must have been some boy, and so we came back today to see if we could see one
and we caught him.
You are on duty today, on a Saturday? Bruno pressed.
Not exactly, he repeated, but since our duties bring us to the Dordogne this
week and next, we decided to stay over and make a weekend of it in your
delightful part of the country, he added ingratiatingly. So much history
His voice trailed off as he saw the coldness in Brunos expression.
So, you are not exactly on duty today. Yes or no?
Er, no.
Let me get this clear, Monsieur, said Bruno. Your car was allegedly damaged
by a person or persons unknown on Tuesday, and it is not yet established that
any damage was caused by the potato rather than by other causes. And now because
you find a boy holding a potato, in a vegetable market, somewhere near your
unharmed car of today a day when you are not on duty and thus I presume not
empowered to enforce the hygiene rules that you tried to deploy against the
kindly Madame Vignier you are now proposing to take the very serious step of
arresting and bringing charges against a minor?
Well, yes.
Bruno drew himself up to his full height, frowned and assumed his most formal
tone of voice.
I suggest that while I telephone the boys parents to inform them of the
forcible detention of their son for being in suspicious possession of a potato
he paused to let the absurdity of this sink in, I am also bound as an
officer of the law to inform the parents of their right to file a formal
complaint against persons responsible for what may be the wrongful arrest of a
minor. So, at this time I would advise that you might want to contact your own
superiors in order to establish what exactly is your personal authority and
responsibility in such matters, and whether your department will defray any
legal expenses that you are likely to incur. This will include any liability
that you may have unfortunately brought upon the gendarmes if unlawful arrest is
indeed established. Im sure that you would not want to implicate Capitaine
Duroc and his men, who clearly acted in the finest and most efficient traditions
of the Gendarmerie, if such is the case.
Somebody in the crowd let out a long, appreciative whistle for his performance,
and Bruno then solemnly opened his shirt pocket and drew out the pencil and
notepad on which he had written his morning shopping list. I had better make a
formal record of this notification, he said. So, gentlemen, might I see your
identity cards, please, along with any documents that testify to your lawful
authority? oh, and Capitaine Duroc, he went on, we shall obviously need a
camera to take photographs of that young boys arm and shoulder where you have
been gripping so tightly. Just a formality, you understand, to protect you
personally against any malicious charges of ill-treatment as a result of your
being suborned into what seems very likely to be a case of wrongful arrest.
There was a long silence, and then the Captain let go of the boys arm. The lad
burst into tears, scurried over to Bruno and buried his face in the policemans
freshly laundered shirt.
Well, we may have been a little hasty began the more grey of the two grey
men. But the damage to our car is a serious matter.
Indeed it is, Sir, which is why we should proceed according to the letter of
the law, said Bruno. We will all go to the Gendarmerie where you will file
your complaint, and I shall bring the parents, and probably their legal
representative, and there will be no need for further witnesses since the Mayor
and I saw the arrest and forcible seizure of this young boy from the window of
the Mayors office.
My chief of police is absolutely right, said the Mayor from behind Brunos
shoulder. We saw the whole thing, and I must state that I am deeply disturbed
that an underage member of our community can be seized in this way on what seems
the flimsiest of evidence. As Mayor of St Denis and a senator of the Republic, I
reserve the right to bring this matter to the attention of your superiors.
But unless we file charges, well be liable for the damage to the car, bleated
the younger grey man.
Shut up, you fool, hissed his partner, who had been visibly jolted when the
Mayor mentioned that he was also a senator, and he turned towards Bruno and
Mangin. Monsieur le Maire, Monsieur le Chef de Police, mon Capitaine, allow me
to congratulate you on the efficiency and good sense you have brought to ease
this little misunderstanding. I think it might be advisable for all of us to let
this matter rest, and we shall continue our duties elsewhere in the region.
He bowed slightly, took his companion firmly by the elbow and beat a hasty but
still dignified retreat from the market.
Bloody Gestapo, said the Mayor, and Durocs eyes widened.
Bruno leaned down and ruffled the boys hair. Where did you learn that trick
with the potato? he asked.
From my great-grandpa. He told me it was what they used to do to the German
trucks in the Resistance.
CHAPTER
12
Brunos garden had been planned with decades in mind. The first time the Mayor
had shown him the small stone cottage, its roof just beginning to collapse, with
its sheltering trees on the hill above and the great sweep of the view to the
south across the plateau, Bruno had known that this place would suit him well.
The old shepherd who had lived here had died almost a decade earlier. His heirs,
who had gone away to Paris, had neglected to pay the modest taxes so it had
fallen into the hands of the Commune, which meant into the disposition of the
Mayor. They had walked over the wide stretch of rough turf that would become
Brunos lawn and his terrace, poked around the overgrown vegetable garden and
the collapsed hen house, and carefully lifted the rotting wooden cover from the
well. The stone work was still sound and the water fresh. The beams of the old
barn behind the cottage were solid chestnut and would last forever, and the cart
track from the road up to the cottage, although rutted and overgrown, was easily
passable. They had paced out the dimensions, twelve metres long and eight deep.
Inside, there was one large room and two small, and the remains of a ladder that
went up to the attic beneath the roof.
It comes with four hectares but it will take a lot of work, the Mayor had
said.
Ill have the time, Bruno had replied, already imagining how it could be and
wondering whether his Army gratuity would be sufficient to buy this home of his
own. Not a countryman born, he had little idea what four hectares of land would
be.
The land stretches to the brow of the hill behind, in those woods, about a
hundred metres to the right and down to the stream below us, the Mayor
explained. We cannot legally sell the place unless it is habitable, which means
that the Commune would have to instal electricity but you would have to fix the
roof and put in some windows before we can make a contract. Thats your risk. If
Im voted out of office in the elections, you might have done the work for
nothing. I cannot promise that my successor would honour the deal, but we might
be able to reach a long leasehold agreement, tied to the post of Chef de
Police.
Bruno, just a few months into the job as the Municipal Policeman of St Denis,
was confident that the Mayor would be re-elected in St Denis so long as he was