The girls from finishing didn’t know him so well, they’ve come mainly for the pleasure of meeting up with each other, which they don’t often get the chance to do now. They whisper, such a young guy, and with a wife and two kids, that’s sad, it really is. The woods in autumn, where accidents can easily happen. Rolande talks about dead leaves making the ground slippery. ‘How’s Émilienne doing?’ ‘Not very well, she can’t get over the shock of losing the baby. They’re talking about taking her to a psychiatrist, that’s not good.’ A silence. Since the fire, things haven’t been good for anyone. ‘What about Aisha?’ ‘Not here,’ says Rolande. ‘She stays stuck indoors all day. I think she’s having a hard time with her father.’ Silence.
Maréchal and Amrouche remain apart, behind a headstone.
‘Quignard asked me to request that you go and see him in his office, at ten o’clock tomorrow morning.’
Wary, aggressive. ‘What does he want from me?’ Maréchal smiles.
‘To offer you a job.’
Amrouche, shaken, speechless with uncontrolled emotion.
In the chapel, the priest has fallen silent. Quignard is the first to walk past the coffin and genuflect. Then he bows to the widow.
‘My condolences.’
‘Thank you for everything you’ve done for my family, Mr Quignard.’
He clasps her hand for a long time. ‘I am only doing my duty.’ Then he walks back to the car park at the entrance to the cemetery where his car and driver are waiting, and stays talking to Maréchal for a long time. He says goodbye to each of those who are leaving, Karim, Nourredine, Amrouche (See you tomorrow? In my office?). When Rolande walks past, Maréchal stops her and introduces her to Quignard.
‘Ms Lepetit, I am now the authorised representative of Daewoo. I have quashed the regrettable decision to dismiss you. You are of course reinstated. I wanted to inform you myself.’
Rolande, her face expressionless, seems indecisive, at a loss for words. She falters.
‘That’s good news.’
And she hurries off to join the girls who are making their way back to town on foot.
‘She’s a bit uptight, your protégée. A little “thank you” wouldn’t kill her.’ 20 October
At the police station, Lieutenant Lambert is handing over to Lieutenant Michel. Today the first witness to be interviewed, security guard Schnerb.
Gaston Schnerb, born on 5 June 1939 in Metz, residing at 26 rue de la Fraternité, Pondangé, security guard employed by 3G for four years and assigned to the porter’s lodge at Daewoo since the company opened.
Q. Where were you during the day of the disturbances at Daewoo?
A. My colleague and I came on duty at midday. We were supposed to finish at 20.00, but at the request of our superiors we remained until the premises were evacuated at approximately 22.00. On our arrival, we were informed that the workers had downed tools, so we telephoned our superiors who gave us very strict instructions: stop the patrols; avoid provoking trouble; keep a note of everything in the daybook. We followed these instructions to the letter. Two other security guards sent as backup by 3G arrived at Daewoo at 15.05 and covered the patrol duty. So we didn’t budge from the porter’s lodge until the premises were evacuated at around 22.00.
Q. The porter’s lodge was occupied during the disturbances. What exactly happened?
A. At 13.12 some employees turned up at the security control centre. They were led by Nourredine Hamidi, who entered and informed us that he was taking charge of opening and shutting the gates. We allowed him to do so, following our instructions. At 13.50 three lorries arrived to pick up some goods. Nourredine Hamidi wanted to prevent them from entering the factory, but he was unable to operate and so close the automatic gates. We did not intervene. The lorries were slowed down by the workers from the second shift trying to enter the factory at the same time. Then Nourredine Hamidi took it into his head to set fire to the empty pallets stacked near the porter’s lodge and push them under the engine of the leading lorry to blow it up. He was in a state of extreme agitation, shouting: ‘I’m going to burn the whole place down.’ Faced with the prospect of a degenerating situation, the drivers decided to turn back.
Q. Are there usually empty pallets stacked up near the porter’s lodge?
A. No. I didn’t see who stacked them there. It was probably done before we came on duty.
Q. Then what happened?
A. At 16.30 the executives began to leave the factory, by car, as usual. But Nourredine Hamidi hadn’t calmed down. As the third car drove up, he stood right in front of the bonnet to prevent it from moving forward, and he and some of his workmates overturned it. Then he clambered on to the car yelling: ‘We’re going to lock the bosses in.’ He marched at the head of the group and even from a distance we could see people smashing in the main door of the office building and storming inside. Then we found ourselves alone again in the porter’s lodge.
Following this, some executives pulled up at the gate wanting to leave. We opened the gate for them and they departed. They told us that there were only five people left in the offices, including the CEO. Not long after that, at 18.46, there was a fire alert regarding a dustbin fire inside the factory. We stayed put. During the fire alert, Ali Amrouche escorted the CEO and the remaining four managers to the gate, telling them to get away as quickly as possible. He looked terrified but he didn’t tell us why, or of whom he was afraid.
At 19.15 Nourredine Hamidi and Hafed Rifaai came back, just the two of them, to the porter’s lodge. Nourredine was covered in soot and dried blood, he must have got into a fight. When we told him the managers had all left he pushed us‚ my colleague and myself, and grabbed the daybook and set fire to it, issuing threats like: ‘I’m going to burn the whole place down.’ I clearly remember thinking at the time that this character was unhinged and a pyromaniac. Hafed Rifaai tried to calm him down without success. The two of them left and headed for the cafeteria, it must have been around 19.30. More workers reappeared with Hafed Rifaai at around 21.00 to review the question of overnight security with us. Nourredine Hamidi was not among them and things became much calmer. Then, at 21.43 precisely, the fire alarm went off …
Q. Who raised the alarm?
A. A man who came running out of the stockroom but I was unable to identify him. We came out of the porter’s lodge and saw the smoke, so we rushed to call the fire brigade. They arrived twelve minutes later.
Q. Do you think that Nourredine Hamidi set the Daewoo factory on fire?
A. It wouldn’t surprise me. Although I have no proof, of course.
Q. Do you know Karim Bouziane?
A. Yes, he’s been at Daewoo from the beginning. Our colleagues told us about a barbecue behind the factory on the day of the disturbances.
Q. Could he have set fire to the factory deliberately?
A. We know Karim Bouziane well, and have known him for a long time. He’s a wheeler-dealer, but he’s not a hothead and he’s not dangerous. We don’t think he can be the arsonist. But someone else could have used the embers from the barbecue if there were any left smouldering.
Q. What names have you heard the workers mention in connection with this act of arson?
A. The only name that’s been going around since the beginning, since the night of the fire, when everyone was on the roundabout watching the factory burn, is that of Nourredine Hamidi. What’s more, as far as we know he is the only person to have made public threats against the factory.
The superintendent puts Lieutenant Michel’s transcription of the statement down on the desk.
‘This time, we’ve got him. You and Lambert have done an excellent job. The suspect is clearly identified. We won’t question him straight away, but we’ll build up a precise timetable of his movements between 20.00 hours, when he left the porter’s lodge with Hafed Rifaai heading for the cafeteria, and 21.43 hours when the fire alert was given. According to Amrouche, a whole lot went on. We’ll concentrate on the cafeteria, and on that time slot of less than two hours. According to the lists drawn up by your colleagues, Rolande Lepetit spent the whole afternoon and evening there. Question her before moving on to trickier witnesses like Hafed Rifaai or the suspect himself. But watch out, she seems to be a prickly character.’