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“Well, since you keep denying involvement, I’ve decided not to arrest you. This is a conversation.”

That didn’t reassure her, nor was it meant to.

“Please,” he said, still indicating a seat at the table.

She finally took it. In front of her sat the telltale book. Aimée Lagacé stared at it with loathing. Then her brows drew together.

Gamache, watching this, smiled. “You’re right,” he said. “It’s not the same one.”

“That’s not what I was thinking.”

“Well, if it was, you’d have been right. Merci.” He accepted the mug of coffee from Beauvoir, who also put one in front of their guest, along with a jug of milk and some sugar.

She did not thank him. But she did wrap cold hands around the warm porcelain.

Beauvoir and Lacoste joined them at the table.

There was silence as the Sûreté officers drank their coffee. The quiet now penetrated Dr. Lagacé’s flesh, more chilling than the cold. It traveled along her bones and sinews, until her entire body began to reverberate with disquiet.

And still the silence went unbroken.

“If it’s not the same ledger”—she could take it no longer—“what is it?”

Gamache nodded to Lacoste, who put down her mug and leaned forward. As though confiding in a colleague.

“There were always two ledgers. We suspected as much. A man like Thomas Morrow, the Receiver of Wrecks when the Empress of Ireland went down, had his official records. What he declared and handed over. And then there was the other one, which documented what he kept for himself and sold on the black market.

“The one stopping the stake from going in, and that the Chief Inspector found under the plant last night, was Thomas Morrow’s second ledger. The one documenting his illegal activities.”

“The one you and Fillmore found in the grave. Before you killed him.”

“I never did! And if what he was doing was illegal, why would he keep a record of it?” Lagacé asked, emboldened by the younger woman’s friendly tone.

“It’s not just a record of his own wrongdoing,” said Gamache. “Morrow was selling stolen cargo back to businesses, who’d also claimed insurance. He was selling to cabinet ministers, to senior cops. To the mob. The second ledger was his insurance. If threatened, he’d simply use it as leverage.”

“Blackmail,” said Beauvoir. “Though Morrow was singularly stupid and was, in fact, also stealing from the mob. But that’s another story.”

“Our story focuses on the fact the two ledgers existed,” said Lacoste. “At our request, the current Receiver of Wrecks found Morrow’s official record, and sent it to us yesterday.”

She pointed to the long, slender book. Its green binding covered in the muddy plastic bags. It sat innocently on the table. As well it might. It was innocent.

“The two ledgers are identical,” said Jean-Guy. “At least on the outside.”

“When I found Morrow’s second ledger under Miss Wolcott’s Ghost,” said Gamache, “it wasn’t difficult to guess what must have happened. There was only one way it got there, and only one person why could have put it there. Still, we needed proof. So I replaced the second ledger with Morrow’s official one. Then called you.” He leaned forward, toward her. “What you said earlier is true. The fact you transplanted Miss Wolcott’s Ghost in the garden does not necessarily mean you also buried the second ledger with it. Others have access to the garden.”

“Exactly.”

“We needed to see what you’d do when you found the ledger under the plant,” said Lacoste. “An innocent person would have showed it to us right away. You did not.”

Beauvoir checked his phone, then left them to go to his desk and consult his laptop.

“That’s entrapment,” said Lagacé.

“I think your lawyer will find it is not,” said Gamache. “We’re very careful. There was no pressure or inducement. You were free to leave the ledger there or, better still, to give it to us.” He considered her. “My call must have rattled you. I was worried I’d overplayed my hand, and that you’d take off.”

“Or try,” said Lacoste. “We had people watching you by then.”

“Had you run away, or refused to come, we would have no actual proof,” said Gamache. “We needed you here. We needed you to find the ledger and take it.”