A Great Reckoning (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #12) - Louise Penny Page 0,31
people, the better you’ll be at your job.”
Commander Gamache looked down at the map. “This shows the place where Madame Gamache and I live. It was a gift from friends.”
Then, making up his mind, he turned it over and carefully removed it from the frame.
“I have an assignment for you,” he said to the four of them. “Solve the mystery of the map.”
“But it’s not a crime,” said Nathaniel. “Is it?”
“Not every mystery is a crime,” said the Commander. “But every crime starts as a mystery. A secret. Some hidden thought or feeling. A desire. Something not yet illegal that evolves, with time, into a crime. Every homicide I’ve investigated started as a secret.”
He looked at them, as serious as they’d ever seen him.
“You all have your secrets. You might be surprised how many of them I know.”
“And you, sir?” asked Huifen. “Do you have any secrets?”
Gamache smiled. “Lots. I’m a warehouse of other people’s indiscretions.”
“She meant your own,” said Amelia.
“I certainly have things I keep private, and yes, I do have a few secrets.” He turned from her to the other three. “Most of our secrets are pretty benign. Things we’re ashamed to tell others because they make us look bad. But there are a few that fester, that eventually consume us. Those are what we look for, as police. We investigate crimes, but first we investigate people. The things they don’t want others to know. Secrets aren’t treasure, you know. Secrets don’t make you powerful. They make you weak. Vulnerable.”
He looked down at the painting in his hands.
“The skills you’ll need to investigate a crime are the same ones you’ll need to solve the mystery of the map. I want you to work together, as a unit, and come up with the answers.”
“Together?” said Jacques.
“Maybe we can split into teams?” suggested Huifen. “The seniors versus the freshmen?”
“Wait a minute,” said Nathaniel. “That’s not fair.”
“Why not?” demanded Amelia, though she knew the answer.
“How about guys versus girls?” asked Nathaniel.
“There is no ‘versus.’ You’ll do it together,” said Gamache. “As a unit. In the Sûreté, we can’t choose our colleagues. They’re assigned. Get used to it.”
“Is this for credit?” Jacques asked.
“No, it’s for experience. If you don’t want to do it, just excuse yourself from the exercise. It’s all the same to me.”
Jacques looked at the map, and despite himself, he wanted to know.
“I’m in.”
“Bon. I’ll have copies made and dropped off to each of you before the end of classes tomorrow.”
The rest of the evening was spent with the students huddling, working out strategies.
The next afternoon, copies of the map were handed to the four cadets, and the day after that there was a knock on the door of Commander Gamache’s office.
“Oui,” he called, and looked up from his desk.
Huifen, Jacques, Nathaniel, and Amelia entered. He took off his reading glasses and gestured toward the sitting area.
“We’ve solved the mystery,” said Jacques.
“Well, you didn’t do much,” said Amelia.
“I was busy.”
“Yes, being head cadet. I’ve heard.”
“I did most of the work,” said Nathaniel.
“How can you—” Huifen began before the Commander raised his hand and silence descended.
He turned to Jacques.
“And?” he asked.
“And this place doesn’t exist.” Jacques gestured dismissively toward the painting. “It can’t be your home, unless you live in a hole in the ground or a tree trunk. There’s no village there. Nothing. Just forest and mountains. We checked on Google Maps and GPS.”
“I even found some old paper maps of the Townships,” said Nathaniel. “Williamsburg is there, Saint-Rémy. Cowansville. But not the village, the one the map is designed around.”
“Three Pines,” said Gamache.
“You lied,” Jacques repeated.
“Be careful, cadet, with your words,” he said softly.
“That’s the mystery though, isn’t it?” said Huifen. “It’s a map to a fictional place. Why would someone do that? Isn’t that what you really want us to find out?”
Gamache stood up and, walking to the door, he showed them out.
They stood in the hallway, looking at the closed door.
“We fucked up somewhere,” said Amelia, clicking her stud up and down.
“Calling him a liar didn’t help,” said Huifen. “Why would you do that? He’s the Commander.”
“In name only,” said Jacques.
“Isn’t that enough?” asked Nathaniel.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Back to the map,” said Amelia. “We were right, weren’t we? The place doesn’t exist.”
“And yet the Commander said he lives there,” said Huifen.
“He’s fucking with us,” said Jacques. “Like the Duke said he would.”
“Well, I know one way to find out,” said Huifen.
* * *
Armand looked in the rearview mirror. They were still there.