The old guy moaned and struggled some but quickly got docile. The door at the end of the hallway was cracked open. I pushed it with my foot. The curtains were drawn and the room was pitch black. Dawn light was filtering through the rest of the house. It spilled into the room through the open door like a gray ghost. Simone was curled up on her side in the bed. She had a sleep mask on and was snoring lightly. I noticed an orange foam plug sticking out of her ear.

I was kind of surprised to find they still slept in the same bed. I’d figured that she would be sleeping in her own room, given her husband’s condition. Then I wondered how she could have slept through her husband’s agitation without waking up. Then I noticed prescription bottles crowding the bedside table. Looked like they were both on a decent daily cocktail of pills. Plus she wasn’t shy with the wine glass.

I got Gilles around to the other side of the bed. The covers had been thrown back. The oxygen pump had been switched off. I settled him into bed. Pulled the sheets over the bony body. He groaned and made incoherent sounds but didn’t try to get up again when I closed the door.

One wall of the dining room was taken up by a massive antique sideboard. It was a glossy oak piece with a patina of age and class. Gilles had pulled a silverware drawer. It had fallen to the floor, along with the heavy knives, forks, and spoons. I picked up the cutlery and put it back in the drawer. Each piece had a different little section to go into. I had to stack them neatly for it all to fit. The utensils were substantial, solid silver. Probably worth a bundle.

By the time I got it in order, the drawer was pretty heavy. It made me less surprised that Gilles Vaugeois, a frail and unwell old man, had dropped it. The drawer was an old and stiff system of wood grooves and sliders. Took me a while to get it back in, but after a couple of tries I slid it flush.

It made me wonder why he had taken the drawer out all the way in the first place, since it was so difficult to operate. If he were looking for a spoon or something, he’d have pulled the thing open just enough to get it. Why bother with pulling it out all the way?