Simon actually laughed. “I heard they despised each other. Wouldn’t be in the same room.”
“So,” said Gamache, working his way through his thoughts, “the music is beautiful, we agree on that. And the words are ridiculous. We agree on that.”
Frère Simon nodded.
“You’re thinking there was a writing team involved. Not one monk but two?”
“One wrote the music,” said Simon, “and the other wrote the words.”
They looked down at the papers in their hands. Then looked up into each other’s eyes.
“But that doesn’t explain why the words are so stupid,” said Frère Simon.
“Unless whoever wrote the neumes didn’t understand the Latin. Maybe he assumed his partner wrote lyrics as beautiful as the music deserved.”
“And when he found out what the words really meant…” said Frère Simon.
“Oui,” said Gamache. “It led to murder.”
“Do people really kill over something like this?” Simon asked.
“The Church castrated men to keep them sopranos,” Gamache reminded the monk. “Emotions run high when it comes to sacred music. It might not be such a big step from maiming to killing.”
Frère Simon thrust out his lower lip, thinking. It made him look suddenly quite young. A boy, working on a puzzle.
“The prior,” said Gamache. “Which is he likely to have written? The words or the music?”
“The music, without a doubt. He was a world authority on neumes and Gregorian chants.”
“But could he write original music using neumes?” asked the Chief.
“He certainly knew his neumes, so I suppose it’s possible.”
“Something’s bothering you,” said Gamache.
“It just seems unlikely, that’s all. Frère Mathieu loved Gregorian chants. He didn’t just like them, it was a form of adoration for him. A great religious passion.”
Gamache understood what the monk was saying. If he adored the plainchants so much, had made them his life’s work, why would he suddenly diverge from them, and create what the Chief held in his hands?
“Unless…” said Frère Simon.
“Unless he didn’t write this,” said Gamache, lifting the page slightly. “But found it in someone else’s possession and confronted him. In the one place they wouldn’t be seen.”
Which brought the Chief Inspector to his next question. “When you found the prior, was he still alive?”