Bruno 02 - The Dark Vineyard

barman pushed me through the window. There must be a mistake.”
    “There’s an easy way to settle this, although it does mean you’ll be enjoying my company for some days to come.” J-J turned to Bruno.
    “Send me a couple of gendarmes to hold down this prisoner while we take a sample of his hair and a swab of his mouth.” He turned back to Bondino. “DNA will settle it.”
    “You have no right to do this without letting me talk to my embassy.”
    “This is a French police station under French law, and I’lldo what I damn well please,” shouted J-J, who seemed to be getting more excited by the interrogation than Bondino.
    Bruno heard J-J’s intimidating voice echoing from the cell as he mounted the stairs, relieved to be out of that atmosphere and even more relieved for the opportunity to make some vital phone calls. He told Jules at the desk to send down two gendarmes and a DNA kit and then stepped outside into the cool of the evening and pulled out his phone.
    “Monsieur le Maire?
It’s Bruno. We have a real problem. Bondino has been arrested on suspicion of Max’s murder. We found his fingerprints at Cresseil’s place. He’s under
garde à vue
at the gendarmerie, being interrogated now. He’s asking for a lawyer and the American embassy. You know I have my doubts about this project, but I respect your views. If we want to salvage anything from this Bondino project, we’d better get him a lawyer and let him inform his embassy.”
    “Is he guilty? How long can he be held?” the mayor asked.
    “I don’t know if he’s guilty, but the evidence is very strong. He denies being inside Cresseil’s home or taking a drink there, but we found his fingerprints on a glass in the kitchen sink. There may also be DNA evidence, but that will take some days. He can be held for three days under
garde à vue
without being charged, then he’ll go before a
juge d’instruction
and can be defended by a lawyer. With some heavy pressure, we can probably get a lawyer in to see him before that. I could call Dupuy and get him involved. He can contact the embassy—No, please, let me finish. That is what we
can
do, but we need to decide whether we
should
intervene in this way. The evidence against Bondino is strong, but if he turns out to be innocent and we’ve done nothing to help him, there’ll be no chance of any kind of deal.”
    “Where are you now, Bruno?”
    “Outside the gendarmerie. Bondino is being questioned in the cells.”
    “Do you have time to meet me?”
    “If we make it quick.”
    “I’ll be there in five minutes. Make that three. Meet me at the rugby men’s bar.”
    Bruno went back into the gendarmerie and told the desk sergeant that if J-J wanted him, Bruno had gone to see the mayor on some local business. Bruno left for the Bar des Amateurs. A large sheet of plywood still covered the broken window. He took a table outside, far from the only other occupied table. His glass of
pression
arrived at the same time as the baron’s big Citroën DS drew up outside the bar and he and the mayor climbed out. Bruno wasn’t surprised to see the baron.
    “Bonsoir
, Bruno,” the baron said, shaking his hand. “I was dining with the mayor, and he wanted me to come along.”
    “We weren’t just dining, we were planning,” the mayor said, rubbing his hands together in that way Bruno recognized. Bruno felt his antennae quiver. The mayor was up to something. He’d expected his boss to be in despair at the prospect of losing the Bondino project.
    “That point you made about other businessmen possibly being interested in the vineyard project, it got me thinking,” the mayor said. “So the baron and I put our heads together, and maybe we can make a modest version of this scheme work even if Bondino pulls out.”
    “I really don’t see him wanting to stay involved with Saint-Denis after this,” said Bruno. “When I left the cell they were just about to hold him down and take DNA samples by force.”
    “Is he guilty?” asked the baron.
    “As I told the mayor, I don’t know. Probably. His fingerprints show he lied about not being at Cresseil’s. He’s an arrogantyoung pup, thinks he can get away with anything with his money. But I can’t quite see it. He’s not a big guy, and he’s out of shape. Max was bigger, stronger and in peak condition. You’ve seen him play rugby; Max was hard as nails. I wouldn’t have thought Bondino would have had the
couilles
to tackle him, but then he did just