Death on the Pont Noir

Chapter TEN



‘Do you think that’s it?’ said Claude, once they were outside. ‘It’s just one button.’

‘You tell me.’ Rocco led the way back to the car. ‘What’s your instinct?’

Claude puffed and clambered into the passenger seat with a sigh. ‘Yes, you’re right. He was too much a man of habit to miss some free food.’ He stared out of the window towards the church. ‘I’d still like to find him, though. It doesn’t feel right, him being out there somewhere.’

‘Same here.’ Rocco started the car. ‘I’d also like to find out how he died.’

Claude said, ‘You don’t like the clergy much, do you?’

‘I’ve never found one I’d care to share a car with, no.’

Claude’s eyebrows shot up and down, and he smiled. ‘Thanks – I’ll take that as a compliment.’ He turned on the radio and began spinning the dial.

As they drove out of the village, Rocco was surprised to see Simeon standing by the side of the road, waving them down. His old moped was leaning against a concrete lamp post. Rocco pulled over and stopped.

‘Can I help you?’

‘Other way round, Inspector,’ the old farmer replied. ‘It’s I who can help you. I’ve just remembered something else about that business yesterday.’

‘Like what?’

‘There was someone else out there.’

Rocco felt his spirits plummet. With some witnesses, it was like their memory came in dribbles, each one smaller and more distant than the last. It was as if they couldn’t let go, determined to recall every detail until, inevitably, they began to remember things which had never happened.

‘Pantoufle, I know. We’re trying to find him. We think he’s dead.’

‘What makes you say that? I know about the blood and stuff. But it wasn’t him I saw.’

‘Who, then?’

‘There was someone in the wood, watching what was going on. A man. But not Pantoufle – I’d know him immediately. I only worked it out this morning; it was bothering me all night. He was standing right at the back of the trees – in shadow. Just watching. But as I was leaving, I heard a motorbike moving away after the crash. Not hurrying, though – like he was being careful not to make too much noise.’

‘He might have been with the other men,’ said Claude.

‘The cameraman,’ Rocco agreed, and wondered how he’d missed the signs. Taking a leak, most likely, away from his precious equipment. Odd lapse in timing, though, with all the action going on out front.

‘That’s just it, Inspector; he was riding along the track in the opposite direction. I mean, if he was with the others, why go the other way?’