Chapter 5 - The Trial Begins
Six months later, the Assize Court of Rhône was packed to capacity. The trial of Martine Duval had become the most high-profile case in France.
Martine sat in the glass dock, looking significantly older, but her arrogance had not faded. She was defended by one of the most expensive defense attorneys in Paris, paid for by her hidden offshore accounts. Her strategy was clear: blame the mother.
"My client may have used unconventional methods to soothe the children," the defense attorney argued before the jury. "But the real cause of stress in that household was the severe postpartum depression of Élise Duval. It was her negligence, her inability to maintain a clean environment, that exacerbated the children’s fragile state."
Élise sat at the civil party table, her hand gripping Chloé’s drawing of two small angels in her pocket. She felt a wave of nausea, but she held her head high. She was no longer the fragile, exhausted mother from the funeral home.
When it was Élise's turn to take the stand, she looked directly at the jury.
"For five years, I fought to have those children," Élise said, her voice strong and resonant. "I counted every hour, every contraction, every smile. I didn't have postpartum depression; I had postpartum exhaustion because I was fighting a shadow in my own home. A woman who entered my kitchen like a thief to poison my joy. I ask you not for vengeance, but for the truth to be written in stone so my daughter knows her brothers were loved, and they were taken by malice, not neglect."
The courtroom was silent. Even some of the jurors rubbed their eyes.
May you like
Then came the turning point of the trial. The prosecution called their star witness: Julien Duval.
Martine smiled from behind the glass, confident her son would protect her, as he always had. He had been quiet during the investigation, caught between his loyalty to his mother and his grief. But as Julien walked to the witness stand, he didn't look at his mother. He looked only at Élise.
