A Trick of the Light

The din in the gallery was almost deafening as more and more guests crowded into the vernissage.

But François Marois had eyes for only one face. The disappointed elderly woman on the wall. So full of censure and despair.

“It’s Mary, isn’t it?” asked Marois, almost in a whisper.

Chief Inspector Gamache wasn’t sure the art dealer was talking to him, so he said nothing. Marois had seen what few others grasped.

Clara’s portrait wasn’t simply of an angry old woman. She’d in fact painted the Virgin Mary. Elderly. Abandoned by a world weary and wary of miracles. A world too busy to notice a stone rolled back. It had moved on to other wonders.

This was Mary in the final years. Forgotten. Alone.

Glaring out at a room filled with bright people sipping good wine. And walking right by her.

Except for François Marois, who now tore his eyes from the painting to look at Gamache once again.

“What has Clara done?” he asked quietly.

Gamache was silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts before answering.

*   *   *

“Hello, numb nuts.” Ruth Zardo slipped a thin arm through Jean Guy Beauvoir’s. “Tell me how you are.”

It was a command. Few had the fortitude to ignore Ruth. But then, few were ever asked how they were, by Ruth.

“I’m doing well.”

“Bullshit,” said the old poet. “You look like crap. Thin. Pale. Wrinkled.”

“You’re describing yourself, you old drunk.”

Ruth Zardo cackled. “True. You look like a bitter old woman. And that’s not the compliment it might seem.”

Beauvoir smiled. He’d actually been looking forward to seeing Ruth again. He examined the tall, thin, elderly woman leaning on her cane. Ruth’s hair was white and thin and cut close to her head, so that it looked like her skull was exposed. Which seemed to Beauvoir about right. Nothing inside Ruth’s head was ever unexposed or unexpressed. It was her heart she kept hidden.

But it came out in her poetry. Somehow, and Beauvoir couldn’t begin to guess how, Ruth Zardo had won the Governor General’s Award for poetry. None of which he understood. Fortunately, Ruth in person was a lot easier to decode.

“Why’re you here?” she demanded and fixed him with a steady look.

“Why’re you? You can’t tell me you came all the way from Three Pines to support Clara.”

Ruth looked at him as though he’d lost his mind. “Of course not. I’m here for the same reason everyone else is. Free food and drink. But I’ve had my fill now. Are you coming back to the party in Three Pines later?”

“We were invited, but I don’t think so.”

Ruth nodded. “Good. More for me. I heard about your divorce. I suppose she cheated on you. Only natural.”

“Hag,” muttered Beauvoir.

“Dick-head,” said Ruth. Beauvoir’s eyes had wandered and Ruth followed his stare. To the young woman across the room.

“You can do better than her,” said Ruth and felt the arm she was holding tense. Her companion was silent. She turned sharp eyes on him then looked once again at the woman Beauvoir was staring at.

Mid to late twenties, not fat, but not thin either. Not pretty, but not dirt ugly either. Not tall, but not short either.

She would appear to be completely average, completely unremarkable. Except for one thing.

The young woman radiated well-being.

As Ruth watched an older woman approached the group and put an arm around the younger woman’s waist and kissed her.

Reine-Marie Gamache. Ruth had met her a few times.

Now the wizened old poet looked at Beauvoir with heightened interest.

*   *   *

Peter Morrow was chatting up a few gallery owners. Minor figures in the art world but best to keep them happy.

He knew André Castonguay, of the Galerie Castonguay, was there and Peter was dying to meet him. He’d also noticed the critics for the New York Times and Le Figaro. He glanced across the room and saw a photographer taking Clara’s picture.

She looked away for a moment and caught his eye, shrugging. He lifted his wine in salute, and smiled.

Should he go over and introduce himself to Castonguay? But there was such a crowd around him, Peter didn’t want to look pathetic. Hovering. Better to stay away, as though he didn’t care, didn’t need André Castonguay.

Peter brought his attention back to the owner of a small gallery, who was explaining they’d love to do a show for Peter, but were all booked.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the rings around Castonguay part, and make way for Clara.

*   *   *

“You asked how I feel when I see this painting,” said Armand Gamache. The two men were looking at the portrait. “I feel calm. Comforted.”

François Marois looked at him with amazement.

“Comforted? But how? Happy maybe that you aren’t so angry yourself? Does her own immense rage make yours more acceptable? What does Madame Morrow call this painting?” Marois removed his glasses and leaned into the description stenciled on the wall.

Then he stepped back, his face more perplexed than ever.

“It’s called Still Life. I wonder why.”