Free The Nature of the Beast: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny

felt so at peace, so at home as I do here. I don’t feel any need to go back. But I feel as though I should.”
    Myrna laughed. “I know what you mean. When I quit my job as a psychologist, I felt guilty. This isn’t our parents’ generation, Armand. Now people have many chapters to their lives. When I stopped being a therapist I asked myself one question. What do I really want to do? Not for my friends, not for my family. Not for perfect strangers. But for me. Finally. It was my turn, my time. And this is yours, Armand. Yours and Reine-Marie’s. What do you really want?”
    He heard the thump of pine cones falling and stopped himself from turning to look for the funny little kid who’d thrown the “grenades.” Kaaa-pruuuchh.
    Then another one fell. And another. It was as though the three huge pines were tapping the earth. Asking it to admit Laurent. The magical kid who’d made them walk.
    Armand closed his eyes and smelled fresh-cut grass and felt the sun on his upturned face.
    What do I want? Gamache asked himself.
    He heard, on the breeze, the first thin notes. From Neil Young’s Harvest . Armand looked up to the small cemetery on the crest of the hill. Outlined against the clear blue afternoon sky was a large man with a guitar in his arms.
    And down the hill the words drifted … and there’s so much more.

 
    CHAPTER 7
    “There you are,” said Olivier, as he and Gabri sat down at the Gamaches’ table in the bistro. “We’ve been looking for you.”
    “You can’t have been looking hard,” said Reine-Marie. “Where else would we be?”
    “Home?” said Gabri.
    “This isn’t our home?” Gamache whispered to Reine-Marie.
    “Yes it is, mon beau ,” she patted her husband’s leg reassuringly.
    They were still in their clothes from the funeral, Reine-Marie in a navy blue dress and Armand in a dark gray suit, white shirt and tie. Tailored and classic.
    They were not yet ready to remove the clothes, as though to do that was to remove their grief and leave Laurent behind.
    Olivier and Gabri must have felt the same way. They too were still in their dark suits and ties.
    Olivier waved to one of his servers and a couple of beers and a bowl of mixed nuts appeared.
    Gabri and Olivier sipped their beers and stared at each other, goading each other on.
    “Was there a reason you were looking for us?” Armand finally asked.
    “You go,” said Gabri.
    “No, you go,” said Olivier.
    “It was your idea,” said Gabri.
    “Please, one of you tell us,” said Armand, looking from one to the other. He was not really in the mood for twenty questions.
    “It’s a small thing,” said Olivier.
    “Hardly worth mentioning,” said Gabri. “We were just wondering.”
    Gamache opened his eyes wide, inviting something more precise.
    “It’s the stick,” said Olivier at last.
    “Laurent’s stick,” said Gabri.
    They stared at Gamache, but when he stared back blankly, Olivier took the plunge.
    “At the reception when we were talking about Laurent we all remembered him with that stick of his.”
    “His rifle,” said Reine-Marie.
    “His rifle, his sword, his wand,” said Olivier. “How many times did we see him roaring down the hill on his bike into Three Pines holding that stick out in front of him like a knight in battle?”
    “He was a menace,” said Gabri with a smile, remembering the fearless, fearsome boy tilting at God knew what, determined to save the village and the villagers.
    The Gamaches stared at Olivier and Gabri, expecting more.
    “He never went anywhere without it,” said Gabri. “We just thought maybe Al and Evie would want it back.”
    “Oh, right,” said Armand. “That’s probably true.”
    He wished he’d thought of that but was glad the guys had.
    “The police must’ve picked it up,” said Olivier. “Do you know when they’ll release it? Can we get it back now?”
    Armand opened his mouth to say that he imagined all of Laurent’s possessions would have been returned