When they arrived at Charlotte’s, the distraught mother put Lydia to bed, so the parents were able to discuss the situation privately for several hours. They would contact her employer and try to maintain her job. It was clear that Lydia would have to attend a detox clinic, and finally Michel must track down Eric and put the fear of god into him so that he never came near Lydia again. Michel felt he could call on some reliable contacts for that mission. Meanwhile he walked back to Lydia’s apartment, retrieved the take away dinner and his motorcycle and drove home feeling completely humiliated.
The next day, Michel called at Charlotte’s apartment in the late afternoon. As Lydia regained her wits, Michel insisted on knowing how her drug habit started, and who her supplier was. If it was Eric, he was determined that Eric would meet with a serious accident.
“Oh Papa,” Lydia began wearily, “don’t you know? Remember when I was a kid I used to do my school homework in your study at Maisons-Lafitte? One day I needed a stapler, so I opened a desk drawer and found a black draw-string bag. Sounds familiar?”
Michel felt as though the blood was slowly draining from his body.
“I used to take a handful and smoke it outside. Then, when I left home I used the same contacts as you.”
“Who were they?” Michel thought he knew the answer.
“Estelle’s friends, Zu and Ahmed. Ahmed has done well since those days when you used to finance him. He drives around in a Porsche Cayenne now,” she laughed. “It’s his company car and he has it registered in Latvia, where the names of company directors are not recorded, so the French police can’t trace the driver of the car when he gets caught by a speed camera.” Despite Lydia’s apparent glee, Charlotte lowered her head slowly and put her hands up to her face. Michel felt a terrible pressure across his chest and his mouth was dry. He said no more, but left Lydia with Charlotte. He needed air, so he went for a long walk, winding his way through small groups of people on the wet pavements and crossing side roads as they were going out for the evening or taking their dog for a walk. He was unconscious of anything around him. He didn’t even notice that the rain had started again, because he was so deep in his own gloomy thoughts, but eventually he arrived back at his point of departure, Charlotte’s apartment building, where he had earlier left his motorcycle. His first instinctive thought was that he wanted to go back inside and be with Charlotte. He punched in the entry code and crossed the silent hall, but on reaching Charlotte’s front door he half raised a hand to the doorbell, paused and moved his hand to his top lip. He must have stood there for a minute, head hung, unmoving. Then he turned and slowly walked back to his motorcycle, distractedly wiped the glistening raindrops off the seat and windscreen with a gloved hand, put on his helmet, and without looking around, drove away on the shimmering wet street into the busy evening traffic, leaving a faint whiff of oil smoke in the still, damp air. A car alarm went off nearby, its doleful tone adding to Michel’s mournful mood.
Chapter Thirty-One
Which Woman?
‘The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is ‘What does a woman want?”
Sigmund Freud: Life and Work by Ernest Jones, 1953
By the time Lydia visited the Miltons in Branne, Annick informed them, her sister had survived and conquered most of the obstacles she had faced earlier, but the experience had taken a toll on her spirit. She no longer trusted people, especially men. She had become aggressive, and built a hard carapace, and was making her way in the tough career she had chosen, though she had become resentful because it was certainly not the intellectually more demanding path that would have been open to her if she had completed the course at Sciences Po.
Annick concluded, “Lydia doesn’t have a particularly romantic temperament – it’s not her style. She has no illusions about her poor chances of attracting a mate but I think she has come to terms with who she is.”
“She is lucky to have you to talk to,” said Thérèse, without further comment on Lydia’s situation. Then, having taken another sip of coffee from her plastic airport cup,
“Is it my imagination or is life particularly difficult for women in France? Do you see a difference between Paris and New York, Annick?”
Annick gazed into her cup before replying, “Yes, there are differences, but first remember that Paris is not typical of France and New York is not typical of the rest of the USA. They are both cosmopolitan hotch-potches coping at different speeds with new social norms and there are tensions.
“In theory, freedom is better than repression, but increased sexual freedoms have caused explosions in families and I think that women and children have suffered as a consequence, though you can’t generalise because all extremes live side by side.
“In the 1960s, Simone de Beauvoir was able to say that France had the legislative framework for equality of the sexes. Since then, we have proved that you can’t change male attitudes by law, but in the meantime women’s attitudes have changed and we are more responsible than ever for managing our own lives and behaviour.
“Leibnitz said, ‘To love is to be delighted by the happiness of someone, or to experience pleasure upon the happiness of another.’ So if he was right, the polyamour concept maybe a route to short-term pleasures for some, but it is not a route to longer term happiness.”
“So what’s your choice from the options available, Annick?” asked Thérèse, always ready to put the more personal question, “or am I being indiscreet?”
“No, your question is not indiscreet, Thérèse, but talking about my love life may be. Love is a great privilege. Real love is very rare, but I know it enriches the lives of the men and women who experience it. I would like very much to be part of a traditional couple like you and George, and I could accept the constraints that it imposes, but there are so many pressures today which can drive couples apart and put temptations in their way. I just don’t know how things will turn out for us.”
“Will you get married?”
“There is no hurry. We are both making our way in our jobs and I guess if a baby comes along we will have to think about it seriously.”
“Doesn’t that mean the exit door is left open?”
“Yes, we just have to confront the choices as they come and there is an abundance of choice. The life we want is influenced by styles we are encouraged to adopt nowadays, and that is often at odds with happiness in married life. I can see that, and we just have to move at a pace we can cope with.
“Neither I nor my partner fit the new criteria of building sexual capital to attract lots of people. We accept that people evolve and standards change, but I feel that young women today are too obsessed with being ‘hot’. That means dressing and behaving in ways that attract the wrong kind of attention and it does not ultimately get them the relationships they desire.
“If you think longer term it’s better to be more low-key as it is more likely to lead to stronger relationships.” Annick paused, smiled broadly. “Do I sound old fashioned?”
Thérèse’s answer was to put her cup down and give Annick a hug. At this point the three looked at their watches, rose unhurriedly and strolled towards the boarding area.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The Fur-lined Trap
While Michel and Charlotte were in business together, as an equal partner and centre-pin of administration and accounting, Charlotte controlled business and private transactions. So, from an early stage she had worked out how Michel was milking the cow and knew that he must be receiving large payments in cash to avoid VAT and reduce corporate tax. She was happy enough while she thought she was a beneficiary of that process, but since the sale of the company, how much cash Michel collected and how he spent it was no longer visible, and that had become a very contentious issue between them, especially since their separation. Charlotte was burning with resentment in the knowledge that he was in all probability spending their joint money
on his adventures and on his mistress. Had the land in Haiti been bought with their jointly owned money and in Sonia’s name? Michel denied it. When Charlotte tackled him on this, and on the fact that he was continuing to spend from cash reserves, which remained hidden from her, he explained that now as he was no longer the business owner, there was no inflow of personal cash. Charlotte disbelieved this story like so many others. When she heard about the land deal in Haiti she immediately referred to the bank statements she held, but there was no sign of the source of funds or of a payment for the land transaction.
Michel would not tell Charlotte where the money for the land had come from, so she concluded that she was increasingly being excluded from Michel’s financial arrangements and it strengthened her suspicion that he had large sums of money in off-shore accounts.
In a conversation with Thérèse, when asked why Michel was going to Haiti of all places, Charlotte quoted Michel as saying, “If there’s a possibility you may have to answer criminal charges, it’s best to do it from a long way away.” Thérèse wondered which threat Michel feared most and what form of protection he was planning.
After three years of separation and having consulted the family and her lawyer, Charlotte reached the conclusion that her initially hoped-for reconciliation with Michel was unrealistic. She had hoped he would tire of Sonia after a while and come back to her. But on the contrary, after Michel’s short-lived attempt at reconciliation with Charlotte, the relationship with Sonia seemed more together than ever and Charlotte’s fear was that the longer the present financial arrangements remained in place, the more their joint wealth was likely to leak into assets or accounts which could benefit Sonia or some other mistress.
Charlotte decided to follow Thérèse’s advice and persuaded Michel to come and see their lawyer with a view to initially separating their assets, to provide her with a clear view and sole control of her wealth and to open the way for a later divorce. According to a later conversation between Charlotte and Thérèse, the lawyer had explained to the couple that their position was one where tax would remove a large part of any settlement and Michel had therefore decided not to cooperate in any disclosure. Charlotte now felt that she had no choice but to live with the current situation.
They sat around a huge oak-panelled, leather-topped desk in an office filled with books, files and spectacular sailing ship models. Colin, the lawyer, creaked back in his captain’s chair, steepled his hands and began, “I’ve known you both for some time and I believe you to be down to earth, practical, and pragmatic in business matters. Am I right?” They nodded. “Let me get straight to the point. The legal position is this – if you two decide to formally separate, you will be required to present a sworn statement of all your assets wherever they are held, and they will be valued independently and officially at your expense. When a decision is made to divide the ownership as a first step towards a divorce, the French state will impose a tax on the totality of your wealth.” He paused for effect, then explained the full financial implications and set out the details of the taxes that would be levied.
“Do you wish to leave now, or will you have another cup of coffee?” They stayed. Charlotte asked what other options there were.
“Living in sin may be untidy and emotionally irksome for both of you, but fiscally you will not do better.” He sat back in a self-satisfied way, with a rigid smile on his face.
Charlotte banged the desk with her fist. “I am not living in sin! He is!” She pointed to Michel and bowed her head hopelessly.
“I’m sorry Charlotte,” Colin added hastily, his smile quickly removed, “it was just an inappropriate expression. I mean that if one of you is living in concubinage, that characterises the relationship. I didn’t mean any reflection on you.”
After leaving the lawyer, Michel and Charlotte sat down at a street café and ordered drinks. Michel leaned towards his wife. “Whatever he says about money, I will not agree to a divorce.”
“Why not?”
“I have my reasons.” He pursed his lips. Charlotte understood this was a sure sign that no further comment would emerge.
Charlotte went home and shared her thoughts with Thérèse, who had been advocating a clean break. When she heard the outcome of the meeting, Thérèse realised that Charlotte was economically and emotionally trapped. The tax imposition was extortionate and there was no way that Michel would reveal all his assets to his wife or the tax authorities, and secondly the status quo appeared to be a way for him to control Charlotte, who, whatever she said, was also handicapped by her residual love for Michel.
Thérèse and George agreed it was a mess and one that Michel could exploit to keep Charlotte on a string. He already found and delighted in every opportunity to meet her to discuss family or joint financial business and Charlotte always agreed to meet him, usually over a meal. Thérèse thought she must be a willing collaborator, signalling that she maintained possession of Michel to spite Sonia. Her real motives remained unclear, but it seemed odd. Although she said Michel’s lies and cheating had reached a point where she couldn’t love him anymore, this might not be a true expression of her deeper feelings, despite everything that had happened and all the pain she had suffered.
George Milton expressed his exasperation when he heard the latest.
“Why should we worry about all that? They worked together in the same office every day until he sold the business. They have cosy lunches to discuss ‘family business’, so I don’t see why we have been pussy-footing around their sensitivities when Charlotte can’t bring herself to make a clean break because of the cost.”
“But she can’t, can she,” replied Thérèse, “there has been the complication of the fact that she still loved him until she abandoned all hope, and then it’s not just a question of the financial cost, she has to get his co-operation to make the separation.”
George puzzled over this.
“I am not a lawyer, but I know that people get divorced without the co-operation of the other party. She has every justification, so surely she could if she wanted to? It’s a complete mess just rolling on like this.”
“But look at it pragmatically, George. At least she controls the bank accounts,” added Thérèse.
“Yes, but that’s no big deal for Michel. He has various sources of income now and he can set up bank accounts elsewhere.”
There was no conclusion from the conversation, but the Miltons agreed it looked a mess and that Charlotte remained as economically and emotionally dependent on Michel as before their separation.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Disappearing Trick
2012
Although Thérèse and George sent Michel regular news of their movements and invitations for Michel and Sonia to join them, they were met by silence until one day they received a circular email from Michel in New York, where he was visiting his daughter Annick, and a new grandson. Broadcast to around a dozen addressees, it was an effusive and poetic outpouring about the stunning atmosphere, the overwhelming happiness he felt at being in NY and seeing first-hand all the buildings and sites with which the world thinks it is familiar and seeing how the people were free to express themselves in any way they wished. There was no personal information.
Thérèse contacted Annick to see how the visit had gone. “He came with his woman again. He keeps pushing her forward. I’ve told him that I don’t want her here, but he just says that if I want to see him, she comes too.” Thérèse responded to Michel’s message from New York with a more personal message, but there was no reply. After another month George sent a text message and email saying that he had understood that the silence was deliberate and inviting Michel to explain why he had cut himself off from them.
After a few weeks there came a muddled and hurriedly typed SMS from Haiti apologising for the delay in responding because of poor network connectivity. Michel had to go up a mountain to obtain a signal. Yes, he had decided to put up a protective cordon to shield him from the stress of undiplomatic
comments and veiled criticisms from Thérèse, but he would reopen communications with his aunt in September on his return to France. He expressed his love and emphasised that this message carried greetings from him and his partner Sonia.
Michel Bodin did not call in September 2012 and when George and Thérèse Milton contacted other members of the family in October, including his daughters, parents, and even the Mendeses, nobody had heard from him since his last text message to George Milton. Annick Bodin called some friends in Paris and they talked to the police.
The French police contacted counterparts in Haiti and asked them to check. It took a month before a report came back saying the local police had been to Michel’s address and interviewed Madame Sonia Alvarez. She had maintained that Michel Bodin left for Paris early in September. The police had found his white Mitsubishi Pajero in the Cap Haitien International Airport car park. However, there was no record of a Michel Bodin buying a plane ticket, or using his credit card. Having acquired this information and passed it on to the family, the French police filed a missing person report and showed no enthusiasm for further investigation.
Sonia Alvarez had been feeling for some time that things were turning sour between her and Michel, but the relationship had so far met most of her objectives. They had been together for over ten years now and since meeting Michel, her life had been transformed from one of constant worry about money and survival, to one of financial comfort and sensual excitement. She had accepted early on in the relationship that in truth she was a sex slave, housekeeper, personal assistant and dogsbody, but in return she lived well, travelled extensively to glamorous destinations around the world, and had no more financial worries for herself and her son, who was now launching into a good career after completing two years of private study, thus compensating for some of his lost years in education.
A Clean Pair of Hands Page 19