Speak Softly My Love (31 page)

Gilles
stood up from behind his desk.

“
Congratulations, Emile. You gentlemen did a wonderful job.”
Picking up a white pasteboard box from his desk, Gilles came over
and lifted the lid.

“
A baker’s dozen. Strawberry-filled, Emile. And they’re all
for you.” There was white icing on top, and those lovely, colourful
candy sprinkles.

Emile
Tailler’s mouth opened as he took the box.

“
For me—really?” The look on his face was
priceless.

“
No, Emile—they’re for somebody else.” Gilles stepped back,
nodding gravely as Levain guffawed.

“
It’s either the one or the other, Emile.” Hubert grinned from
behind the desk.

Tailler
found words.

“
It is just so hard to be accepted around here.” He sighed.
“And I suppose, there will always be doubts…”

Lifting
a beignet and biting into the wrong side, a squirt of red jam flew
out and over and spattered down on their black and white
tiles.

Merde.

“
I have just one more question, Emile.”

“
Ah, yes, sir?” His mouth was full and he gasped at the sticky
mess. “And what’s that, sir?”

“
What is the moral of the story?”

Tailler
broke off his quick search for a rag or a cloth or something. A
weird, comical look crossed his homely mug and then he regarded the
Inspector.

“
Didier Godeffroy loved women.” The room broke up and Emile
flushed. “It was pathological with that guy. Like the loaves and
the fishes, he figured out a way to indulge it in a most
spectacular way. You really got to hand it to good old Didier. He
loved women, loved
them,
altogether, just a little too much. Too much for
his own good. And too much of a good thing can kill
you.”

Tailler
sighed deeply, almost in a kind of admiration.

“
For all of his fascination, it’s like he just didn’t
appreciate them enough.”

“
Ha!” LeBref had just come in. “He’s got you there,
Gilles.”

Levain
snorted. Hubert was wondering when the phone would ring; probably
soon enough.

“
Hmn. I’ll buy that. I guess.” Maintenon’s hands came up and
he led the room in a sustained golf clap that brought a blush to
Tailler’s face.

It was all over save the actual eating of the
aforesaid
beignets.

There
was still that bit of goop on the floor too.

End

About Louis Shalako

Louis
Shalako began writing for community newspapers and industrial
magazines. His stories appear in publications including Perihelion
Science Fiction, Bewildering Stories, Aurora Wolf, Ennea,
Wonderwaan, Algernon, Nova Fantasia, and Danse Macabre. He lives in
southern Ontario and writes full time.

>
Louis
Shalako
<