“Is that why Lukas was there?” An uneasiness snaked through her at the memory of having seen him.
“Who?”
“The Austrian,” Ava replied wearily.
But rather than agree with her suspicion, the skin around James’s eyes tightened. “He was there?”
“Yes, pretending to be one of the waiters. I didn’t see him until you slipped from the room.”
A muscle worked in his jaw. “You’re certain?”
“Yes,” Ava said with exasperation. “I wouldn’t have mistaken him.”
James nodded slowly. “I see.”
She frowned. “Is that something I should worry about?”
“Of course not. Come, I’ll walk you in.” James got out of his car and saw her to the door. But despite his usually courteous manners, there was something else amiss, something that left him distracted.
And something they could likely discuss the next time they met, after she’d had a night to sift through everything he’d said and compose new questions. For the time being, exhaustion pulled at Ava, encouraged by the heavy meal resting in her stomach and the rich wine she’d consumed.
The following morning, however, it was not James who waited on the street in front of her building, but Alfie. The young man was wearing a coffee-brown coat with a matching fedora pulled over his red hair. It was such formal dress for the youth and made him look like a child dressing up in men’s clothing. Especially when he offered her a shy wave.
“Good morning, Alfie.” She smiled as she approached, ignoring the disconcerting nip at the back of her mind. “Is James all right?”
“Of course he is,” Alfie quipped. “He’s been sent away on a special task and will likely be gone for several months. I was told to see to you in his absence.” He gave her a hesitant wince. “If that’s well and good with you.”
“Why was he sent away?” Ava asked, pressing the issue. “Did he know he would be leaving?”
“James receives different missions than we do.” There was a finality to the way he said it that told her she’d get nothing more from him.
But Ava could not stop puzzling over James’s sudden disappearance. Where had he gone and what was he doing that he would not return for some time?
And what—if anything—did that have to do with Lukas?
TWENTY
Elaine
Getting Sarah and Noah from the city to the Maquis in the forest would not be difficult. They had false papers that were well-made should they be stopped and would travel in the evening, making their forged identity cards harder to examine. It was the look in Sarah’s eye that most concerned Elaine.
No matter how comfortable Sarah remained in Manon’s house, she still had not lost the hunted shadow in her eyes. It was an expression that could not be masked—gaze lowered and shifting, perpetually seeking out possible threats around her, shoulders hunched as if wishing she could make herself and her son disappear from view. The demeanor couldn’t be erased by will. It was engrained from the trauma of always being on the run, from safe houses suddenly becoming a threat, from the knowledge that anyone could be a collaborator—the old man smoking at a café on the corner with a smile or a kindly teacher who tended to young children.
The night of their departure came swiftly. Elaine waited for the liaison between the Resistance and the Maquis to join her at the warehouse where they would set off together. But when the person finally arrived, her stomach dropped.
Etienne.
Only he did not appear the same Etienne she had always known. His skin had gone sallow, paper-thin and speckled with a dusting of thick bristling whiskers over his unshaved jaw. The bruising of exhaustion under his eyes was all the more prominent, as though he had not slept in weeks.