Page 142 of Miss Wolcott’s Ghost

“Please. And thank you.”

She immediately texted the Chief.

Across the Incident Room, Jean-Guy was at his desk under the watchful and wrathful eye of Ruth Zardo.

Inspector Eidinger, from forensic accounting, had just called. “I’ve accessed Brian Fillmore’s tax forms for the past few years. He had, like most of us, his favorite charities. For him, it was literacy, libraries, youth at risk. Now, what’s interesting is that after Réunion went public and he made his fortune—”

“Last year,” said Jean-Guy.

“Yes. He increased his donations to those services. And he made a new donation. The largest, in fact. It was to McGill University. Eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

“Really? And he’d never given to them before?”

“Maybe many years ago, but not recently, no.”

“Does it say which department? I think he graduated with a BA with a major in history and a minor in psychology.”

“Unfortunately, the forms don’t specify. I can try to find out. I have a friend in their accounts department.”

“I know someone too.”

A few minutes later, he heard down the line, “Bonjour, Jean-Guy.”

“Bonjour, Monsieur Horowitz.”

“For God’s sake!” The elderly man sounded more than a little annoyed. “How many times do I have to tell you to call me Stephen?”

Across the way, Jean-Guy noticed Isabelle smirking. She’d just finished warning him: “Whatever happens, never ever call him Stephen. He hates that.”

Jean-Guy was on the verge of throwing her under the bus, then realized that would only make him sound petulant, so he swallowed the reply and said instead, “Désolé, Stephen. I need your help.”

“What?” He still sounded snarky.

“Brian Fillmore made a large donation last year to McGill. Can you find out whether it was directed anywhere?”

“Fine.” Then he relented. “How are my godchildren?”

“You mean Armand?”

“No, I mean your kids. Honoré and Idola. Remember them?” Okay, still snarky.

For some reason, both Stephen and Ruth believed they were godparents to Annie and Jean-Guy’s children. Though should anything happen to both of them, Jean-Guy could not imagine thrusting those two on the kids. Or vice versa, for that matter.

Though it was true that Honoré’s best friend seemed to be Ruth, and Idola idolized the grumpy old man. Go figure.

“They miss you.” That much was true.

An hour later, Stephen called back. “The donation was definitely sizable. Almost a million dollars. And yes, it was earmarked, very clearly. It was to go to Macdonald Campus.”

“Out in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue?”

“Yes. The agricultural college. Why he’d do that is anyone’s guess. My contacts on the board were pretty annoyed that he was so adamant. They wanted to use it for the new roof in the main campus.”

“Thank you, Monsieur Horowitz.” He hung up quickly and smiled when he heard “Fu—” before the line went dead.

Macdonald. Macdonald. There was that name again.

“Inspector Lacoste?”