The Devil's Cave: A Bruno Courrèges Investigation (Bruno Chief of Police 5)

people as well,’ Bruno said.
    ‘Good idea, I’ll raise it with young Foucher when he calls again.’
    ‘Would that be a young man with fair hair, dressed in white, accompanied by a dark-haired young woman?’
    The Mayor looked surprised by Bruno’s knowledge. ‘That’sthe man himself and the girl, a damn handsome couple. I didn’t know you were paying attention to these planning matters, Bruno.’
    ‘It wasn’t the planning aspect that struck me,’ Bruno replied drily. He knew the conversation would take a less agreeable turn as he recounted the story of the punt, the dead woman and Philippe Delaron’s inquiries about Satanism.
    ‘Why the devil can’t he just run the camera shop rather than dash around filling the newspaper with dirty laundry we don’t want washed in public?’
    Bruno refrained from replying that as often as not the Mayor found ways to turn Delaron’s reporting to his own advantage. This was the moment for one of the Mayor’s occasional rants, and as long as Bruno was not the target he rather enjoyed them.
    ‘Satanism is the very last thing I want associated with this town. It’s quite the wrong image. Delaron must be made to see that. Tourists will stay away in their droves, and that will hurt his business as well as everyone else.’
    Bruno wasn’t so sure. The more he thought about it the more he suspected that tourists might flock to a town associated with such sensational events. In any event the story was now out of their control. He told the Mayor of Father Sentout’s statement to Delaron.
    ‘Interfering old busybody,’ the Mayor snapped. ‘That priest should stick to his choir practice. Would it help if I rang the editor?’
    ‘Knowing journalists, it would probably make it worse. But I’ll go and have a word with the priest. Once they read thestory in
Sud-Ouest
all the other reporters will be calling him. The suggestion of suicide might help.’
    ‘I’m not sure that will work,’ the Mayor said, shaking his head. ‘Exorcism has always been one of Father Sentout’s interests. He even did a couple of them around here, driving out devils from some poor mad soul. He told me he’d taught exorcism when he was a tutor in the seminary up in Dinan. I suspect he’s been aching for another chance to try it. No, you won’t find it easy to talk our priest out of his latest brush with the devil.’
    Before he left, Bruno mentioned the anonymous letter and said he’d drive out to Junot’s farm.
    ‘Junot’s a drunk, just like his father,’ the Mayor said, looking at his watch. He rose from his desk and put on his jacket. ‘Excuse me, but I have to pick my wife up from the hospital at Sarlat.’
    ‘Nothing serious, I trust?’ Bruno liked the motherly woman who spent much of the year knitting socks and scarves to hand out to the
Mairie
staff at Christmas.
    ‘No, Fabiola said it was just some routine tests.’ The Mayor held the door to let Bruno out. ‘Good luck with Junot. He’ll never make that farm work now they’ve cut the subsidy for sheep. Do what you can, Bruno. But keep it discreet.’
    Bruno started at the supermarket, but learned that Francette no longer worked there. She’d left a couple of weeks earlier, claiming to have a new job. That was all the manager knew. Bruno asked Michèle, the veteran cashier, but neither she nor anyone else seemed to know what the new job might be norwhere. But apparently she had looked a different girl when she handed in her notice, with new clothes, new hairstyle and make-up and a more cheerful manner.
    ‘One of her friends said she was in love,’ Michèle told him. Bruno was directed to the staff room where two of Francette’s friends were enjoying coffee and a cigarette. Neither one knew anything about the boyfriend, except that he was not from St Denis, and they confirmed that Francette hated her father and had complained regularly about him.
    Before he left, Bruno asked if the supermarket sold black candles, big ones. The manager said he’d never heard of them, nor did he know anywhere that sold them, but he gave Bruno the number of the main distributor for candles in the region, based in Sarlat. Bruno sat to take a coffee at the small restaurant beside the supermarket and dialled. He learned that large black candles were speciality items and always imported. He was given the Paris number of the main importer, and from them got the names of four stores, two in Paris, one in Lyon and another in