The Room on Rue Amélie(57)

“My neighbors were taken,” Ruby said softly. “The Dachers.”

“Foreign-born Jews?” Laure asked.

Ruby nodded. “The parents are from Poland, but they’ve been French for years. The husband fought in the Great War, for goodness’ sake.”

“That might help them,” Laure said. “I understand they’re not deporting veterans for now.”

“I’m sorry,” Aubert interrupted. “Did you say your neighbors were taken?”

Ruby nodded. “They live just next door.”

“So the French police have been in your building? But you have a pilot staying with you at the moment, don’t you?”

“Yes. But he remained well hidden. I think we’re all right.”

Aubert rubbed his temples. “It’s impossible to know for sure.”

The three of them were silent for a moment.

“I took their daughter in,” Ruby blurted out.

Aubert and Laure both snapped their heads up to stare at her. “You . . . what?” Aubert asked.

“The Dachers’ daughter. Charlotte. I’ve been tutoring her in English. She’s thirteen; she has become like a sister to me. When her parents heard that the police were on their way, they asked me to take her.”

Aubert gaped at her. “What have you done? You could be jeopardizing the line!”

“No, I don’t think they’ll come back for her.”

“You can’t know that!” Aubert’s face was turning red. “You’ve put us all at risk.”

“No, she did what was right,” Laure cut in, surprising Ruby. “That’s what our mission is—protecting innocent people from falling into the hands of the Germans. Who is more innocent than a child? Now we must decide how to proceed.”

“Is there any way to find out where Charlotte’s parents have gone?” Ruby ventured. “Maybe we can get them out.”

“They’re almost certainly in the Vel’ d’Hiv right now,” Laure said.

“The cycling stadium?” Ruby asked. “In the fifteenth?”

Aubert cleared his throat. “It has apparently been rented by the French police as a sort of holding site.”

“But for how many people?” Ruby asked. “It’s not that large.” She’d been there only once for a boxing match with Marcel, just after they’d moved to Paris. She’d found it stuffy and outdated.

“There are rumors,” Laure said slowly, “that the French police have a list of nearly thirty thousand Jews.”

“Thirty thousand?”

“Not that we believe they’ve rounded up nearly that many,” Laure hurried to say. “But even if the number is half that, it’s quite a lot of people.”

“They can’t possibly keep them all in the stadium,” Ruby protested. “They’d have to stand on top of each other.”

“And you think that would bother the Germans?” Aubert asked.

“I’ll go later today and see what I can find out,” Laure said, her tone soothing. “I will ask around about Charlotte’s parents too. The Dachers, you say?”

“Yes. Reuven and Sarah. This won’t put them in more danger?”

“I’ll be very discreet. I promise.”

“Thank you.” Ruby turned to Aubert. “Perhaps I should stop taking pilots for now. I mustn’t do anything to put Charlotte in danger.”

“No.” His reply was instant. “Please, you’re too important to the line.”

“I thought I was useless. Isn’t that what you said? That you didn’t need me?” Ruby could see Laure hiding a smile, and she had the feeling it was an expression of solidarity. Perhaps Aubert had behaved the same way toward her at first.

“Yes, well, I was mistaken,” he said crisply. “Please, you must continue to help.”

“But I also must keep Charlotte safe,” Ruby said. “That has to be my priority now. I could help save a thousand pilots, but if I let the Germans come take a little girl I’ve promised to protect, I could never forgive myself.”

Aubert stared at her for a moment. “If her parents aren’t returned in the next few days, we’ll forge some identity papers for her. It will help.”

“How?”

“We forge them for the pilots all the time. We’ll invent a cousin of Marcel’s in Brittany. This girl will be their daughter. You can tell people her parents have died, and you have adopted her.”

“Will that actually work?”

“It’s a plausible story. As long as she’s bright enough to play along.”

“She’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.”

“If her parents haven’t returned by Sunday, I’ll send someone with papers to your apartment.” Aubert paused. “In the meantime, you’ll need to keep your current pilot for a few days more, until life returns to normal in Paris.”

“Normal?” Ruby asked. “I don’t think any of us knows what that is anymore.”



BY THE TIME RUBY HAD stood in line for rations and made her way home in the early evening, the streets were quiet again. It appeared that the roundups were over, but had the police managed to arrest most of the Jews they were after, or was this merely the quiet eye of the storm? Was Charlotte still in danger? And what would happen to the girl’s parents? Ruby could still see Madame Dacher’s woeful, frightened expression as she said good-bye to her daughter. It was as if she knew it would be the last time.