Free The Woman on the Train by Rupert Colley

come to take her place.’
    ‘Do you remember this other woman’s name?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Did this other woman hit you?’
    ‘No, in fact she even allowed us to wrap our arms round ourselves. We were all shivering like crazy. But with Madame d'Urville we had to stand with her arms at our sides. Many of the girls started crying. The girl next to me lost control of her bladder. I remember trying to step in her urine just to warm up the soles of my feet. Another one became hysterical.’
    ‘What happened to this woman?’
    Madame Kahn glanced from the lawyer to Hilda and back again. ‘She slapped her across the face then hit her several times until she fell. I mean, she hit her really hard with her club. Then she carried on hitting her across the… the backside and over her head, everywhere, and kicking her. The woman curled up in a ball on the ice, all naked. I remember the sound of her boots cracking her ribcage. She, Madame d'Urville, lost control; she looked like something possessed. She hit that poor woman until blood poured from her mouth and ears. Then, suddenly, it stopped, and Madame d'Urville looked, I don’t know, exhilarated.’ She closed her eyes. ‘Madame d'Urville ordered two of us to take her to the infirmary.’
    ‘You were one of them.’
    ‘Yes, me and the girl who had peed herself, about my age. I took the woman by the legs and the other girl by the arms. She was covered in blood and some of her bones…’
    ‘Yes?’
    ‘Some of her bones were sticking out at odd angles.’
    ‘I see.’
    ‘Although she was rake thin, so were we, and we hardly had the strength to lift her and we were blue with cold. I remember…’
    ‘Yes?’
    She sighed. ‘Once we were out of Madame d'Urville’s vision, we put her on the ground so we could catch our breaths. We felt awful, just leaving her heaped on the ground like that, like a sack of potatoes, naked and all bloodied. We embraced each other, really tightly, to try and warm up a bit. We were both crying and our teeth were chattering. We took her to the infirmary and even they felt sorry for us, and gave us a blanket each.’
    Speaking slowly, the lawyer asked, ‘Did you know the woman you carried?’
    ‘I had spoken to her but I didn’t know her name. She wasn’t young; perhaps about forty. But it’s difficult to tell a person’s age when they’re almost dead from starvation.’
    ‘Do you know what happened to this woman?’
    ‘I heard she died a few days later.’
    ‘As a result of the beating?’
    She cast her eyes at the judge. ‘I wouldn’t know that for sure, but it couldn’t have helped.’
    The lawyer nodded knowingly. ‘Thank you, Madame Kahn. No more questions.’
    The judge looked at Monsieur d'Espérey who shook his head. He had nothing to ask.
    The judge called for a brief adjournment.
    *
    I spent a few minutes in the lavatory, staring at myself in the mirror. Madame Kahn’s story was upsetting, naturally, and now I was expected to stand in front of a packed courtroom, full of reporters, and tell the world that Irène d'Urville wasn’t such a bad sort. I had a headache, I felt nauseous, my mouth felt dry. What had brought me to this place? If I’d known, all those years ago, that I’d now be in this situation, I think I would have taken my chances with the Gestapo. I combed my hair and took a gulp of water. But still, I felt sick.
    Leaving the lavatory, I bumped straight into Isabelle. We stood in the corridor, simply staring at each other. She too had dressed up for the occasion, wearing a slim-lined grey skirt and a matching jacket, her hair pulled back. Eventually, she asked what was I doing there. ‘Just been to the toilet,’ I said, hoping to inject a lighter note.
    ‘You’ve come to support me,’ she said, with the faintest of smiles. ‘Jacques is here though. You look very smart for the occasion.’
    ‘I’m a character witness for the accused.’ There, at last, I’d said it.
    She tilted her head, as if better to