“Do you know how ridiculous you sound? You don’t believe that myth, do you?”
“I believe in the power of the imagery. In the symbolism.” He stared at her. “You know about the etching, don’t you? About the Whore of Babylon on the gun. That’s why you specifically quoted those lines about the beast slouching toward Bethlehem, waiting to be born. They’re a reference to the Whore of Babylon.”
Her thin hand fell to her lap, still clasping the bread.
Her face was pale, her eyes stared ahead. Sharp. Searching. Her head cocked slightly to the side. Listening, Armand thought, for the voice of the falconer. Telling her what to do.
* * *
“Can we speak to you?” Isabelle Lacoste asked.
Jean-Guy was behind her and Clara stood behind him. Clara had gone to the Incident Room and told them everything, at Myrna’s urging. Myrna had returned to her bookstore, but the others now stood on the porch, waiting for an answer.
“Please, Madame Lepage.”
Evie Lepage stepped back and let them into her home, surprised to see Clara with the Sûreté officers.
“I don’t mean to be rude—” Evie began.
But Clara knew that’s exactly what Evelyn meant to be. If she had a hatchet and some privacy, she’d have used that instead of words.
“—but I’m a little busy. Perhaps you can come back later.”
“You drew the Whore of Babylon on the missile launcher,” said Clara. She brought out her device and showed the picture to Evie. “This is your work.”
“What?”
“I know,” said Clara. “They know. I’m sorry but I’ve told them. Don’t make this worse.”
“The Whore of Babylon?” Evie leaned closer to the image glowing on Clara’s device. “That was on the goddamned gun in the woods? The one Laurent found? Where he was found? Where he wa…” She stumbled to silence, wide-eyed. Wild-eyed.
Clara lowered her arm and turned off the device.
“Yes,” said Isabelle Lacoste.
Clara studied Laurent’s mother. She knew faces. Knew moods. Tried to capture both in her paintings. Her works appeared to be portraits but were actually of the layers of skin underneath, each stretching over a different, deeper, emotion.
If she were to paint Evie Lepage at this moment she’d try to get the emptiness, the bewilderment. The despair. And just there, barely visible in the depths—was that dread Clara saw? Was the mask stretched too tight, was the emotion too strong? Was it breaking through?
And if Clara was to do a self-portrait? There would be anger and disgust and, beneath that, compassion. And beneath that? In the darkness?
Doubt.
“I saw the drawings in Laurent’s room, of the lambs,” said Clara. “The ones you did for him every birthday. The same hand did both. It’s unmistakable.”
But seeing Evie’s alarm grow, Clara felt her own doubt expand, bloat, break through the other taut layers. Until doubt and dread stared at each other across the kitchen.
“It wasn’t you, was it?” said Clara. Stating what would have been obvious had she not been blinded by her own brilliance.
“That picture,” Evelyn gestured toward the now dark device in Clara’s hand, “was on the gun?”
“Yes,” said Beauvoir.
“What is it? You called it the Whore of Babylon.”
“It’s a biblical reference,” said Clara. “From the Book of Revelation. Some interpret it as the Antichrist. The devil.”
It would have sounded melodramatic had two people not already been killed, including this woman’s son.
Evie gripped the Formica countertop behind her.
“Can I see the drawings again?” Clara asked.
They followed Evelyn through the empty home, up the stairs, and into Laurent’s room. There, leaning against the books, was the row of lambs with the ewe and ram on the knoll watching over their child. The drawings progressed from the very first, which simply said “My Son,” through to Laurent aged nine. In each the lamb grew slightly larger, grew up. And then it ended. The lamb to the slaughter.
“You didn’t draw them, did you,” said Clara, seeing it now. “Al did.”
Evelyn nodded. “I thought I made that clear when you came the other day.”
“You might have, but I was so convinced it was you that I never really heard what you were saying. It didn’t occur to me that Al would do these.”
“Did you know your husband helped build the missile launcher?” Beauvoir asked.