staircase. He knew the owners were still in Holland. He told us that the kid is armed who’s watching him, Galder, so we’re bringing in the hostage specialists.”
“Whatever he did with Baader-Meinhof all those years ago, Jan saved us both,” said Bruno. “And with luck he’ll help us save his brother too.”
“I have orders to keep you here and not tell you where Horst is,” she said. “And if you try to go and find him anyway, I’ll stab you with my swordstick.”
“Okay,” he said, thinking that the first thing he should do was rub down Hector and find him the finest bucket of oats in St. Denis. Then they could go home and bury Gigi together.
“And the brigadier says thanks. I think he’s planning to get you a six-gun and a Stetson.”
“What about my sheriff’s star?” he said, trying to match her banter. What he really needed was a glass of water.
“I’ll take care of that,” she said, and then looked away. “Just as soon as I get back to Paris tonight.”
“Tonight?” It came as a thud in his stomach. They had shared just one night together. It didn’t seem fair. “So soon?”
“The minister wants me and the brigadier to return on the helicopter with him. Then I have to go to Madrid to debrief the Spaniards. They’ll need to work out just how Carlos managed to get away with it for so long. Then it’s back to the hospital for the plastic surgery.”
“You shouldn’t be back on that kind of duty yet,” he said. “You aren’t fully recovered.”
“I’ll have some leave when I get out of the hospital. I want to be there to give you the new dog.” She turned to look at him, some life in her eyes at last. “Maybe you can take some time off from St. Denis.”
He smiled at her, thinking how little she knew of life in the country. It was springtime. There was his vegetable garden to be planted, ducks and geese to be fed and horses to care for. But no Gigi. And then the tourist season would start again. There’d be no leave for Bruno until the autumn. A hunting season with no dog, an empty house without Gigi.
“Can we slip away for lunch?”
She shook her head. “Right now I have to draft a joint statement with the Spaniards on how Carlos Gambara died bravely while helping to frustrate a Basque ETA terrorist plot. But I’ll get Gigi’s name in there as a hero if it’s the last thing I do.”
Martin Walker
The Crowded Grave
Acknowledgments
Sometimes I get twinges of guilt when I think of the fictional murders and mayhem my tales of Bruno bring to the tranquil valleys of France’s Vezere and Dordogne rivers, where life is sweet and crime is rare. It must be stressed that like all the Bruno novels, this is a work of invention. The town of St. Denis does not exist. A few of the characters may have originally been inspired by some of my friends and neighbors in the Perigord, but the people in my books and the plots are all dreamed up in my head.
The archaeological details in The Crowded Grave are as correct as I can make them, in view of our still limited knowledge of the transition from the Neanderthal to the Cro-Magnon type of human beings some thirty thousand years ago. And while the genetic evidence seems clear that there was some interbreeding, I have invented my archaeologists and the discovery of such a family. The details in the text of the dirty war waged by some elements of the Spanish state against the Basque ETA terrorists are also historically correct. This book was completed before the latest ETA cease-fire brought the promise of a peaceful resolution of this conflict that has been under way for some forty years and more. Long may the cease-fire endure.
As always, I am grateful to my friends in the various arms of the French police, to the people of the Perigord, and to the various tennis and rugby and hunting clubs who have brought much pleasure and bonhomie and magnificent food and drink to my life. The St. Exupery family and their staff at the great vineyard of Chateau de Tiregand have my special gratitude for the splendid wines they make and for their welcome to me and thirsty crew of international journalists exploring Bruno country. Special thanks, as always, to Jane and Caroline Wood, who are probably getting tired of my saying they whip these books into shape when their touch is far more delicate; along with my U.S. editor, Jonathan Segal, they sculpt them into shape.
Many friends and meals and restuarants inspire the cooking in the Bruno books, but each recipe must pass the expert eye of my wife, Julia Watson. Her expertise on food can be verified on her captivating blog eatwashington. com. I am also very grateful indeed for our daughter, Kate, who writes on motor sports for girlracer. com. She has taken over and invigorated and transformed the brunochiefofpolice. com Web site, which is becoming an ever more useful resource for the attractions, the food, the wine, and the history of the Perigord, and for the life and activities of Bruno and his friends. I recommend it to all Bruno fans.
