The Resistance Man (Bruno Chief of Police 6)

statements in the press and on TV saying we wanted urgently to interview him?’
    Edouard paused and then nodded his head.
    ‘And you want to tell me that that important little detail never came up in your business chats?’
    ‘I told him that he should go to a police station and offer to help you all he could. I cannot believe he’s a murderer, least of all that he killed Francis. They were very close.’
    ‘So you knew how to get in touch with him but decided against doing your duty as a law-abiding citizen and informing the police. You’re in big trouble, Edouard.’
    ‘I didn’t know where he was. He said he was moving around.’
    ‘I’m getting bored with this,’ J-J said, turning to Bruno. ‘Let’s take him back to the station, charge him with obstruction ofjustice, conspiracy. We’ll get around to the murder later. Get the handcuffs from the car and let the press office know we can offer everybody a nice picture of Edouard here being led out of his fancy house in chains.’
    ‘No need to rush things,’ Bruno said, and turned to Edouard, who was now looking alarmed. Bruno let the silence build as J-J thumbed through the phone records.
    ‘What did Paul use for money?’ Bruno finally asked. ‘Did you give him any?’
    ‘No, I didn’t see him so I gave him nothing. I don’t know what Paul did for money.’ Edouard was sweating and his immaculate T-shirt was starting to look rumpled at the neck.
    Bruno knew the signs. Soon there would be a little act of resistance, a token defiance to retain some shred of self-respect. Then Edouard would break and start to treat J-J as some father confessor whose approval he could win by telling everything he knew.
    ‘What company records do you keep here?’ Bruno went on.
    ‘Your art squad colleagues went through all the records.’ There it was, the moment of defiance. Now J-J would move in for the kill.
    ‘No, they didn’t,’ said J-J. ‘They didn’t put a freeze on your bank accounts and company credit cards, which is what I’m about to do. I want all chequebooks, statements and credit cards. Does Paul have a company credit card?’
    ‘Yes,’ Edouard said, as if suddenly eager to help. ‘I have the number on file, I can get it for you …’
    Josette came thumping down from the stairs carrying an expensive-looking weekend bag. She put it on the steel cube and began to pull out phones, an iPad and laptop. Edouardput a hand to his mouth and stared in disbelief at this lawful rifling of his life, as if finally understanding the sweeping investigative powers of the police backed with a signed order from a
juge d’instruction
.
    ‘This one’s a disposable,’ Josette said, holding up a cheap handset. ‘It was by the bed. Its memory goes back as far as the day after the murder and all the calls in and out are with the same number, that other disposable on the list. I bet it’s Murcoing’s.’
    ‘
Putain
, you really are in trouble,’ said J-J. He pulled a notepad from his briefcase and began copying down the times and dates of the various phone calls. ‘You’ve been in touch with him never less than twice a day. So where is Murcoing now?’
    ‘I don’t know, he never tells me. I really tried to persuade him to give himself up. He gets this way sometimes, single-minded, determined …’ Edouard’s shoulders heaved as if he were about to be sick, but instead he gave a sound that was half-cough and half-sob.
    ‘Has he been here, to this house?’
    ‘Not lately, not since this all this began.’ Edouard was wiping a handkerchief at his mouth, his brow, his neck.
    ‘Do you know how much money he’s pulled out on the company’s English credit card?’ Bruno asked. ‘We know about that.’
    Edouard swallowed and nodded. ‘I checked online this morning, it’s just over three thousand euros.’
    ‘Maybe we won’t freeze it just yet,’ said J-J. ‘If he tries to get more out and finds it’s frozen, he’ll suspect we’ve got Edouard. We’ll keep the phone line going as well, so long as Edouard can only answer in our presence and we tell him what to say.’
    He told Josette to set up a tracing system on the phone, then asked Edouard for the code required to open his iPad. Edouard shook his head and remained silent.
    J-J sighed and pulled out the
attestation
from the
juge d’instruction
and handed it to him. ‘See that, where it says electronic records? You’ve got no choice, Edouard. The law says so.’
    When Edouard stayed