Bossuet smiles very thinly. "Yes, it's possible someone along the street had a sudden attack of hearing, well after the fact, that wasn't apparent at the time."

He takes the book and begins where Bahorel had suggested. (But what a lot of book comes before, he thinks. He's almost afraid to look at the rest.)

Laigle's face goes still and somber as he reads. At the end of the introductions, and a few sentences into the next chapter, he pauses with a finger between pages and meets Bahorel's eye. "Lecter told you this?"