Black Diamond - Martin Walker [45]
“Interesting,” said Bruno. “By the way, how’s that boy of yours?”
“Doing well at the lycée in Paris. They expect him to get into Sciences Po next year, with a lot of thanks to you.”
Bruno nodded. Young Richard Gelletreau had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder until Bruno had solved the case. “Give him my best wishes and tell him we expect him at the tennis tournament this summer. If he wants a doubles partner, I’d be happy to join him.”
The waiting room was no longer empty when he left the doctor’s office. Rollo, headmaster of the St. Denis collège for pupils under sixteen, was sitting in the corner, leafing through an old magazine. One of Bruno’s regular tennis partners, he was still a handsome man in his early fifties, but appeared weighed down by the endless juggling of budgets and the difficulty of finding good teachers prepared to live in the countryside.
“Salut, Rollo,” he said, shaking hands. “What’s up with you.”
“More sleeping pills,” he replied. “I keep waking up at three and can’t get back to sleep, even when I haven’t had a drink.”
“You’re not playing enough tennis. Exercise will cure your ills.”
“I wish. No, I heard this week that old Joliot is determined to retire at sixty-two, so I’m going to need a new science teacher beginning in January. I’ve got the budget for it thanks to the new curriculum, but the only applicants so far aren’t really qualified.”
“New curriculum? They only changed it last year.” Bruno remembered him complaining about it.
“This was part of it, a new course on environmental sciences. Joliot was just about able to handle it, but the kids deserve someone with a proper diploma.”
A thought struck Bruno. “Would any science diploma be sufficient? Someone with a chemistry degree from Paris, for example?”
“If you can find someone with a Paris degree in chemistry to teach at our collège I’ll make you headmaster. Even with the new budget, we can only pay two thousand a month. I may have to settle for someone with a science bac and a teaching certificate.”
“Is the teaching certificate essential?”
“Not entirely. Somebody with good science qualifications can get the certificate while teaching under supervision. I’m senior enough to arrange that. Why, did you have someone in mind?”
“A young woman in Ste. Alvère, recently divorced and raising two kids. She’s working part-time at the truffle market for about half of what you’re offering. She strikes me as a very sharp woman, and she’s got a chemistry degree and a research diploma.”
“A research diploma? That means she’d qualify for an extra five hundred a month. Do you think she’d do it?”
“I’ll ask her,” said Bruno, after a quick mental calculation that told him Florence, if she took the job, could be earning more than he did. He thumbed through his mobile phone for the numbers he’d taken down at the truffle market and punched in the call.
After Bruno relayed his conversation with Rollo, there was a silence on the other end of the line.
“Bruno, is this a joke?” she asked.
“No, not at all. Let me pass you to the headmaster. School hours and vacations, that’s good for your children. He says you can qualify for the teaching certificate while working. Here he is.”
He handed his phone to Rollo and leaned back against the wall while they spoke and arranged to meet. When Rollo handed back the phone, Bruno said, “She’s got a miserable job in Ste. Alvère, working for a real bastard.”
“You mean Didier at the truffle market? I was at school with him. I didn’t know him well, but he wasn’t much liked. He used to enjoy making girls cry.”
“He still does,” said Bruno. “Let me know how you get on with Florence.”
“With those qualifications, if she can stand up and see the blackboard, I’ll hire her,” said Rollo, and he walked toward Gelletreau’s office with a spring in his step. At the door he turned. “Will I see you at the meeting tonight? You know the Greens and Socialists are announcing their pact for the elections?”
“Wouldn