Page 36 of The Grey Wolf
The neighbor’s eyes widened as she looked at the door, then back at them. “Was that him? The guy who was killed?”
“Does Charles Langlois live here?” When she nodded, Gamache added, “Alone?”
“Oui.Never seen or heard anyone up there with him. God, that’s awful. Terrorists, do you think? That’s what they’re saying.”
“Non, not terrorists. How long’s he been here?”
The woman thought. “Less than a year, I’d say. The landlord’ll know more.”
“We’ll need the landlord’s name and number,” said Beauvoir. “And yours.”
Gamache knocked, then knocked again, before using the key they’d found on Charles’s body. They walked in. And stopped.
The single room was a shambles. Books splayed on the floor. The cushions of the sofa bed ripped. The mattress tipped over.
The drawers of the old desk in the corner were pulled out and contents dumped.
“I’ll get forensics,” said Beauvoir.
“And find out if the other neighbors saw or heard anything.”
While Beauvoir did that, Gamache stood in the small studio apartment, surveying the mess. Then he walked slowly around. Not touching anything.
There was no computer. No papers or notebooks that he could see. It had all been scooped. Gamache walked over to the wall where he could see staples with scraps of paper trapped under them. Whatever had been up there had been ripped off, leaving just the corners.
But he recognized those scraps, and so did Jean-Guy when he returned.
“Map,” he said, joining Gamache. “Charles had a huge map stapled up.”
“The neighbors?”
Beauvoir shook his head. “The woman downstairs is the only one in right now, but she said she was out most of the afternoon. Didn’t hear or see anyone.”
Clothes were scattered on the floor, pockets turned inside out.
“Look at this.” Gamache was kneeling over a sweater. On it was a pin with a symbol. “Recognize it?”
It was the yin-and-yang symbol, half in blue, half green. With a leaping fish in the middle.
“Non,” said Jean-Guy.
Gamache struggled a little to stand up, the bruising and stiffness setting in. Beauvoir reached out to steady him. “We’ll have to get a hoist soon,patron.”
Gamache smiled. “I can still take you.” Though both knew that had stopped being true a few years earlier.
“Someone obviously did this while he was at Open Da Night,” said Beauvoir. “So they must’ve known about the rendezvous.”
Gamache nodded.
“But why not kill him before you met, if they knew about it and were so afraid of what he’d say to you?”
Gamache stood looking out the window, his hands clasped behind his back, and considered the question.
“Maybe they didn’t know about our meeting.” His warm breath clouded the windowpane. “It’s possible they were following him, and when they saw him talking to a Sûreté officer, they panicked. Throwing something together at the last minute. Sending someone here to rifle his place, then running him over in broad daylight. It doesn’t seem like a well-thought-out plan.”
“They must be shitting themselves,” said Beauvoir. “They don’t know what he told you, and now you’d have told others. They couldn’t contain it.”
“The problem is, he didn’t tell me anything.”
