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

signed, albeit reluctantly.
    ‘If your grandson is here I’d like to ask him the same question,’ he said.
    ‘He’s here this weekend, but not in the house. He’s gone out with Foucher and the nurse somewhere. I shall tell them you called.’
    ‘Please do, and say that I shall phone for an appointment to see each of them as soon as possible.’
    He put his cap back on, saluted and left. No point in pressing her further, Bruno thought. It was just possible that Athénaïs had come to the château secretly, taken the punt, committed her spectacular suicide and never been seen by the old lady, who seemed sure that Athénaïs was still in California. Possible, but highly unlikely.
    He was tempted to stay in the courtyard until the Count, Foucher and Eugénie returned, but he had paperwork to do on Junot’s death, Hector to ride and a dinner engagement with Gilles from
Paris-Match
. Back in his office, the first was soon dispatched. Then he began to read the research file on the Count and his business associates that Isabelle had emailedhim. When read in conjunction with Lemontin’s researches, it looked like a strong case for the presumption of fraud. He opened a new file on his computer, scanned in the key documents from Lemontin’s file along with Foucher’s insider-trading conviction and then drafted a brisk one-page summary of the key facts and his concerns. He printed it all out for the Mayor and then forwarded it to J-J with a note suggesting that his financial fraud experts might want to start their own inquiry.
    The Mayor was in his greenhouse, transplanting seedlings, when Bruno arrived. Little Balzac scampered in from the garden to roll his ears over Bruno’s foot. He handed over his report on the holiday village, picked up Balzac and told the Mayor of Francette’s claim that she and her mother had no money to bury her father. The Mayor wiped his hands on the seat of his pants to clean off the potting soil and skimmed through the file Bruno had brought. He then turned back to read carefully through Bruno’s own summary.
    ‘I have a meeting of the
Conseil-Général
in Périgueux tomorrow afternoon and I’ll give a copy of this to one of the legal experts to see what we can do to protect ourselves if this project goes ahead,’ the Mayor said. ‘That’s a very intelligent puppy you have there. He sniffed his way all around the garden and ended up down by the bench, at Bardot’s grave. He sat there, looked up at me, threw his head back and gave a little infant howl. It brought tears to my eyes.’
    Bardot had been the Mayor’s own basset hound, a dog whose hunting skills were a local legend. She had also been the mother of Bruno’s dog Gigi, a gift from the Mayor when hehad first arrived in St Denis to take up the post of municipal policeman. Bruno had helped dig her grave.
    ‘By the way, the Baron came by earlier with Adrien from the tourist office and Florence from the choir, just to say everything was under way for tomorrow’s ceremony at the cave. Florence has been working on the lighting plan and the sound system with Marcel. It sounds like they’re planning quite a show. And the announcement of the exorcism has been running on the radio. Périgord-Bleu called me for a quick interview over the phone. They’ve also had Father Sentout on the air, who announced that he had permission from his bishop to conduct a special ceremony. We aren’t short of publicity. I gather the news was first released by
Paris-Match
. Was that something to do with you?’
    Bruno confessed that it was and braced himself for a burst of mayoral anger.
    ‘In this case, I approve,’ the Mayor said. ‘It seems to have caused a lot of interest, but in future perhaps you’d run these bright ideas of yours past me first. Off you go, and I’ll see you at the cave in the morning. ’
    Bruno left with Balzac tucked into the crook of his arm, thinking of the courteous but unmistakable way he’d been rebuked. In the army he’d had officers, supposedly trained leaders of men, without half the natural-born common sense that the Mayor brought to his running of the town and the staff he’d assembled.
    Balzac quivered with excitement when Bruno parked his van in Pamela’s courtyard. As soon as he opened the door Balzac darted out and trotted straight to the stables. Brunoknew that Fabiola was planning to stay late at the medical centre and it would be his turn to take Victoria and Bess on the evening ride. But first