorial stakes and through Maigret’s familiarity with how he might interpret the coincidence.

Their later exchange allows courtesy and suspicion to sit side by side. After hearing the results of Lognon’s rounds, Maigret tells him, “You’ve done a wonderful job, old man.” Lognon answers, “I’ve done what I had to do.” The reply refuses to turn ordinary duty into a personal triumph, though it also keeps the exchange spare and guarded. Maigret then tells him to go to bed and take care of himself. Lognon’s work is acknowledged, but the conversation does not dissolve the distance between them.

Diligence, Credit, and Uncertainty

Later, with Lognon out on an all-night chase, Maigret feels uneasy. The enquiries around the night clubs and taxi drivers seem exhausted, and everything possible appears to have been drawn from the Roméo; nevertheless, Lognon is still pursuing something without Maigret knowing what he is doing. Maigret wonders whether he has found a clue. The uncertainty reverses the earlier scene: initially Lognon appears as the man whose territory Maigret has accidentally entered; now Maigret is the one left outside Lognon’s investigation, unsure whether the other man has moved ahead.

The narration also qualifies the rivalry through Maigret’s own professional habits. He is not jealous of colleagues, least of all his plain-clothes men, and nearly always gives them credit when a case is satisfactorily concluded. He seldom speaks to the Press; on this occasion he has left Lucas to talk to the journalists at Headquarters. That contrast prevents Lognon’s ambition from becoming a simple contest for public recognition. The available account establishes his painstaking effort, Maigret’s respect for it, and the suspicion that Lognon may have found another lead, but it does not disclose the outcome of the all-night chase. Lognon remains both a prickly colleague and a working investigator whose persistence keeps the case open.