Make a Move

Walking into the unknown

"Even if you know the state of who you are today, you can't predict who you'll be tomorrow. You're defined up to now, not beyond."

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The entire firm was been buzzing with the news of a new managing partner for weeks.

Depardieu was being tight-lipped about the whole thing, but the new lawyer was bringing a seriously impressive roster of clients. Word was had 'quite a reputation', too, whatever that meant. Even Fanny hadn't been able to get a lot more than that, initially, from chatter in the firm. That, plus a name.

Catherine Deneuve.

It was weird, because she was the sort of person who usually warranted talking about.

True, she wasn't going as deep as she would have for a client. Fanny had some sense, and it didn't include getting an unfavourable impression. Still she would have like to know a little more. Even the photographs of the woman didn't say much.

She could find out plenty about the people that surrounded her. That was interesting. Ex-wife of disgraced governor, Marcello Mastroianni. Ties to failed political movers and shakers. More than connections to land a position as named partner right out of the gate at this firm. This, too, after only being a partner at her previous law firm for just a handful of years.

Engrossing, maybe, but it didn't mean Fanny wasn't wary of that.

Politics was one thing she was all too happy to steer clear of.

It was beyond frustrating. Fanny got pissed off didn't have information, and couldn't put pieces together ... Well, it didn't exactly go well. She'd lost track of the number of cases she'd helped get acquittals and good settlements on, in the last two years at this firm. It all banked on the amount of digging she could do, and who she asked.

Half of her connections brought up dead ends or mutters of 'ohh, Deneuve? Good luck with that one.'

She could find lots of fuzzy videos of press conferences back from 1973 when the campaign had gone down, when Mastroianni was arrested on corruption charges. Catherine Deneuve was a young and wan woman standing beside him, unreadable. Very young, and pretty. The temptation was to call her a trophy wife, maybe a pushover, except for what followed. Marcello hadn't been in jail for more than a day when the divorce had gone through. Whoever Catherine was, she worked fast.

She could find a couple years of nothing before the Deneueve name appeared again in court columns. Plenty more pictures of the woman at various legal events, with a great deal more confidence and a bit more eyeliner. More than enough of even more rumours about the unsavory political wrangling of the ex-husband. Possibly something that hinted at a link between Mastroianni and Depardieu? That was fuzzier than the crap video feeds though.

Catherine Deneuve herself was the bigger enigma, and that was the frustrating part.

Unfortunately, Fanny misses the introductory meeting, her best shot at a proper first impression.

The elevator was empty as she returns to the office. Later than she hopes, but not a total loss of her morning. Nothing like discovering a pretty serious prescription drug abuse problem to discredit a witness.

The odd part walking out of the elevator to see someone setting up the new name-plates on the front-desk. Shiny silver-and-black lettering spelling out Deneuve, Depardieu, and Associates in a blocky font.

Fanny surveys the change for a moment, tapping a heeled boot against the floor. A harried associate was rushing past, and stops. - "You missed the meeting, Ardant. Was there something wrong?"