Page 134 of The Grey Wolf
In his hand was an AmEx card.
Armand hesitated for a moment, then took it. “Merci.”
Annie had disappeared into the house and now returned, holding out a five-dollar bill.
“Your bribe yesterday, to rescue Mom. You might need it. And this.” She handed him her Visa card.
Armand smiled. And took both. “Isabelle?”
“Here,patron.”
“I’ll send you the payment information.”
After hanging up, he turned back to Annie’s phone. “Jean-Guy, you need to get to Sister Joan. Tell her what you found out. If she realizes you already know that much, she might be willing to give you more.”
“I also want to know if anyone else has gone to the seminary asking for them,” said Beauvoir.
“Good idea. Then get home.”
“As fast as I can. You?”
“I’m going to Blanc-Sablon to find Dom Philippe.”
But before he left, Gamache shot off a message. An invitation for breakfast in Montréal, to someone who’d be only slightly more surprised to receive it than he was to send it.
He doubted the person would reply. Or show up.
He doubted what he’d just done was wise.
It was becoming more and more difficult to tell the wise from the foolhardy.
CHAPTER30
After hanging up, Lacoste called Claude Dussault and asked the retired Prefect of the Paris police to organize a helicopter.
He was not surprised. “I’ve already looked into it. You can pick me up on the way. I’ll send you the details.”
Lacoste turned back to the immediate problem. The nun.
“My chief has instructed me to go to Grande Chartreuse and to take you.”
Irene took a step back. Lacoste took a step forward.
“I’ll scream.”
“Interesting that you haven’t already. Look, sister.” Like Jean-Guy earlier, she realized she sounded like a gangster. If there had been a half grapefruit handy, she might’ve shoved it into Irene’s face. “We need to know exactly what’s going to happen.”
“I don’t know.”
Now Lacoste was angry. “For God’s sake, don’t mess with me. I’m tired and frightened, and you, who should be helping, are not.” Then she stopped and stared at Sister Irene. And for the first time, Isabelle Lacoste thought that maybe, maybe Sister Irene really didn’t know.
“Brother Robert,” said Lacoste. “He knows. That’s why he’s hiding. That’s why you have to protect him. He’s the only one of you who knows what’s going to happen, and who’s behind this.”
Now, Sister Irene closed her eyes and raised her hand to the cross on her white robe. And prayed. Again. Prayed harder.
The time had come. The thing she’d dreaded was upon her, in the form of a young Québécoise who looked so sincere. But then, wasn’t that the guise evil always took?
Isabelle Lacoste whispered, “I think you know.”
