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After showering and changing, he poured them each drinks and joined her in the garden. They meandered around, apparently aimless, though he and Reine-Marie and probably Fred, who was, it must be admitted, somewhat brighter than Henri, knew where they were heading.
Armand and his armada stopped in front of Miss Wolcott’s Ghost.
Try as he might, he could not see that this was an attractive plant. Not one many would choose for their gardens. But, of course, plants had uses other than ornamental. It was human hubris to calculate value as it related to them.
Could Daisy Wolcott have brought back from her travels many miracles and one terrible weapon? Did she realize it?
Was a mass murderer lounging in their garden, eating up the bright sunshine of a late-spring day?
He bent closer and saw a honeybee crawling around Miss Wolcott.
Then he texted Isabelle and Jean-Guy to join him.
CHAPTER 59
“Nothing more in Fillmore’s files?” asked Armand.
“Nope, nothing,” said Isabelle. “My God, this is maddening. We’re pretty sure we know who the murderer is.”
“I’m pretty sure ‘pretty sure’ isn’t enough, if I remember my classes in the academy,” said Jean-Guy. “Your Honor, if it pleases the court, we’ve taken a wild guess and decided to arrest this person. We’re pretty sure they did it, and despite the lack of evidence, we think you should convict, just to be on the safe side.”
“Smart ass.” Isabelle reached over and placed a hand on his, to stop the tapping of his pen against the arm of his garden chair.
“Okay,” said Jean-Guy. “Let’s get back to basics. Who gains by Fillmore’s death?”
“His brother, Charles,” said Isabelle. “He stands to take over Réunion. He’s essentially running it now. He has expensive tastes and an expensive lifestyle, and he might be tired of doing all the work but being second fiddle.”
“Jeanette Bouchard needed money, and a lot of it,” said Jean-Guy, “if she was going to get private care for a dying mother. She was working for someone under the table. Maybe Brian hired her, and when she realized there was a fortune to be had, she killed him.”
“That would explain her change of behavior in March,” said Isabelle.
Gamache was listening, but saying nothing.
“Then there’s Gaston Comeau,” said Jean-Guy. “I think we need to take everything he’s told us as bullshit. Okay, so he knew Jeanette and her mother and they seemed to be friends, but he was probably using them.”
“He admits he would read through files and open drawers when he was cleaning,” said Isabelle. “He might have found that Lafrenière letter and other research Brian did.”
“Which was why we can’t find it in Fillmore’s files,” said Jean-Guy.
“Then Comeau followed him to the graveyard, killed him, and stole whatever Brian dug up.”
“But why call me months later?” asked Gamache.
As they thought about it, Reine-Marie, Clara, Myrna, Gabri, and Ruth walked into the garden.
“Ugly old thing, isn’t she?” said Clara.
“Shhh,” said Myrna, tilting her head toward Ruth. “She can hear you.”
“Fuck-wit,” said the old poet.
She was leaning against her cane and staring down at Miss Wolcott’s Ghost.
Armand had had its siblings carefully removed from the Lost Nation grave and taken to a secure room in Sûreté headquarters.
“Use gloves when handling them. Make sure no cuttings or seeds escape. Get a sunlamp in there.”
“Yessir.”
