A Trick of the Light (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #7)

by Louise Penny

“There’s some debate over whether the dead woman had changed, whether she was the same person everyone knew twenty years ago, or if she was different.” “What makes you think she’d changed?” Myrna asked, then took a bite. “That coin you found in the garden? You were right, it’s from AA and it belonged to the dead woman. She’d stopped drinking for eight months now,” said the Chief. “People who knew her in AA describe a completely different person than Clara does. Not just slightly different, but completely. One is kind and generous, the other is cruel and manipulative.” Myrna frowned and thought, taking a sip of her café au lait. “We all change. Only psychotics remain the same.” “But isn’t that more growth than change? Like harmonics, but the note remains the same.” “Just a variation on a theme?” asked Myrna, interested. “Not really change?” She considered. “I think that’s often the case. Most people grow but they don’t become totally different people.” “Most. But some do?” “Some, Chief Inspector.” She watched him closely. Saw the familiar face, clean-shaven. The graying hair curling slightly around his ears. And the deep scar by his temple. Below that scar his eyes were kindly. She’d been afraid they might have changed. That when she next looked into them they’d have hardened. They hadn’t. Nor had he. But she didn’t kid herself. He might not look it, but he’d changed. Anyone who came out of that factory alive came out different.