The Madness of Crowds

CHAPTER 5

“Professor Robinson? I’m Chief Inspector Gamache of the Sûreté.” He couldn’t avoid speaking with her any longer. “Are you ready to go on?”

Abigail Robinson looked at the man who’d just approached her.

Though they hadn’t yet met, Debbie had pointed him out as the officer in charge. Though she needn’t have. His authority was obvious.

He wasn’t in uniform, instead he wore a jacket and tie. Good material, well cut.

While not classically handsome, there was something compelling about him. Perhaps it was his calm. But what was most noticeable, now that he was standing right in front of her, were his eyes.

They were deep brown and clear. Alert, as she’d expect. He was assigned to security, he should be alert.

There was intelligence there, but it went beyond that. His gaze was thoughtful.

Here was someone who would consider before he acted. It was rare, she knew, to have some space between thought and action. Most people didn’t. They thought they did, but most acted on impulse, even instinct, then justified it.

Professor Robinson knew that that gap, that pause, meant the person had control over their actions. Had choices. And with those choices came power.

This man had choices, and power. And right now, he was choosing to be civil. He tried to hide his dislike for her behind a naturally gracious manner, but she could see it in his thoughtful eyes. He thought very little of her.

“Professor?” he repeated. “It’s just after four. The auditorium is full. It’s best if you start as soon as possible.”

She could hear a rumble behind the thick curtains. It sounded like a large freight train bearing down. The place had begun to shudder slightly, from excitement, impatience, and anticipation. It was the sound of hundreds of people. Waiting. For her.

He held his arm out, trying to shepherd her forward. But her assistant stepped between them.

“Do you have everything you need, Abby?” She looked around. “Is there water on the podium? You have your notes?”

“I have everything, Debbie, thank you.”

Gamache could see that, beyond being employer and employee, they were also friends.

Professor Robinson turned back to him. Had he not known better, had he not seen the videos of previous events, he’d think by the look in her eyes that she was a nice person.

But he did know better. And what he knew was that her eyes did not reflect what was going on in her mind or what was about to come out of her mouth.

Though there was another possibility.

That Abigail Robinson believed that what she was advocating was reasonable, even noble. Not an act of obscene cruelty, but kindness.

“Is something wrong?” Isabelle Lacoste asked into his earpiece, her voice slightly higher than usual. “Is she going to start?”

He could hear the noise beyond the curtain getting louder.

“Oui,” he said, then turned to Robinson. “If you don’t mind, it would be best if you went on. Does someone introduce you?”

He looked around. There was no one else backstage except Madame Schneider and the sound person. In a moment of panic, Gamache thought it would fall to him.

And maybe, just to get her out and settle the now raucous crowd, he’d actually do it.

Professor Robinson glanced toward the door, then said, “No. I’ll go out alone. No need for an introduction. These people know who I am.” She smiled. “For better or worse.”

She’s waiting for someone, thought Gamache. That’s why she’d been stalling. Hoping someone shows up.

Someone who might, at that moment, be hiding under the covers, not answering her phone.

“Good luck. You’ll do great, Abby Maria,” said Debbie, and beamed at her friend.

Though it was obviously meant as support, it seemed to annoy the professor. Perhaps, thought Gamache, she was of the belief that saying “good luck” would jinx it.

Most of the scientists he’d met were profoundly superstitious. As were cops, for that matter.

“Come with me, please,” he said and walked her toward the opening in the heavy curtains. “I’ve seen the footage from your last event. We will not have a repeat here. If it looks like the audience is getting out of control, you will tell them to calm down. If that doesn’t work, I’ll come out onstage and repeat the request and warn people if they don’t behave with civility, I’ll end the lecture.”

“I understand, Chief Inspector. Believe me, I don’t want a repeat either.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes. If you didn’t just watch but listened to what I said, you’d know I don’t advocate violence. Just the opposite. This is about healing. Unfortunately, some people twist my words and meaning.”

Her statement was so appalling, so inaccurate, that he just stared at her for a moment. With all his heart, Armand Gamache wanted to challenge what she’d just said. But this wasn’t the place, the time, or his job.

For now, his job was to get everyone out of there in the same condition in which they’d arrived. Though he feared that could never be totally achieved. Many would leave with some terrible idea planted. Like a weed in a crack, weakening the foundation.

“Inspector Beauvoir, how’s the door?”

“There was some pushing when we announced no one else could get in,” reported Beauvoir. “But it’s quiet now.”

“Bon, merci. We’re about to begin.”

Beauvoir clicked off his microphone and looked at the closed door. He knew, in his bones, in his marrow, that he shouldn’t do this thing. But he also knew he would.

Turning to the Sûreté officer next to him, he said, “You’re in charge out here.”

“Sir?”

“I’m going inside.”

Chief Inspector Gamache watched as Abigail Robinson took a deep breath, composing herself.

It was the same thing he’d seen Olympic divers do, as their heels hung over the edge of the platform, their arms in the air, their backs to the pool.

That instant before the impossible plunge. The irrevocable.

It was exactly what he himself did when standing at the closed door. His hand, in a fist, lifted. He paused, giving the family inside that last moment of peace. Before the plunge.

And then his knuckles rapped the wood.

I’m sorry to inform you …

Abigail Robinson took a deep breath and stepped onto the stage.

Armand Gamache took a deep breath and let her.