A Great Reckoning (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #12)(62)

There was silence in the room.

People had been murdered for far less.

“Could he have done this?” Lacoste asked.

The Commander thought for a moment. “I don’t know.”

Gélinas’s brows rose. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard a senior officer say, I don’t know.

“I think it’s possible,” mused Gamache. “But if the mayor was going to murder Leduc, I think it would’ve been a few years ago, when it first happened. I know him a little. I like him. He’s a decent man, doing his best.”

Gamache considered, then added, “But he does hold on to things. Lets them fester. Now, to be fair, it was a huge betrayal of his trust. It took a long time and a lot of effort to get him to agree to see me when I took over. Finally I convinced him to allow the community to share our facilities.”

“You were doing that?” asked Gélinas.

“Seemed only fair, and didn’t go nearly far enough to make amends. But it was a start. We were developing a program where the cadets would mentor and coach some of the children. And then this happened.”

“Could your approaching the mayor have reopened old wounds?” Paul Gélinas asked. “Unintentionally, of course.”

“It might have. On the one hand, the mayor is extremely upright, to the point of rigidity. A moralist. Almost fanatical in his defense of his town and his views of right and wrong.”

“He’d consider murder wrong, I’m assuming,” said Lacoste.

“True. On the other hand, he might see it as justice. Most killers manage to justify their actions. They don’t see what they’ve done as wrong.”

“The person getting what they deserve,” said Gélinas.

“Often, yes.”

“And in this case, Commander? Do you think the killer was after justice?”

Gamache looked at the photographs in front of them.

“Maybe.”

“But?” said Lacoste.

“You’ve interviewed the professors and the students,” said Gamache, and she nodded. “Each of the professors was a highly experienced S?reté officer. All the students are being taught investigative skills.”

“You’re saying this is a school for murder,” said Gélinas. “You might be teaching them how to catch a criminal, but in a roundabout way you’re also teaching them how to be one, and not get caught.”

Gamache was nodding. “The professors in particular. They’d know what we’d be looking for.”

“And be able to stage a crime scene,” said Lacoste. “Make it look like something it’s not.”

“A single shot to the temple,” said Gamache. “Most murderers would at least try to make it look like suicide. Not a stretch. The narrative would be obvious. Serge Leduc knew I was closing in on him, and so he took his own life rather than go to prison.”

“And all the killer had to do was drop the gun on the correct side of the body,” said Lacoste.

“But he didn’t,” said Gélinas, looking at the photos. “Instead he does the opposite. Why?”

“He wants us to know it wasn’t suicide,” said Lacoste.

“But why?” asked Gélinas. “Why make sure we knew it was murder? So that we’d know that justice was done?”

They stared at the pictures. In certain ones, Serge Leduc looked like he was asleep. In others he was unrecognizable.

Perspective.

“You’re being awfully quiet.” Gamache turned to Beauvoir and saw a familiar expression on his face. “What do you know?”

“The alarm system was off last night.”

As one, Chief Inspector Lacoste, Deputy Commissioner Gélinas, and Commander Gamache leaned toward him.

“But how’s that possible?” asked Gamache. “It’s integrated, computerized. The guards would have noticed. The board would have lit up.”

“Well, guess where Leduc cut corners?” said Beauvoir. “Apparently, the guards knew the system was crap and had complained to the former commander, and gotten shit from Leduc for it. When you came, they said nothing.”

“What do you mean by crap?” asked Lacoste.

“It’s a cheap job—”

Gamache winced and shook his head. “They paid hundreds of thousands for the security system.”

“Well, according to the guards, you could buy a better one at Canadian Tire.”

Now Gamache groaned and massaged his head, trying to rid himself of a creeping headache. “There’s an armory of weapons here. And almost no protection. This isn’t just contract fixing, this is stupidity on a monumental scale.”

“I’ve set up a meeting with the head guard for tomorrow morning,” said Beauvoir, “to review security.”

“Good,” said Gamache.

“But whoever turned off the system would still have to know how,” said Lacoste.

“True, but this system allows for more than one code,” said Beauvoir, then turned to Gamache. “You have one—”

“I thought it was the only one.”

“—and I suspect Leduc had his own code.”

“And there may be others floating around?” said Gamache.