Louise Penny - Brutal Telling

Gamache, who’d been to state dinners in grand palaces, banquets given for him, awards presentations, had rarely felt so honored.

He took a helping of everything and sat down. To his surprise, the young pilot joined him. Over dinner they all talked, but he noticed the Haida elders asked more questions than they answered. They were interested in his work, his life, his family. They asked about Quebec. They were informed and thoughtful. Kind, and guarded.

Over cake, fresh bumbleberries and Cool Whip, Gamache told them about the murder. The Hermit in the cabin buried deep in the forest. The elders, always attentive, grew even more still as he told them about the man, surrounded by treasure, but alone. A man whose life had been taken, his goods left behind. A man with no name, surrounded by history, but with none himself.

“Was he happy, do you think?” Esther asked. It was almost impossible to figure out if there was a leader of this group, by election or mutual consent. But Gamache guessed if there was one, it would be her.

He hesitated. He hadn’t actually asked himself that question.

Was the Hermit happy?

“I think he was content. He led a small, peaceful life. One that appeals to me.”

The young pilot turned to look at him. Up until that moment she’d been looking straight ahead.

“He was surrounded by beauty,” continued Gamache. “And he had company every now and then. Someone who’d bring him what he couldn’t provide for himself. But he was afraid.”

“Hard to be both happy and afraid,” said Esther. “But fear can lead to courage.”

“And courage can lead to peace,” said a young man in a suit.

It reminded Gamache of what the fisherman had written on the wall of the diner in Mutton Bay a few years earlier. He’d looked at Gamache across the room and smiled so fully it had taken the Chief Inspector’s breath away. Then the fisherman had scribbled something on the wall and left. Gamache had gone to the wall, and read:

Where there is love there is courage,

where there is courage there is peace,

where there is peace there is God.

And when you have God, you have everything.

Gamache spoke the words, and then there was silence in the hall. The Haida were good at silence. And so was Gamache.

“Is that a prayer?” Esther finally asked.

“A fisherman wrote it on a wall in a place called Mutton Bay, a long way off.”

“Perhaps not so far,” said Esther.

“A fisherman?” asked the man in the suit, with a smile. “Figures. They’re all crazy.”

An older man beside him, dressed in a thick sweater, gave him a swat and they laughed.

“We’re all fishermen,” said Esther, and Gamache had the feeling she was including him. She thought for a moment then asked, “What did your Hermit love?”

Gamache thought about that. “I don’t know.”

“Perhaps when you do, you’ll find his killer. How can we help?”

“There were a couple of references to Woo and Charlotte in the Hermit’s cabin. They led me to Emily Carr, and she led me here.”

“Well, you’re far from the first,” an elderly man said with a laugh. It wasn’t a smug or derisive laugh. “Her paintings have been bringing people to Haida Gwaii for years.”

It was hard to tell if that was considered a good thing.

“I think the Hermit was on the Queen Charlotte Islands, maybe fifteen or more years ago. We think he was Czech. He’d have spoken with an accent.”

Gamache brought out the photographs, taken at the morgue. He’d warned them what they’d see but he wasn’t worried. These were people who lived comfortably with life and death in a place where the line was blurred, and people, animals, and spirits walked together. Where blind men saw and everyone had the gift of flight.

Over strong tea they looked at the dead man. They looked long and hard. Even the young pilot gave the photographs her attention.

And as they looked at the photos, Gamache looked at them. To see a flicker of recognition. A twitch, a change in breathing. He became hyperaware of every one of them. But all he saw were people trying to help.

“We’ve disappointed you, I’m afraid,” said Esther as Gamache put the pictures back in his satchel. “Why didn’t you just e-mail them to us?”

“Well, I e-mailed them to Sergeant Minshall and he circulated them among the police, but I wanted to be here myself. And there’s something I couldn’t e-mail. Something I brought with me.”

He put the two balls of towel on the table and carefully unwrapped the first.

Not a spoon clinked against a mug, not a creamer was popped, peeled and opened, not a breath. It was as though something else had joined them then. As though silence had taken a seat.

He gently unwrapped the next one. And it sailed across the table to join its sibling.

“There’re others. Eight we think.”

If they heard him they gave no indication. Then one man, middle-aged and stocky, reached out. Stopping, he looked at Gamache.

“May I?”

“Please.”

He picked it up and in large, worn hands he held the sailing ship. He lifted it to his face so that he was staring into the eyes of the tiny men and women who were looking ahead with such pleasure, such joy.

“That’s Haawasti,” whispered the bush pilot. “Will Sommes.”

“That’s Will Sommes?” Gamache asked. He’d read about this man. He was one of Canada’s greatest living artists. His Haida carvings were bursting with life and snapped up by private collectors and museums worldwide. He’d assumed Sommes was a recluse, having grown so famous surely he’d be in hiding. But the Chief Inspector was beginning to appreciate that on Haida Gwaii legends came alive, walked among them, and sometimes sipped black tea and ate Cool Whip.

Sommes picked up the other piece and turned it round and round. “Red cedar.”

“From here,” confirmed Gamache.

Sommes looked under the sailing ship. “Is that a signature?”

“Perhaps you could tell me.”

“Just letters. But it must mean something.”

“It seems to be in code. We haven’t figured it out yet.”

“The dead man made these?” Sommes held up the carving.

“He did.”

Sommes looked down at what he held in his hand. “I can’t tell you who he was, but I can tell you this much. Your Hermit wasn’t just afraid, he was terrified.”

THIRTY-THREE

Next morning Gamache awoke to a fresh, cold breeze bringing sea air and the shriek of feeding birds through his open window. He turned over in bed and, drawing the warm quilt around him, he stared out the window. The day before had seemed a dream. To wake up in Three Pines and go to sleep in this Haida village beside the ocean.

The sky was brilliant blue and he could see eagles and seagulls gliding. Getting out of bed he quickly put on his warmest clothing and cursed himself for forgetting his long underwear.

Downstairs he found a full breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and strong coffee.

“Lavina called and said to be at the dock by nine or she was leaving without you.”

Gamache looked round to see who the landlady was talking to.

He was alone in the room. “ Moi? ”

“Yes you. Lavina said don’t be late.”

Gamache looked at his watch. It was half past eight and he had no idea who Lavina was, where the dock was, or why he should go. He had one more cup of coffee, went to his room to use the washroom and get his coat and hat, then came back down to speak to the landlady.