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“I didn’t realize Stephen was in the middle of the street. When I spoke, he stopped and turned. He didn’t see the van. Couldn’t. He was looking at me.”
“This isn’t your fault, Armand,” said Claude, immediately understanding what he was saying. Feeling.
The swinging doors opened and a nurse came through.
“Monsieur le Préfet?” he asked, looking from one to the other.
The two men stood up.
“Oui,” said Dussault.
“Mr. Horowitz is alive—”
Armand’s face opened with relief, but the nurse hurried on.
“—but he’s in critical condition. We honestly don’t know if he’ll survive the surgery. And even if he does, there’s significant trauma to his head.”
Armand bit the inside of his lip. Hard enough to taste blood.
Dussault introduced him, as next of kin.
“You might want to go home,” the nurse said to Gamache. “If you leave your number, you’ll be called.”
“I’ll stay, if you don’t mind.”
“We’ll stay,” said Dussault, and watched the nurse return through the swinging doors before he turned back to Gamache. “Horowitz? The injured man is Stephen Horowitz? The billionaire?”
“Yes, didn’t the report say that?”
“It must have, but I guess I was focusing on your statement.”
“He’s my godfather. Excusez-moi. I’m going to tell Reine-Marie and the others to go home.”
Claude Dussault watched Armand walk back down the corridor, sidestepping doctors and nurses as they responded to other emergencies.
Once Armand had left, Dussault went over to the nurse in charge and asked for the bag of Stephen’s things. Not his clothing, but whatever had been in his pockets.
The Prefect looked through the wallet, checking every slip of paper, then picking up the shattered iPhone and examining it.
Replacing everything, he resealed the bag and gave it back to the nurse.
Reine-Marie, Daniel, and Annie hurried to meet Armand.
The others in the waiting room looked up, alert, afraid, then dropped their eyes when they realized he wasn’t a doctor bringing them news.
“He’s still in there,” said Armand, giving Reine-Marie a hug.
“That’s good news, right?” said Annie.
“Oui.” Her father’s reply was so muted, she immediately understood.
“Dad,” said Daniel. “I’m sorry—”
“Merci. He’s in good hands.”
“Yes, but I want to say I’m sorry I didn’t react when you asked for help. I think I was in shock.”
Now Armand turned to his son and focused on him completely.
