Louise Penny - Cruelest Month

‘He thinks she was murdered, of course,’ said Gabri, though without his dentures it sounded as though Gamache was ‘tinking’.

‘Murdered?’ said Myrna, with a snort. ‘It was horrible, violent even, but not murder.’

‘How was it violent?’

‘I think we all felt assaulted,’ said Clara and they nodded.

Beauvoir and Lemieux thrust open the bistro door just then, talking. Gamache caught their attention and raised his hand. They fell silent and walked over to the gathering by the fireplace.

The sun was streaming through the leaded glass windows and in the background other patrons could be heard murmuring. Everyone was subdued.

‘Tell me what happened,’ said Gamache quietly.

‘The psychic had spread the salt and lit the candles,’ said Myrna, her eyes open and seeing the scene. ‘We were in a circle.’

‘Holding hands,’ Gabri remembered. His breathing had become fast and shallow and he looked as though he might pass out from the memory alone. Gamache thought he could almost hear the large man’s heartbeat.

‘I’ve never been so terrified,’ said Clara. ‘Not even driving through a snowstorm on the highway.’

Everyone nodded. They’d all felt the stunning certainty that this was how their lives would end. In a fiery crash, spinning out of control, invisible in the swirling, chaotic snow.

‘But that was the whole point, wasn’t it?’ asked Peter, perching on the arm of Clara’s wing chair. ‘To scare yourselves?’

Was that why they’d done it? wondered Clara.

‘We were there to cleanse the place of evil spirits,’ said Myrna, but in the clear light of day it sounded ridiculous.

‘And maybe to scare ourselves just a little,’ admitted Gabri. ‘Well, it’s true,’ he added, seeing their faces. And Clara had to admit, it was true. Could they have been so foolish? Were their lives so sedate, so boring, they had to seek and manufacture danger? No, not manufacture. It was always there. They’d courted it. And it had responded.

‘Jeanne, the psychic,’ Myrna explained to Gamache, ‘said she could hear something coming. We were quiet for a moment and, well, I think I heard something too.’

‘So did I,’ said Gabri. ‘By the bed. Someone was turning over on the bed.’

‘No, it was from the corridor,’ said Clara, tearing her eyes from the fire and looking at their faces. It was reminiscent of the night before, all their faces lit by the fire, all eyes lunar and their bodies taut, as though prepared to bolt. She was back in that dreadful room. Smelling spring flowers, like a funeral home, and hearing those steps shuffling up behind her. ‘Steps. There were steps. Remember Jeanne said they were coming. The dead were coming.’

Beauvoir felt his heart contract and his hands grow numb. He wondered whether Lemieux would mind if he held his hand, but decided he’d rather die.

‘They’re coming, she said,’ agreed Myrna. ‘Then she said something else.’

‘From the roof and somewhere else,’ said Gabri, trying to recall the words.

‘From the attic,’ Myrna corrected.

‘And the basement,’ said Clara, looking straight at Armand Gamache. He felt the blood drain from his face. The basement of the old Hadley house still haunted him.

‘And that was when it happened,’ said Gabri.

‘Not quite,’ said Clara. ‘She said one more thing.’

‘They’re all around us,’ said Myrna quietly. ‘Be here. Now!’

She clapped her hands and Beauvoir almost died.

THIRTEEN

‘And then she died,’ said Gabri. Olivier came up behind and placed his hands on Gabri’s shoulders. Gabri screamed.

‘Tabernacle. Are you trying to kill me?’

The spell was broken. The room brightened again and Gamache noticed that a huge tray of sandwiches had appeared on the coffee table.

‘What happened then?’ Gamache asked, taking an open-faced melted goat cheese and arugula sandwich on a warm baguette.

‘Monsieur Béliveau carried her downstairs while Gilles ran for his car,’ said Myrna, helping herself to a grilled chicken and mango sandwich on a croissant.

‘Gilles?’ asked Gamache.

‘Sandon. Works in the woods. He and his partner Odile were there too.’

Gamache remembered them from the list of witnesses in his pocket.

‘Gilles drove. Hazel and Sophie went with them,’ said Clara. ‘The rest of us took Hazel’s car.’

‘God, Hazel,’ said Myrna. ‘Has anyone spoken to her today?’

‘I called,’ said Clara, looking at the platter, but not really hungry. ‘Spoke to Sophie. Hazel was too upset to speak.’

‘Hazel and Madeleine were close?’ Gamache asked.

‘Best friends,’ said Olivier. ‘Since high school. They lived together.’

‘Not as lovers,’ said Gabri. ‘Well, not as far as I know.’

‘Don’t be absurd, of course they’re not lovers,’ said Myrna. ‘Men. They think if two grown women live together and show affection they’re lesbians.’

‘It’s true,’ said Gabri, ‘everyone makes that assumption about us.’ He patted Olivier’s knee. ‘But we forgive you.’

‘Was Madeleine Favreau ever heavy?’

Gamache’s question was so unexpected he was met with blank stares, as though he’d spoken Russian.

‘Fat, you mean?’ Gabri asked. ‘I don’t think so.’

The others shook their heads.

‘But she hadn’t lived here all that long, you know,’ said Peter. ‘What would you say? Five years?’

‘About that,’ Clara agreed. ‘But she fit in immediately. Joined the Anglican Church Women with Hazel—’

Gabri groaned. ‘ Merde. She was supposed to take over this summer. Now what am I supposed to do?’

He was screwed, though not, he had to admit, quite as much as Madeleine herself.

‘ Pauvre Gabri ,’ said Olivier. ‘A personal tragedy.’

‘Well, you try running the ACW. Talk about murder,’ he said to Gamache. ‘Maybe Hazel’ll do it? You think?’

‘No I don’t “tink”,’ said Olivier. ‘And you’d better not ask her now.’

‘Is it possible someone else was in that house?’ Gamache asked. ‘Most of you heard sounds.’

Clara, Myrna and Gabri were quiet then, remembering the ungodly noises.

‘What do you believe, Clara?’ Gamache asked.

What do I believe? she asked herself. That the devil killed Madeleine? That evil lives in that house, possibly even put there by us? Perhaps the psychic was right and every unkind, every malevolent thought they’d ever had had been expelled from their idyllic village and eaten by that monstrosity. And it was ravenous. Maybe bitter thoughts were addictive. Once tasted you wanted more.

But had everyone really let go of all their bitter thoughts? Was it possible someone was holding on to theirs, hoarding them? Devouring them, swallowing them until they were bloated with bitterness and had become a walking, breathing version of the house on the hill?

Was there a human version of that wretched place, walking among them?

What do I believe? she asked herself again. She had no answer.

After a moment Gamache got up. ‘Where can I find Madame Chauvet, the medium?’ He reached into his pocket to pay for the sandwiches and drinks.

‘She’s staying at the B. & B.,’ said Olivier. ‘Should I get her?’

‘No, we’ll walk over. Merci, patron. ’

‘I didn’t go,’ Olivier whispered to Gamache as he handed him his change at the till on the long wooden bar, ‘because I was too afraid.’

‘I don’t blame you. There’s something about that house.’