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“Twins,” said Myrna, with a laugh. “Actually, I started that rumor myself, to show how ridiculous the other ones are.”

“Should warn Gabri,” said Clara. “He’s already planning the shower.”

“Then you and Billy aren’t leaving?” There was no hiding the hope in Reine-Marie’s voice.

“Well, not right away. But we are looking for a bigger place, if you hear of one.”

“For the babies,” said Clara, and Armand laughed. Though like everyone else, he found the idea of Myrna leaving Three Pines, even if she kept the bookshop, upsetting.

Robert and Sylvie Mongeau arrived just as they were moving inside. It was getting chilly.

“We only stopped by for a quick drink,” said Sylvie.

She was looking tired as they walked through the kitchen, which smelled of garlic and basil from the linguine primavera. They settled in the living room.

“Is the rumor true?” Robert asked.

“Which one?” Myrna asked.

“That you and Billy are moving to Australia to start a kangaroo rescue,” said Sylvie.

“Because you’re running an illegal bookstore and tattoo parlor out of the back of the library and got caught,” said Robert. “Ruth told us.”

“Well, that is true,” said Myrna, laughing. “But there might be another option besides the kangaroo plan, brilliant as that is. Fiona says there’s an attic room we might be able to break into. That might solve the problem.”

“Fiona says that?” asked Armand. “How would she know?”

“Your caretaker told her,” Myrna said to Robert.

“Claude? But how in the world would he know?” asked the minister.

Myrna explained.

“What does Olivier say?” asked Reine-Marie.

“He knows nothing about it,” said Clara. “We saw the plans of the building, and they don’t show the space, but we’re going up to the church tomorrow to see.”

“Huh,” said Sylvie. “Now why would someone hide a room?”

It seemed the question of the moment.

Billy placed the letter on the preformed plastic table in Ruth’s kitchen and moved his chair a few inches away from Rosa, who was in her bed beside the stove, snoring or snorting.

He tried to remember if ducks got rabies.

Ruth opened the envelope, withdrew the letter, and read it again. He’d brought it to her a few weeks earlier, since Ruth collected stories about the history of Three Pines.

The letter was so vague, she’d shown little interest then. She showed much more now.

“What do you think?” she said, laying her hand on top of it.

“I think he might be talking about the room above the bookstore, the one Fiona said is there.”

“But the room isn’t on Olivier’s plans?” When Billy shook his head, Ruth stared down at the yellowed paper. “I don’t believe it. He doesn’t even say which place in Three Pines he was working on. Could be any of our homes, and with all the renovations in the past hundred years, if it ever did exist, it must’ve been uncovered by now. Besides, why would someone brick up a room?”

“I don’t know, but he obviously didn’t like doing it.” That was an understatement. There was a sense of dread in the letter. It reeked of it. “I knew he was a stonemason, most of my family were back then, but obviously at some point he turned to bricks.”

Better, thought Ruth, than turning to stone. But for once she left something unsaid.