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At the top of the street he paused to catch his breath A breath that was easier and easier to catch with each passing day as his health returned thanks to long, quiet walks with Reine-Marie, Éh these days he was never alone He longed for it, for blessed solitude

Avec le teht His strength was co his walk Gamache noticed activity ahead Police cars No doubt trouble with so-over university students, come to Québec to discover the official drink of the Winter Carnival, Caribou, a near lethal blend of port and alcohol Gamache could never prove it, but he was pretty sure Caribou was the reason he’d started losing his hair in his twenties

As he neared the Literary and Historical Society he noticed more Quebec City police cars and a cordon

He stopped Beside hi

This side street was quieter, less traveled, than theby twenty feet away, oblivious to the events happening right here

Officers were standing at the foot of the steps up to the front door of the old library Others wereabout A telephone repair truck was parked at the curb and an ahts, no urgency

That s It had been a false alarer any need to rush

Gaainst the ahed and poked each other Across the street Ga he never allowed at crihter in life but not in recent, violent, death And this was a death, he knew that It wasn’t just instinct, it was all the clues The nuency, the ambulance

And this was violent death The cordon told hi and officious, cao in there," said Ga officer turned his back and walked away but it didn’t upset Ga themselves inside the cordon While he and Henri stood outside

A man walked down the stone steps, spoke a feords to one of the officers on guard then went to an unet into the car But he didn’t Instead he stopped and slowly straightening he looked right at Ga a chocolate cake isn’t , is Softly, he closed the car door and walking to the police tape he stepped over it Seeing this, the young officer broke away fro into step with the plainclothes officer

"I already told him to leave"

"Did you now"

"Oui Do you want me to insist?"