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Later, when Henri came through bringing beer bottles and plates which he’d stacked inside a big storage bin, he saw the order note and then raised his brow at Marianne. She looked up from where she was scrubbing the oven. ‘I don’t want an argument – spend tomorrow with her.’
He put the slip on the counter and sighed, then nodded.
After he finished cleaning the plates and putting them away, Marianne sent him home early. ‘You look worn out, go on, get a good night’s rest.’
He nodded. ‘Thanks, madame.’
She was wiping down the counters when Busch stopped past the kitchen as normal to say farewell. His manner wasn’t as cold as it had been just hours before and she was relieved.
‘As you know, tomorrow evening will be a private affair, closed to locals,’ said Busch. ‘I have another senior officer I need to impress, Karl Lange. Do you think you could make something special?’
‘Yes, of course, any particular dishes?’
‘No, you can just make whatever you like, I trust you.’
The relief she felt was enormous. She smiled and he came forward to touch her shoulders, drawn to it like a crackling fire.
‘I’ll say goodnight, then,’ he whispered, and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. He didn’t linger, though, as he normally would.
His breath stank of beer, and every fibre in her wanted to push him away but part of her was also incredibly relieved that he was acting more normally again. Maybe he really had been surprised earlier. Either way, she knew she had to do something – usually he was very reluctant to leave in the evenings, wanting to have an extra coffee with her, just the two of them. He hadn’t tried anything more than a few kisses, but still she was exhausted by the time he finally left.
She touched his face and turned the kiss into something a bit deeper. His eyes flared in interest, and he pulled her closer.
When they broke apart, he touched her hair, putting a strand behind her ear. ‘Maybe tomorrow night I’ll stay a little longer, spend some real time with you in private… tell you all my secrets.’
She stared back at him and a feeling of revulsion swept through her. Her legs started to shake but she smiled. ‘I’d like that.’
He smiled widely at her, and then gave her one last kiss, before he took his leave.
When she was sure he had gone, she stood with her eyes closed trying to breathe. Her heart would not stop clamouring. She switched off the lights, and then went to lock up. Through the closed door she smelled smoke and she heard men speaking outside.
She pressed her ear against the door and heard one of them say, ‘Louisa Tellier has a list. She’s bringing it tomorrow at dinner.’
Busch’s voice answered. ‘Ah, good, soon we will find all the hidden rats.’
Marianne frowned. Hidden rats? She swallowed, did they mean… Jews? The people hiding them? Both?
She heard Busch’s laugh. ‘The little Frenchie was a good find. You did well to recruit her.’
‘You know how it is, give them a little bit of jewellery, some lipstick and they eat out of the palm of your hand.’
There was some raucous laughter from the other side of the door.
Then Busch said, ‘Soon we will smoke them all out.’
Marianne’s heart thundered in her chest. Was this Louisa Tellier an informant? Hadn’t she heard that name somewhere before?
In the morning she met Geoff; his old haunt by the butcher’s had moved on now to the wine shop around the corner and she told him what she’d overheard.
He looked shocked and angry. ‘Sara, who used to head up Gilbert’s Resistance chapter, said as much about Louisa but we all thought… well, we thought the two just didn’t like one another.’ He pinched the skin between his eyes. ‘Jesus, she was right the whole time.’ He clenched his jaw. ‘We’ll keep eyes on Louisa. It’s important that the night goes as planned but see if you can get a look at that list,’ he asked.
She nodded.
When she left the wine shop she saw an officer on the opposite side of the street. He was one of Busch’s men, and she felt a chill begin to grow within her belly when he looked at her. He had small sunken eyes and they looked dark and forbidding.
Had she been compromised?
She walked along the street, and then up another, and when she looked back, the officer was there in the distance but he was now talking to another. They both turned to go back the way they had come, in the direction Geoff had gone.
