The Shady Chateau: a Provence Cozy Mystery (Julie Cavallo Investigates) by Ana T. Drew

Author:Ana T. Drew [Drew, Ana T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Julie Cavallo Investigates
Published: 2021-06-27T16:00:00+00:00

When I get back to the patio, lunch is already served, and both Rose and Eric are there waiting for me. We load our plates with tuna, curry chicken and jambon-beurre sandwiches, grab some fruit and water, and head into the park for a working picnic.

As soon as we settle under a tree, we dial Flo from Eric’s phone for a video call. Since he’s already briefed her this morning, we can get straight to the point. I tell them that Vincent accidentally killed a local man Roger Lionville five years ago. Eric, who hit it off with Vincent from day one refuses to believe Vincent killed a man, even accidentally.

Cue the exposé on cognitive bias and target misidentification by yours truly.

As we dig into the sandwiches, I drop the Pink Playroom bombshell. Grabbing my phone, I pull up the pic of the notes in the war game rule book that I snapped.

“Do you happen to recognize the handwriting?” I ask Eric.

He magnifies the picture and stares at it without uttering a word. But his expression tells me all I need to know. He’s seen that handwriting before. My hunch was on the button!

“It’s your friend François, isn’t it?” I ask him.

He looks up from the screen. “How did you know?”

“Who else would spend his precious time in the baroness’s secret boudoir reading and annotating war-gaming rules?”

“The baron himself?” Rose ventures a guess. “For whatever unfathomable reason.”

“It looks very much like François’s hand,” Eric admits, crestfallen.

“So, he and Charlotte Cordes d’Auzon are having an affair,” Flo sums it up from Eric’s phone. “Or, shall we say, were having an affair. Because now that she’s a widow and assuming he’s still single, then it isn’t an affair anymore.”

Taking pity on Eric who looks worried and defeated at the same time, I bring up a fact that doesn’t corroborate that theory. “Why would Marc sacrifice himself for François or Charlotte? What’s the link between them? Could he be François’s father?”

“No way!” Eric shakes his head. “I’ve met François’s dad and both his grandfathers, too.”

“What if Marc was telling the truth?” Flo muses.

Rose nods in agreement. “What if he did inadvertently kill Gustave?”

Flo hasn’t seen the man, but Grandma has.

“He looked so weak and so sick,” I remind her. “That cough… It couldn’t be just a cold, or even bronchitis.”

“I’m with Julie on this one,” Eric says. “I don’t see how Marc could’ve punched a heavier and fitter Gustave hard enough to send him flying against the wall.”

We mull over his statement.

“Were you able to suss out anything of interest?” I ask Eric.

“Oui, Chef!” He smiles, perking up.

I clap, giddy. “Tell us! Tell us everything!”

“The first thing I did was to call Flo and ask her if Tino could pick up my bionic ear and bring it to the chateau.”

Tino is my sister’s roommate, boyfriend, and associate in the tour guide service they launched last year. Not very successfully so far. The competition is fierce, and they’re lucky if they get a booking a week.

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