Dead. Why would we be afraid?’

Good question. ‘How close did you get to him?’

‘Close enough to know for sure.’

‘You see lots of dead bodies?’

A shrug. All teens have this basic move. Translates as: stupid question. ‘Tons of ’em on TV.’

‘I mean real ones, Hubert.’

‘But it was just like on a show. The guy was floating there, just like on a show.’

‘It’s why we didn’t run away,’ René said.

‘Did you touch him, René?’

A shake of the head, eyes diverted. ‘No.’ Horrible liar.

Hubert, very much the brains and the boss behind this operation, said, ‘Just a sort of a poke. To make sure, you know? I mean, like, we didn’t want him to be floating there and still be alive or anything. If he was alive, we would have helped him.’

‘But he was dead and you were high and so you stood there and looked at him.’

That smirk. That shrug. ‘There was nothing we could do.’

‘So?…how long?’

‘I don’t know. It was very freaky. We just looked at him and wondered what happened.’

‘And what we should do,’ René added. ‘Like, uh, we were in a bit of a bind, you know?’

‘And he really was dead,’ Hubert repeated.

‘And you had a long day ahead of you,’ noted the inspector.

Hubert did not like her tone. He put his music back on and turned to watch the ongoing IJ operation. His day was still in progress.

But René was properly contrite. ‘Sorry.’

Aliette said, ‘Well, someone was bound to find him.’

René asked, ‘Can we go?’

Aliette asked, ‘Do you care that the man was killed?’

René stared out at the river. That was a tricky question. ‘I guess so.’

Aliette told him, ‘We may have to talk to you again. Promise me you won’t leave town.’

‘Where would I go?’

She smiled and returned to the gendarme. ‘What are we going to do with all these hard-hearted children who are so happy to look and touch but never feel?’

‘I could think of a few things.’

‘We don’t need them for the time being. You can give them back to their mamas.’

‘Fine.’ He made a note.

‘Is this a place you come to often?’

‘Occasionally,’ the officer replied. ‘If the partying gets out of hand. Never for anything like this. Pretty quiet around here for the most part. At least during the day. Any trouble, it’s those kind with their pot and beer, and it’s usually after dark…Or the pédés.’ Homosexuals.

‘This is a gathering spot?’

‘Sometimes. When the bars close over in Saint-Louis, they’ll move the party over here. At least in summer.’ This was punctuated with a cop shrug (which is a world apart from a stoned adolescent shrug).