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“Isabelle is saying, ‘Hot choking,’” said Myrna. “Now why would she say that?”

“Maybe she didn’t,” said Gabri.

“Shhhh. Well, now I’ve lost it.”

Clara made a guttural sound and focused on her bowl of café au lait.

“I have a close friend who’s a biologist,” said Armand, giving up on Simon. It had actually become a sort of game between them. One the former monk was winning. “Someone I trust. I’ll see if she can go with you. She might be able to see what you can’t.”

“Good idea,” said Jean-Guy.

“Wait. Jean-Guy is speaking. He’s saying, ‘Bunny day.’”

“What?” said Clara. “Dear God, you’re worse than autocorrect.”

Myrna turned back to her friend. Lip-reading was harder than it looked, and exhausting.

Ruth, Rosa, and Olivier joined them. Myrna continued to shoot glances at the Sûreté officers. It might be near impossible to pick up the specifics of their conversation, but the gist was clear to anyone watching. Even Rosa could figure out that something was wrong.

“Did Isabelle just say, ‘Giraffes can’t swim’?” Gabri asked.

“I think it was ‘Gyroscopes cancel soap,’” said Olivier.

“You’re morons,” said Ruth. “She said she’ll be happy to fly to the lake.”

“Well, that doesn’t make sense, does it?” said Gabri, turning to Clara.

But she wasn’t paying attention. She was staring at the investigators around the fire. All three, in unison, had turned so that their faces were in profile, staring into the flames.

Something was about to happen.

CHAPTER 5

Can you tell me more?

Vivienne LaPierre understandably wanted to know why she was being asked to accompany a senior Sûreté officer, a stranger, to a remote lake.

They were communicating over secure text, but still Armand hesitated. He was so accustomed to keeping secrets, especially this one, that it took a force of will to let it out. Even to one of their best friends.

Dr. LaPierre was an environmental biologist, the head of the department at the Université de Montréal. A full professor and leader in the field, Dr. LaPierre was one of the first scientists to warn about the changes in algae levels in remote lakes.

She was brutally mocked for it. Who cared about algae? It was green and slimy. Not exactly a great “poster child” for an impending environmental disaster.

But she persisted. It took her decades to get it through their thick heads that algae was the DEW Line, the early warning. The canary in the mine.

But more worrisome, besides the sudden thickness of human skulls, was why algae was disappearing. Dr. LaPierre had finally convinced regulators to turn their attention to acid rain.

That was decades ago. She’d since focused her study on the Arctic and the changes, no longer subtle, she’d detected there. But the icebreaker research ship wasn’t scheduled to sail for a few weeks, and so Armand found her at home this Saturday morning enjoying a late breakfast with her husband.

After she’d replied to his text, there was a silence so long that she wondered if the connection had been lost.

Armand? she typed.

When his reply finally did come, she stared at it, uncomprehending. So this, she thought, is what a thick skull feels like. It was not pleasant.

His words seemed to be knocking against her head, for admittance. Had the message come from anyone other than Armand, she’d have hit the red end icon and blocked the lunatic.

Vivienne? he typed, after a disconcertingly long pause.