Fumble

‘They said they had arranged to meet us here-’

‘-which wasn’t true,’ put in Delphine.

‘And then what happened?’

‘A woman from the house opposite came across the road and told them there was no-one in the house. She said she saw you, Jean-Claude and Xavier go out earlier,’ said Emma.

Kim nodded. ‘I expect that was Josie. She sees everything that goes on around here.’

‘Not everything. She didn’t see Alain, Hugo and Brontë leave.’

‘And she didn’t know we were still here,’ added Delphine.

So Josie had fumbled a catch then - this was unusual, she normally caught everything.

‘And…?’

‘The men left. But not before they said to your neighbour that she didn’t need to tell you they’d been here.’

‘We are worried they were looking for us to take us back to the facility and -’

‘Deconstruct you?’

Both girls nodded, worry etched deep on their young faces.

‘How did they find us?’

‘I honestly don’t know,’ said Kim. ‘But maybe Xavier does. He needs to know about these people-’

‘Don’t tell him where the others went to sit on the babies,’ said Emma quickly.

‘Why ever not?’ 

Kim saw the girls exchange glances, a question in Delphine’s eyes answered when Emma shook her head very slightly.

‘Um, there’s something here I’m not getting, girls. Why don’t you want him to know where the others are?’

‘It’s complicated-‘

‘-and we’re not absolutely sure of our facts yet,’ said Delphine. 'But if you could avoid mentioning you know where they are, just for the present, we would be very grateful.’

‘But how do I explain where they've gone?’

‘Do you have to? Until we told you, you had no idea where they were. You can avoid mentioning it - just for now. Please?’