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‘He thinks she was h without his dentures it sounded as though Ga’

‘Murdered?’ said Myrna, with a snort ‘It was horrible, violent even, but not murder’

‘Hoas it violent?’

‘I think we all felt assaulted,’ said Clara and they nodded

Beauvoir and Le Gaht their attention and raised his hand They fell silent and walked over to the gathering by the fireplace

The sun was strearound other patrons could be heardEveryone was subdued

‘Tell me what happened,’ said Gamache quietly

‘The psychic had spread the salt and lit the candles,’ said Myrna, her eyes open and seeing the scene ‘We were in a circle’

‘Holding hands,’ Gabri re had becoht pass out froht he could ale man’s heartbeat

‘I’ve never been so terrified,’ said Clara ‘Not even driving through a snowstorhway’

Everyone nodded They’d all felt the stunning certainty that this was how their lives would end In a fiery crash, spinning out of control, invisible in the swirling, chaotic snow

‘But that was the whole point, wasn’t it?’ asked Peter, perching on the ar chair ‘To scare yourselves?’

Was that why they’d done it? wondered Clara

‘We were there to cleanse the place of evil spirits,’ said Myrna, but in the clear light of day it sounded ridiculous

‘And maybe to scare ourselves just a little,’ ad their faces And Clara had to admit, it was true Could they have been so foolish? Were their lives so sedate, so boring, they had to seek and er? No, not manufacture It was always there They’d courted it And it had responded

‘Jeanne, the psychic,’ Myrna explained to Ga We were quiet for atoo’

‘So did I,’ said Gabri ‘By the bed So over on the bed’

‘No, it was fro her eyes fro at their faces It was reht before, all their faces lit by the fire, all eyes lunar and their bodies taut, as though prepared to bolt She was back in that dreadful roo those steps shuffling up behind her ‘Steps There were steps Re’