The Resistance Man (Bruno Chief of Police 6)

‘I can’t see you spending a couple of years waiting to take over J-J’s job when he retires,’ he went on, wondering how to take the heat out of the conversation. He tried to make a joke of it. ‘You’d be forced into a lot more tedious dinners with the Prefect and you’d probably have to take up golf.’
    ‘So why did you bring this up? This is my career you’re talking about.’ She turned away. ‘God, I hate being manipulated.’
    ‘Why did I bring it up? Because I care for you and because I’m worried about your becoming a political football in a dirty match, that’s why.’
    Her back was toward him, shoulders rigid. Bruno knew Isabelle well enough to be sure that apologies would not work; she was not the sort of woman to be easily mollified. She insisted on straight talking and he was in a mood to provide it.
    ‘I don’t know what your connection is to this new organization, but we get the Paris newspapers down here, and the political magazines,’ he went on. ‘We don’t even have to read
Canard Enchaîné
to realize that there’s something in your Ministry that’s starting to stink. It doesn’t matter whether you’re part of it or not. The mud sticks.’
    She turned again to face him, still challenging but less fierce. ‘How come you’re suddenly an expert on the election, let alone the internal politics at the Ministry?’
    Bruno had never been clear which particular section of the sprawling Ministry employed the Brigadier’s team. It seemed to occupy some vague middle ground between Defence and Interior and the DGSE, the foreign intelligence service.
    ‘I don’t have to be an expert. You’re attached to the Minister’s private office,’ he said. ‘If the government changes, you’ll be assigned elsewhere. The new minister will want his own people.’
    ‘That’s just an administrative convenience. I’m a serving police officer with the rank of Capitaine. Nothing will change that.’
    ‘They can always assign you to traffic management in some cold, grey
département
up on the Belgian border.’
    She began a quick rejoinder but then stopped, as if debating with herself whether to say more. ‘Funny you should say that. I might get reassigned soon, even a little further north than the Belgian border. I’ve applied for another job.’
    Bruno raised an eyebrow and faced her. ‘Anything you can tell me about?’
    ‘Eurojust, the judicial coordination office of the European Commission based in The Hague. If it comes off, I’ll be getting a promotion to Commandant.’ She paused and looked back the length of the garden towards the house. ‘It’s a four-year assignment.’ She let a silence build again as if expecting Bruno to comment. ‘The Brigadier suggested I apply.’
    ‘Good for him,’ Bruno said, and meant it. He had wondered whether the Brigadier, a ruthless operative and consummate political survivor, was the kind of boss who would take care of his staff.
    ‘I don’t expect he’ll go down with the ship.’ Somehow they were walking amicably together again and she had taken his arm as if the brief row had never happened. ‘Apart from your murder, what else is happening down here? And how’s our puppy?’
    ‘Balzac is fine, but I really need more time to train him. And there is something else – have you ever heard of the Neuvic train robbery?’
    ‘A Resistance thing in the war? I heard somebody gossiping about it when I was stationed in Périgueux.’
    ‘A couple of the old banknotes turned up on the deathbed of an old
Résistant
. I have to organize his funeral. If there’s anything in your files at the Ministry, I’d be interested.’

7
    Bruno wanted to check the list of burglary victims against the owners who used Dougal’s rental agency to find tenants for the months when their houses would otherwise stand vacant. A retired businessman from Glasgow, Dougal had started Delightful Dordogne out of boredom after his first year of inactivity and had now become one of the leading employers in St Denis. The business employed his two daughters and their husbands, one French, and one Dutch. His first grandchild was already spending his summer holidays helping Dougal to keep track of the bookings.
    ‘I’ve been expecting you since I heard about Fullerton’s murder on the radio,’ Dougal began. ‘I suppose that’s what you want to know.’
    Bruno nodded. ‘Did you ever meet him or was the rental arranged by phone and Internet?’
    ‘I certainly met