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

he wanted to call Pamela to see if she knew when she’d be arriving back from Scotland.
    ‘I’m in the stables about to take the evening ride,’ he began when she answered.
    ‘I’ll be back for Easter,’ she replied, adding that the cheapest discount flight she had found was on Good Friday.
    She was thinking a lot about money. Her bank had reviewed the likely costs of her mother’s care and the almost certain need to sell her mother’s house to pay for it. There was a complex legal procedure to be undergone before she could be granted power of attorney over her mother’s estate and have the right to sell her mother’s house. Even then, she would only be able to use the funds for her mother’s care. It was money she’d been counting on to pay off the balance of her French mortgage. Bruno sensed that the real topic on Pamela’s mind was the option of going back to her wealthy ex-husband.
    He made supportive noises as Pamela spoke. With one part of his mind he understood her dilemma and her sense of duty to her mother. But all his instincts were pushing him to tell her not to tie herself once more into an already failed marriage simply for the financial security it brought.
    But what did he know, as an orphan, of the strong ties of love and obligation between a daughter and her mother? He felt further constrained by his own role as her lover, privileged to share her bed often enough, but only at her invitation, and after being told repeatedly that she wanted neithera lasting nor a committed relationship. It still meant that any advice he gave could be construed as self-interest. It left him tongue-tied.
    ‘I dreamed about you last night,’ she said, which added a touch of guilt to his thoughts at the memory of Isabelle in his arms. ‘It reminded me of how much I miss you, and Fabiola and my house and Victoria and Bess. But it’s not long now and I’ll see you on Friday. Give the horses a hug from me.’

24
    Bruno had not been happy with simply stuffing Balzac into his chest as he rode, worrying that the puppy would squirm free or burrow his way out at the waist. Seeing Pamela’s binoculars, inherited from her father, hanging on a hook in the stable gave him an idea. They were an old-fashioned pair with long lenses of the kind he’d seen carried by German U-boat commanders in war movies. He picked up Balzac and inserted him gently inside the leather case. It was so deep the little dog could not see out of the top and gazed pitifully up at him. Bruno extracted him gently, stuffed one of the stable cloths into the bottom and tried again. The fit was perfect, so he hung the case around his neck and tied the long side-straps to fix it around his chest.
    With Victoria and Bess on a leading rein, he took Hector along the lane at a walk before turning off into the field that led up to the woods along the ridge. The case was firm against his chest and Balzac’s head was peeking over its rim, his long ears flopping up and down to either side with Hector’s stride.
    ‘You look lost in thought,’ came a woman’s voice, and he looked up to see Bess and Victoria approaching the white mare, on which sat Eugénie with an amused expression onher face. ‘We’ve been watching you as you came up to the ridge. I got the message that you wanted to see me and I thought I’d take the opportunity for another ride. I didn’t realize you’d be playing the part of a mother kangaroo.’
    She pointed at Balzac in his case and gave a wide grin, the first Bruno had ever seen on her usually controlled face.
    ‘It may look odd, but it works,’ he said.
    ‘It looks sweet. You must have a maternal side to your nature,’ she replied, her eyes lively with amusement.
    Normally he’d enjoy being teased by an attractive woman. But not this one, and not this time.
    ‘I wanted to show you a photograph of the woman in the boat,’ he said. ‘We may have identified her, but I don’t have it with me. I also wanted to talk to you about this development project you’re involved in. You’re a long way from home.’
    ‘It didn’t take me long to get here.’ She nudged her mare and they began walking side by side towards the forest ride that would take her back to the Gouffre. ‘What do you want to know?’
    ‘It’s about the development at Thivion. The Mayor there has told our Mayor that he felt his town had been defrauded, and that what you built fell a long way short of the quality you’d promised.’
    ‘It’s true,