I would have agreed verbally, but I was already occupied with an egg sandwich. Bacon, egg, bread, cheese, grease, everything a body might need. Nazari had also fallen mute, devouring one of those beautiful hot things. Neither Miriam nor Bonnet had eaten yet, so we all sat at the table focusing for a minute on nutrition. The coffee was hot and black and kept on coming.

Once I had eaten and put down four cups of coffee, I felt the energy flowing through me again, full bore. So I went outside to breathe some air. The day had turned out clear and crisp. Not too hot, not too cold. Just a perfect day. Which is why I was paying attention to something tugging at a corner of my mind like a bird dog who’s gotten a scent. Something was bothering me and I couldn’t put my finger on it. Far as I could make out, we were on track to make a straight shot through to the other side and finish this thing. But my gut was telling me otherwise, and I always listen to my gut, even when I don’t know what it’s saying.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t coming through just yet. So I figured it was best to carry on. The problem would reveal itself when it was ready. I just had to trust my intuition. I put those thoughts behind me and gathered everyone in the drawing room around the big dining table.

I went up to Gilles’ office and returned downstairs with an armful of maps. I spread out a big one on the table. It was a map of Brumaire and its immediate surroundings, maybe a two mile radius around the house. I pointed out the salient features. Cliff face, terrace of the house and the direction it was facing, gatekeeper's cottage, the road, the bridge, the river.

I traced my finger along the river bank to the next house over. “This map shows the surface features of the area. You all recognize what this is?”

Simone said, “Mayor Marbot’s villa.”

“That’s right. The only two significant properties this side of the river.”

Marbot’s house was represented in the same detail as Brumaire. It too had a terrace and a couple of outbuildings, a barn, and access to the river. A bridge across the river connected the house to the road on the other side, which was its main access. The two houses dominated that part of the river bank. Madame Vaugeois said that this was because both houses once operated adjacent apple and pear orchards, which had now turned to forest.

I unfolded another large map and spread it over the first. The map was mostly blank. What it did show were large irregular shapes, like cartoon speech bubbles drawn in thin, squiggly lines.

I said, “This map shows what there is beneath the surface. You see those big shapes?”