The Cruelest Month

Gamache’s team has set up the incident room, their investigation headquarters, in the old train station in Three Pines and are staying at the bed-and-breakfast. Lemieux and Nichol, who deeply dislike each other, are both now officially on the case. The five team members meet officially for the first time, and Lacoste reports that the crime scene has been broken into. He shows them pictures of the damage, including the dead robin.

Nichol asks whose idea it was to hold a séance at Hadley house, as they may be a likely suspect. Lemieux reports on his research of ephedra, and Gamache points out that if Madeleine was not taking ephedra for weight loss, perhaps someone else was and used it on her. Ephedra can kill people who have preexisting heart conditions, and Gamache comes to the conclusion that the killer used the ephedra and the Hadley house together to frighten her to death.

Clara cannot stop thinking about the dead robin. They had all known there was a bird trapped in the house, and yet had let their imaginations run away and had not helped the bird escape. After she, Myrna, and Lacoste leave the house, she goes to Myrna’s house for breakfast, and Peter joins them.