The Coldest Case by Martin Walker (mobi reader android txt) 📕

about his classmates? Do you have registers for them? I’m particularly interested in the murder victim, first name Max. We know the two of them were travelling together around here in June and July that year.’

‘I can have a look and get back to you.’

‘Many thanks, and good luck with cleaning up those archives.’ Bruno gave his phone number and email address before ending the call. He wrote a note for J-J on his findings and set off on the return to St Denis. He went home first to check on Balzac, then to his office to run through his emails. Shortly before two, he joined the large group of people already gathered in the hall of the fire station. The fire trucks had all been moved outside to make room. Half the Mairie staff was there along with Yveline and Sergeant Jules for the gendarmes, Fabiola and Dr Gelletreau, the collège director, and officials from the communes up and down the entire valley. He found his police colleagues, Louis from Montignac and Juliette from Les Eyzies.

‘This would be a good time to pull off a bank robbery,’ he said. ‘Half the cops are tied up here.’

‘Not to mention the TV news cameras,’ said Louis, nodding at a separate stand filled with cameras and reporters, Philippe Delaron included.

‘And the military,’ said Juliette, pointing to a tall officer in air force uniform who was chatting with Albert, the chief pompier of St Denis, along with his boss, the woman who had recently taken over as head of the fire service for the département. She mounted a small dais, tapped the microphone to check it was working and began.

‘We are now at a very high risk of forest fires and in a highly wooded region like this with lots of scattered housing we could lose dozens of lives, not to mention many millions in property, unless we take some very serious precautions. Each of your Mairies has been sent checklists of things they have to do, from preparing evacuation centres and emergency food and water supplies to mounting round-the-clock fire-watch stations on all the water towers. Doctors, pharmacies, medical centres and social work teams are being sent their own checklists on supplies that could be required and plans for preventive evacuation of at-risk individuals.’

She stepped down and handed the microphone to the Prefect, who began by saying he supported everything the chief pompier had said. ‘If we get a major fire, I will at once declare a state of emergency under which supplies and key personnel can be requisitioned to deal with the challenge. Any disobedience of evacuation orders will result in an arrest. I should stress now that if such a fire occurs, human life will be our priority so we may suffer heavy losses in livestock. Paris has agreed that special compensation funds will be available and that pompiers from other regions which are not at risk can be drafted here. Mairies will have to make arrangements for their housing and upkeep. From midnight tonight, a special operations centre will be manned at the Périgueux Préfecture around the clock. And just so you know how seriously we are taking this, I will be on the first night shift. Now let me introduce Commander Yvelot of the armée de l’air who will be in charge of water-bombing operations.’

Commander Yvelot took the microphone. ‘My team will be based at Bergerac airport,’ he began. ‘We’ll have a flight of four dumpers, as we call the water-carriers, on permanent standby at Bordeaux for the region. We’ll also be flying in chemical fire-suppressants. My colleagues are currently building a master map of the region, giving each square kilometre its own identifying code so we can steer the dumpers quickly to threatened points. We plan to issue stacks of these maps for each commune for your fire-watchers, Mairies, police and pompiers. We’ll also have meteorologists on-site to warn us of prevailing winds, which are the real danger to the fires spreading. The bad news is they are predicting warm, dry winds from the south for the coming week, which is why this emergency practice has been called.

‘Now, I have to speak in the name of my colleague from the army, Colonel Rostin, a signals specialist who is currently meeting in Périgueux with the local directors of all the telecommunications companies about their roles in maintaining phone links even if we lose some mobile-phone towers. They are setting up a dedicated communications centre at the Préfecture, with direct radio as well as phone links to every Mairie, Gendarmerie and pompier station. Expect one of those teams to be setting up links in your own communes over the next two to three days.’

‘One more thing,’ said the Prefect, climbing up onto the platform once more. ‘In terms of handling any fires, local chiefs of pompiers will have absolute authority. If they demand public works staff and equipment to build firebreaks, they must be obeyed. If they have to drain swimming pools to get water or requisition civilian vehicles for evacuation purposes, so be it. All fires in the open air are now banned, which includes domestic barbecues. I hope you now realize how seriously we have to take this threat. Thank you.’

He stepped down to a long moment of stunned silence.

‘Well, at least the schools are out so we have some evacuation centres available,’ said Bruno to his two colleagues.

‘We don’t even have our own pompiers in Les Eyzies,’ said Juliette.

‘Christ, what about Lascaux?’ said Louis, in whose district the prehistoric cave stood, surrounded by woodland. I’d better find my Mayor and see if we should close it.’

‘All St Denis pompiers to me,’ called out Albert. ‘And you, Bruno, and Yveline and Jules and Monsieur le Maire.’

When they had all gathered, he began, ‘I’ve spent the weekend with some of the lads from the hunting clubs trying to identify the highest risk zones, those woodland areas that appear to be most dry and flammable. There are three that