IIt is a little after 3 a.m. when the music stops in the village hall of the town of Pont-de-Beauvoisin (Isère), August 27, 2017. That evening, there were 182 guests celebrating Anne-Laure and Eddy’s wedding when everything changed. In the hollow of the night, Jennifer, the groom’s first cousin, worries that she will no longer see Maëlys, her 8-year-old daughter. A babysitter who watched the children until 1 a.m. remembers seeing her playing ball with the other little ones before leaving the party.
Her mother sees Maëlys again at dessert time, around 2:30 a.m., twirling between the tables. But Jennifer also remembers the face of this man she saw talking with her daughter, a few minutes after dessert. Maëlys has also…