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Was that the secret? Not that one of the sisters lived, but that someone else ot he was on the bridge,drop to the slushy river His ain he went back over the case, looking for sohty There were a few elderly men The priest, Father Antoine The uncle, André Pineault But no woht that Ruth was indeed a inary sister, as Ruth had claimed, but a real one And maybe that explained why Constance had visited Ruth, had formed a bond with the embittered old poet who’d written a seinie Ouellet

Was it possible? Could Ruth Zardo be Virginie? Who hadn’t thrown herself down the stairs, but down a rabbit hole, and popped up in Three Pines?

As much as he liked the idea, he was forced to dis demands for privacy, was actually fairly transparent in her life Her family had moved to Three Pines when Ruth was a child As rudgingly give up that idea

But then another thought settled There was one other elderly wohbor The one who lived with her husband, next door, and who’d been invited onto the porch for lemonade Who’d befriended, as much as that was possible, the very private sisters

Could she be Virginie? Or even Hélène? Escaping the life of a Ouellet Quint? Tunneling out through the grave?

And he realized they only had the neighbor’s word for it that she hadn’t been invited further into the hohbor Perhaps it was no coincidence the sisters had moved into that home

Gae He took the first exit and pulled off the road to call Lacoste

"The medical records check out, Chief," she said froed, but we both know that’s a lot more difficult than it sounds"

"Dr Bernard could have arranged for it," said Gaovernht explain why the death certificate was so vague, saying it was an accident, but hinting at possible suicide"

"But ould they agree to such a thing?"

It was, Gaood question He looked at the dry cheese sandwich on the seat next to hihtly on the cellophane The snoas piling up on the windshield and he watched the wipers swish it away

Why would Virginie want to fake her death, and ould Bernard and the governinie would want to do it," said Gaed by the public life"

Lacoste was quiet, thinking "And the neighbor, if she really is Virginie, is inie knew the only hope for a norain, fresh As so as Lacoste brought up the file "Annette Michaud"

"If she is Virginie, then Bernard and the govern out loud "Why? They probably wouldn’t have done it willingly Virginieto tell"

He thought again of that little girl, locked out of her ho for help

If he was right, that inie Ouellet, one of the miracles, was also a o that let her escape, and one days ago, to keep her secret

"I’ll interview her again tonight, patron," said Lacoste

In the background Ga children and he looked at his dashboard clock Six thirty A week before Christh the half moon of cleared snow on his windshield he saw an illuhts out in front of the service station

"I’ll go," he said "Besides, it’s closer fornight, Chief," said Lacoste "Let ht for both of us, I think," said Gamache "I’ll let you knohat I find In the meantime, try to find out as much as you can about Mada up and turned his car back toward Montréal Toward the congested bridge As he slowly inie Who ht have escaped, but just to the house next door