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

Junot’s death to a truck there and J-J said something about the same truck being caught by a camera at the
déchetterie
.’
    ‘Anybody called for a lawyer?’
    ‘Once he’d given his statement Foucher was free to leave, but he’s waiting for the old lady. If we can bring Eugénie in, J-J says to hold them both on charges of making false statements.’
    ‘And the old lady’s giving a new statement without a lawyer present?’ Bruno asked in disbelief.
    ‘First thing he did, J-J got her to sign the release saying she didn’t need a lawyer. She said her grandson would take care of everything.’
    ‘So it’s all under control,’ Bruno said, thinking of the renewed chaos that would follow the delivery of Francette’s statement that linked Foucher and the Count directly to the death of Athénaïs.
    Then his phone vibrated, and with some premonition that everything was about to go wrong he saw that it was Gilles.
    ‘We missed her,’ Gilles said. ‘I’m sorry.’
    ‘What happened?’
    ‘It’s my fault, I didn’t brief our guys in California properly,’ the reporter said. His Hollywood correspondent had tracked down the girl’s father in Santa Barbara and learned that she was at McGill University in Montreal. But he told the father that Athénaïs was dead, and once the reporter left the father called his daughter to pass on the bad news. By the time the correspondent from New York got to her address in Montreal, she’d already left. Her flatmate said that she’d contacted international directory inquiries to get the number for the Red Château and called there for details about her mother’s death. She was already on a plane to Paris by the time the reporter reached Montreal.
    ‘Do you know who she talked to at the Red Château?’ Bruno asked.
    ‘The flatmate said she talked to some male relative, an uncle or cousin. Apparently he was really surprised to hearfrom her because he didn’t know her mother had had a child, but he said she should come to France and he’d take care of the ticket. I’m really sorry, Bruno, but we can pick her up when she gets here.’
    ‘Sorry?’ Bruno said, the pent-up anger from Francette’s story finally exploding. ‘You may have signed the girl’s death warrant. She’s what stands between the Count and inheriting a fortune, and until you blundered in he didn’t even know she existed.’
    ‘How was I to know?’
    ‘What flight was she on?’ Bruno demanded.
    ‘I don’t know, but our guy got there late yesterday so it must have been the evening flight. She’ll already have landed in Paris.’
    ‘
Putain de merde
,’ Bruno roared, closing the phone, and barging into the interview room where J-J sat opposite Madame de la Gorce.
    ‘Emergency,’ he said, and forced himself to remember his manners and the need for discretion. ‘Excuse me, Madame, but we need the Commissaire outside.’
    Once they were outside the room Bruno explained then slammed his hand against his forehead and called himself an idiot when he realized he’d never asked Gilles for the girl’s name. He called Gilles back, apologizing for his temper, and wrote the details down on his notepad.
    J-J was already on the line to the security office at Charles de Gaulle airport and repeated the girl’s name as Bruno showed his notepad: Marie-Françoise Bourbon Merrilees. It must be her father’s surname. Gilles had given Bruno thefather’s number, the girl’s mobile phone and the fact that she had both a French and an American passport. The father might have the passport numbers. Who might speak English well enough to call him?
    He tried Gilles but the line was engaged. On an impulse, he rang Pamela in Scotland, briefly explained and asked her to call the father to ask him for the numbers and any other details. And if the father spoke to his daughter, he should tell her to go direct to any police station and stay there while insisting they contacted him or J-J.
    ‘She flew in on Air France and connected with a flight to Bordeaux that should have just landed,’ J-J said. He was already calling the security office at Bordeaux’s Mérignac airport.
    ‘Check if they’ve had any incoming helicopters at Mérignac,’ Bruno said, reading out the tail number of the Count’s helicopter from his notebook. His mind raced as he tried to think of any other useful information he could provide J-J. He almost hopped up and down with frustration as J-J waited, then said who he was, gave his