When the elegant but emotionally distant Madame Nathalie Pardon arrives at the Police Judiciaire, she reports her husband, Gérard Pardon — a prominent Parisian lawyer — missing. She refers to him mockingly as "Monsieur Charles", a name he apparently uses during his mysterious late-night excursions into Paris nightlife.

Maigret is immediately struck by the woman’s coldness, her too-slick story, and her aristocratic detachment. She barely pretends to care. So why report him at all?