The Resistance Man (Bruno Chief of Police 6)

historical societies. This is history, Bruno, old stuff; a lot of the old passions have died.’
    ‘Not when it comes to nuclear weapons cooperation.’
    ‘Hmm, I see what you mean,’ the Mayor said. ‘I don’t know the details, of course, just what Jacqueline has told me in a general way. And it will come as no secret to the French and American officials involved. If they haven’t publicized it in the past I see no reason why they’d want to do so now.’
    ‘Presumably Crimson would know about this,’ Bruno said. ‘The Americans and the British usually work closely on intelligence, and on nuclear matters.’ He put down his cup and sat forward. ‘Maybe I’m adding two and two and coming up with five, but you know politics. This looks like a pretty close election we have coming up. Could something like this make a difference if it blew up?’
    ‘Any little thing can make a difference in a tight race. Let me think about this. After all, I’m involved.’ He leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes for a long moment and then opened them to look out of the window. ‘I signed the paper that secured Jacqueline special access to our Senate archives. My name will be on the paper trail.’
    Bruno waited but the Mayor had no more to add. He thought it best to change the subject.
    ‘I meant to ask before about Cécile. I hope she’s not in too much pain.’
    ‘They give her morphine. I’ll visit again this afternoon.’
    ‘And dinner?’
    ‘Jacqueline is doing something with last night’s leftovers. She’s a good woman.’ Bruno took the cups and left him staring out of the window.
    *
    After an hour searching on
toutypasse.com
for ads renting camper vans in the region, Bruno had made over twenty calls but little progress. His labours were interrupted by a call from the curator he knew at the Centre Jean Moulin in Bordeaux, to report that nothing embarrassing had been found in Murcoing’s war records. He had joined the Maquis in late 1943, after the Germans had occupied southern France and begun the STO, Service du Travail Obligatoire, the compulsory roundup of men and young women to work in labour camps in Germany. He’d joined the Groupe Valmy in early 1944, fought at Terrasson in June and took part in the battle to liberate Périgueux in August.
    ‘Some of this we have confirmed by Marcelle Murat, a real Resistance heroine known as Le Caporal. She used her pharmacy as a postbox and informal hospital as well as acting as a courier between the various groups. I’ll draft a complete paragraph that you can use in a press release or have read out at the funeral,’ said the curator. ‘I’ll miss the old boy. He used to come and see us once a year, always to ask if there was anything new about the money he’d helped take from the Neuvic train. Are you familiar with that?’
    ‘Yes, I even found a couple of banknotes he must have taken from the train. He had one clutched in his hands as he died.’
    ‘We’d love to have one for the museum, if you could ask his heirs. That would be young Paul, I suppose.’
    ‘You know him?’ Bruno sat up with a jerk.
    ‘Oh yes. He’d normally come along with his grandfather. I remember he sat in when we interviewed the old man for the oral archive. He was just as bad as his grandpa, railing against the thieves and crooks who stole the Neuvic money. It was alla capitalist plot, he said. Of course, his grandpa was in the FTP, the
Francs-Tireurs et Partisans
, the Communist wing. I don’t know if Paul is in the party but he certainly sounds just like his grandpa. He’s a regular on the bulletin board we set up on the Internet, always on the various history websites. The Neuvic train seems to be an obsession with him.’
    ‘That’s interesting because we’re trying to track Paul for another inquiry. It’s quite serious, so serious I doubt that he’ll even turn up for the funeral. Can you give me details of these websites?’
    ‘There are so many, I’ll send you a list. And I’ll look up some of Paul’s postings, ravings more like. I’ve got your email address at the
Mairie
and anyway I’ll see you at the funeral. There aren’t many of the old veterans left and I’d like to attend.’
    ‘What’s Paul’s email address?’ Bruno quickly wrote it down, rang off and checked his watch. School had started, but maybe Florence had no early class this morning. He tried her mobile without success and sent her an email instead, asking if she could track any