Brutal Telling

Jean Guy Beauvoir was already waiting for him when he arrived at the Cowansville hospital, and they went in together, down the stairs and into the basement, where files and dead people were kept.

“I called as soon as I realized what I was seeing,” said Dr. Harris after greeting them. She led them into the sterile room, brightly lit by fluorescents. The dead man was naked on a steel gurney. Gamache wished they’d put a blanket over him. He seemed cold. And, indeed, he was.

“There was some internal bleeding but not enough. This wound,” she indicated the collaped back of the victim’s head, “would have bled onto whatever surface he fell on.”

“There was almost no blood on the floor of the bistro,” said Beauvoir.

“He was killed somewhere else,” said the coroner, with certainty.

“Where?” asked Gamache.

“Would you like an address?”

“If you wouldn’t mind,” said the Chief Inspector, with a smile.

Dr. Harris smiled back. “Clearly I don’t know, but I’ve found some things that might be suggestive.”

She walked over to her lab table where a few vials sat, labeled. She handed one to the Chief Inspector.

“Remember that bit of white I said was in the wound? I thought it might be ash. Or bone, or perhaps even dandruff. Well, it wasn’t any of those things.”

Gamache needed his glasses to see the tiny white flake inside the vial, then he read the label.

Paraffin, found in the wound.

“Paraffin? Like wax?”

“Yes, it’s commonly called paraffin wax. It’s an old-fashioned material, as you probably know. Used to be used for candles, then it was replaced by other sorts of more stable wax.”

“My mother uses it for pickling,” said Beauvoir. “She melts it on the top of the jar to create a seal, right?”

“That’s right,” said Dr. Harris.

Gamache turned to Beauvoir. “And where was your mother on Saturday night?”

Beauvoir laughed. “The only one she ever threatens to brain is me. She’s no threat to society at large.”

Gamache handed the vial back to the coroner. “Do you have any theories?”

“It was buried deep enough in the wound to have been either on the man’s head before he was killed or on the murder weapon.”

“A jar of pickles?” asked Beauvoir.

“Stranger things have been used,” said Gamache, though he couldn’t quite think of any.

Beauvoir shook his head. Had to be an Anglo. Who else could turn a dill pickle into a weapon?

“So it wasn’t a fireplace poker?” asked Gamache.

“Unless it was a very clean one. There was no evidence of ash. Just that.” She nodded to the vial. “There’s something else.” Dr. Harris pulled a lab chair up to the bench. “On the back of his clothes we found this. Very faint, but there.”

She handed Gamache the lab report and pointed to a line. Gamache read.

“Acrylic polyurethane and aluminum oxide. What is that?”

“Varathane,” said Beauvoir. “We’ve just redone our floors. It’s used to seal them after they’ve been sanded.”

“Not just floors,” said Dr. Harris, taking back the vial. “It’s used in a lot of woodworking. It’s a finish. Other than the wound to the head the dead man was in good condition. Could’ve expected to live for twenty-five or thirty years.”

“I see he had a meal a few hours before he was killed,” said Gamache, reading the autopsy report

“Vegetarian. Organic I think. I’m having it tested,” said the coroner. “A healthy vegetarian meal. Not your usual vagrant dinner.”

“Someone might’ve had him in for dinner then killed him,” said Beauvoir.

Dr. Harris hesitated. “I considered that, and it’s a possibility.”

“But?” said Gamache.

“But he looks like a man who ate like that all the time. Not just the once.”

“So either he cooked for himself and chose a healthy diet,” said Gamache, “or he had someone cook for him and they were vegetarian.”

“That’s about it,” said the coroner.

“I see no alcohol or drugs,” said Beauvoir, scanning the report.

Dr. Harris nodded. “I don’t think he was homeless. I’m not sure if anyone cared for this man, but I do know he cared for himself.”

What a wonderful epitaph, thought Gamache. He cared for himself.

“Maybe he was a survivalist,” said Beauvoir. “You know, one of those kooks who take off from the city and hide in the woods thinking the world’s coming to an end.”

Gamache turned to look at Beauvoir. That was an interesting thought.

“I’m frankly puzzled,” said the coroner. “You can see he was hit with a single, catastrophic blow to the back of his head. That in itself is unusual. To find just one blow . . .” Dr. Harris’s voice trailed off and she shook her head. “Normally when someone gets up the nerve to bludgeon someone to death they’re in the grip of great emotion. It’s like a brainstorm. They’re hysterical and can’t stop. You get multiple blows. A single one like this . . .”

“What does it tell you?” Gamache asked, as he stared at the collapsed skull.

“This wasn’t just a crime of passion.” She turned to him. “There was passion, yes, but there was also planning. Whoever did this was in a rage. But he was in command of that rage.”