A Great Reckoning

Reine-Marie and Gamache arrive in Gaspé at the home of Michel Brébeuf. Brébeuf has been a lifelong friend to Gamache and served alongside him in the Sûreté, advancing to a higher position than Gamache held. However, Brébeuf betrayed both Gamache and the police force; he resigned in disgrace and has lived in isolation in Gaspé ever since. Now, shockingly, Gamache offers Brébeuf a job teaching at the Sûreté Academy. Given his history of betrayal, Brébeuf tries to figure out why Gamache would want him around young and impressionable police cadets. As Brébeuf surmises, “This was no simple job offer. Nor, he suspected, was it a peace offering. There’d been too much war, too much damage” (16).

Back in Montreal, Gamache visits the current police superintendent, Therese Brunel. Therese has reviewed Gamache’s plans for sweeping reforms of the academy, including firing many people who have worked there for a long time. Brunel notes that many people will be unhappy with these decisions; Gamache nonetheless stands firm. In the wake of widespread police corruption that Gamache helped reveal, he wants to build a new future for the police force. Brunel is particularly shocked by the news that Gamache has hired Brébeuf to work at the academy.

The word begins to spread at the academy that many long-established staff and faculty are being fired. Serge Leduc has worked at the academy for more than a decade, and while his position there is technically second-in-command, he has effectively run the entire place. Leduc has a history of corruption and a cold, commanding approach. Under the influence of the (now disgraced) previous Chief Superintendent Francoeur, Leduc emphasized that police officers need to be forceful and even brutal since “the citizens were the enemy” (25). Leduc is very rude to Gamache when he meets with him, assuming that Gamache will fire him. Gamache makes it clear that he knows about some illicit activity Leduc has engaged in (the specifics are not made clear), but he also states that he will keep Leduc on as a professor.

The narrative resumes some weeks later, in early January. The term is about to begin at the Sûreté Academy, and Gamache has implemented many new plans, including changing the curriculum and building better relationships between the academy and the surrounding community of St. Alphonse. Gamache has not yet named a second-in-command; there is speculation that he will choose Jean-Guy Beauvoir. Jean-Guy was Gamache’s second-in-command in the Homicide department and is also married to Gamache’s daughter, Annie, who is pregnant with their first child. He is fiercely loyal to Gamache, to the point that “he would follow Armand Gamache through the gates of Hell” (33).

In Three Pines, Reine-Marie and Ruth go through papers found in the bistro walls. They are joined by two other women from the village: Clara, who is a painter, and Myrna, who is a retired psychologist and now owns the village bookstore. Ruth finds a piece of paper that captures their interest.

The villagers gather at Clara’s house for dinner and look at the unusual document they have found: It is an unconventional map of the village, illustrated whimsically but also detailed and precise. They speculate about why it might have been made and whether it has any value. Alongside the map discussion, both Reine-Marie and Gamache admit trepidation as Gamache embarks on his new role. As Gamache secretly admits to himself, “it was a very dangerous sequence of events he’d set in motion” (41).

The next day, Gamache asks Jean-Guy to act as his second-in-command, and Beauvoir agrees. Gamache also shows him the map. Jean-Guy points out what the others have missed: Three Pines is famously not included on any region maps, yet this map clearly documents the town. Since the map is likely about 100 years old, they wonder if something happened after its creation that led to Three Pines never being documented on other maps.

Classes have now begun at the Sûreté Academy, and Amelia is attending a lecture presented by Gamache. Amelia stands out among the other cadets with her many piercings and tattoos. Amelia thinks back to her recent past before being accepted to the academy. She had moved to Montreal hoping to find work and lived in a cheap and unpleasant rooming house. Months went by, and she could not find work, so she had to begin cleaning the rooming house in exchange for accommodation. She also began using drugs and turned to prostitution to fund this habit. Gradually, Amelia sank into despair, believing that “her life […] was as good as it was going to get. At twenty, the best was behind her” (49).

One day, Amelia saw an interview with a female police investigator on television and was struck by the woman’s elegance and clear intelligence. Impulsively, Amelia began applying to police training programs and was rejected from all of them. She was shocked when she received acceptance and a full scholarship from the prestigious Sûreté Academy.

Amelia is fascinated with poetry and language; she even knows Greek and Latin. She is intrigued by Gamache but also on edge because she is sure she will soon be kicked out of the academy. She is surprised and confused when Gamache singles her out to give her a book and invites her to come to a gathering with a few select cadets.

As Head of the academy, Gamache (and many other professors) have rooms on site. While he regularly returns to Three Pines, he sometimes spends the night at the academy, and Reine-Marie joins him there. After his interaction with Amelia, Gamache returns to his room and opens a gift from Olivier: Olivier has had the unusual map framed. Jean-Guy and Reine-Marie join Gamache, and then guests begin to arrive for the small gathering that Gamache has organized. During the party, Amelia meets a third-year cadet named Huifen and catches her first glimpse of Serge Leduc. She is struck by the man’s malevolent presence and the obvious tension between him and Gamache, noting that “anyone who produced such loathing in another human being was worth watching” (63).

Meanwhile, at the party, Jean-Guy and Gamache are closely observing the interactions between Leduc and Brébeuf. Jean-Guy still doesn’t understand why Gamache has brought both men together. As Amelia gets ready to leave the party, she notices the framed map. She still cannot understand why Gamache is so attentive to her and why it appears “as though he knew her better than she knew herself” (68).

After the guests have left, Gamache, Jean-Guy, and Reine-Marie stay together. Brébeuf then returns; Reine-Marie is angry and leaves, as does Jean-Guy.

Gamache checks on his wife since he can see that she is upset. Reine-Marie explains that seeing Brébeuf reminds her of his betrayal. Nonetheless, she encourages her husband to spend time with his old friend. Brébeuf and Gamache spend a long time together, drinking and reminiscing. Brébeuf notices that Leduc has a sinister aspect and asks Gamache why Leduc is still teaching. Gamache tells Brébeuf not to worry, explaining that “you worry about your side of the street. There’s enough mess there to keep you busy. I’ll worry about mine” (73). Brébeuf also wants to know why Gamache has brought him to the academy, but Gamache remains vague.

Over the next few weeks, a routine is established at the academy, and things seem to be going relatively well. Amelia keeps mostly to herself, but one evening during one of the gatherings in Gamache’s quarters, some other cadets notice Amelia gazing at the framed map. Three other cadets also take an interest in the map: Huifen, Jacques Laurin (another 3rd year), and Nathaniel Smythe (a 1st year). When Gamache notices the cadets looking at the map, he sets them an exercise to try and solve its mystery. He has copies made and given to each of the four students.

By the next day, the students report back to Gamache: they complain that he has tricked them by giving them a map of a place that doesn’t exist. They have unsuccessfully tried to find Three Pines on all other maps and have concluded there is no such place. Gamache simply dismisses them; that night, as he is driving home to Three Pines, he notices that a car is following him. As he had hoped, the curious cadets are following him and thus learning a key skill. The cadets are shocked when Gamache arrives at a cozy village that does not appear on any maps; before they can figure out what to do, Gamache invites them to stay for dinner, indicating that he is aware they have been following him.