“Yes. One day when I was in the warehouse, I saw him. He was hiding in this big tool closet, and the door was ajar. He was a young guy, must have been about fifteen. Our eyes met while one of the adults was standing behind me moaning away, and for a second I though he wanted to help me, because at first he looked so shocked. But he didn’t say anything, and he didn’t do anything. He just sat there, hiding and looking at me.” Anna nodded to herself. “And I remember his eyes so clearly. They lit up like a cat’s in the dark, but the expression in his eyes changed as we were looking at each other: it changed from empathetic into this cold, mocking look. He just observed me surreptitiously, captivated by what he was seeing, and then he winked at me. And it wasn’t a wink like he was on my side. It was like a chilling wink, one that said, ‘You’re suffering, and I kinda like it.’ ”

“Who was he? How did he end up in that cabinet?” Heloise felt a tingling sensation at the back of her neck.

“At first, I figured he was just a guy who had snuck into the building to see what was in there. Later, after the grown-ups had left, I was lying on the bed alone. I wasn’t crying, because I had shut down completely. I was dead on the inside and didn’t show any emotions. But I was bleeding, and I was in pain.”

Heloise sighed and shook her head, speechless.

“I had put some of my clothes back on, my underwear, my dress, as I waited for my mom to come pick me up, and then he walked into the room. I started talking to him, but he shushed me. Then he carefully closed the door behind him and pounced on me right away. He said that he would kill me, cut my throat, if I made a sound.”

“Then what happened?”

“Then he ripped off my underwear and got down to business. It was violent, brutal—he hit me. He was sadistic and extremely domineering. I think he had something he needed to act out. He tried to imitate the adults, and he hurt me for the fun of it. Like, he thought it was fun. He enjoyed it.”

The plastic bead curtain hanging in the doorway where they had entered rattled, and Anna looked up tensely. Heloise also turned toward the sound. The waiter stood at the far end of the room.

“Would you like to order anything to drink?” he asked in French.

“Tea, please. And water,” Anna replied in French. She glanced over at Heloise, who nodded.

“Just water. Thanks.”

The man went away again.

“You were telling me about the boy,” Heloise said.