The Crowded Grave

trying to find, the birds have flown.”
    “A Dutch female called Kajte?” said Duroc in his Normandy accent. When he swallowed, his Adam’s apple seemed to bounce over the stiff collar of his blue shirt. “Are you looking for somebody else as well?”
    “I don’t think she could pull out fence posts on her own,” Bruno replied. “She may have had help.”
    “Does anyone know where she is?”
    “Yes, she’s not digging today,” Bruno replied. “She’s on the kitchen rotation so she could be shopping or she might be back at the campsite. That’s where I was planning to go next.”
    “Do you want to come with us?” Duroc asked, in a reluctant way that suggested he would rather not share the arrest.
    “I’ll let you handle the paperwork,” said Bruno. “It could be complicated, her being a foreigner. You might want to check with Dr. Clothilde Daunier of the National Museum in Les Eyzies. She’s in charge of this dig, and she’s responsible for the students. I’m sure the magistrate will agree.”
    “That’s seems the right thing to do,” Annette said in a small voice, avoiding Bruno’s eye.
    “So you’ll leave it to me?” Duroc asked, a hint of suspicion in his voice.
    “I have a security meeting with Monsieur Gambara here.” Bruno nodded at Carlos. “So she’s all yours.”
    “I was just asking Monsieur Gambara what brought him to St. Denis.”
    “We have a liaison meeting coming up nearby, and I asked Chef de Police Courrèges to show me around the district,” Carlos said. “And after the lecture last night, I particularly wanted to see this famous site.”
    “What’s this lecture?” Duroc demanded. “Nobody told me about any lecture.”
    “Perhaps the magistrate can explain,” said Carlos. “But the
chef de police
and I have an appointment elsewhere.
Capitaine
, mademoiselle, I hope to see you again.”
    Without looking at Bruno, he led the way down the path to the cars. With an apologetic gesture, Bruno hastened after him.
    “Since I have no idea where we are meant to be going to this security meeting you mentioned, I’ll follow you,” said Carlos when they reached the road. Then he lowered his voice. “They don’t seem to know about the shooting yet.”
    Conscious of Duroc’s eyes following him, Bruno took the road for Les Eyzies and then turned off at the railway crossing and followed a farm track to the back road through the woods to reach the St. Denis rugby stadium, avoiding the town center. As he skirted St. Chamassy, his cell phone beeped that he had a message. He pulled off to the side of the road to read it. In the mirror, he saw Carlos pull his Range Rover in behind and gestured from the window that he needed to answer a call. Carlos waved back, and raised a thumb.
    “We are at the rugby stadium,” it said, and Bruno breathed a sigh of relief. Then he made a call to Dominique. He had not seen her at the dig, but when she answered she said that she was working on cataloging at the museum.
    “Can you get away for an hour or so? It’s important,” he asked her. “It’s about two of your colleagues at the dig, Teddy and Kajte. I think I’m going to need your help.” Quickly he explained what had happened.
    “There are a lot of rumors flying around about those two,” she said, but promised to come.
    Bruno drove on and parked behind the tennis club, where his car would not be seen by any passing gendarme, and waited until Carlos pulled in beside him.
    “Thanks,” he said, when Carlos climbed out. “I owe you for this.”
    “It’s always fun to tease gendarmes,” said Carlos, grinning. “But can you tell me who or what you are trying to protect, and why?”
    “Two young fools who have gotten mixed up in the animal rights movement and did that raid on the duck farm. You wanted to talk to them anyway, when you said that one kind of militant can easily become another. Now’s your chance, they’re hiding out at the rugby stadium.”
    “Why don’t you want them arrested?”
    “Because I don’t want two young lives ruined and I don’t want the farmers here getting angry with the archaeologists and the museum. Horst is a friend of mine,” Bruno said as his mobile phone buzzed on his belt. He checked the screen; it was Annette. He ignored it and led the way across the field to the tiny gate that led from the tennis club to the rugby field and its stadium, where two distant figures sat huddled together.

10
    The town was very proud of its small