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

when the Gendarme medic told the inquiry that Bruno had insisted on trying the underground river once itwas clear that the Count would certainly die unless he reached a hospital within the hour.
    It was Bruno’s second funeral in three days. There had been a smaller turnout for Louis Junot at the crematorium outside Périgueux; just his widow and Francette, and Bruno who had driven them there. At the last minute, the white Jaguar had driven up the gravel road and Béatrice stepped out to join them, stylish in black. She and Francette had exchanged a cool air kiss, and then Béatrice had stood apart and alone. She had left before Bruno could exchange a word.
    With the Count, Foucher and Eugénie all dead, the interrogation of Béatrice had been of critical importance as the
Procureur
, J-J and Bruno all tried to unravel the events and motives that had led to their deaths and those of Junot and Athénaïs. Béatrice had been accompanied by an expensive and protective Parisian lawyer, who seemed to have more than a professional relationship with his client, which came as no great surprise to Bruno. She had admitted taking part in the first Black Mass in the cave, with Athénaïs, Francette and Eugénie. It had been just an elaborate sexual game, she insisted, of the kind she’d known in her previous life in Paris. Foucher had played the role of the priest. Abouard the Lebanese and the Count had taken part, along with a couple of the Count’s business clients.
    Béatrice claimed no knowledge of the second Black Mass in the family chapel at the Red Château at which Athénaïs had died. But she knew that Athénaïs had been obsessed with her ancestor, the royal mistress, and equally obsessed with the Count. Bruno had asked if Béatrice could confirm thatAthénaïs had believed she could win the Count’s affections with a love potion from the Black Mass, just as her ancestress had done.
    ‘Absolutely,’ Béatrice had replied. ‘She spoke about it all the time. It used to drive Eugénie crazy because as far as Eugénie was concerned, the Count was hers.’
    ‘Crazy enough to want to kill Athénaïs?’ the Procureur had asked.
    Béatrice had nodded decisively. She insisted she had not been present when Athénaïs had died, but she knew there had been a panic at the Red Château. She had seen the fire in the lagoon across the water and watched it flicker and die as the boat drifted out into the main stream and down the river. But she knew better than to ask questions of Foucher or the Count. It was only when she saw the newspaper that she realized the boat had carried the body of Athénaïs.
    ‘But even if the Count wanted Athénaïs dead, he also needed her body,’ the Procureur had objected. ‘Without it, he could not have inherited.’
    ‘The Count wasn’t there. He was with me that night. Foucher called him, panicking, and we got up and looked out of the window and saw the fire. The Count left in his car but then he had to drive to the bridge to cross the river. I dressed and went down to the river and saw the boat drifting away but the Count must have still been on the road. I know he was furious when I saw him the next day.’
    Bruno knew they might never be sure of the full truth. But the conclusion was that Eugénie had killed Athénaïs and then she and Foucher had put her body in the boat to disposeof it by fire. And then Foucher had tried to sink it or to recover the body when it floated to the bridge at St Denis.
    ‘Remember,’ Béatrice had concluded, ‘Athénaïs, Foucher and Eugénie were all stuffing themselves with coke.’
    ‘That’s speculation,’ the lawyer had said, and ended the interrogation. The Procureur was still deciding whether to charge her with withholding evidence and obstruction of justice.
    At this second funeral, Béatrice was dressed in the same black silk and veil and standing close beside the Baron. Had the Baron’s broken arm not been in a sling, Bruno suspected she’d have had her hand resting possessively on it. But they had not arrived here together. Bruno was aware Béatrice had suggested the Baron buy the Auberge St Philippon from the Red Countess. But the Baron knew as well as Bruno that there would be no more Defence Ministry events to boost the revenues. Maybe some professional hotelier could make a success of it, once the scandal had died down.
    Béatrice was a survivor, Bruno thought. If she couldn’t attach herself to the Baron, she’d find someone else.