A Rule Against Murder

Clara says that she didn’t mind being left behind, but when Peter returns, she is cool to him. He tries to apologize but doesn’t understand what he did wrong. When she says that he could have stayed ashore with her, he doesn’t understand, as the idea seems incomprehensible to him.

The statue of Charles Morrow arrives and is revealed. When Elliot wants to take Julia’s drink to her, Pierre takes the tray to Julia himself. After he leaves, Elliot claims that Pierre took it because he is attracted to her. He doesn’t notice that Chef Veronique is nearby, listening. Chef Veronique understands that Pierre cares deeply about the staff—young people working there for the summer—but that Elliot may have pushed him too far.

That evening, Gamache and Reine-Marie discuss their amazement over the statue as they watch the storm approach. They tell Peter and Clara the story of their courtship, and Peter tells them about the note that his father put in his suitcase when he left for boarding school that said: “Never use the first stall in a public washroom” (76). The rest of the family join them, and talk turns ugly between the siblings. When Thomas brings up toilets to Julia, she loses her temper and berates Thomas, Marianna, and Peter.