Page 96 of The Grey Wolf
Simon shook his head.
“That would be asking a lot of Sébastien,” said Beauvoir.
“So much so I dismissed it, thinking he’d never leave an abbey where he’d taken an oath to remain cloistered, to go all the way to Rome, on the vague request of another monk.”
“But he did,” said Beauvoir.
Simon nodded. He looked down at his long, elegant hands, then raised his eyes to the investigators. “He left the next day. The Abbot walked him to the boat and embraced him.”
“Did the Abbot know what was happening?”
“How could he, when Frère Sébastien didn’t even know? There are moral, ecclesiastical bonds to this place. But we’re not in bondage. We’re free to leave. Though I can’t remember anyone ever doing it. Until now.”
And now both the Prior and the Abbot of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups had left. Those letters had been the equivalent of the stone in the calm lake. A shocking event that disturbed the tranquil lives of these monks. And sent them scattering.
“The monk who sent the first letter from the Vatican must’ve signed it,” said Gamache.
“No, that was the other odd thing. There was no signature.”
“There was no way to identify who it was from?”
“Not that I could see.”
“And yet Sébastien knew,” said Gamache. “He must’ve known the sender very well to recognize him without even a signature.”
“There was one thing that I do remember. EveryBwas underlined.”
“B?” said Beauvoir. “Bee? Like the insect or the word ‘be’? Or the letter?”
“Why would there be bees in the letter?” asked Simon.
“You just said there were,” snapped Beauvoir.
Now the two men stared at each other.
“I think you mean the letterB,” said Gamache, and Simon nodded.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Beauvoir finally said.
“How should I know? I have no idea what any of this means. But I can tell you that the letterhead wasn’t just the Vatican. It was from the Office of the Doctrine of the Faith.”
Both Gamache and Beauvoir looked puzzled.
“It used to be known as the Inquisition.”
“Ahh,” said Beauvoir, sitting back in his seat. “So this American is a Dominican. That would’ve been helpful to know.”
“No, he’s not necessarily a Dominican. All orders now contribute to that department of the Curia. But I think since Sébastien was a Dominican once, it’s a reasonable assumption. That must’ve been where they met. When both worked for the Doctrine of the Faith.”
Gamache nodded. It tracked. And yet something was off.
“So Frère Sébastien left here and presumably went to Rome. A while later he writes to Dom Philippe,” said Beauvoir. “What did that letter say?”
Both investigators watched the monk closely. This was the vital moment. The vital question.
“It was short. More a note. Sébastien just asked the Abbot to meet him and said he’d send the time and place in another package.”
“Nothing else?” asked Gamache. “Just that?”
