The Nature of the Beast

Rumors begin to fly around the village; the inhabitants are fearful that someone has murdered Laurent, and they also speculate wildly about the object that was found in the woods. Gamache calms them, promising to keep everyone safe and urging the villagers to limit their information-sharing so that it will not impact the investigation. Meanwhile, Ruth is alarmed to hear there has been a discovery and is troubled by her memories of undisclosed past events.

A makeshift police headquarters has been set up in Three Pines. Isabelle Lacoste will lead the investigation; she and Gamache know each other well. Lacoste, Gamache, and Jean-Guy begin to discuss the case. They surmise that Laurent discovered the gun and was killed either because the killer did not yet know that the boy had already told people about the discovery, or to prevent Laurent from telling more people. As Jean-Guy speculates, the killer “had to silence the boy and the only way to do that was to kill him” (83).

Lacoste sends photos of the gun to the Canadian military, asking them to send ballistics experts to look at it. Her contacts are shocked and confused by the presence of the huge gun. Jean-Guy begins to do his own research, reaching out to a retired physics professor named Michael Rosenblatt, “a man who specialized in great big guns” (89). When Rosenblatt hears that a giant gun has been found, he asks if there is a monster etched on it. When Jean-Guy confirms this, Rosenblatt offers to come to Three Pines to help with the investigation.

Professor Rosenblatt arrives in Three Pines and meets Jean-Guy and Isabelle Lacoste. Along with Gamache, they go to the site where the gun is hidden.

Rosenblatt inspects the gun, confirming that it lacks both a missile and the firing mechanism. Without these components, the gun poses no threat. He also inspects the etching, noticing a Hebrew inscription of a line from Psalm 137: “By the waters of Babylon, we sat down and wept.” Back at the Gamache house, Rosenblatt explains that for years, there have been rumors of a giant, missile-launching gun, sometimes referred to as Project Babylon. A gifted engineer named Gerald Bull was rumored to have designed and built this gun; it is notable because it relies on very old technology and doesn’t even require a power source. It could therefore be fired by anyone who obtained it, meaning that “any terrorist cell, any extremist, any crazy dictator could become an international threat [without] needing technology, or scientists, or even electricity” (105). Bull was murdered in 1990, so no one has been able to confirm whether the gun was ever built. The rumors also mention that the gun had an etching of the Whore of Babylon (an allusion to the Biblical Book of Revelation) engraved into it.

Rumors also abound about Bull’s reasons for designing and building the supergun in the late 1980s; some speculate that he would have simply sold it to the highest bidder. Others think that he was working for Saddam Hussein or for the Israeli military. However, none of these possibilities explain why someone would kill Laurent to keep the gun a secret. Gamache also notices that the gun is pointed toward the United States; Three Pines is not far from the border separating the province of Quebec from Vermont.

Isabelle Lacoste is surprised when a man and a woman arrive in Three Pines and identify themselves as employees of CSIS (the Canadian intelligence agency). Mary Fraser and Sean Delorme are both quiet and unassuming and state that they were sent to examine the gun after word of its discovery reached intelligence headquarters. They are stunned to see the gun but immediately identify it as Bull’s legendary supergun. Jean-Guy explains that he has already started collaborating with Rosenblatt; Mary and Sean are familiar with the professor.

Meanwhile, with no formal role in the investigation, Gamache feels at a loss. He is concerned by the echo between the Biblical quotation on the gun (“we sat and down and wept”) and the title of Fleming’s play (She Sat Down and Wept). Gamache takes the manuscript of the play to the local church and reads it there.

Rosenblatt explains to Jean-Guy that he is familiar with Mary and Sean from CSIS; they are file clerks who work in the department where files on Gerald Bull are kept. They therefore know more about the engineer than almost anyone else. Rosenblatt resents them because they have repeatedly rejected his request for access to those files. While Rosenblatt never knew Bull personally, he both admired and feared the inventor, and he also believes that the Canadian government condoned Bull’s research to a certain extent.

Meanwhile, Mary and Sean tell Isabelle Lacoste about Gerald Bull, explaining how he “went from being a scientist, a designer, to being an arms dealer” (123). They also caution Lacoste not to trust Rosenblatt and not to make any news about the discovery of the gun public. Lacoste is increasingly confused and suspicious about the history surrounding the case and questions the hidden motives of Rosenblatt, and of Mary and Sean.

Reine-Marie reveals to Armand that she has been doing additional archival research into Gerald Bull. One of the documents implies that Bull may have worked on more than one supergun. Gamache shares his hunch that Fleming and Bull are somehow connected; however, Bull was assassinated in March 1990, and Fleming began committing his crimes in the summer of that same year. Reine-Marie gently tells her husband that she does not think there can be any connection between the two men.

Gamache, Isabelle Lacoste, and Jean-Guy continue to discuss the case. Evidence for Laurent’s death increasingly points to his father, Al Lepage, as the prime suspect. The investigators are all curious about the connection between Bull, Rosenblatt, and the CSIS file clerks. By the next morning, the news that a giant gun has been found in the woods is spreading through Three Pines.

Ruth and Clement Beliveau, an elderly man who owns the town grocery store, discuss the discovery of the gun and allude to some sort of secret that they are keeping.

Sean and Mary confront Lacoste and Jean-Guy; they want to know how news of the gun was leaked to the community. No one, including Rosenblatt, admits to having leaked this information. Gamache joins them, and the group pools the information they have collectively acquired about Gerald Bull. It now seems clear that Bull was building weapons for Saddam Hussein’s regime. At first, Bull had the support of the Canadian government, but he continued to work with Hussein even after the government pulled their support. However, no one knows how a giant gun ended up in Three Pines or how young Laurent got mixed up with it. Everyone is startled when Gamache brings up John Fleming, since there does not seem to be any connection between the serial killer and the current case.

Gamache also deduces that Lacoste leaked the news of the gun, by telling Gabri (the owner of the bed and breakfast) and then asking him to tell others. Isabelle Lacoste confirms that she wants to see if making the news public will help to flush out Laurent’s killer. As she tells Gamache, “This is not a time for timidity. Or secrets” (151).