Page 138 of The Grey Wolf
But he said nothing. He’d stayed silent and drove deeper into the city, pursued by the words of Dr. King:In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Though, of course, they would not remember his silence. They would be dead. Because he’d said nothing.
Please God, let this work.
“I want you to find out who’s behind it. What the endgame is.”
“Profit, what else?”
“Perhaps.”
She looked down at her notes, then up at him. Her focus was no longer on Gamache, but on the assignment. And with that switch came a realization.
“Wait a minute. Both these events, loosening the federal environmental limits and the sale of companies, are controlled by the same man. Marcus Lauzon. The Deputy Prime Minister.”
“Oui.”
He watched her take a deep breath. Her exhale fluttered the paper napkin stuck to the tabletop.
“You think the Deputy Prime Minister, maybe even the PM, are up to something.”
“If they are, we need to know, and we need to know quickly. But remember, if I’m right, then this is dangerous. At least one person who found out has been killed.”
“Can’t be more dangerous than eating here.”
“Consider this boot camp. And that’s”—he pointed to the croissant—“a live grenade.”
He smiled at her.
She looked at him in amazement and realized she’d never seen Gamache smile. When scrummed by reporters, it was always to talk about a terrible crime. Or, in her case, to absorb the abuse she was hurling at him.
As he smiled, the lines of his face deepened. And she knew if she followed them, she’d come to his most private place. His home. His heart. But Shona didn’t want to see that. Not yet. She wasn’t ready to stop thinking of him as heartless.
“You can refuse,” Gamache said. “You have what you’ve wanted since you were a child. Enough to ruin me. You can take that recording and go. I won’t stop you.”
“Non.I’m in. Plenty of time to ruin you later.”
He got up. “One more question. Who invited you to the news conference?”
“No reason you shouldn’t know. It was your boss.”
“Chief Superintendent Toussaint?”
“Got it in one. You have lots of friends, Monsieur Gamache,” she said as she packed up. “But turns out you have a lot of enemies too. Powerful ones.”
“Including you, Madame Dorion.” He offered his hand. It hovered in the air between them.
“We’re not there.”
He nodded and walked to the till where the server was waiting.Armand didn’t dare use his credit card, knowing every dollar was needed to pay Lacoste’s expenses. Instead, he brought out cash. Holding the five-dollar bill, he stared at it, then returned it to his pocket.
“Would you like me to pay?” asked Shona.
He expected to see her laughing at him. Instead, as he turned, he saw she was serious.
“Non, merci.Next time.”
“Yeah, right. If there is a next time, it won’t be in this shithole. And you’re still paying, cheap bastard.”
