China Blue (The Dudley Sisters Saga Book 3) by Madalyn Morgan (top 100 novels of all time TXT) 📕

man was a Wehrmacht officer – and he and the ticket attendant were laughing. You didn’t know who was a German sympathiser these days. The French railwaymen – many of whom were communists – were some of the bravest of the Resistance, sabotaging tracks, derailing carriages, and sending German troop trains miles out of their way. Gisoir station’s ticket collector did not look like one of them. She would tell Édith about him when she got home.

Walking through the park, she began to tremble. She sat on the bench she’d sat on earlier and took the pastry from its wrapping. Her stomach turned at the sight of it. She was hungry, but feared she wouldn’t keep even simple pastry down. Shredding it, she fed the pigeons before going to the Café La Ronde and ordering coffee.

She sat at the back of the room and when the waiter brought her coffee she asked him if he’d heard anything about the man the Germans took to their headquarters the day before. He hadn’t, but said he didn’t expect he’d be there long.

‘If he is French they will release him soon. But if he is English...’ the proprietor tutted.

‘He is not English,’ Claire said, ‘he is my cousin. I swear to you, on my life, he is not English.’ The waiter nodded sympathetically and began to wipe the table. ‘But if the Germans think he is English,’ she whispered, ‘what will happen to him?’

The proprietor shrugged. ‘They will put him in prison, or…’

‘Or what? Please?’ Claire fought back the tears and asked him again. ‘Or what?’

The proprietor put his hand up and shushed her. ‘Take him to Germany,’ he hissed.

‘Where in Germany?’

‘I don’t know… A camp. A prisoner of war camp, or a work camp. Please, we should not be speaking of such things. There are too many uniforms.’ The door opened and German voices boomed in. The waiter spun round. ‘Enjoy your coffee, Miss,’ he said over his shoulder, and dashed to attend to three German officers.

Claire looked at her watch. It was after six and the café was getting busy. It had become increasingly popular with the Germans, which was why she and Alain went there. Today it was uncomfortably overpopulated. She looked over the rim of her coffee cup but didn’t recognise any of them. She hoped they didn’t recognise her. If they did they might remember that she and Alain were regular visitors to the café. She got up to leave. Keeping her head down, she walked unhurriedly to the door.

‘No book today?’ she heard someone say.

She looked to her left and saw the Gestapo officer who had asked her about the book she was reading on her first tour to France walking towards her. Did he remember on that occasion she had told him Alain was her cousin? If he did, did he know Alain had been taken to headquarters for questioning? ‘No. No book today.’

He lifted the checked cloth on the top of her basket and looked inside. ‘No book and,’ he turned up his nose, ‘hardly enough food to feed a bird. In that case,’ he said, dropping the cloth, ‘I shall take you to dinner tonight.’

Claire smiled, not with pleasure but with relief, because the German had looked in her basket after she had paid Jacques and not before. ‘I’m afraid I cannot tonight. Maybe another time?’

‘I look forward to it.’ The German opened the door and Claire smiled her thanks as she went out. Dinner with him, however unpalatable, might be a way of finding out if Alain was still at headquarters, and if he was how long they were likely to keep him. But not today. He had caught her off guard. She didn’t trust herself not to say something stupid and give herself away.

At the end of the road she looked back to where Alain had been beaten up the day before and saw the German officer coming out of the café. Pretending she was looking at him, she waved goodbye and turned the corner.

Damn! She had broken the first two rules. Walk with purpose, especially if it is getting dark, the security instructor had told her, and don’t look back, it looks suspicious. She ran through the rules in her head. If anyone speaks to you nod, don’t let them involve you in conversation. If they persist, politely make your excuses and walk on. If it is cold, use it. Shiver and say you think you have a cold, or influenza. Or say you’ll be in trouble if you are late home for dinner. If they suggest they walk with you, say your father is very strict and would be angry if he saw you with a man. If you are followed into a restaurant or café, order something to drink. When the waiter brings it, take a couple of sips before casually getting up and going to the toilet. There will be a back door you can slip out of, or a window you can climb through. If there is neither, go back to your drink, finish it and leave as if you haven’t a care in the world. Walk without attracting attention, and don’t look back. Whatever you do you must not let the man or woman following you know you’re aware of them.

Claire walked briskly and at last arrived at the tree-lined avenue where Édith and Frédéric lived. A few yards more and she would be safe. She stopped, put her foot up on a low wall, and took off her shoe. Wielding it in the air as if it had taken in a stone and she was shaking it out, Claire glanced along the avenue. Her heart sank. For a second she saw the back of a man wearing a military hat disappear into a doorway. She looked ahead. The Belland house was close, too close. She blew out