Page 167 of The Grey Wolf
He was polite but officious.
“Merci.” But instead of leaving, Gamache pushed past the assistant—
“Hey!”
—and into the Chief of Staff’s private office.
It was empty.
“She’s not here,” said the smug voice behind him.
“Where is she?”
“I can’t say.”
“You had better, young man, or I’ll charge you with obstruction of justice.”
It was an empty threat and pretty soon this fellow would realize that Chief Inspector Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec had no authority there. But for now, for this split second…
Gamache didn’t dare look at the RCMP officer, who knew full well he had no way to follow through.
“She left.”
“I can see that. Where did she go?”
“I don’t know.”
“You must. You keep her agenda, don’t you?”
“She’s supposed to be in a meeting in ten minutes, but—”
“So her leaving was unexpected?”
“Yes. Some old fellow showed up an hour or so ago and she went with him. Told me she wouldn’t be back today.”
“Describe the man.”
“Slender. Short white hair. He looked like a vagrant. Pants too short and the jacket too tight. It’s like he grew a few inches overnight. Don’t old people get smaller?”
He looked at the Chief Inspector as though expecting him to shrink in front of his eyes.
“Hey!” the assistant protested again as Gamache went over to the desk. “Stop him!”
But Sargent Gauthier just folded his arms across his chest and watched Gamache pull open drawers and flip through notebooks. The only thing he found was an agenda at the back of one of the drawers. It was a year old. He shoved it into his pocket, then walked up to the assistant.
“I need to see Monsieur Lauzon.”
“The Deputy Prime Minister?”
“Yes. Now.” Gamache softened his voice. “I’m sorry to do this to you, but this is a matter of national security. Tell me where he is. Through there?”
Gamache stepped toward what was likely a connecting door. TheCOS would have offices close to, and probably connecting to, her minister.
“He’s not here either. Didn’t you see the news? He’s in Washington for talks on a bilateral agreement on the environment.”
Gamache studied the young man and realized that as soon as they left, he would contact Caron. “What’s your name?”
“Frederick Castonguay.”
