The Resistance Man (Bruno Chief of Police 6)

murderer. He put his phone away, checked that his handgun was still on safety and spoke to Pamela in a low voice.
    ‘If we head across the field below and up the next ridge, we should be able to see the third house. There’s just the one gate in our way that I can see.’
    ‘Good, I could do with a canter and so could Bess. These woodland trails can get tiresome.’
    Bruno decided not to retort that Pamela had insisted on joining him, asserting that two people out riding would look much less suspicious than one and nobody would ever mistake her for a policewoman. She was probably right, but her presence made him nervous. There was an outside chance that this mission could be dangerous and a small voice in the back of Bruno’s head murmured that he was putting her at risk because of his own pride, his desire to show Yveline that with his friends and local knowledge he could achieve results that her Gendarmes would never match.
    He flicked at the reins and Hector walked on until the woods gave way to moorland. At the prospect of an open field Bruno’s horse tossed his head and moved smoothly into his stride. He seemed to have overcome his initial urge to race ahead of any other horse in sight, now sufficiently at ease with Pamela’s mares to accept the way Bess had moved alongside to keep pace.
    At the gate, Bruno looked back at the house before he dismounted, but the place remained still, no flicker of sunlight reflecting from some lens in one of the upstairs rooms, no empty bottles or rubbish bags outside the kitchen door. They rode on, making their way up the ridge and then skirting some woods and hedges before getting to the long arm of woodland that slanted down towards the next house on the list, promising good cover. There was no trail and the undergrowth was thick, so he went forward on foot, then pulled himself up on a couple of low-lying branches until he had a clear view of another isolated house. He checked carefully with the glasses but saw no sign of habitation. The barn was big enough to take a camper van but he couldn’t see its doors from this side. The dirt lane up to the house was thick with weeds that looked unbroken by any passing wheels. He walked back to Pamela and the horses.
    ‘You go on ahead along this ridge. There’s a firebreak through the forest that leads towards that hunters’ shack where we had a picnic, remember? I’ll meet you there. We can look at one more house and that’s it for today.’
    ‘I remember the hunters’ shack, but what are you going to do?’
    ‘I need to skirt round and take a look at the barn doors onthe other side, see if they’re big enough for the van. Don’t worry, I won’t get close.’
    ‘If it’s safe enough for you, it’s safe enough for me. Besides, I’m getting bored. Let’s go.’
    Pamela put her heels into Bess’s side and cantered down the hill, gathering speed as she headed directly for the house. Quickly he mounted and chased after her until he was alongside and she could see him gesture to his left. He merely wanted to stay on the high ground, but she thought he was inviting her to race and bent forward in the saddle to urge Bess to go faster.
    ‘No, no,’ he shouted, feeling a sense of alarm as he tried to catch up with her to head her off. ‘Go left, up the slope.’
    Hector stretched out his neck and stepped up his pace, soon outpacing Pamela’s much older mare, but the gelding ignored Bruno’s efforts to stay in front so he could start nudging Pamela to the left. Hector raced on ahead and only then would consent to heed the rein, veer to the left and back up the hill. Bruno reined him in and risked a look behind, to see Pamela, whooping with joy at the thrill of her speed, continuing her gallop down the hill on a course that would take her within a hundred metres of the house.
    Bruno’s heart was in his mouth. If Murcoing was hiding inside, a burst from his Sten gun could be lethal at that range. Cursing, Bruno took Hector on a tight rein down the hill after her, conscious of the gun bouncing on his hip. He hoped it was covered by the hunting windcheater he wore as a riding jacket. Suddenly his horse jinked to one side, surprising him. Bruno looked down and saw Hector had sidestepped to avoid a fold in the ground, the grass scratched away at one side.Then he saw the holes, and realized they were riding into a rabbit burrow.
    Even as he began to shout a warning he heard a scream. He looked up to see Pamela tumbling