at Vernet, the disappearance of Émile awakens the wounds of a village hit by the tragedies

Silence reigns in the narrow streets of the small Provencal town of Vernet (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence). The heat is overwhelming, the atmosphere electric. Of the hundred inhabitants of the village, a majority are confined to their homes, shutters closed. “Obviously, with everything that’s going on… And then the prosecutor instructed us not to express ourselves too much, so we might as well stay at home”furtively lets go of a retiree, a book in her hand.

The silence is broken by the roar of a tractor crossing the village. The machine is followed by a police car and two army jeeps, full of legionnaires. The soldiers take the direction of Haut-Vernet, a few hundred meters higher up the hill. This is where the search continues to find little Émile. On Saturday, during the day, the two-and-a-half-year-old boy would have escaped the vigilance of his grandparents for about fifteen minutes. It is during this short…