16Chief Charlot was not young; although she had joined the gendarmerie as a young woman, her career had not been a smooth rise to the top by any means. But she had, over the years, gotten to know many others in the service—not to call them friends, exactly, because Chantal Charlot was not very good at making those—and when she needed some help with the background checks for the Crespelle case, she knew someone to call who could make it happen.
“See, it’s all who you know,” the chief said to Paul-Henri, who had likely said similar things himself, though hearing it from Charlot made him want to throw something. “Marco Abedin, I went to the Officers’ School with him. I can’t say we keep up, but I can get in touch when something like this comes up.” She smiled at her computer screen and leane
