EpilogueA sense of unrestrained joy descended on Castillac after the end of the Boutillier case. There was Valerie again, getting her strength back, joking with Michel at the Presse, teasing Pascal at the Café de la Place, spotted all over everywhere in her desire to see her old friends. Gilbert was home safe with his mother, although she was threatening to lock up his bike indefinitely and never let him leave the farm unsupervised until it was time to go to university.
Aimée did not tell her parents that Achille had been giving her cannelés, but she delighted in telling her friends how close she had come to disappearing and becoming part of Labiche’s menagerie.
Achille was awaiting trial and being interviewed by a panel of psychiatrists. It was in one of these sessions, his voice trembl
