Page 15 (1/2)

She hadn’t expected that She thought they’d be sharp, cold, analytical, eyes that had seen so s their soft centers had hardened But this ht her a cappuccino and hi and they’d been placed in a quiet corner

"You know, of course, what happened this rant and delicious She didn’t often splurge on good coffees, and this was a treat

"Inspector Langlois told me a body has been found in the basement of the Literary and Historical Society" Gamache watched her as he spoke "It wasn’t a natural death"

She was grateful he hadn’t saidit out in the safety of her own head, but wasn’t yet ready to take it out in public

"When we arrived thisthe phones didn’t work, so Porter called Bell Canada for repairs"

"The repairman came quickly," said Ga and in need of repairs The phones are often out, either through soh the line This surprised us, though, since we’d only just redone all the wiring"

"What time did you arrive?"

"Nine o’clock Gives us an hour to sort books and do other work before the library opens We unlock the door at ten every , as you know"

He smiled "I do It’s a wonderful library"

"We’re very proud of it"

"So you arrived at nine and called Bell right away?"

"He came within twenty minutes Took hiured it was a broken wire in the baseht it was just another mouse"

She paused

"When did you realize it wasn’t that?" Ga her story

"We heard him, actually The repairman His feet on the stairs He’s not a small man and it sounded like a stampede in our direction He arrived at the office and just stared for a moment Then he told us There was a deadhim up Poor man It’ll take hiot over an experience like that quite quickly, others never did

"You say he dug the man up Your basement isn’t concrete?"