The Front Seat Passenger: Shocking, hilarious and poignant noir. Pascal Garnier

bailiffs or a burglary?’

      ‘Fanchon. Take a seat.’

      Fabien sat down amidst the ruins of a devastated multicoloured Lego town.

      ‘It’s the lack of curtains that makes it look empty. Curtains are important in a room. But I kept the fridge, the cooker and the TV. How do you feel?’

      ‘I feel nothing. As if I’m on automatic pilot. I suppose that’s normal at the beginning. I hardly noticed this week go by; I just slept.’

      ‘You were right to come here. It’s not good to stay there all by yourself. Make yourself at home. Léo is a cool kid, you’ll see. I told him you were going to come and live with us. He was really pleased. He gets bored at his mum’s. Try some, it’s Colombian. It’s been years since I smoked anything this good. It’s better than Valium.’

      The weed filled his mouth with a powerful peppery taste. Coils of smoke twirled in a ray of sunlight.

      ‘How did it go?’

      ‘What?’

      ‘The funeral.’

      ‘All right. Good weather. Laure and your father-in-law squabbled a bit; they both wanted to take charge of things. You know what they’re like.’

      ‘No one said anything? I mean about me not being there …’

      ‘Whisperings here and there. Nothing too bad. Given the circumstances, most people understood. Anyway, they couldn’t say anything in front of your father.’

      ‘How was he?’

      ‘Monolithic. He told me to look after you and that he was sorry.’

      ‘Sorry for what?’

      ‘I don’t know … Anyway, in the meantime you can sleep in Léo’s room. I’ve put his bed in my room. It will be fine like that for the weekend, and as you can see, there’s plenty of space for him to play in here. Guess what? Yesterday she came to take the TV away! Can you believe it? She earns twenty thousand francs a month and she wanted to take the telly from me! I was gutted. I haven’t even got enough to pay the rent. She’s crazy.’