Page 80 of Miss Wolcott’s Ghost

“Jeanette? No. She’s on the road, in the middle of an investigation.”

“Where is she?”

“France, I believe.”

“When did you last hear from her?”

“I wouldn’t expect to, unless she needed something.”

“So…?”

“I’d have to look it up.” She did and came back with the information. “Twenty-first of May.”

Gamache’s brows rose. “About a month. If one of my investigators disappeared for that long, I’d begin to wonder and even worry.”

He looked from the assistant to Charles and back.

The assistant smiled. “She hasn’t disappeared, she’s on assignment. These investigations often take more than a year. People pay us well to get it right. We have to be thorough. A mistake was made, once. We took a family all the way to—”

“I think the Chief Inspector gets the picture,” said Charles.

The assistant grinned at Gamache as if to say, Oooops.

“Where in France is Madame Bouchard?” he asked.

“I can look it up for you.” She seemed unsure and glanced over at Charles, who nodded.

“Merci. I also need a way to contact her,” said Gamache. Then, putting on gloves, he reached for the door handle.

It was locked.

Armand raised his brows. “Does your staff generally lock their doors?”

“That’s the protocol,” said the assistant, who’d returned with the information. “Madame Bouchard is in Aix-les-Bains. At least that was where she was going. I don’t know if she’s still there. Here’s her contact information.”

It was the same email and phone number Clara had. Messages had already been left.

“Do you have an emergency contact for her?”

“Is this an emergency?” Charles asked.

“We need to find her. This is a homicide investigation, I’m not planning to invite her to a party.”

“We do,” said the assistant. “Her mother, I believe.” She returned with it.

“Merci. Do you know which dossier she was working on? Who she was working for?”

“I’m sorry,” Charles stepped in. “That’s confidential.”

Not for long, Gamache knew. There was no need to push or insist. When the search warrants came through, he’d find out.

What was Jeanette Bouchard up to? She was involved somehow. She’d visited Clara Morrow, pretending to be an artist writing an article on Clara’s late husband. It was a clever ploy. How could Clara possibly refuse?

Her visit to Three Pines came shortly after that of Brian Fillmore. There’s no way that was a coincidence. Why was she following him?

What was Brian Fillmore really investigating, and what was she?

Where was Jeanette?