Page 97 of The Grey Wolf
“Just that.”
“Was the letterBunderlined?” asked Gamache.
“No, why would it be?”
“Oh, for God’s sake,” said Beauvoir, then stopped when Gamache raised his hand slightly. And the small room settled into silence.
The Chief Inspector let it stretch on, an interrogation technique he preferred, since most people found silence far more threatening than shouting.
Except…
Gamache realized that for these people, these monks, silence wastheir happy place. So he broke it himself. “What was in the second letter?”
Simon lifted his hands. “If Sébastien sent the details, I never found out. It was then that the Abbot spoke to Frère Roland, and I no longer had access to the mail. If anyone knows, it’s Brother Roland.”
He seemed aggrieved, as though a great wrong had been done him.
Gamache turned to Beauvoir, who nodded. His eyes bright. Anxious to tell Gamache what he knew. What the original Keeper of the Keys must have told him. But they needed to speak privately, not in front of this meddlesome monk.
The thought stirred something in the Chief Inspector. It was what King Henry had said that provoked the murder of the Archbishop. The murder in the cathedral.
Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?
He looked at Frère Simon and wondered…
There was one more thing Gamache needed to get out of the monk. “Did you look at the map?”
Simon shrugged. No use denying it now. Bigger cats had already escaped the bag. “But it didn’t tell me anything. It’s just numbers on lakes.”
“Do you know who gave it to the Abbot?”
Simon shook his head.
“Did Dom Philippe have a visitor?” asked Gamache, his eyes searching, penetrating.
“Not that I know. I guess someone might’ve come on the supply boat, but if he did, he didn’t come into the monastery.”
“Did the Abbot say anything about it?”
“Only that I wasn’t to show it to anyone.”
Gamache and Beauvoir exchanged glances. Clearly if Dom Philippe really wanted it to be a secret, he wouldn’t have told anyone about it, and certainly not the blabbermouth.
“I’d never actually seen a map of Québec before,” said Simon. “The thing that most struck me was water.”
Gamache cocked his head, but said nothing.
“You don’t realize how much there is in Québec until you see it on a map or from a plane,” said the monk.
“There’s also a lot of forest,” said Gamache, his voice calm, even. Not giving away the importance of the question. “But you thought of water. Why?”
Simon shrugged, but then hesitated. “Actually, now that I remember, it was because the Abbot quoted the Psalms.In a dry and parched land where there is no water.It seemed strange, since we’re not exactly a dry and parched land. But I think he might’ve meant allegorically. About faith.”
“Did he say anything else?” asked Beauvoir.
“No.”
“Did he show you anything else?” asked Beauvoir.
