‘Very well. I saw your sister today though. Walking bold as brass through town with her German boyfriend. Someone called out Miss Le Roy and I turned, recognising the name and expecting to see you. But no. I didn’t know there were two of you. How’s your friend?’
‘Which one?’ Persey asked dumbly at the quick line of frenzied chatter coming from the hateful woman.
‘You know which one.’
‘What on earth are you talking about?’ Persey asked.
‘Another group of Jews have gone. In February. You must have heard.’
‘Yes, I did,’ Persey said with disgust. ‘But I don’t know what that’s got to do with—’
‘Yes, you do. Miss Weber’s name wasn’t on the list of deportees, I noticed. Got her hidden somewhere nice and safe, have you? You and your sister? In it together? People like your sister … no morals.’
Persephone’s mouth opened and she said quietly, ‘What do you mean?’
‘Horizontal collaboration. It’s morally repugnant. What else does she get up to that’s morally repugnant, I wonder? Wouldn’t surprise me if she was only too happy to help you hide Miss Weber. I’ve long suspected you. But now I’ve seen your sister’sbehaviour is less than admirable, I think she’s got something to do with it, too.’
‘What is wrong with you?’ Persey said, her mind in despair. ‘If my sister has been seen out with a German, what makes you think she’d be hiding a Jew?’
‘Because her moral compass clearly spins in all directions. As I suspect yours does. The German might not care. Her boyfriend might be in on it, too,’ the woman said, riling herself up. ‘Not all of them respond when you tell them to their faces you’ve seen things you shouldn’t. Some of them laugh at you as if it’s you who are in the wrong when all the time you’re trying to do a good deed.’
‘What is it you want?’ Persey asked pleadingly.
‘Justice,’ she said.
‘Justice?’
‘It’s the law. Miss Weber should have registered. She should have been deported. It’s the law,’ she repeated.
‘She’s already gone,’ Persey said. ‘Went years ago.’
‘I don’t believe you,’ she said, but there was a seed of doubt. ‘I’m going to tell them. I’m going to tell them I think you’ve got her hidden. You and your Jerrybag sister.’
Persey was paralysed temporarily by the onslaught of venom.
‘Why would you do that?’
‘I told you. Justice. I should have done this long ago. Tell me where she is and I won’t write the letter to the Gestapo today. How do you think you and your Jerrybag sister will enjoy rotting in a German prison? She’ll be surrounded by German uniforms then; she might actually enjoy herself.’
Instinctively, filled with disgust, Persey reached out and slapped the woman. And afterwards there was no remorse, no regret whatsoever. The woman backed away, stunned. Persey’s breath rasped thickly in her chest as her anger grew.
‘Why would you involve my sister?’ Persey cried.
Mrs Renouf clutched her face and turned back. ‘I tell you onething, Miss Le Roy, if you’re not hiding Miss Weber, you two have got nothing to worry about, have you?’
There was no avoiding it. Persey had to tell Lise what had happened. She rode to the Durands’ house faster than she’d ever ridden before. Looking down the narrow lane to check no one had seen her, she knocked on the door and entered when Mrs Durand opened it.
‘It’s been years but she still bears a grudge.’ Persey’s words flew from her mouth as she relayed the bare facts to a stunned Lise.
‘Because of the money I owed when I left?’ Lise asked.
‘Not because of the money. It’s purely because you’re Jewish. She’s evil and full of hate.’
Lise slumped into a chair at the kitchen table. Mrs Durand took one of Lise’s hands and Persey took the other.
‘You’ll have to stop coming here,’ Mrs Durand suggested. ‘If that old bat has written to the Germans telling them you’ve got Lise hidden, then it’s only a matter of time before they follow you here when they realise she’s not actually at your house.’
‘I know,’ Persey said. ‘And with Stef … Captain Keller billeted at Deux Tourelles they’ll know instantly Lise isn’t at ours. No one in their right minds would hide a Jewish girl under the same roof as a German soldier. No search necessary. Although they may still storm in. And she’s mentioned Dido. However …’ Persey said slowly, thoughtfully. ‘I do think there might be another way to keep you safe.’
