Gamache nodded. She had understood after all. Ironic, really, that from a blind they should suddenly see so clearly.
Back in the Bistro, Gamache ordered a hot cider and went to wash up, pouring the warm water over his frozen hands and picking bits of bark from the scratches. He joined Clara in the armchairs by the fireplace. She was sipping her beer and flipping through The Boys’ Big Book of Hunting. She put the book back on the table and slid it towards him.
‘Very clever of you. I’d completely forgotten about blinds and trails and things like that.’
Gamache cupped his hands around the mug holding his hot, fragrant cider and waited. He felt she needed to talk. After a comfortable minute of silence she nodded into the body of the Bistro. ‘Peter’s over there with Ben. I’m not sure he even knows I left.’
Gamache looked over. Peter was talking to a waitress and Ben was looking over at them. But not at them. He was looking at Clara. When he caught Gamache’s eye he quickly looked away, back to Peter.
‘I need to tell you something,’ said Clara.
‘I hope it’s not a weather forecast.’ Gamache grinned. Clara looked confused. ‘Go on,’ he encouraged. ‘Something to do with the blind or the deer trail?’
‘No, I’ll have to think about that some more. That was pretty disturbing and I don’t even have vertigo.’ She smiled at him warmly and he hoped he wasn’t blushing. He’d really thought he’d gotten away with that one. Well, one less person who thought he was perfect. ‘What did you want to say?’
‘It’s about André Malenfant. You know, Yolande’s husband. At lunch I went up to speak with Yolande, and I heard him laugh at me. It was an unusual sound. Sort of hollow and penetrating. Rancid. Jane described a laugh like that from one of the boys who threw manure.’ Gamache absorbed this information, staring into the fire and sipping his cider, feeling the warm sweet liquid move through his chest and spread into his stomach.
‘You’re thinking his son Bernard was one of those boys.’
‘That’s it. One of those boys wasn’t there. But Bernard was.’
‘We interviewed Gus and Claude. Both deny being there at all, not surprisingly.’
‘Philippe apologised for throwing the manure, but that might not mean anything. Every kid’s afraid of Bernie. I think Philippe would have confessed to murder if it would save him a thrashing from that boy. He has them all terrified.’
‘Is it possible Philippe wasn’t even there?’