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

looked up and saw J-J’s face beaming in the spotlights.
    ‘That’s OK, we’ve got an expandable ladder,’ said Miko. ‘It’s attached to this rope around my ankle. You know you were almost at the Gouffre when we found you? There’s quite a reception committee and we’ve got a rope running all the way through the river, so just keep a tight hold and you’ll all be fine.’
    ‘Was anybody hurt in the explosion? What about the girl?’
    ‘A militia captain got concussed and one of his men has a broken leg. But they’re all going to be OK. The girl should be in hospital already.’
    ‘Just look at me a moment,’ the doctor said, waving a finger before Bruno’s eyes and checking his pulse. ‘You need warming up and a good rest. Get yourself checked by your own doc in the morning.’
    Within minutes, the ladder was in place. Miko and the doctor had climbed into the cave and Fernand had put a breathing mask onto Albert and was leading him into the underground river. Sergeant Jules was the first down the ladder, and once Fernand returned, he led Jules down the river and into the Gouffre.
    ‘Your turn now,’ said Fernand when he came back.
    Bruno shook his head. ‘There’s an overweight and rather older Commissaire of Police up there. I’d like to make sure he gets out safely. Then I think you might need help with the stretcher.’
    It was another hour before Bruno hauled himself out of the lake and into the vast and well-lit space of the Gouffre. Some of the light came from TV cameras, and some from the flashes of Philippe Delaron’s camera. The warmth was in the welcome that awaited: the Baron hugging him careless of the soaking water, and then Father Sentout and the Mayor, beaming at him with Balzac squirming in his arms.
    The Baron handed him one of the stone beakers from the cave, filled to the brim with cognac. Bruno took a deep draught, and then stripped off as the Baron handed him an enormous towel and led him to a heat-blower someone had erected. Albert and J-J were standing before it as if they never wanted to leave, the folds of their heavy towels blowing back with the force of the hot air. Sergeant Jules was sitting to one side, still enjoying the heated air, but even happier to have his wife beside him.
    ‘
Putain
, you had me worried for a while back there,’ saidthe Baron, gathering underwear and T-shirt and tracksuits and waiting to help Bruno dress.
    Bruno just grinned, feeling the warmth of the towel and the heater and the glow of the cognac. The Baron had been in the army; he knew the unwritten rules. It was good to see him again and to know that none of their recent arguments meant a damn thing.
    ‘I never doubted that you’d make it out of there,’ said the Mayor, ‘even after they told us it would take weeks to clear the tunnel.’
    More members of the rescue team, all in wetsuits, were plunging into the lake to help bring out the stretcher bearing the Count. They pushed Bruno and the others away from the hot-air blower and stood the stretcher before it while the doctor checked the Count again and attached another mobile drip.
    ‘He’s still with us, just, but I don’t think he’s going to make it. Is the helicopter ready?’ the doctor asked, stripping off his wetsuit. Another member of the rescue team confirmed that it was standing by, rotors turning.
    ‘Right, get those hot towels around him and we’ll run him out to the chopper.’ Within moments, they had gone. Bruno, J-J and Albert gathered back around the hot air, stone beakers in hand.
    ‘There’ll have to be an inquiry,’ J-J said. ‘One shot dead and another wounded, maybe dying. You know the procedure. It’ll be a formality but they’ll need all our written statements before Friday.’
    ‘Whoever runs the inquiry can go back into that cave themselves to look for my gun and the guns of the bastards whotried to kill us,’ said Bruno. ‘I don’t fancy making that swim again anytime soon. And I don’t think there’ll be much of an inquiry with no weapons evidence.’
    ‘Then they’ll adjourn the inquiry until they can retrieve the weapons,’ said J-J thoughtfully. ‘We could be suspended on full pay for months.’
    ‘Your new
Procureur
seemed the type to find a way round that.’
    ‘If he doesn’t my wife will probably shoot him first and then me,’ J-J said, in that mournful way that usually meant he was joking.
    Bruno looked around the cave. There was little damage from the blast except for