A World of Curiosities

Gamache goes to see Myrna, who explains that Harriet is nervous about an event taking place that day (later revealed to be her college graduation ceremony). Gamache is also going to the ceremony and tells Myrna that someone named Fiona will be attending, as will Fiona’s brother, Sam.

In the retrospective narrative about the Clothilde Arsenault case, readers learn more about how Jean-Guy came to be involved. Gamache went down to the neglected basement where Jean-Guy was given menial and uninteresting work and specifically selected him to help with him on the case. This decision confused everyone, and Captain Dagenais, Jean-Guy’s supervisor, cautioned Gamache that he had been preparing to fire Jean-Guy from the police force; according to Dagenais, Jean-Guy was “angry. Discontented. And that sort of thing spreads” (17). Suspicious, Jean-Guy rebuffed all the kindness that Gamache showed him and behaved more and more belligerently. Nonetheless, while Gamache made it clear that he would not tolerate insubordination, he continued to be patient and kind toward Jean-Guy.

The morning’s preparations in Three Pines are leading up to an afternoon event in Montreal: Gamache and Reine-Marie, joined by Jean-Guy, are attending a convocation ceremony at École Polytechnique, the engineering school located at the Université de Montreal. Harriet is going to be receiving her degree at the same ceremony. The event is solemn, because the school’s history is still bound up with a mass shooting that took place on December 6, 1989. On that day, Gamache, who had recently graduated from the police academy, applied for a role in the Intelligence division. In the meantime, he was volunteering as part of a paramedic team and was one of the first responders on the scene.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Gamache treated a young woman named Nathalie Provost, who was an engineering student. Nathalie had been shot multiple times; the gunman had specifically targeted female students, and had ended up killing 14 of them, while wounding 13 others. Regardless, after the attack, some would claim that “the fact only women were killed was a coincidence” (31). Nathalie survived and remained close friends with Gamache. The impact of what he witnessed changed the course of Gamache’s career, leading him to switch to a role in homicide investigation.

Nathalie is attending the ceremony; Gamache greets her and introduces her to Myrna. Myrna, who is a retired psychologist, confirms that she did an assessment and recommended that Fiona be allowed to graduate as an engineer. As the start of the ceremony draws closer, Gamache is clearly uneasy.

The narrative resumes with the Clotilde Arsenault storyline and the coroner’s inspection of the body, which confirms that Clotilde died due to a blow to the side of her head. More detailed examination still has to be carried out, but Gamache, Chernin, and Jean-Guy are already convinced that Clotilde was murdered. They also see evidence that she had been struck in the head by a brick.

From Clotilde’s body and the personal items they found nearby, it is clear that she had a drug addiction and had led a difficult life, and Gamache begins to speculate about what might have led someone to kill her. He also becomes curious about the two individuals, a man and a woman, who first found and reported the body. The couple claimed to have been hiking in the area when they spotted the body, but the area is so remote that Gamache wonders if there could be more to the story. Gamache and Jean-Guy prepare to go to Clotilde’s home to tell her children that their mother’s body has been located.

As Gamache and Jean-Guy drive toward Clotilde’s home, Gamache confirms that the family has no relatives and that there is no information about a father. He is surprised to learn that no police representative is with the children; Gamache thinks that they should not have been left alone while the search took place and is angry with Captain Dagenais for not dispatching someone to be with them.

When Gamache and Jean-Guy arrive, they met Clotilde’s two children: Fiona, age 13, and Sam, age 10. Sam immediately seems hostile, especially toward Gamache. Gamache gently breaks the news to the two children that their mother had been murdered, knowing this information will be difficult to hear but also “that there was no avoiding the pain” (47).

Back at the graduation ceremony, Sam Arsenault is present and directs a menacing energy toward Gamache. Sam is one of very few people who can unnerve him.

The story of Sam and Fiona and their mother’s death resumes, with Gamache calling the police station and asking that a counselor be sent to the house. While he waits, Fiona makes a seductive overture, and Gamache realizes with horror that Fiona and Sam have been groomed to provide sexual services to adults. Clotilde was complicit in the sexual abuse of her own children, presumably for a profit.

While Gamache and Fiona interact in another room, Sam breaks down crying, and Jean-Guy comforts him. When Gamache returns, he has the impression that Sam deliberately manipulated Jean-Guy to gain his sympathy; he thinks Sam has the look of “someone who’d done something spectacularly wrong and would keep doing it until stopped” (70).

Gamache questions the children, focusing on whether there have been any recent or unusual visitors. Eventually, the counselor, Hardye Moel, arrives, followed by Chernin and other agents. Gamache reveals that the children were sexually abused, and they begin to search the house. On Clotilde’s computer, they find images and videos depicting the children engaged in sexual acts with adults. They eventually also locate a root cellar under the house, where the videos were filmed.

As the evidence is collected, Gamache continues to question the children, who continue to resist giving any information. Eventually, one of the agents who has been reviewing the computer reports to Gamache that someone recently tried to delete a selection of the files. In a few cases, they weren’t fully successful, and the agent shows Gamache one of the images that had not been fully deleted. Recognizing the man depicted in the photo, Gamache realizes that someone had been at the house and had focused on deleting the files that implicated them, leaving the others untouched.

The graduation ceremony proceeds, and Fiona and Harriet both receive their degrees. Myrna is very proud of her niece because Harriet is very shy and anxious and does not like to be at the center of attention. Gamache and Reine-Marie congratulate Fiona, but Gamache becomes tense when Sam Arsenault comes over to speak with them. Gamache cannot shake the sense that Sam is dangerous, although many other people find him charismatic and handsome. Harriet, for example, immediately takes notice of him. Gamache and Myrna both feel uneasy when they learn that Sam is going to be coming to Three Pines so that he can attend the graduation celebrations for his sister.

As the flashback narrative resumes, Gamache and Agent Moel, who has come to meet with the young Sam and Fiona Arsenault, discuss how the two siblings have likely formed an intense bond due to the trauma they have experienced. It is difficult to tell which of them would be more impacted, but both already show signs of having their personalities warped by the abuse they suffered: “We both know what happens to things left too long in the dark” (80).

The past narrative continues. After leaving Sam and Fiona at the house with Agent Moel, Gamache, Jean-Guy, and Agent Linda Chernin go to the local police office to confront Captain Dagenais. In the files found on the computer at the Arsenault house, Gamache has found images revealing that Dagenais was one of the men engaging in sexual activity with the two children. Jean-Guy realizes that part of the reason he has not been given opportunities for advancement is that he is not corrupt or willing to hide Dagenais’s secret: He is treated like a “contagion. Not because he was a rotten Sureté officer, but because he was a good one” (82).

As Gamache tries to arrest Dagenais, he, Jean-Guy, and Chernin are surrounded by armed agents loyal to Dagenais and threatened at gunpoint. Gamache accuses Dagenais of killing Clotilde Arsenault and then delaying sending anyone to be with the children so that he could go to the house himself, bribe the children to conceal his secret, and attempt to delete all of the incriminating photos and videos. The other agents are very loyal to Dagenais, and Gamache surmises that some of them also abused the children and are now fearful of being caught. Even though he comes very close to being killed, Gamache is able to skillfully negotiate a compromise in which the other agents are allowed to leave, in exchange for dropping their weapons and leaving Gamache, Chernin, and Jean-Guy unharmed.

In Three Pines, the entire community celebrates with a graduation party for Harriet and, to a lesser degree, Fiona. During the party, Gamache meets Robert Mongeau and his wife, Sylvie. Mongeau has recently moved to the village to work as a minister; he clearly shares a loving bond with his wife, although Sylvie is visibly ill. Mongeau notices Sam and asks Gamache about the young man but gets only terse responses. Gamache has confided to Jean-Guy that he is doing his best to change his suspicion and mistrust of Sam. Meanwhile, Harriet Landers seems to be flirting with Sam. During the party, Harriet thanks her aunt and presents her with an unusual gift: a brick.

The action of the past narrative resumes with Dagenais and his officers held in custody at the police station. Gamache knows that there are others who are loyal to Dagenais, and they could arrive at any time. Gamache is concerned about this and also with ensuring that the agents are brought to justice. Gamache contacts Agent Moel and tells her to take the children and get on a plane to Montreal. Once he receives confirmation that the children are safely in the air, Gamache tells three of the agents who are most loyal to Dagenais that they are free to go.