The following night, Celine decided to test something.
She left her bedroom window slightly open and placed a blank sheet of paper on the edge of her desk. On it, she wrote softly with a faint pen: "I know more than you think."
Then she hid herself in the darkness and waited.
The first hour passes.....nothing. Then the second. And halfway through the third, she heard a faint scratching against the glass. Her heart pounded like battle drums. The curtain moved slightly… then silence.
She switched on the lamp in a rush.
The paper was gone. Completely.
There was no more doubt.
Someone really was watching her.
There was an eye that knew when she slept, when she woke, when she wrote.
The next morning, while she was helping Marlene fold the laundry, Marlene suddenly said without looking at her:"
_I know that you know."
Celine froze, unable to speak.
Marlene's voice came out low and broken, like a confession:"
_I never wanted to hurt you or her, but Marx… says the time has come, says they're back."
Celine turned sharply toward her:"
_Who are they? Who's back?"
But Marlene didn't answer. She stood up and walked out of the room without turning around, as if she'd spoken words that were never meant to be said"They're back" That phrase kept echoing in Celine's mind for hours.
Who were they? Were they the ones who had tried to threaten the journalist, Maryam Fallon?
Were they the ones who'd been searching for the child all these years?
To be continued...