Still Life (A Three Pines Mystery)

'It's Thanksgiving,' said Beauvoir. Gamache stopped in his tracks. He'd forgotten.

'Who here has plans for Thanksgiving dinner?'

All hands went up. He did too, come to that. Reine-Marie had asked their best friends over for dinner. Intimate, so he'd certainly be missed. And he doubted the treatment center excuse would fly with them.

'Change of plans. We'll be on the road back to Montreal by four--that's in an hour and a half. Cover as much ground as you can between now and then. We don't want this going cold because the turkey wouldn't wait.'

Beauvoir opened the wooden gate leading up the winding path to the cottage door. Hydrangea, turning pink now in the cold weather, bloomed around the house. The walk itself was lined with old garden roses, under-planted with some purple flower Gamache thought might be lavender. He made a mental note to ask Mrs Morrow, at a better time. The foxgloves and hollyhocks he knew immediately. His only regret about their apartment in Outremont was having only window boxes to plant. He'd love a garden exactly like this. It perfectly suited the modest brick home he was approaching. The deep blue door was opened by Peter even before they'd knocked and they stepped into a small mudroom with its collection of outdoor coats on pegs and boots stuffed under a long wooden bench.

'The Burlington news says rain's on the way,' said Peter as he took their coats and led them through to the big country kitchen. "Course, they're almost always wrong. We seem to have a microclimate here. Must be the mountains.'

The room was warm and comfortable, with shiny dark wood counters and open shelving revealing crockery and tins and glasses. Rag throw rugs looked as though they had literally been thrown here and there on the vinyl floor, lending the room a relaxed charm. A huge bouquet, almost an island, sat at one end of the pine dining table. Clara sat at the other, wrapped in a multi-coloured afghan. She looked wan and disconnected.

'Coffee?' Peter wasn't at all sure of the etiquette, but all three declined.

Clara smiled slightly and rose, holding out her hand, the afghan slipping off her shoulder. So ingrained, Gamache knew, was our training to be polite that even in the midst of a terrible personal loss people still smiled.

'I'm so sorry,' he said to Clara.

'Thank you.'

'I'd like you to sit over there,' Gamache whispered to Nichol, pointing to a simple pine chair by the mudroom door, 'and take notes.'

Notes, Nichol said to herself. He's treating me like a secretary. Two years in the Surete du Quebec and I'm asked to sit and take notes. The rest of them sat at the kitchen table. Neither Gamache nor Beauvoir took out their notebooks, she observed.

'We think Jane Neal's death was an accident,' Gamache began, 'but we have a problem. We can't find a weapon, and no one's come forward, so I'm afraid we're going to have to investigate this as a suspicious death. Can you think of anyone who would want to harm your friend?'

'No. Not a soul. Jane ran bake sales and rummage sales for the ACW here at St Thomas's. She was a retired schoolteacher. She led a quiet, uneventful life.'

'Mrs Morrow?'

Clara thought a moment, or appeared to. But her brain was numb, incapable of giving a clear answer.

'Does anyone gain by her death?' Gamache thought maybe a clearer question would help.

'I don't think so,' Clara rallied, feeling a fool for feeling so much. 'She was comfortable, I think, though we never talked about it. Out here a little money goes a long way, thankfully. She grew her own vegetables but she gave most of them away. I always thought she did it more for fun than necessity.'

'How about her home?' Beauvoir asked.

'Yes, that would be worth quite a lot,' said Peter. 'But quite a lot by Three Pines standards, not by Montreal standards. She could get, maybe, a hundred and fifty thousand for it. Perhaps a little more.'

'Could there be another way someone could gain by her death?'

'Not an obvious one.'

Gamache made to get up. 'We need what we call an Incident Room. A private place we can make our temporary headquarters here in Three Pines. Can you think of a suitable spot?'

'The railway station. It's not used for that anymore. The volunteer fire department has its headquarters there. I'm sure they wouldn't mind sharing it.'

'We need something more private, I'm afraid.'

'There's the old schoolhouse,' Clara suggested.

'The one where Miss Neal worked?'

'That's it,' said Peter. 'We passed it walking down this morning. It's owned by the Hadleys, but the archery club uses it these days.'

'Archery club?' Beauvoir asked, hardly able to believe his ears.

'We've had one here for years. Ben and I started it years ago.'

'Is it locked? Do you have a key?'

'I have a key somewhere, I guess. Ben has one too, I think. But it's never locked. Maybe it should have been.' He looked at Clara, seeking her thoughts or comfort. He only found a blank face. Gamache nodded to Beauvoir who picked up his cell phone and placed a call while the others spoke.

'I'd like to call a community meeting in the morning,' said Gamache, 'at St Thomas's at eleven-thirty. But we need to get the word out.'

'That's easy. Tell Olivier. They'll have the whole province there, and the cast of Cats. And his partner Gabri's the choir director.'

'I don't think we'll need music,' said Gamache.

'Neither do I, but you do need to get in. He has a set of keys.'

'The archery club is open but the church is locked?'

'The minister's from Montreal,' explained Peter.

Gamache said his goodbyes and the three of them walked across the now familiar village green. Instinctively, they kicked their feet slightly as they walked through the fallen leaves, sending up a slight flutter and a musky autumn scent.

The bed and breakfast was kitty-corner to the row of commercial buildings, at the comer of the Old Stage Road, another route out of Three Pines. It had once served as a stagecoach stop on the well-traveled route between Williamsburg and St Remy. Long since unnecessary, it had, with the arrival of Olivier and Gabri, rediscovered its vocation of housing weary travelers. Gamache told Beauvoir he intended to get both information and reservations.

'For how long?' Beauvoir asked.

'Until this is solved, or we're taken off the case.'

'That must have been one hell of a good baguette.'

'I'll tell you, Jean Guy, had he put mushrooms on it I would have bought the damned bistro and moved right in. This'll be a whole lot more comfortable than some places we've found ourselves.'

It was true. Their investigations had taken them far from home, to Kuujjuaq and Gaspe and Shefferville and James Bay. They had had to leave home for weeks on end. Beauvoir had hoped this would be different, being so close to Montreal. Apparently not.

'Book me in.'

'Nichol?' he called over his shoulder. 'Want to stay too?'

Yvette Nichol felt she'd just won the lottery.

'Great. I don't have any clothes but that's not a problem, I could borrow some and wash these in the tub tonight--'

Gamache held up his hand.

'You weren't listening. We're going home tonight and starting here tomorrow.'

Damn. Every time she showed enthusiasm it kicked her in the ass. Would she never learn?

Carved pumpkins squatted on each step up to the sweeping veranda of the B. & B. Inside, worn oriental rugs and overstuffed chairs, lights with tassels and a collection of oil lamps gave Gamache the impression of walking into his grandparents' home. To add to the impression, the place smelled of baking. Just then a large man in a frilly apron that said, 'Never Trust a Skinny Cook' made his entrance through a swinging door. Gamache was startled to see more than a passing resemblance to his grandmother.

Gabri sighed hugely and put a wan hand up to his forehead in a gesture not often seen this side of Gloria Swanson.

'Muffins?'

The question was so unexpected even Gamache was thrown off guard.