Chapter 2 - The Little Liar

Lisa Charvet extended a slightly limp hand. She was prettyish, dressed with no particular care. Her wet knit cap had flattened her brown curls onto her forehead. Two streaks of mascara shadowed her hazel eyes. She must have smoked a cigarette just before coming in, her parka reeked of cold tobacco.

She stayed standing, indecisive, glancing around the room. At Alice’s invitation, she sat in the chair facing the desk and put a bulging backpack on the floor at her feet.

“This place is big …”

“Tell me what brings you here.”

“I want to be represented by a woman.”

“Well, you came to the right place,” said Alice.

“I already have a lawyer, but I want to change. My parents chose him when I was a minor.”

She couldn’t be more than twenty.

“What’s his name?”

“Rodolphe Laurentin. He’s a lawyer in Paris. A friend of my mother’s recommended him. You probably know him. He does stuff on TV, in debates. He specializes.”

“What do you mean, he specializes?”

“In victims. He represents rape victims. My parents wanted the best for me, you see …”

“I see. When you’re in a small town, a Paris lawyer always looks better.”

“Well, that’s not what I think. Anyway, you saw him at my trial.”

Alice stared at her wide-eyed.

“At your trial?”

“Yes, it was seven months ago. You came and sat next to Mr. Théry, the defense lawyer. And stayed with him quite a while.”

Alice knew Théry well. He specialized, too, in his own way, but on the other side. Defending rapists and incestuous fathers. She kept that to herself.

She often slipped into the criminal court between two meetings or while she was waiting for her case to be called in a neighboring courtroom. She’d always enjoyed getting a whiff of the proceedings. “My stable yard smell” she called it. It wasn’t her own expression,she’d read it long ago in a Simenon book, she’d forgotten which one, but the phrase had stayed with her.

The young woman was studying her, obviously disappointed by her silence.

“You were there when my legs gave way. I remember you very clearly. Especially the look on your face.”

“Really? What was so striking about it?”

“It was hard.”

What the hell was this girl doing in her office, sitting there with her arms crossed and staring at her, if she didn’t like the look on her face?

“It must come with the territory in my line of work. I imagine you were extremely distressed …”

“More than you think.”

Images were coming back to her. She now thought she remembered this girl trembling on the witness stand, not a sound coming from her mouth, while Théry’s client hurled insults at her. The girl had slumped to the floor right in the middle of the courtroom, the presiding judge had had to suspend proceedings. Alice had stayed with Théry, who was seething on his bench. “The idiot, he’s fucked everything up! It’s dead in the water.” She even remembered Théry nodding toward his adversary—who was stooped over the tearful young woman—and muttering, “Would you look at that peacock, with his tassels on his loafers …” So that was the famous Laurentin.

Lisa Charvet explained what had happened next. There had been another incident, the accused had been removed from the dock. He’d been given ten years and had appealed. The appeal trial was to be held in four months’ time.

“I brought you my case file.”

She delved into her backpack and put a thick plastic folder on the desk.

“I don’t know if it’s all in there, I haven’t even opened it. I asked my mom for it. She didn’t ask any questions. It’s complicated when we try to talk about this stuff.”

“What about Laurentin, did you tell him?”

“He doesn’t know anything either. You’re the first person I’ve come to see. When I was looking for lawyers online, I came across your photo and I recognized you.”

Lisa Charvet seemed to hesitate before saying anything else. Alice looked at her encouragingly.

“I’m scared. I don’t want to go.”

“It’s completely natural for you to feel that way. But I’m sure you realize it’s important for you to be there.”

“I’m trying to forget it all. I want to put this behind me and move on. Couldn’t you go alone? I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Ever. I don’t want to see anyone from that time.”

“First I’m going to read your file.”

“I can pay, you know. My grandma left me some money. Plus I have a job now. I’m trying to be less dependent on my parents. I gave them a hard enough time already.”

Lisa Charvet started telling Alice her life story. Alice disguised her boredom by taking notes. Messy teenage years. Failed baccalaureate. Work-study program. Living alone in a studio apartment. Job at a garden center. Divorced parents. Difficult relationships. Of course she would take the case, she had a practice to keep on its feet.

She put down her pen and made as if to stand up. Lisa didn’t move from her chair.

“That photo on your desk, is it your children?”

“Yes.”

“It must be better having a girl and a boy. They don’t get compared, I imagine. I have an older sister, Solène. She was always good at everything. She’s an engineer now. My parents are super proud of her. I also have a half brother, Leo. He was born just before my trial. My dad had him with his new wife.”

The phone rang. It was Naima. Right on time. Alice apologized, but she would have to go, she had an urgent meeting, she said. She would call her very soon.

“How about you, do you often represent victims?”

“Yes. But I don’t specialize, if that’s what you’re asking,” she replied as she saw her to the door.

It was still raining when she mounted her bicycle to ride home. All the bars were full of people, gaggles of students huddled under their awnings, beer mugs in hand. Louise must have been doing the same thing in Paris right now. Alice would ask her for news of Romain, he spoke to his sister more readily than to his mother lately. With a few pedal strokes she moved away from the bustling streets in the town center. One more hill and she’d be there.

The cat darted between her legs, purring. Alice had eventually grown used to having it there, she’d even stopped cursing when she caught it tearing up the living room carpet. She hadn’t dared say no when Romain had asked if she could look after it. He meant to take it back as soon as he was settled in a new place. Weeks and then months had passed, and Ulysses was still there. By the time Romain had finally found his apartment, he’d also found a girlfriend who was allergic to cats.

Alice felt drained this evening. There was her age, of course—early fifties. Plus spending half her time doing the rounds of courthouses and hearings. She didn’t drink much and didn’t smoke. But for a while now she’d found it harder to take the daily dose of darkness that hit her in the face. And yet Lord knows she loved the job! “You love it too much,” her husband used to say, and he’d soon wearied of her never-ending days and the stories of shattered lives that she brought home to the dinner table. Then the children had left too, she hardly saw them now, but at least she was free to pack her bag as often as possible and head for her island retreat. It felt like she was washing it all off the moment she dived into the ocean.

A message from her associate popped up on her phone. She had her period and wouldn’t be at work the next day. All delivered with a winking emoji. Alice sighed. Camille was the same age as her son, she was a bright, meticulous young woman who could find her way around a gnarly file or root out a legal precedent in no time, but when she had her period, there was nothing to be done about it, she disappeared. The first time she’d explained her absence without a flicker of embarrassment, Alice had been stunned and had talked about it with Louise that same evening.

“Can you believe it? I would never have dared say something like that! When I was pregnant, I sucked in my belly so that it showed as little as possible, I was still working two days before giving birth and I went back to work a week later!”

“Yeah, and? That was a quarter of a century ago! Maybe you had no choice in those days. But that needs to change too, in case you didn’t realize …”

Alice hadn’t known how to reply.

She went out to the garden for some fresh air. The trees were dripping, vestiges of mist clinging to their branches. She thought about the trial again, about what she should have said, one idea led to another, everything flowed. The best defense speeches are always the ones you come up with afterward. Alice tried to push Gerard’s face out of her mind. She checked that the cat was inside and closed the French door. It wasn’t all that late, she had time to glance through Lisa Charvet’s file.

POLICE STATION OFFICIAL REPORT

RAPE OF A MINOR

Crime identified and punishable under articles 222–23 and 22–24 of the penal code.

Persons involved: Charvet Lisa (victim, minor). Lange Marco (major suspect).

We, the undersigned, G.C., Criminal Investigation Department in A., being in our unit’s office and, at 14.35 hours, receiving Charvet Benoît and Fresnais Bénédicte, Charvet’s wife, who informed us of their intention to press charges concerning the rape of their daughter, a minor, Charvet Lisa Laurine, shall hear them severally and separately.

That was five years ago. It was Lisa’s parents who had given the man’s name to the police when they filed their complaint. Their daughter was in ninth grade. The file was packed with witness statements from her teachers, Alice had never seen so many, as if the whole school had been mobilized. There were also quantities of medical certificates. The girl had been hospitalized several times. She’d had a hell of an ordeal. Alice could see why she didn’t want to go through it all again.

Fellatio, attempted sodomy. Marco Lange had always denied everything. Alice came across several letters from him addressed to the examining magistrate. He had the childish, rounded handwriting riddled with spelling mistakes of someone who left school early. His letters were full of rage, with exclamation marks everywhere. There had already been several offenses on his police record when he had been taken in for questioning. Theft, battery, drunk and disorderly behavior, insulting a person in a position of public authority. At the time he was single and thirty-two years of age. Lisa was fifteen.

She didn’t read any further. It wasn’t a complicated case.