The first drinks at home are followed by a new round at the bar, then the revelers go to a nightclub. This is the classic evening for the young people of Brive-la-Gaillarde. But this Friday, for many of them, the party will end at two o’clock in the morning, when the three bars on rue de Paris close, in particular the Café de Paris, “the HQ”, according to Tiphanie, 24 years old. Normally, young people aged 18 to 22 then go out to La Charrette, but the nightclub is closed for the second weekend in a row.
This is the last place where Justine Vayrac was seen alive before being taken away, kidnapped, raped, killed and buried, and whose body was found on October 27. The main suspect, who confessed to the facts, was a friend of his. They met outside the establishment. “This story shocked a lot of people,” says 20 minutes Ludivine, 22, sipping a cocktail on the terrace of Sweet, one of the three bars in the street.
And the nightclub preferred to remain closed “out of respect and solidarity with the celebrations organized to pay tribute to Justine”, explain the tenants in a facebook post. This Friday, the young woman was indeed buried in her village of Tauriac in the Lot. There is always the Cardinal, or “the Cardi” as everyone calls it, it is the second nightclub, reserved for an older clientele, especially thirty-somethings, according to several testimonies.
The party continues, with caution
But this weekend in Brive, it’s the 40th edition of the Salon du Livre, and for the occasion, the nightclub is “virtually privatized” for writers and all the gratin around, explains to 20 minutes the Café de Paris bartender, Alex. He also works at the Charrette and the “Cardi”, the three establishments belonging to the same owner. And this Friday evening, “for many of them, there will be no clubbing,” he says behind his bar, glancing at his young customers.
We tell ourselves that it only happens to others”
But Brive remains a party. Around 10 p.m., the brasserie’s traditional white lights go out and pink neon lights are lit in the Café de Paris. Let the party begin. The music is louder, two DJs are installed in a corner of the bar and gradually raise the temperature of the room. Outside, the afternoon rain has stopped giving way to a cool, damp night. Down jackets are out. But that does not prevent them from being prepared. Painted nails, curled eyelashes and well-groomed hair, Ambre, Jeanne, Kenza, 21, are determined to have a good evening and have started drinking on the terrace.
This evening, they will try to enter the “Cardi”, but it happens to them, especially on Thursdays, to go to the Charrette. And if Justine’s story shocked them, that didn’t prevent them from letting go. They affirm that even before the tragedy, they were already careful: “It was never our delirium to go our separate ways, we all go home together, but when there is one who leaves she sends a message and we locations,” says Kenza. On the other hand, “we don’t pay attention to the glasses, admits Ambre. We don’t think about it, we tell ourselves that it only happens to others and it’s a small town, so everyone knows each other, we tell ourselves that it’s not going to do it to us. »
“We should have been at La Charrette”
For once, Ludivine, 22, and Soline, 19, pay much more attention to their glass. “You have to put your hands on it all the time”, explains Ludivine on the terrace of Sweet, when Soline admits to having taken her “tear gas canister” back on her since the tragedy. They were particularly affected by what happened, because “in general”, their evening “ends at La Charrette”. “Generally we try to go when it opens because afterwards there are too many people and we can’t get in,” says Soline. But for them, La Charrette is over for a little while, “perhaps several months” and “totally because of what happened”. “We’re going to wait a bit and it’s good to have little parties at home too from time to time. We will go back there quietly, ”says Ludivine. They are not particularly in a hurry, it must be said that they generally come out once a month, they can do without it for a little longer.
It could have happened to us”
Just like Romane and Lise sitting at the next table and “cooling down on La Charrette”. But their case is more specific. Romane, 21, knows the suspect indicted for murder, kidnapping and rape and placed in pre-trial detention. “He’s a friend of mine, we had a group of friends and we’re a little in shock,” she says. “I did not see him doing that, we had seen him in the week before Saturday evening [du drame], we said to ourselves that it could have happened to us knowing that that evening, at the base, we should have been at La Charrette, ”she adds. And today, even more than before, she pays more attention to her “guy friends”, “because I know how drunk they can act”. As for Lise, she was in nursing assistant class with the victim, even if she didn’t really know Justine. Both are the same age, frequent the same box and the same people. So inevitably, “it will be different to return to the Charrette, something will change”, breathes Romane. These Sweet customers won’t be staying very late. At 11:00 p.m., they have finished their drinks and are heading home to safety.
“My mother told me not to go to the Charrette anymore”
But the party continues rue de Paris. Less than usual that night. “We don’t fill up,” assures Alex, the bartender. There are a lot of people, but you can indeed still circulate in the bar where the bodies begin to move to the sound of big, very runny bass, like those of a Temperature by Sean Paul remixed. Finally, the population is less and less young at the Café de Paris. The average age has increased and we even go from Abba.
Our parents are much more worried than before”
Alex does not explain that the bar is less frequented than usual and above all does not make the link with Justine’s murder. He also regrets a certain “mixing” made between the drama and the nightclub. “It happened outside,” he recalls. Still, the parents do not make the difference. Much more worried, all asked their children to keep them more informed of their evening, offered their service to bring the offspring home. “My mother told me not to go to the Charrette anymore,” admits Romane. “My mother doesn’t want me to go out to the Charrette”, “me the same”, add Ambre and Jeanne. “I have to be careful, send messages all the time, not go home with anyone, abounds Kenza. And they talk about it all the time. They told us before but it is a stage above”. “Our parents are much more worried than before. We send a message when we leave, when we come back, if it goes well, we let you know where we are, ”insists Ludivine.
At two o’clock in the morning, the music died down in the three bars on the main street. The tables and chairs on the terraces are back and still a few drunken young people are hanging out on the sidewalk, clinging to the last minutes of freedom before going inside. Some left by car to try their luck at “Cardi” despite the evening being more select than usual because of the famous writers who planned to go there after their signing day. In any case this evening, few of these young people thirsty for celebration will be able to continue the evening, as the Charrette is closed.