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

across the fields that ran down to the river. Between the windows and along the length of the other walls were bookshelves, twice as tall as Bruno, and filled with old books covered in leather. There were two large desks at either end of the library, two easy chairs of leather and a reading stand that contained what looked like a large and venerable bible. Bruno crossed the room to examine it. The cover was unusually heavy, made of wood that had been covered with black leather, and the paper felt thick as he turned the pages. The print inside looked ancient and the chapter headings were embellished with ornate drawings of animals that he suspected had been painted by hand. The inside of the front cover was filled with a hand-drawn family tree, so large that a second and third trunk sprawled over onto the next page. In its branches were inscribed names and dates of baptisms and funerals going back to the early eighteenth century, all in beautiful cursive scripts.
    Tracing the branches he found the Red Countess, baptized in 1926, and her sister, Héloïse, baptized two years later. But the family tree showed them to have been born to different mothers. The Countess’s mother had died soon after her birth and her father had then remarried. Quickly he scribbled the names and dates into his notebook, along with the names of children. Knowing he wouldn’t have time to copy down the entire family tree he pulled out his phone and took a series of photos of the large flyleaf with its neat sprawl of names and dates.
    In 1945 the two half-sisters had each given birth shortly before the end of the war. The Countess had a daughter, Françoise, who herself had given birth in 1968 to another daughter, Athénaïs. So Gilles was right: the dead woman was indeed the granddaughter of the Countess. The younger sister, Héloïse, had borne a son, Louis-Antoine, and he in turn had a son, César, in 1970. That would be the man Bruno knew as Count Vexin. What Bruno didn’t see in the family tree was any reference to the names of the fathers of the children born to the Countess and her half-sister.
    He was looking for more information in the end papers when he heard the double doors open and the sister of the Red Countess appeared.
    ‘You wanted to see me?’ she said curtly.
    ‘
Bonjour
, Madame. Thank you for receiving me. I was just admiring your wonderful old family bible.’
    ‘Please don’t touch. It’s very fragile.’
    ‘My apologies. Could you confirm that this woman is your great-niece, please?’ He handed her one of the printouts in its sleeve.
    She took it to the window and lifted her spectacles, hanging from a gold chain around her neck, held them close to her eyes and then let them drop.
    ‘What a peculiar expression on her face,’ she said. ‘But yes, that is my great-niece Françoise.’
    ‘Might she be using the name Athénaïs?’
    ‘Françoise-Athénaïs is her first name, so yes. Why do you ask?’
    ‘Is this another picture of her?’ He showed her the close-up of the face of the dead woman taken in the pathology lab.
    ‘Yes, I think it is, but it’s a very strange picture and why are her eyes closed?’
    ‘Do you not remember me showing you and your staff this photo a couple of days ago when you said you didn’t recognize her?’
    ‘My memory isn’t what it was. Nor is my eyesight. I can’t say I recognized that photo. It’s been a long time since I saw her. She lives in America, you know.’
    ‘You have not seen her here at the château or in France in the past month?’
    ‘No, I said so. What is this?’
    ‘I must take a formal statement to that effect, Madame. We have had an inquiry from California asking if your great-niece has returned to France, and to respond I need a brief statement from you. I have the form here …’
    ‘I don’t have time for this,’ she interrupted.
    ‘That’s quite all right, Madame,’ he said reassuringly, taking out a form and beginning to scribble as he spoke. ‘I shallwrite down very briefly that you recognize your great-niece from the photograph but have not seen her in France for the past month and then show it you for your approval and signature.’
    ‘Are you sure I should not summon my lawyer, or perhaps my grandson, César?’ she asked nervously, looking across at the silent maid. Bruno noted to himself the confirmation that the Count was her grandson.
    ‘As you wish, Madame, but it is just a formality.’ He read out the curt statement and she