A Great Reckoning (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #12)(68)

“Could he have run a corruption ring?” Gélinas asked.

“Never. He’d have been caught immediately. He didn’t think two or three steps ahead. A shoe salesman doesn’t need to.”

“Ironic really,” said Lacoste, though only Gamache caught what she meant and smiled.

“But the head of the S?reté Academy should,” said Charpentier, looking at Gamache.

“Where would you look for his killer?” asked Isabelle Lacoste.

“Matthew 10:36,” said Charpentier, after thinking for a moment. “Yes. That’s where I’d start. Now, can we go?”

“I’ll meet you in my rooms in fifteen minutes,” said Gamache.

“Strange man,” said Lacoste as the door closed.

“A genius,” said the RCMP officer. “And yes, a strange man.” He thought for a moment. “A person like that could do a lot of damage, non?”

“You think he was involved in Leduc’s death?” asked Chief Inspector Lacoste.

“Or the corruption. Or both. Don’t you?” He’d looked at Gamache as he spoke. “Isn’t that why you brought him here? A professor who doesn’t really teach? A brilliant tactician? So you could observe him? You brought all the suspects together. Leduc, Brébeuf, Charpentier. And then watched what would happen. But you made a mistake. One I’ve heard assigned to you in the past. You thought you were smarter than them. Than him. You thought you could control the situation. But you couldn’t. It’s spun out of control, Commander. And he knows it. That wasn’t an observation, about needing to think a few steps ahead, it was a joke. He was mocking you.”

Gamache got up.

“You might be right,” he said as he made for the door. “Time will tell.”

“Time has spoken. Did you not hear it? And in case you missed it, it dropped a body into your great experiment, Monsieur Gamache. And if you don’t get control soon, there will be more.”

When the Commander had left, Paul Gélinas turned to the others.

“Was that a biblical reference Charpentier made?”

“Matthew 10:36,” said Lacoste. “When he was head of homicide, it was one of the first lessons Gamache taught his agents.”

“And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household,” said Beauvoir.

Gélinas nodded. “And H. E. Charpentier would start in this household, to find the killer.”

“I’d have thought that was obvious,” said Lacoste, getting up to go.

“A household isn’t just a house,” said Gélinas. “There’s an intimacy implied in that quote. It speaks of someone close. Very close.”





CHAPTER 22

“Huh,” said Charpentier as he looked at the framed map.

Gamache had taken it off the wall and handed it to the professor.

“Huh?” said Armand. “Could you be more specific? Is it an important map?”

“Not in the least.” Though Charpentier continued to study it.

“I’m afraid I have to leave.” Gamache looked at his watch. It was almost seven in the evening. “But I’ll be back in the morning. Chief Inspector Lacoste and some of her team will stay, as will Inspector Beauvoir. They’ll have the forensics report by morning.”

Gamache reached over to take the map from the professor, but Charpentier seemed reluctant to give it up.

“I’m coming with you,” he said.

“Why?” asked Gamache. “Not to be rude, but I’m not sure why you’d want to.”

“I collect maps. This one is curious. The image was also found in a stained-glass window in your village, you said?”

“Oui.”

“I’d like to see it.”

“But you said it’s not an important map.”

“It’s not. And yet it’s important to you,” said Charpentier. “As a map, or as something else?”

Gamache weighed his options while looking at the drenched young man, then finally said, “Pack an overnight case and meet me at the main doors in fifteen minutes.”

When Charpentier left, Gamache picked up the map. The glass was slick with perspiration. He turned it over, and carefully, carefully, removed it from the frame.

*

They arrived in Three Pines just after eight thirty, going directly to St. Thomas’s Church, which was still bright with lights.

Eight people turned their heads as they entered. Four villagers and the four cadets. A crowd any minister would envy.

“Armand,” said Reine-Marie, going forward to greet him. Then she turned to the slender man leaning on canes beside him. Armand had warned her they’d have an overnight guest, but he hadn’t told her everything.

If people were mostly water, then this young man was more human than most.

“This is Hugo Charpentier,” said Gamache. “He’s on the faculty.”

“You’re one of our professors,” said Jacques. “You teach advanced tactics.”

“And you need to pay closer attention in class, Cadet Laurin,” said Charpentier. “As I remember, you’ve been shot dead in the last two tactical exercises, and taken hostage in a third. The factory test. You failed.”