Beyond Evolution

Adrien's visitor was not unexpected. He had called ahead to request permission to come visit his client at the school, and Adrien had a good twelve hours to resign himself to make the best of the meeting. The Bouchard family's lawyer had to fly all the way from France, after all. Not unexpected. Inevitable, even. He arrived through the knot of reporters at the front gate in an airport limo, early afternoon. Handsome in a steely manner that always set Adrien's teeth on edge -- silver hair, grey eyes, expensively tailored charcoal suit -- he cut a professional figure as he climbed out of the car. As usual. Adrien could never remember a time when he'd witnessed a single strand of hair out of place, and though his fine-featured face was more lined now than it had once been, the man seemed to exist outside of the natural flow of years. Lawyers. "Adrien, it's been a while," he greeted cordially in accented English, and actually went so far as to lay his free hand hand on Adrien's shoulder when he came inside in what was either a sympathetic or simply an intimate gesture, Adrien couldn't decide. It disturbed him either way. From the school entrance, they moved to the library for the relative quiet and privacy, picking a small table by the windows in a corner where they could settle down across from each other and get down to business.

( I'm sure you understand why I'm here. )

[ NARRATIVE ]