schoolhouse.'
'So let me get this straight. Modern bows and arrows are made of some metal or other. The old ones are wood, right?'
'Right.'
'Would an arrow go through a body?'
'Yes, right through,' said Matthew.
'But, well, Mr Hadley, you talked about cowboys and Indians. In all those old movies the arrows stay in the body.'
'Those movies weren't actually real,' said Matthew. Behind him Gamache heard Beauvoir give a brief laugh. 'Believe me, an arrow would go straight through a person.'
'Alloy and wood?'
'Yup. Both.'
Gamache shook his head. Another myth exploded. He wondered if the church knew. But at least they had an answer to the exit wound puzzle, and it was now more certain than ever that Jane Neal had been killed by an arrow. But where was it?
'How far would the arrow go?'
'Humm, that's a good question. Ten, fifteen feet.'
Gamache looked at Beauvoir and nodded. The arrow would have gone right through her chest, out her back and flown into the woods behind. Still, they'd searched there and found nothing.
'Would it be hard to find?'
'Not really. If you're an experienced hunter you know exactly where to look. It'll be sticking up from the ground a bit, and the feathering makes it slightly easier. Arrows are expensive, Inspector, so we always look for them. Becomes second nature.'
'The coroner found a few slivers of real feathers in the wound. What could that mean?' Gamache was surprised to see the hubbub created by his simple statement. Peter was looking at Ben who was looking confused. Everyone, in fact, seemed to suddenly pop into activity.
'If it was an arrow then it could only be an old arrow, a wooden one,' said Peter.
'Wouldn't you find real feathers on an alloy arrow?' Gamache was asking, finally feeling like he was getting a grasp on the subject.
'No.'
'So. Forgive me for going over the ground several times, I just need to be sure. Since there were real feathers in the wound we're talking about a wooden arrow. Not alloy, but wood.'
'Right,' half the congregation spoke up, sounding like a revival meeting.
'And,' said Gamache, edging another small step forward in the case, 'not a target-shooting arrow, like the archery club uses, but a hunting arrow? We know that because of the shape of the wound.' He pointed to the drawing. Everyone nodded. 'It would have to have been a wooden arrow with a hunting tip. Can you use wooden hunting arrows with the new alloy bows?'
'No,' said the congregation.
'So it would have to be a wooden bow, right?'
'Right.'
'A Robin Hood bow.'
'Right.'
'I've got it, thank you. Now, I have another question. You keep using the words 'recurve' and 'compound'. What's the difference?' He looked over at Beauvoir, hoping he was taking good notes.
'A recurved', said Ben, 'is the Robin Hood bow. The cowboys and Indians bow. It's a long slim piece of wood that's thicker in the middle where there's a sort of carved grip for your hand. And on either end of the stick there are notches. You put your string on one end then the other and the wood curves to make a bow. Simple and effective. The design is thousands of years old. When you've finished you take the string off and store the bow, which is now back to being a slightly curved stick. The name 'recurved' is because you recurve it every time you use it.'
Simple enough, thought Gamache.
'Compound', said Matthew 'is a fairly new design. Basically, it looks like a really complex bow, with pulleys at both ends and lots of strings. And a very sophisticated sighting mechanism. It also has a trigger.'
'Is a recurved as powerful and accurate as, what was the name of the other bow?'
'Compound,' about twenty people said at once, including at least three of the officers in the room.
'As accurate ... yes. As powerful, no.'
'You hesitated over accuracy.'
'With a recurved you have to release the string with your fingers. A rough release would affect the accuracy. A compound bow has a trigger so it's smoother. It also has a very accurate device for sighting.'
'There are hunters today who choose to use the wooden recurve bows and wooden arrows. Is that right?'
'Not many,' said Helene Charron. 'It's very rare.' Gamache turned back to Matthew, 'If you were going to kill someone, which would you use? Recurve or compound?'
