Chapter 37
37
‘Hi, DS Phillip, it’s Coco.’
‘Coco, how are you? Sick of French food yet?’
‘Is that even possible?’
He cackles. ‘I’m a meat and three veg man, so that would be an affirmative. Now listen, I know you’ve been hesitant to go down the civil suit road with Alexander.’
‘That’s it for small talk?’ I can’t help but tease. DS Phillip is a man of few words unless it’s about policing matters or complaints about the state of the publishing industry.
‘Don’t make me ask about the weather.’
‘Fine, I won’t. Anyway, you were saying?’
‘I felt so bad about what happened to you, we all did, but we were obligated by our legal team to follow their direction…’
‘I understand. No hard feelings.’
‘Well there are some hard feelings, directed towards the man of the hour, Alexander. It didn’t sit well with us when all those articles came out about how he gives the less fortunate a leg up in the literary space, when we know he does no such thing. ’
‘Right.’
‘I took it upon myself to call in a few favours, have a bit of a poke around in his past. Not illegal, I’ll have you know.’
‘I know you’d never break the law, Phillip.’ God forbid.
‘Good, good. Anyway, I managed to uncover a few things about our pal, Alexander, namely that this kind of theft isn’t new to him. In fact, he’s been caught twice before. Once he settled out of court and the second time the charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence, and then there’s the third time with London Field Publishing. A mate of mine, an investigative reporter, got wind of it and wants to do an exposé on him. I told him to hold off, because if he does that it might affect your civil case, if all the information is shared to the public domain.’
‘Hmm.’ I consider it. Why does Alexander get to do this several times and get away with it? ‘I’ve already been told by my lawyer that the costs to recoup my investment will outweigh the amount I’ll get back, so I don’t think there will be a civil case.’
‘Figured as much.’
‘Unless he settles with me out of court, like he did before.’ Then I’d get at least some funds back. ‘But the thing is, DC Phillip, if I did settle out of court then his misdeeds are hidden from the industry again, from his next victim and I don’t like that one little bit.’
Do I want there to be an exposé on Alexander? It would be an efficient way to prove that I was not involved for those who still don’t believe in me. And it would be just. I don’t need my investment back as much I need him to be exposed for what he is. A thief.
Choice made, I say, ‘If the investigative reporter wants to do a story, who am I to stop him? ’
‘It’ll be big, Coco. He’s top of his game.’ He shares the name of the reporter and I’m suitably impressed.
‘I’d quite like my reputation restored so I can get back to editing one of these days.’
‘Say no more. And if you’re planning on starting up your own thing, let me know. I’d love to work with you again. My new editor is great, but she doesn’t seem to care about the state the publishing industry is in, no matter how many times I tell her.’
I laugh fondly over his penchant for just that very thing. ‘Watch this space.’
That evening, Eloise and I walk along the Boulevard Montparnasse in search of ice cream. ‘How did today go?’
‘Well, it wasn’t the most fun I ever had but that’s to be expected. They were all fair, I suppose. The principal went over the bullying policy in great detail just so it sinks in this time.’
‘And Léa?’
‘She was really sweet. She said her dad has been happier since you came along, but now after all this he’s sad again. Is that true?’
I’m surprised by that. ‘He’s been happier?’
‘Yeah. She said he’s finally been able to write again after struggling with it for so long. He’s changed the type of articles he writes, and apparently now they’re satirical, whatever that means.’
‘Huh.’
‘And she even said that at home, he’d changed. Became more of a fun dad again. He’d been a bit, like, down after the divorce and all.’
‘You talked about a lot with Léa. Quite personal stuff.’
She lifts a shoulder. ‘We are trying to figure out how to fix it. I ’ m trying, I guess, because I don’t want to be the one responsible for you remaining a spinster.’
‘Gee, thanks.’
‘What?’ she says innocently.
‘It’s fine, don’t worry about my… spinsterhood.’ I still feel a pang when I think of Henri and what might have been, and while it’s been cordial, it hasn’t gone back to the way it was. It might never go back to that. ‘Right now, I’m more concerned about finding us the perfect abode.’
‘We’re ready to start looking?’
I nod. ‘We are.’
She shrieks, high and loud. ‘Can we stay close to Mémère and Grandad though? They’ll be so sad when we move out.’
‘Of course. We’ll stay as close as we can, if funds allow.’ I’ve done some research already and if we’re prepared to overlook an older style apartment, we’ll be able to stay in the same arrondissement.