Ribald

‘How on earth could they do that?’ said Joe. ‘Do they even know who is posing the threat?

‘I expect they’ve worked it out. As they decided to leave Bella’s house, which was a relatively safe place for them, then they must have a plan. Which they are executing.’ Emma seemed very calm as she announced this and Delphine was nodding her agreement. ‘It’s perfectly logical.’

Joe’s eyebrows had a whole conversation with me. He didn’t get it. He didn’t believe it. He wanted to know if I was clued in. You can say all that with your supercilium when you’ve been married for thirty years. I shrugged. So far out of my depth with this…

‘And they’re going to disarm the threat - how?’ repeated Joe.

‘We don’t know the details. But that’s what they’ll do.’

It was on the tip of Joe’s tongue to make a rude joke about people biting off more than they could chew, but he mastered himself and resisted the temptation.

Emma went on. ‘We have already realised that nothing in this life comes without a price. If we have to sacrifice everything in the pursuit of a normality like any other person, then that is what we will do. Before any of them go into this, they will have already computed how much they are willing to lose.’

‘But that could be everything,’ said Kim.

‘Yes,’ said Delphine quietly. ‘But they have to try. We can’t run for ever.’