Black Diamond

sciences. Joliot was just about able to handle it, but the kids deserve someone with a proper diploma.”
    A thought struck Bruno. “Would any science diploma be sufficient? Someone with a chemistry degree from Paris, for example?”
    “If you can find someone with a Paris degree in chemistryto teach at our
collège
I’ll make you headmaster. Even with the new budget, we can only pay two thousand a month. I may have to settle for someone with a science
bac
and a teaching certificate.”
    “Is the teaching certificate essential?”
    “Not entirely. Somebody with good science qualifications can get the certificate while teaching under supervision. I’m senior enough to arrange that. Why, did you have someone in mind?”
    “A young woman in Ste. Alvère, recently divorced and raising two kids. She’s working part-time at the truffle market for about half of what you’re offering. She strikes me as a very sharp woman, and she’s got a chemistry degree and a research diploma.”
    “A research diploma? That means she’d qualify for an extra five hundred a month. Do you think she’d do it?”
    “I’ll ask her,” said Bruno, after a quick mental calculation that told him Florence, if she took the job, could be earning more than he did. He thumbed through his mobile phone for the numbers he’d taken down at the truffle market and punched in the call.
    After Bruno relayed his conversation with Rollo, there was a silence on the other end of the line.
    “Bruno, is this a joke?” she asked.
    “No, not at all. Let me pass you to the headmaster. School hours and vacations, that’s good for your children. He says you can qualify for the teaching certificate while working. Here he is.”
    He handed his phone to Rollo and leaned back against the wall while they spoke and arranged to meet. When Rollo handed back the phone, Bruno said, “She’s got a miserable job in Ste. Alvère, working for a real bastard.”
    “You mean Didier at the truffle market? I was at school with him. I didn’t know him well, but he wasn’t much liked. He used to enjoy making girls cry.”
    “He still does,” said Bruno. “Let me know how you get on with Florence.”
    “With those qualifications, if she can stand up and see the blackboard, I’ll hire her,” said Rollo, and he walked toward Gelletreau’s office with a spring in his step. At the door he turned. “Will I see you at the meeting tonight? You know the Greens and Socialists are announcing their pact for the elections?”
    “Wouldn’t miss it.”
    Rollo paused. “You know this means the mayor could lose?”
    Bruno nodded.
    “Where would that leave you?”
    Bruno shrugged. “I wouldn’t lose my job. But a new mayor could have me transferred elsewhere.”
    “
Merde
, Bruno. Tell people that, and the mayor wins by a landslide.” Rollo winked and went into the consulting room.
    As he left the medical center, Bruno’s phone rang. J-J’s number was on the screen.
    “They’ve got four guys here at the house, and they’ve been through everything. No sign of the truffle journal,” J-J said. “But there is a safe-deposit key for a bank in Bergerac, and I’m arranging for an authorization letter to examine the contents tomorrow. And there was no journal listed in his belongings on the forensic report. And talking of forensics, they have some interesting stuff from the stolen Mercedes. Human hair, a cigarette butt and a used tissue, which means DNA evidence if we ever manage to find a suspect. By the way, you’ll be in trouble with the investigating magistrate for taking the Land Rover.”
    “No, I won’t. Forensics had already examined it and gave me the receipt to prove it. And I’m an executor of Vendrot’s estate. What’s more, he left me the vehicle in his will, along with that journal.”
    “You go on like this and you’ll be a suspect,” said J-J. Bruno could almost see his grin through the phone connection.
    “That’s what Isabelle said.”
    “She’ll get her hands on you yet. Listen, I’m going back to Périgueux to take a look at the Chinese restaurant. You get anything out of the Duongs?”
    “Not much. They said Vinh and his wife are safe and they’ll try to put me in touch.”
    “No cooperation?”
    “Not much. They’re frightened and clammed up. Duong came in a car with a driver and what looked like a bodyguard. Did you put in a request for the citizenship papers?”
    “First thing I did. And I also spoke to this special unit in