Gamache sits in traffic on the Champlain bridge and wonders if Virginie or another sister might have escaped. Constance was private, but he wonders whether there was someone else she tried to talk to before going to Myrna. He goes to interview the quintuplets’ neighbors, Annette and Albert Michaud. They are shocked to hear that they’ve been neighbors with the Quints all this time. They reflect on when they heard about the quintuplets as children. As Gamache leaves, he wonders if he’s creating his own myth by imagining that one of the quintuplets is still alive.

Tessier informs Francoeur about Beauvoir’s fight with Gamache, insisting that “he’ll do anything we say now” (287). Hearing that Gamache visited the high security prison infuriates Francoeur, even though Gamache didn’t go inside. Francoeur demands that Tessier tell him the second Gamache’s signal appears, indicating that he’s leaving Three Pines.

Jérôme tends to Gamache’s wounds, and the group realizes that Francoeur will find them soon. Gamache walks around the village, fondly keeping track of all the villagers who have become his friends. For a moment, he refuses to think about the Ouellet case or the Sûreté, and thinks about his family, and how fortunate he is.