Irene by Pierre Lemaitre Read Free Book Online Page B

with Évelyne, but she’s not here right now.”
    “And what does Évelyne do for a living?”
    “She’s looking for a job.”
    “Ah … But she can’t find one, am I right?”
    “She hasn’t yet.”
    Louis says nothing, he waits to see what approach Camille will take. But Camille suddenly feels immensely weary, because this whole thing is predictable, banal, in his profession even dealing with shitheads becomes a formality. He opts for the fastest route, he wants this over with.
    “When did you last see her?”
    “She left on Saturday.”
    “And is it normal for her not to come home?”
    “Well, no, actually,” says José.
    And at that moment José realises they know something he doesn’t, that the worst is yet to come and that it will come soon. He glances straight ahead at Louis, and then looks down at Camille. Suddenly Camille is no longer a midget, his is the terrible face of death itself.
    “You know where she is, don’t you …”
    “She’s been murdered, José. We found her body this morning in an apartment in Courbevoie.”
    Only now do they realise that young José is genuinely devastated, that while she was alive Évelyne lived here with him, that he loved her even if she was a prostitute, that she slept here in this room with him. Camille sees the young man’s face crumple, etched with the bewilderment and the grief of true tragedy.
    “Who did it?” José asks.
    “We don’t know yet. That’s why we’re here, José. We need to know what she was doing there.”
    José shakes his head. He has no idea. An hour later, Camille knows everything there is to know about José and Évelyne and the little working arrangement that led this rather shrewd girl to get herself chopped to pieces by a psychotic stranger.

18
    Évelyne Rouvray was
quick on the uptake
. Having been arrested once, she quickly realises she is on a slippery slope and she has only to look at her mother to know that life is about to go downhill, and fast. As for drugs, though she is a user, she is careful to remain a high-functioning addict. She turns tricks at the Porte de la Chapelle and is savvy enough that when clients offer to pay double to do it without a condom, she tells them to fuck off. A few weeks after her arrest, José breezes into her life. They move into the flat on the rueFremontel together and get themselves online. Évelyne spends a couple of hours a day at the computer looking for clients, she only does out calls and José always drives her to the meeting place and waits. He plays pinball in the nearest café. José is not really a pimp. He knows that in their little business venture, Évelyne is the boss, she is organised and very careful. Until now. A lot of clients ask to meet up in hotels. This is what happened last week. She met the john at a Mercure hotel. When she came back, she didn’t say much about the client other than that he was a friendly guy, not pervy, and stinking rich. In fact, he had suggested they meet up again a couple of days later. A threesome this time, he left it to Évelyne to find the second girl. His only stipulation was that she be about the same height and the same age. And he’s got a thing for big tits. So Évelyne phoned Josiane Debeuf, a girl she met down at the Porte de la Chapelle; it’s an all-night job, the guy will be alone and he is offering a sizeable wad of cash – the equivalent of two days’ work. He gave her an address in Courbevoie. José drove the two of them there. As they came into the deserted housing development they felt anxious. To make sure everything was above board, they agreed José would wait in the car until one of them waved to let him know it was alright. He was sitting in the car about twenty metres away when the client opened the door. With the light streaming from inside, he only saw him in silhouette. The man shook hands with the two girls. José waited for twenty minutes until Évelyne came to the window and waved. José was quite happy to