Free Death on the Pont Noir by Adrian Magson

it is not our place to comment on that.’
    ‘What about the passenger?’
    ‘Dead. Although an official vehicle, the car was not armoured. The driver was seriously wounded and not expected to live. It was a salutary lesson that the President’s enemies have not given up.’
    Rocco said nothing. Another one to add to the lengthening list of assassination attempts on the country’s leader. He was ambivalent about many things de Gaulle had achieved, but he didn’t discount the man’s utter commitment to his country. If it had been him in the hot seat, he’d have given up the job long ago and taken up knitting. Maybe de Gaulle hadn’t yet got the message that someone didn’t like him – although that wasn’t a thought he could share with Massin; the man had a broomstick up his back about anyone in power and lacked the ability to see the occasional absurdities in life.
    ‘Is that anything to do with why the colonel was here?’
    Massin threw him a sharp look. ‘You know Saint-Cloud ?’
    ‘Not personally. But I know what he does for a living.’
    Massin looked slightly peeved, as if he had had his thunder stolen. ‘The colonel and his colleagues were here on a fact-finding visit. You should not read anything into that. As a region, we are no more important than any other for future itineraries. But it makes good sense to check thatall is well here should the president decide to include us in any future tour.’
    ‘Does that mean he’s coming or not?’ Rocco felt a momentary impatience with Massin’s tortuous evasiveness. Either he knew de Gaulle was planning on coming to the region or he wasn’t; pretending otherwise was a waste of time.
    ‘I cannot say.’ Massin sniffed and stretched his neck against his shirt collar, as if the admission was being wrenched out of him. ‘All I can say is, you should be aware that increased security measures in light of this latest attempt will mean everyone will be expected to be in attendance. If we are given the green light, I don’t need to tell you that every potential hazard will be investigated in advance.’
    ‘By “hazard”, you mean threat.’
    ‘Yes. Colonel Saint-Cloud and his staff are checking a list of known agitators, and this will be circulated to all offices in the region. But I’m sure you know which groups they include.’
    Rocco nodded. Take your pick. OAS. Resistance veterans. Military men. Communists. Government conspirators. Police. Students. Algerians. The CIA. The British. The favoured list among conspiracy nuts was endless. Even NATO had taken a crack, so rumour had it, a temper tantrum in response to de Gaulle’s decision to withdraw French military facilities from the organisation. Rocco didn’t believe that one, if only because it would have required a full council meeting and de Gaulle’s signature to assassinate himself. He doubted even Le Grand Charles was capable of that level of arrogance.
    ‘What do you want me to do?’ He still couldn’t figure out why Massin had told him all this. Somehow he doubted this was an occasion for covering his back.
    ‘You may need to assist in preventing anything happening. As you know, Saint-Cloud runs a very small group, albeit very effective in what it does do. But while he is away checking routes and itineraries, he cannot do his main job, which is to oversee closely the protection of the president.’ He rearranged the already immaculate pencil. ‘It would be a disaster if anything were to happen in this region.’
    Rocco nearly laughed at the outrageousness of the build-up. So Massin was covering his back after all. He asked, ‘Why me?’
    Massin hesitated before answering, a flicker of something approaching doubt on his face. Then he said, ‘Because Colonel Saint-Cloud suggested it. He asked for names and selected you. His own team is stretched very thin, so he is having to use whatever facilities he can. Meet him here tomorrow at nine for a briefing.’
    ‘I’ve never been called a