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‘My question first, please Where did you go yesterday afternoon?’

‘I was just up the hill’

‘At the old Hadley house?’

The revulsion in her face was instant, as though a curtain had suddenly been raised and he had a glimpse of as back there

‘No, not that place I hope never again to go there’ She looked hard at hi to ask her to do just that Gahtened patients pleading with just their eyes, ‘Don’t hurt one ‘I was at the other extreme The little church’

‘St Thomas’s?’

‘Yes It’s beautiful I felt the need for quiet, for a peaceful place to pray’

She saw his confusion

‘What? Witches don’t pray? Or we only pray to the fallen angels not the ones who hang around St Tho about the Wiccan,’ said Gamache ‘I’d like to hear’

‘Will you come with me?’

‘Where to?’

‘Are you afraid?’ She wasn’t laughing at him

He paused for a moment to think about that He tried not to lie to suspects Not because he was a moral or ethical man, but because he knew if found out it weakened his position And Chief Inspector Ga as foolish as a lie

‘I’m always a little afraid of the unknown,’ he admitted ‘But I’m not afraid of you’

‘You trust me?’

‘No’ He sun and you probably don’t’

‘Not my weapon of choice, it’s true It’s such a lovely day it’s a shao back to the chapel’

They stood on the wide veranda for achairs and wicker tables, then descended the sweeping stairs and fell into step They walked in silence for a reen i The dirt road was finally dry and the air srass and buds Purple and yellow crocuses dotted the lawns and the village green Great fields of early daffodils bobbed, having spread and naturalized all over Three Pines, their bright yellow tru the sun After a minute Gamache took off his field coat and draped it over his arm