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“I’d hoped.”

It was now clear that his godfather had had suspicions for years. Had spent the last precious years of his life, and any amount of his fortune, to piece together the evidence. Had brought the engineer and his trusted friend Alexander Plessner in to help.

He’d sold everything he owned, mortgaged his home, gone all in.

But what had he found out? Was it corporate espionage? Was it something to do with neodymium?

They knew, he realized, almost nothing.

He checked his watch.

Quarter to nine. Time he left for the rendezvous.

But he wasn’t armed, with information or anything else. He glanced at the bookcase. Had he just made a fatal error?

But it was done now.

He called Daniel at the bank again. And again, no answer.

“Something wrong?” Séverine Arbour asked.

“No.”

He stared at his phone, then hit the app. Within seconds it showed Daniel’s location.

Armand exhaled.

He was at the bank. Probably with his phone on silent.

“I’m going to meet Commissioner Dussault,” he said.

“Can I go home now?” she asked.

“I’m afraid not.”

“You still don’t trust me? What do I have to do?”

“It’s not that,” he said, though of course it was. “It won’t be safe for you at home. The only safety is in numbers. You need to join the others at the archives. You’ll be fine there.”

“Fucked up, insecure, neurotic, and egotistical?”

When he looked surprised, she explained. “Beauvoir told me about your Québec village. He talks about it a lot. Apparently it’s filled with fine people.”

They’d left the apartment and were walking quickly through the dark streets of the Marais, trying without success to avoid puddles on their way to the archives.

Armand laughed. “They’re certainly fine. And so am I.”

He called Reine-Marie, and when they approached the massive gates, he saw her and Jean-Guy waiting for them on the other side.

He was surprised by the wave of emotion that washed over him. And by the gulf that existed between them, the immeasurable distance between in there and out here.

“Let me come with you,” said Jean-Guy.

“Claude wants to speak to me alone.”

“I can still be there. Watch from a distance.”

“And do what?” asked Armand.