The Grey Wolf

Jean-Guy interviews the Director of AQB, Margaux. She’s saddened to hear about Charles’s death and says that he was a marine biologist. Jean-Guy learns that Charles was testing water pollution in lakes and didn’t leave his laptop and notebooks at work. Charles’s coworkers and Jean-Guy watch the video of the attack on the news. Jean-Guy notices when the SUV scraped Armand’s foot, pulling off his shoe. One of Charles’s coworkers says that she visited Charles’s home and that he had a map of Quebec on the wall. No one recognizes the list of herbs or the handwriting in the note.

Meanwhile, Armand goes to Sûreté headquarters, wondering who is compromised. Toussaint asks Armand to update her on the case. Armand warns Toussaint that there’s a collaborator and internally fears that it’s her. They go to the news conference, and Armand fields the anticipated questions. He’s surprised that a vlogger who publicly hates him learned about the conference. She asks why he saved himself and not Charles. Toussaint replies before Armand can, saying that the video clearly shows him saving the young girl. The vlogger says that Armand fell on the girl and harmed her. The other journalists are shocked. Toussaint continues to defend Armand, which leads Armand to wonder if she is or isn’t the compromised Sûreté agent.

Armand, Isabelle, and Jean-Guy meet at a diner that Sûreté agents don’t usually frequent. Jean-Guy brings Armand a new pair of shoes and an ice pack for his foot and updates him about what he learned. Isabelle and Jean-Guy think the case is about pollution. They talk about the recipe in Armand’s coat and the rareness of angelica stems, also called “[a]rchangelica,” which are often mistaken for a poison. Then, Armand shares his theory about an attack on the water supply, and they discuss potential poisons and their impact. Isabelle hasn’t found the woman who signaled the SUV driver, and the cameras at the landfill were off when the SUV arrived. Jean-Guy thinks that Charles may have hidden his notes at The Mission. As they leave, Armand wipes whipped cream off Jean-Guy’s hand.

At The Mission, they look for the executive director, Gagnon, but he left during the pandemic. They talk to the new director, Claudine, but initially think that she’s a resident. She admits that she used to spend time with Charles before revealing her position. She saw the video on the news and was moved that Armand held Charles’s hand at the end. She has a resident show Isabelle and Jean-Guy where Charles might have hidden his notes. Meanwhile, Armand asks Claudine about the politicians who come to The Mission for publicity and requests the security videos of the visits when Charles was there. Jean-Guy and Isabelle return, not having found Charles’s notebooks or laptop.

Claudine says that Charles kept them in her office but removed them about a week ago and probably took them home. She admits that Charles volunteered more often than he told Armand. Next, Armand watches the security footage. In one video, Charles is talking to Jeanne.

After midnight, Armand returns to his home in Three Pines. He tells Reine-Marie all about the case. She thinks that he should warn people about the potential danger to their drinking water, but he fears that would cause the people responsible to change their plans. Their house has its own well, so she invites their children, Daniel and Annie, and grandchildren to stay with them. Armand makes Reine-Marie swear not to tell anyone else and shares his suspicion that Jeanne and the politician she works for, the deputy prime minister, are involved because he oversees terrorism. From their porch swing, they hear a wolf howl.

In the middle of the night, Jean-Guy calls Armand. Jean-Guy found more tapes that show Jeanne and Charles together at The Mission and has sent copies to Armand. After the call, Armand takes his dogs out for a walk and showers. He talks with Reine-Marie about the drink that Olivier had her try, which she thinks might be called “Famous Last Words” (113).

Armand goes to Olivier’s bed and breakfast and asks him about the drink. Olivier says that it’s called the “Last Word” and that he got the recipe, as well as the main alcohol in the drink, from a guest. Armand has Olivier describe this guest, who was an old man with outdated clothes and a calming presence named Mr. Gilbert. His reservation didn’t include a first name or address, and he paid in cash. When Gabri joins them, he remembers that Gilbert had a nice singing voice. Gabri also shares that Gilbert visited St. Thomas’s, the local church, and left a note in an envelope addressed to Armand there. They go to the church and find the envelope, which contains the other half of the recipe that was left in Armand’s coat pocket. On the back of the note are the words “Some malady.”

Armand asks Olivier and Gabri to give him some time to himself in the church. Once alone, he realizes that Mr. Gilbert is actually a monk named Dom Philippe. This is, in part, due to the partial quote written on the paper. The full quote, from the T. S. Eliot play Murder in the Cathedral, reads, “Some malady is coming upon us. We wait. We wait” (123). Armand classifies this man as angelic and in opposition to Jeanne, who is a devil. Jean-Guy and Isabelle eventually join Armand in the church. They talk about Armand’s unruly grandchildren taking over his house.

Armand tells them about his history with Jeanne. When he refused to help Jeanne’s boss’s daughter avoid a manslaughter charge, Jeanne retaliated by having Armand’s son charged with drug trafficking, even though he was addicted to drugs, not selling them. Being in jail caused Daniel to relapse, and he had to return to rehab. Jean-Guy internally reflects on his own struggle with drug use. Armand shows Jean-Guy and Isabelle the note that was left in the church. They think that Jeanne and Gilbert are working together, until Armand reveals Gilbert’s true identity. Jean-Guy recalls their earlier case that led them to Dom Philippe’s monastery, Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups (or Saint Gilbert Between the Wolves). Armand wonders why the abbot left his monastery.

After leaving the church, Jean-Guy takes the new note into the Sûreté for fingerprinting. Tardiff doesn’t think the murders connect to the Mafia, and Armand wonders if he’s the compromised agent. Armand meets with David Lavigne, the assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), outside of Montreal. David doesn’t offer specific information about the state of bioweapon sales, and the men talk about Lauzon, Jeanne’s boss, becoming deputy prime minister. David says that Armand doesn’t seem to trust him. Armand doesn’t. However, he decides to gamble and tell David about the potential plot to contaminate the drinking water. David insists that the evidence must relate to pollution, not bioweapons. They discuss the government’s unlimited power if the water were intentionally poisoned and they used the War Measures Act.

David takes an aspirin and then says that they shouldn’t warn the public until they’re certain that an attack is imminent because they don’t want to alert the attackers that they know something is awry. When Armand says that he’s going to the monastery, David hypothesizes that Dom Philippe is working with Jeanne. Armand asks David to look into Tardiff and Toussaint to see if they’re compromised.

When Jean-Guy and Armand take a small float plane to the monastery, their pilot struggles to keep them aloft in a storm. They fear for their lives, and Armand composes a text to Reine-Marie (“I love you. I’m sorry” [142]) but waits to send it. When the plane suddenly tips to the side and throws Jean-Guy into him, Armand inadvertently sends the text. The plane lurches several more times before landing on the water. Outside the plane, on the shore, he can see two monks.

While Armand and Jean-Guy go to the monastery, Isabelle calls the number that Dom Philippe put on his reservation to the bed and breakfast. It’s someone else’s number, a random man sick with a cold. She wonders whether the monk is a good man. Next, Isabelle goes to the morgue to view Charles and his murderer. Dr. Harris, the coroner, says that Charles wasn’t using drugs, only drinking small amounts. Next, Isabelle uses search warrants and a team to search AQB and its director’s home. The director, Margaux, has a map on her office wall that has flags in different lakes and rivers. Isabelle gently confronts Margaux about a note she wrote threatening to release arsenic into the drinking water. Margaux says that she was angry when the government cut their funding, but she never sent the letter. Isabelle finds no poison in Margaux’s apartment or workplace but has officers retrieve the map with all its flags.

After disembarking from the plane, Jean-Guy vomits and swears at the pilot. Armand intervenes when Jean-Guy grabs the pilot, and the pilot apologizes for taking them out in such bad weather. Jean-Guy apologizes as well. Armand realizes that he texted Reine-Marie and tries to send another text updating her that he arrived safely. However, the reception at the monastery is terrible. The two monks joke about the reception and show the guests inside. Jean-Guy jokes about staying in the monastery because it’s so beautiful. In the chapel, the monks come in with candles, chanting, as the bells toll for vespers. Armand notices that Dom Philippe isn’t there.

Back in Three Pines, Reine-Marie tries to contact Armand but can’t reach him, so she forwards his text to Isabelle, who promises to find him and assures Reine-Marie that he’s okay. Just as Reine-Marie decides to tell the family that Armand is missing, a text comes through from him, confirming that he’s alive and well. She cries alone, and her family prepares dinner.