Black Diamond

stood in the corridor, waiting for Bruno to make his statement. “I barely had the chance to ask for her vote.”
    “And what did you tell her?” Bruno asked.
    “I explained that you had a broken heart. Women like that sort of thing. But the real reason I wanted a word was to give you my phone. J-J called me, very frustrated because you had to hand your phone to the brigadier, and so J-J can’t reach you. He says mine will be safe enough and says to tell you that the operation will go ahead tonight.”
    “Thank you, I’ll take care of it,” Bruno replied, taking the phone. “What did you say about my broken heart?”
    “What everybody in town knows, that you were in love with Isabelle, and she wanted you to join her in Paris, but toour great relief you insisted on staying in St. Denis. And then along came Pamela and caught you on the rebound, but that was never going to work.”
    “Why is that?” Bruno asked, intrigued to hear this view of his love life. “Because she’s British?”
    “Not at all. They make excellent lovers because they always think we Frenchmen are a little exotic. Of course, our own womenfolk know better,” said the mayor. “It’s because Pamela told Fabiola she didn’t want children and didn’t want to settle down. One look at you teaching the kids to play tennis is all it takes to see you want kids of your own.”
    “And you told all this to Florence, with her children all ears in the back of your car?” Bruno did not know whether to be amused or furious. He felt both.
    “Well, not in so many words,” the mayor replied.
    “So having realized that she was too Green to vote for you as a politician, you decided to win her sympathy by explaining what a sensitive and thoughtful soul you are and get her vote that way.”
    “Now you’re sounding like Pamela, not that she isn’t a very sound woman in many ways. In fact, if I win the next election I’ll bring her into the council somehow, probably as liaison with the foreigners.”
    Nicco emerged from the thick oak door and pointed his thumb back into the room. “Your turn,” he said to Bruno.
    “Just one thing, Nicco. Is Gaby Duchot still the bailiff around here?”
    “That’s right, he’s been the
huissier
for everybody since his old man died. Still lives above the office in the old house on the road to Lalinde. Anything I can help with?”
    “While I’m giving my statement, can you find out whetherhe was the one who served the closure notice on L’Auberge des Verts this morning?”
    “I’d be surprised if it wasn’t him, but I’ll check for you.”
    Bruno’s statement took fifteen minutes to complete, and when he left the room Nicco was waiting for him, to confirm that it had been Duchot who served the closure notice on Bill’s restaurant. Bruno used Nicco’s phone to call the
huissier
and ask the question that had been nagging at him since the children’s party.
    “Sorry to bother you at home, Gaby, but it’s about L’Auberge des Verts, where you served the closure today. Somebody said you also had to close a camping site and move some campers off. Is that right?”
    “Not really a camping site, Bruno, more a trailer park. There were four campers there, the kind you can sleep in. And yes, we had to tell them to go elsewhere. In fact one of them asked me where he could fill up with diesel. I showed him the way to Lespinasse’s garage.”
    “You wouldn’t have made a note of the license plates, would you?”
    “Sorry, no. But if they filled up at Lespinasse’s place, he’ll have a note of their credit card. And since that break-in he’s got one of those security cameras. That would have the numbers.”
    “Thanks, Gaby. By the way, were they foreign?”
    “Yes, Asian, maybe Chinese. All four drivers.”
    “Did they seem to know the owner, Guillaume Pons?”
    “Oh yes, but the guy they were really talking with was a tall Chinese who said he was the cook. He was the one who was angry with me. At one point I thought he was coming for me with that big cleaver of his. The French owner—he said tocall him Bill—he calmed the cook down once I’d explained about the water department.”
    “I’m glad it ended quietly, Gaby, and thanks again.”
    Bruno rang off, his mind racing. Trailers and Chinese parked in a place within two hours of Arcachon where they’d attract no suspicion, and Pons had Chinese connections and a Chinese cook. He told himself to slow down and cover all the details. He gave