Bury Your Dead (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #6) - Louise Penny Page 0,44
buried beneath the Literary and Historical Society?”
They looked at each other, and finally, silently, it was decided that René Dallaire, the large, Hardy-esque man, would take the lead. The table had been cleared of all but their demi-tasses.
“I brought this along when Émile told us what you wanted to talk about.” He spread out a map, pinning it down with their cups. “I’m embarrassed to say I had no idea there was a Literary and Historical Society.”
“That’s not quite true,” said Jean to his friend. “We’re familiar with the building. It’s quite historic you know. Originally a redoubt, a military barracks in the 1700s. Then in the latter part of the century it housed prisoners of war. Then another prison was built somewhere else and the building must have fallen into private hands.”
“And now you say it’s called the Literary and Historical Society?” René spoke the English words with a heavy accent.
“Quite magnificent,” said Gamache.
René placed his substantial finger on the site of the building, by rue St-Stanislas. “That’s it, right?”
Gamache bent over the map, as did they all, narrowly avoiding knocking heads. He nodded agreement.
“Then there can be no doubt. You agree?” René Dallaire looked at Jean and Émile.
They agreed.
“I can guarantee you,” René looked Gamache in the eye. “Samuel de Champlain is not buried there.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“When you arrived at the Château, did you happen to notice the statue of Champlain out front?”
“I did. Hard to miss.”
“C’est vrai. That’s not simply a monument to the man, but it marks the exact spot he died.”
“As exact as we can get, anyway,” said Jean. René shot him a small, annoyed look.
“How do you know that’s where he died?” Gamache asked. Now it was Émile’s turn to answer.
“There’re reports written by his lieutenants and the priests. He died after a short illness on Christmas Day, 1635, during a storm. It’s one of the few things we know about Champlain without a doubt. The fortress was right there, where the statue is.”
“But he wouldn’t have been buried right where he died, would he?” asked Gamache.
René unfolded another map or, at least, a reproduction and placed it on top of the modern city map. It was little more than an illustration.
“This was drawn in 1639, four years after Champlain died. It’s not much different than the Québec he would have known.” The map showed a stylized fort, a parade grounds in front, and a scattering of buildings around. “This is where he died.” His finger landed on the fort. “It’s where the statue now stands. And this is where they buried Champlain.”
René Dallaire’s thick finger pointed to a small building a few hundred yards from the fort.
“The chapel. The only one in Québec at the time. There’re no official records but it seems obvious Champlain would have been buried there, either right in the chapel or in a cemetery beside it.”
Gamache was perplexed. “So, if we know where he was buried, what’s the mystery? Where is he? And why aren’t there any official records of the burial of the most important man in the colony?”
“Ahh, but nothing is ever straightforward is it?” said Jean. “The chapel burned a few years later, destroying all the records.”
Gamache thought about that. “A fire would burn the records, yes, but not a buried body. We should still have found him by now, no?”
René shrugged. “Yes, we should have. There’re a number of theories, but the most likely is that they buried him in the cemetery, not the chapel, so the fire wouldn’t have disturbed him at all. Over time the colony grew—”
René paused but his hands were expressive. He opened them wide. The other two men were also silent, eyes down.
“Are you saying they put a building on top of Champlain?” Gamache asked.
The three men looked unhappy but none contradicted him until Jean spoke.
“There is another theory.”
Émile sighed. “Not that again. There’s no proof.”
“There’s no proof of any of this,” Jean pointed out. “I agree it’s a guess. You just don’t want to believe it.”
Émile was silent. It seemed Jean had made a direct hit. The little man turned to Gamache. “The other theory is that as Quebec City grew there was a huge amount of building work, as René says. But along with it was excavation, digging down beneath the frost line before they put up the new buildings. The city was booming, and things went up in a hurry. They didn’t have time to worry about the dead.”