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‘You don’t believe in ic, I don’t believe in God There’s no such thing as angels and there’re no fairies at the end of the garden Nothing The only ulp

‘Is it working?’ asked Gamache

‘Fuck off,’ said Ruth

‘Eloquent as ever,’ said Gabri ‘I used to believe in God, but I gave it up for Lent’

‘Har-dee-har-har,’ said Olivier

‘You want to knohat I believe?’ said Ruth ‘Here, giveshe leaned over and snatched the second book from the table The cracked and worn Bible Gamache had taken froht it close to a candle as she tried to find the right page The roo of a candle wick

‘Behold I show you a mystery,’ read Ruth, her voice as worn as the Bible she held ‘We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In aof an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed’

Into the silence they stared

The dead shall be raised

And then Ruth’s alarm went off

THIRTY-EIGHT

Gamache couldn’t sleep His bedside clock said 2:22 He’d been lying aatching the bright red nue since the clock had said 1:11 He’d been woken up not by a bad dream, not by anxiety or a full bladder He’d been woken up by frogs Peepers An aring a ht they’d be exhausted by now, but apparently not At dusk it was joyful, after dinner it was at Anyone who said the country was peaceful hadn’t spent tiot up, put on his dressing gown and slippers, took a stack of books from the dresser and headed downstairs

He relit the fireplace andat the fire and thinking of the dinner party

Ruth had left as soon as her alar the pants off everyone She’d just read that extraordinary passage St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians Quite a letter, thought Gaht,’ Peter had called froht’

‘Always do,’ Ruth snapped

The rest of the dinner had been peaceful and tasty A pear and cranberry tarte was produced by Peter, froht handmade chocolates from Marielle’s Maison du Chocolat in St-Rémy and Clara put out a platter of cheese and bowls of fruit Rich, aro

Over tea now, in the quietude of the B & B, Gaht about what he’d heard Then he picked up one of the yearbooks It was froh school and she didn’t figure in many pictures Hazel was in a few, on some of the junior teams But as the years went by Madeleine seemed to bloom Became captain of the basketball and volleyball teams Beside her in all the shots was Hazel Her natural place