Page 160 of Miss Wolcott’s Ghost

She also wondered if they weren’t being intentionally led astray.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s get back to basics. The murder. Brian Fillmore didn’t kill himself with a shovel.”

“You think?”

“So he was working with someone. Could it have been Jeanette Bouchard? Maybe he asked her to help him investigate. Maybe she wasn’t researching him but was helping him—”

“—to find whatever Morrow brought up from the wreck,” said Jean-Guy. “Thinking it was still valuable.”

“Maybe what Charles Fillmore said was true,” said Isabelle. “His brother really was mostly interested in digging up history, finding things no one else knew. He had more than enough money, and maybe wealth wasn’t a motivation.”

“Not for him, but for his accomplice,” said Jean-Guy. “When they finally did dig up the documents, Bouchard killed him and stole what they found. Thinking it must be worth a fortune.”

He shook his head and grimaced. “Another disappointed customer. Imagine realizing what you have are scribblings by an eccentric old Victorian, about plants others already know about. Like rosemary and primrose.”

“Imagine realizing you’ve murdered someone for no reason,” agreed Isabelle.

She rocked back and forth in her chair, thinking.

“But then,” said Jean-Guy, “why was Jeanette in England, at Miss Wolcott’s old estate? If she already had the documents, what was she looking for?”

“Maybe they didn’t find anything in the Lost Nation grave, so she went there looking.”

Jean-Guy leaned forward. “But if they didn’t find anything in Lost Nation, why would Jeanette, or anyone, kill Fillmore? No. It doesn’t make sense. Or at least it does. We just don’t know yet.”

At that moment, they both got the same message from forensics.

“Merde. No luck so far repairing the cassette,” Jean-Guy read. “They aren’t optimistic.”

“Will you tell the Chief?”

“I’ll flip you for it. Or, do you think we can convince Reine-Marie to tell him?”

Isabelle couldn’t tell if he was serious. Still, it wasn’t a bad idea. After all, Reine-Marie was the one who’d found the cassette.

Then something else occurred to her.

“What is it?” Jean-Guy watched as Isabelle stepped over to the chalkboard.

“What was the name of the professor who was her friend?”

“Lafrenière.”

“Right.” She wrote it down. “He died shortly after her donation and not long before Miss Wolcott herself passed away. I wonder if there’s anything in his papers about her. He must have thought her documents were worth preserving.”

Jean-Guy leaped on the phone.

CHAPTER 55

“Unfortunately, Armand, the Royal Society of Botanists only keeps records that it deems important.”

“And the letter from Professor Russell asking to present to the RSB wasn’t important enough to keep?”

“Well, we know he was invited to speak, but there’s a black cross beside his name.”

“Meaning he died before he could present any findings?”

“Just so.” Professor Agrawal lowered his voice and tilted his head toward the third member of their party in the private booth at the Eagle pub. “Is he okay?”