Clause 11 — Early Termination. Either party may terminate this contract at any time, without cause, by simple declaration to the other. The Wife shall then receive in a single payment the balance of the sums provided for in clause 5 and shall leave the residence the following day.
Monday, November 16. I have eleven days of leave left for the year; I take one. Julien leaves for Boulogne at 7:40. I leave for the courthouse at 7:52, like every morning, the machine over my shoulder, except that I don't take the elevator up to courtroom 2.07. I go down.
Archives department, second basement. A woman of fifty in a gray cardigan has me fill in a form. Name, capacity, case reference. Capacity: witness, a minor at the time of the events. She reads it, raises her eyes to me, lowers them.
"Closed case," she says. "Consultation on site only. No photocopies, no photos. Allow an hour and a half."