THIRTEEN
“We had a great time at the fair. I got you this.” Gabri shut the door and turned on the lights in the bistro. He offered the stuffed lion to Olivier, who took it and held it softly in his lap.
“Merci.”
“And did you hear the news? Gamache says the dead man wasn’t killed here. And we’ll be getting our pokers back. I’d like to get my poker back, wouldn’t you?” he asked, archly. But Olivier didn’t even respond.
Gabri moved through the gloomy room, turning on lamps, then lit a fire in one of the stone hearths. Olivier continued to sit in the armchair, staring out the window. Gabri sighed, poured them each a beer and joined him. Together they sipped, ate cashews and looked out at the village, quiet now in the last of the day, and the end of the summer.
“What do you see?” asked Gabri at last.
“What d’you mean? I see what you see.”
“Can’t be. What I see makes me happy. And you’re not happy.”
Gabri was used to his partner’s moods. Olivier was the quiet one, the contained one. Gabri might appear the more sensitive, but they both knew Olivier was. He felt things deeply, and kept them there. Gabri was covered in the flesh wounds of life, but Olivier’s wounds were in the marrow, deep and hidden and perhaps even mortal.
But he was also the kindest man Gabri had met, and he’d met, it must be said, quite a few. Before Olivier. That had all changed as soon as he’d clapped eyes on the slim, blond, shy man.
Gabri had lost his quite considerable heart.
“What is it?” Gabri leaned forward and took Olivier’s slender hands. “Tell me.”
“It’s just no fun anymore,” said Olivier at last. “I mean, why even bother? No one’s going to want to come back here. Who wants to eat in a restaurant where there’s been a body?”
“As Ruth says, we’re all just bodies anyway.”
“Great. I’ll put that in the ads.”
“Well, at least you don’t discriminate. Dead, predead. They’re all welcome here. That might be a better slogan.”
Gabri saw a quiver at the ends of Olivier’s lips.
“Voyons, it was great news that the police say the man wasn’t killed here. That makes a difference.”
“You think?” Olivier looked at him hopefully.
“Do you know what I really think?” Now Gabri was dead serious. “I think it wouldn’t matter. Peter, Clara, Myrna? Do you think they’d stop coming even if that poor man had been murdered here? The Parras? Monsieur Béliveau? They’d all come if a mountain of bodies was found here. Do you know why?”
“Because they like it?”
“Because they like you. They love you. Listen, Olivier, you have the best bistro, the finest food, the most comfortable place. It’s brilliant. You’re brilliant. Everyone loves you. And you know what?”
“What?” asked Olivier, grumpily.
“You’re the kindest, most handsome man in the world.”
“You’re just saying that.” Olivier felt like a little boy again. While other kids ran around collecting frogs and sticks and grasshoppers, he’d sought reassurance. Affection. He’d gather up the words and actions, even from strangers, and he’d stuff them into the hole that was growing.
It had worked. For a while. Then he’d needed more than just words.
“Did Myrna tell you to say that?”
“Right. It’s not true at all, just a big lie cooked up by Myrna and me. What’s wrong with you anyway?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
Gabri followed Olivier’s stare out the window. And up the hill. He sighed. They’d been through this before.
“There’s nothing we can do about them. Maybe we should just—”
“Just what?” Olivier snapped.
“Are you looking for an excuse to be miserable? Is that it?”
Even by Olivier’s standards that had been an unreasonable reaction. He’d been reassured about the body, he’d been reassured that everyone still loved him. He’d been reassured that Gabri wasn’t running away. So what was the problem?
“Listen, maybe we should give them a chance. Who knows? Their inn and spa might even help us.”
This was not what Olivier wanted to hear. He stood abruptly, almost knocking the chair to the floor. He could feel that bloom of anger in his chest. It was like a superpower. It made him invincible. Strong. Courageous. Brutal.
“If you want to be friends with them, fine. Why don’t you just fuck off?”
“I didn’t mean that. I meant we can’t do anything about them so we might as well be friends.”
“You make this sound like kindergarten. They’re out to ruin us. Do you understand? When they first came I was nice, but then they decided to steal our customers, even our staff. Do you think anyone’s going to come to your tacky little B and B when they can stay there?”
Olivier’s face was red and blotchy. Gabri could see it spread even under his scalp, through the thinning and struggling blond hair.
“What’re you talking about? I don’t care if people come, you know that. We don’t need the money. I just do it for fun.”
Olivier struggled to control himself now. To not take that one step too far. The two men glared so that the space between them throbbed.
“Why?” Olivier finally said.
“Why what?”
“If the dead man wasn’t killed here, why was he put here?”
Gabri felt his anger lift, evaporated by the question.
“I heard from the police today,” said Olivier, his voice almost monotone. “They’re going to speak to my father tomorrow.”
Poor Olivier, thought Gabri, he did have something to worry about after all.