‘I think you would,’ said Peter, quietly. Ben could feel his throat constrict. Compliments always made him want to cry and left him deeply embarrassed.
‘It goes back to what we were talking about Friday night. That quote of yours, Clara,’ said Myrna. ‘Conscience and cowardice are the same thing.’
‘Oscar Wilde, actually. He was more cynical than me. I think that’s true for some people, but fortunately not the majority. I think most people have a pretty good moral compass.’ To her left she heard Ruth snort. ‘Sometimes it just takes time to get your bearings, especially after a shock. When I try to see it from Gamache’s point of view, it makes sense. Matthew’s a skilled bow hunter. He knew there were deer in that area. He had the ability and the knowledge.’
‘But why not admit to it?’ Myrna wanted to know. ‘Sure, I agree with you totally, Ben. At first it would be understandable for Matthew to run, but after a while wouldn’t he admit to it? I couldn’t live carrying that secret.’
‘You just have to get better at keeping secrets,’ said Gabri.
‘I think it must have been a stranger,’ said Ben. ‘God knows, the woods are full of them right now. All those hunters from Toronto and Boston and Montreal, firing away like maniacs.’
‘But,’ Clara turned to him, ‘how would a hunter from Toronto know where to stand?’
‘What do you mean? They go into the woods and stand. There’s not much to it, that’s why so many morons hunt.’
‘But in this case the hunter knew exactly where to stand. This afternoon I was at the deer blind, you know, the one behind the schoolhouse, just by where Jane was killed. I went up and looked out. Sure enough, there was the deer trail. That’s why the blind was built right there—’
‘Yeah, by Matthew Croft’s father,’ said Ben.
‘Really?’ Clara was momentarily off balance. ‘I didn’t know that. Did you?’ She appealed to the rest of the table.
‘What was the question? I wasn’t listening,’ admitted Ruth.
‘Some detective,’ said Myrna.
‘Matthew’s father built the blind,’ said Clara to herself.
‘Anyway, Gamache is pretty sure it hadn’t been used for a while—’
‘Blinds aren’t generally used by bow hunters,’ said Peter in a flat voice. ‘Only guns.’
‘So what’s your point?’ Ruth was getting bored.
‘A stranger, a hunter visiting from somewhere else, wouldn’t know to go there.’
Clara let the implication of what she said sink in.
‘Whoever killed Jane was local?’ Olivier asked. Up until that moment they’d all assumed the killer had been a visiting hunter who’d run away. Now, maybe not.
‘So it might have been Matthew Croft after all,’ said Ben.
‘I don’t think so,’ Clara forged ahead. ‘The very things that argue for Matthew having done it also argue against it. An experienced bow hunter wouldn’t kill a person by accident. It’s the sort of accident he isn’t likely to have. A bow hunter standing by the deer trail would be too close. He’d know if it was a deer coming along, or—or not.’
‘Or Jane, you mean.’ Ruth’s normally flinty voice was now as hard as the Canadian Shield. Clara nodded. ‘Bastard,’ said Ruth. Gabri took her hand and for once in her life Ruth didn’t pull away.
Across the table, Peter laid down his knife and fork and stared at Clara. She couldn’t quite make out the look on his face, but it wasn’t admiration.
‘One thing is true, whoever killed Jane was a very good bow hunter,’ she said. ‘A poor one wouldn’t have got off that shot.’
‘There are a lot of very good bow hunters around here, unfortunately,’ said Ben. ‘Thanks to the Archery Club.’
‘Murder,’ said Gabri.
‘Murder,’ confirmed Clara.
‘But who would want Jane dead?’ Myrna asked.
‘Isn’t it normally gain of some kind?’ Gabri asked.
‘Money, power.’
‘Gain, or trying to protect something you’re afraid of losing,’ said Myrna. She’d been listening to this conversation, thinking it was just a desperate attempt by grieving friends to take their minds off the loss by turning it into an intellectual game. Now she began to wonder. ‘If something you value is threatened, like your family, your inheritance, your job, your home—’
‘We get the idea,’ Ruth interrupted.
‘You might convince yourself killing is justified.’
‘So if Matthew Croft did it,’ said Ben, ‘it was on purpose.’