7Gilles Maron, acting chief gendarme of Castillac, had been having a decent summer so far. A little on the boring side, since his day-to-day had mainly consisted of rounding up drunk drivers and dealing with a few break-ins of vacation homes in which nothing much was taken. But Maron had discovered during the last murder investigation that he was an uneasy leader, and that somehow being made acting chief had undermined his former confidence in his own judgment. He was hoping he only needed more experience before being in charge would feel comfortable, and he hadn’t minded a few months of quiet in the village while he got his feet more firmly underneath him.
That Friday in July was the first day on the job for Thérèse Perrault’s replacement. A man, for which Maron was grateful, being more
