A Great Reckoning (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #12)(54)

“You have a nice home here, monsieur,” said Gélinas as they took their sandwiches to the harvest table. “The S?reté Academy must have held some powerful attractions, for you to leave this for that.”

It was said pleasantly. A guest making polite conversation. But both men knew that, while polite, it was not simply conversation.

“I left to clean up the academy,” said Gamache. “As I suspect you very well know.”

Gélinas took a huge bite of his sandwich and nodded approvingly. “Delicious,” he managed to say as he chewed. Finally swallowing, he said, “Sometimes, to clean up a mess, we have to make an even bigger one. It gets worse before it gets better.”

Gamache put down his sandwich and looked across the pine table at the RCMP officer.

“Is this going somewhere?”

“I think you’d do just about anything to protect your family, your home.”

Gélinas glanced at the kitchen, then looked in the other direction, to the woodstove and comfortable chairs next to the windows looking out to the village green.

“Are we talking about the death of Serge Leduc, or something else?” asked Gamache.

“Oh, we’re still on topic. The S?reté Academy is an extension of your home, isn’t it? And the cadets are extensions of your family, just as the homicide division of the S?reté once was. You are a man with a protective instinct. To care that deeply is a blessing. But like most blessings, it can also be a curse.”

Now Gélinas also carefully, regretfully, returned his sandwich to his plate.

“I know.”

“And what do you know?”

“I know how much it hurts when someone we care about dies, or is threatened.”

“I did not care for Serge Leduc.”

Deputy Commissioner Gélinas broke into a smile at that. “I wasn’t referring to Leduc. From all I hear, he was a nasty piece of work. Non. I meant the academy.”

“It’s true that I care about the academy,” said Gamache. “But it’s an institution. If it disappeared tomorrow I’d be sad, but I wouldn’t move to Paris.”

Gélinas nodded and gave a small grunt. “Forgive me, but are you being intentionally obtuse, Commander? By academy, I mean the cadets. The flesh-and-blood young men and women who are your responsibility. While Leduc was in charge, there was misconduct, misappropriation of funds. Perhaps even abuse. I hear the rumors too, you know. But within months of you taking over, there was a murder.”

“Who’s worse? Is that what you’re saying?”

“I’m asking,” said Gélinas. “I’ve followed your career, Commander Gamache. I know what you’re capable of doing. And believe me, I have only the greatest respect for you, for your choices. Doing what others could not. It’s only because of that respect that I am being this open with you. You must know why I’m here.”

“I do,” said Gamache. “You’re not investigating the murder of Professor Leduc, you’re investigating me.”

“Wouldn’t you? Who had it in for him from the very beginning?”

“But I kept him on. I could have fired him.”

“And isn’t that in itself suspicious, monsieur?” Gélinas wiped his mouth with his napkin, then placed it carefully on the table.

“You’ve been open with me,” said Gamache. “Now let me be open with you. I detested Leduc, but I did not kill him. And you are here because I asked for you.”

For the first time since they met, Gélinas showed surprise.

“For me personally?”

“Oui. I called Chief Superintendent Brunel just before Isabelle Lacoste placed her call. I asked for you.”

“But Chief Inspector Lacoste didn’t mention that.”

“She doesn’t know.”

The RCMP officer cocked his head slightly and examined Gamache.

“Why me?”

“Because I wanted to meet you.”

“Why? And how did you even know about me?”

“I spent some time in retirement, you know. Recovering. Deciding what to do next. Figuring out what I really wanted to do.”

“Yes, I’d heard.”

“In that time, there were a number of job offers. Including from the RCMP.”

“For Paris?”

Gamache shook his head.

“To head up the Québec detachment?”

Gamache shook his head.

“Ottawa?”

Gamache sat still while Gélinas’s mind followed that path. Then stopped.

“The Commissioner? You were offered the top job? He’s to retire in the next few months.”

“I declined. Do you know why?”

“To take over the academy?”

“That was, actually, the major reason. But I also declined after doing a great deal of research.”

“And what did you discover?”

“That there is a better person for the job. You. This morning, when it was clear we needed an independent observer, I realized it was an opportunity to meet you. To see if I was right.”

“I’m not one of your protégés,” said Gélinas. “And this is a murder investigation, not a job interview.”