The Nature of the Beast

Gamache nodded.

“He’d have to have had a guide. Someone who brought him here.”

They looked again at the old village. And the tall pine trees planted for one purpose. To signal to those seeking sanctuary that they were safe.

They’d made it to Three Pines.

CHAPTER 21

Reine-Marie and Armand knocked first, then let themselves into Clara’s home. Some of the other guests had already arrived, though “guests” made it sound too formal. They’d received a call late that afternoon from Clara inviting them for a potluck.

“And the luck,” said Clara, “is that Olivier and Gabri are taking the night away from the bistro and are providing a main course and hors d’oeuvre.”

“We’ll bring a salad,” said Reine-Marie.

“Salad?” Clara had said. “What’s that?”

They arrived with an apple crumble and a container of Coaticook vanilla ice cream.

Olivier and Gabri showed up at the same time, with Ruth and Rosa.

“Here’s our casserole,” said Gabri, putting it on the counter as though he himself had made it.

“Looks delicious,” said Reine-Marie. “What is it?”

“Rock Cornish game hens,” said Olivier, when it appeared Gabri was about to fabricate the ingredients. “With wild cranberry and”—he looked at the crumble on the counter—“apple stuffing.”

“Exactly,” said Gabri.

“Well, if you’re the luck, I suppose she’s the ‘pot,’” said Myrna, coming into the kitchen from the living room and pointing to Ruth.

“That would make you the kettle,” said Ruth.

“She’s calling the kettle black,” said Gabri.

“I know, I got it,” said Myrna.

“What’s that?” asked Ruth, turning around and listening to the strange sound.

“Something you’ve never used,” said Clara. “The doorbell.”

“A doorbell?” Ruth asked. “I thought they were a myth, like Pegasus.”

“And boundaries,” said Gabri.

Clara reappeared a moment later with Mary Fraser and Sean Delorme.

“I think you know some of the people here,” said Clara.

They nodded to Gamache and Jean-Guy, then Clara introduced them to Reine-Marie and Ruth, who said, “They don’t look like spies.”

“And you don’t look like an invited guest,” said Clara. “Yet here you are.”

“We didn’t know what to bring,” said Mary Fraser. “We picked this up at the general store.”

Clara took the bottle of apple cider.

“Thank you,” she said, putting it in the fridge alongside the clinking row of other cider bottles.

“So, what were you up to today?” asked Armand, as he and Reine-Marie walked with the newcomers into Clara’s living room. “I didn’t see you in the village.”

“Oh, we were about,” said Sean Delorme. He lowered his voice. “Doing some legwork on the you-know-what.”

“The gun?” asked Ruth. “That great big goddamned thing in the forest where Laurent was murdered?”

That fell like a brain aneurysm on the gathering. Everyone in the living room stopped moving, talking, breathing.

“Yes,” said Delorme. “That would be the one. Nice duck.”

Rosa, in Ruth’s arms, thrust her beak toward the CSIS agent, who stepped back.

“What have you found out about it?” asked Myrna. She’d returned to the sofa and was sitting beside Professor Rosenblatt.

“We can’t say much,” said Mary Fraser, who obviously wished she didn’t have to say anything. She shot a withering look at Rosenblatt, who refused to wither. He sat contentedly holding a glass of Scotch, like a benign grandfather among precocious children.

“Don’t worry,” said Delorme. “We’re on it.”

“Don’t worry?” asked Ruth. “There’s a huge fucking missile launcher in our backyard and apparently the only thing between us and Armageddon is some guy who’s afraid of a duck.”

Sean Delorme gave a strained smile and squirmed slightly. But Gamache thought his discomfort stemmed as much from the social situation as Ruth’s caustic comment. Delorme seemed more at home with people on paper than in person. And Mary Fraser, while perhaps better at covering it up, looked like she was searching for someplace to hide. Or a file to read.

She drifted, naturally, over to the bookcases and read the spines.