Trama

A famous lawyer collapses in the middle of a hearing. Diagnosis: death of fear; Raphaelle and Astrid investigation leads them to a haunted house whose secrets they will have to unravel.

Raphaëlle is a mid-level Parisian police detective and Astrid works in the Paris Criminal records Office. Raphaëlle is rather careless about detail, and Astrid is on the autistic spectrum, so their personalities are incompatible. Nevertheless they have made amicable progress on a previous case, although Astrid remains very wary of, and confused by, "neurotypicals". A court case is in progress; a man called Ludovic Karlishian is the defence lawyer for a man, Wilfried Tarquin, who is an important elected official, but the hearing may expose him for fraud. Karlishian begins a defence statement, when suddenly he collapses without warning. We see Raphaëlle and a police colleague, Arthur Enguien, waiting at the Court building; Astrid is approaching; realising Astrid's skill at noticing trivial but significant detail, Raphaëlle has asked her to come along. Astrid's sympathetic boss has expressed concern that Astrid might find the process daunting, but Astrid insists that she is qualified technically as an archivist, and therefore she will be all right; perhaps she does not understand his concern. At the mortuary, the post mortem doctor Fournier is there and has decided that it was a simple case of heart failure. They have access to a film clip of the moment of death illicitly taken by a journalist; Raphaëlle suggests hat the deceased looked terrified at the moment of death, but the doctor is dismissive. Astrid points out that there are alternatives, in particular Takotsubo, syndrome which causes a constriction and aneurism in cases of extreme fear - or joy, as Astrid points out. Astrid's direct manner contradicting the doctor's opinion irritates him. Nevertheless he agrees to a post mortem examination to investigate. Raphaëlle asks Nico Perran to research Karlishian's recent movements. Astrid sits outside the Court House examining her documents and a news film crew ask her questions. Unguardedly Astrid explains why she is there, but she becomes overwhelmed by the insistent questions, until Raphaëlle comes and rescues her. Astrid's detailed answer gets on to the mainstream news reports. Back at HQ Raphaëlle's boss is berating her for allowing the matter to get such media attention. It was only a heart attack, he says. (It is not explained why he sent his murder detective to the scene if he believed that.) Nevertheless the doctor, Fournier, has ow confirmed that Astrid's theory of Takotsubo syndrome was correct. Astrid is waiting while Raphaëlle is on the carpet, and we see a brief flashback to Astrid's school days, when her classmates mocked her for her awkwardness. Outside the Court House, a recovery truck is loading the dead man's car, when it suddenly explodes. Plastic explosive is detected and it was clearly intentional. Raphaëlle goes to interview a man Tarquin, an important elected official. Raphaëlle's boss warns her not to upset matters in view of Tarquin's position. The interview is inconclusive, but Tarquin suggests that the explosion was intended for him, as the deceased was expected to drive Tarquin home after the hearing. Raphaëlle and Astrid go to the Tarquin's office but he stonewalls any request for information. He rejects any link between Karlishian's death and the car explosion. Astrid annoys Raphaëlle by reciting the legal right Tarquin has to keep his affairs confidential. As they walk away a man from the Tarquin's office catches up and implies further information is available, although it is unclear what. Again Astrid recites the legal prohibition on receiving unattributable information and Raphaëlle becomes angry and severs the bond she had with Astrid. The man says that Tarquin had received a series of threatening emails, to the point of being frightened to death. Tarquin's last call was from Max Ribaud, and Raphaëlle asks him if he knows Ribaud; he says no. Raphaëlle goes to Ribaud's house; his wife is just leaving, with a suitcase. She tells Raphaëlle that she assumed the police didn't believe her statement. What statement? That her husband had gone missing. She goes back indoors with Raphaëlle. Her husband disappeared without warning two days ago. His wife has left everything in the house as it as; his phone is there, and there is a message on it - "it's Karlishian - call me back - I know you're behind this." Raphaëlle and Mrs Ribaud go upstairs and look around. Strange things have been happening for the last two or three months, such as the tv coming on unexpectedly in the middle of the night. The radiators glow red hot when they are switched off - the doorbell rings when the street is deserted, she says. Raphaëlle's colleague Nico arrives and say that they identified the origin of the bomb; part of it was acquired by Max Ribaud. At the police office in the evening, Raphaëlle is leaving, but she asks Enguien to continue working to see if something unusual in Karlishian's financial affairs can be turned up. Nico gets ratty because Raphaëlle says she is going to see if Astrid is ok; we now discover that Nico and Raphaëlle have been going out together but he feels that Astrid is taking Raphaëlle's attention too much. Raphaëlle goes to where Astrid is working and tries to make peace, but without success. Now Raphaëlle is at home with her son Théo; she is telling him about the mystery of Mme Ribaud's house. Meanwhile Astrid is at the Social Aptitude session of a support group. They are talking about how to judge whether to trust someone. Astrid is traumatised by childhood experiences and is uncertain how to deal with Raphaëlle. The next morning Raphaëlle goes into work; Enguien has turned up the fact that Ribaud had multiple bank accounts. On one of them he sends a considerable sum every month to an organisation called Espirito Santo. Astrid has texted to ask Raphaëlle to go to the Records Office where she works. She has found something out about the Ribaud house. Ove the years a surprising number of strange deaths took place there. In 1995 a young woman called Laure Gana stabbed her parents and young brother there. Laure Gana was sent to a mental hospital, and she is still living there. The hospital is called Espirito Santo. Raphaëlle and Astrid go to the hospital, although Astrid is very uncomfortable entering a mental institution. They ask to see Laure, but the receptionist says there is no Laure there. She consults the computer and says "Of course" and takes Raphaëlle and Astrid to a women, but she says her name is Constance Quéniaux. This is the name of a woman who was murdered at Ribaud's house in 1911. A nurse at the institution explains that she suffers from dissociative fugue, in which she adopts the identity of someone else. The nurse is called Mathilde; this will be significant later. Now Raphaëlle is interviewing Diego Ansatté, the partner of Ribaud. He says he can't believe that Ribaud did anything violent. Astrid is alone in the Records Office in the Paper Room, which she manages to keep private. In flashback we see her as a child, when the school she attended asked her Father to withdraw here; she was getting set upon by the other children, but the school felt that they were not able to look after her needs. Raphaëlle now knows from Ansatté that Karlishian, Ribaud and Tarquin were together at the same university. But Astrid comes in to say that she has discovered that there is a hidden cellar in the Ribaud house. Raphaëlle and Astrid go there to look for it, and for a long time are stumbling around. Suddenly Raphaëlle finds the access but falls down a stairway. At the bottom is the body of Ribaud with a knife sticking in him.