Page 95 of Miss Wolcott’s Ghost

Though Stephen Horowitz was not known for false modesty, still Armand felt compelled to say, “I doubt that.”

“No, it’s true. To combine genealogical research with tracking down long-lost living relatives needed technology. It would have been near impossible before the internet. Before DNA testing was readily available to the public. But, more than that, it needed a societal shift. One that was a result of that very internet. Social media has, ironically, made us less social. More isolated. At first, no one noticed, no one cared. We were all so enthralled with what this new medium allowed us to do. To be connected to family and friends who lived far away. To make new friends. We didn’t clue in to the fact that the connection was virtual. The relationship an illusion. Instead of going down the hall to talk to a colleague, you could just email. Then, later, you could even work from home and have a video call. We no longer had to get on a flight and visit family. FaceTime would do.”

All this, Armand knew, was true. It was rewiring people’s brains. Making them, perhaps, more intellectually smart but more emotionally stunted. Without the need to actually face someone, it made human interaction, and reaction, less important. That part of our psyches was atrophying.

It made insulting, attacking, undermining, manipulating others far easier. You didn’t have to look in their eyes.

The attack felt impersonal. Worse, it felt nothing.

It was, Armand worried, creating a generation of misfits, even sociopaths. Social-media–paths.

“What Réunion tapped into was our growing awareness of this distance,” said Stephen. “Our isolation and loneliness. And awakened our primal need for a tribe. Our yearning to really connect.” He reached out then and, with his thin veined hands, took Armand’s. And held his eyes. “To touch.”

“To not be alone.” Armand gently squeezed that hand. “To find family.”

“Voilà. To find family. In all its forms.” Stephen let go and sat back with a slight wince that hurt Armand.

He so wished Stephen could have remained at home with them. He and Reine-Marie had made it clear they wanted him to stay, but finally Stephen said he wanted to return to Ottawa.

“Réunion filled a growing need,” Stephen continued. “To find that family. In many cases to discover a culture they’d lost. Didn’t know they missed. Whether the Fillmores realized that when they created Réunion, or if the timing was a happy coincidence, I don’t know. What I do know is that it is hugely successful. You know about the IPO last fall?”

“I do. Generated billions.”

“Réunion has become a global giant. A phenomenon. And then, just as that happened, Brian Fillmore disappears from public view.”

“His brother has been covering for him,” said Armand.

“It seems so. Does he admit it?”

“Eventually, yes, he did.”

“Did he kill his brother?”

“Do you think that’s likely?”

Stephen thought. “Sibling rivalry goes back a long way, of course. Not all brothers love each other. Things simmer. I think it’s possible, but…”

“Yes?”

“I’d have thought it would be the other way around. The public might see Brian as the genius, but inside business circles, we know the real brain is Charles. Anyone can have a good idea, but to grow it, to make a success of it, to keep it afloat takes brains. Brian is, I suspect, the emotional one. He understood the psychology behind people’s yearning to find lost family. To have not just roots but branches. And Charles is the rational one.” Stephen examined his godson closely. “I might be wrong in this, but I suspect it’s the emotional one who often kills. Not the rational one.”

“You’d have thought,” said Armand. “But the emotional one often has, with experience, some tools. They let off steam. The rational person can pent it all up. And then it erupts. So, yes, Charles Fillmore could very well have murdered his brother. We don’t know for sure that the dead man is Brian Fillmore, but assuming it is, what will happen to Réunion without him?”

“Not much. Not now. The dip in stock prices came when the rumors began, months ago. But then it righted itself. The market is anticipatory. Once something actually happens, the market has already reacted. Now, if the other brother, Charles, is the killer and goes to prison, Réunion almost certainly goes down with him.”

It was, for Armand, an interesting way of putting it. And the perfect opening.

“Speaking of that, what do you know about the Empress of Ireland?”

Stephen’s brows rose. It was very difficult to surprise him, but surprised he was.

CHAPTER 34

Jean-Guy made his way to the Incident Room, pausing in the middle of the stone bridge over the river. Below him, the sunlight bounced off the Bella Bella as it rushed giddily by, turning the water almost golden. And as it did, Jean-Guy felt cleansed of at least some of the filth he felt clinging to him from being with Comeau.

When he arrived in the Old Train Station, Jean-Guy noticed that Isabelle, in jest, had pushed his desk directly under the scowling photo of Ruth.

He was alone in the empty room, but still he looked around as though about to do something he shouldn’t.