“They can’t live this way, Herman. Sooner or later the baby will cry at the wrong time and —”

“But she didn’t cry. They’re safe.”

Ans sat down on the sofa beside her. She needed to penetrate Eloise’s fear and get her to do something so she would feel in control again, fighting back against this obscene invasion of her home. “I watched how they searched the house, Eloise, and listened to what they were saying. We need to write an article about it for the newspaper. We can warn others what to expect.”

Eloise turned to face her. “We could hide more people here. There may be others we can help.” She was back with them again.

“Yes. And we will help others,” her husband said.

None of them wanted to go to bed, still feeling vulnerable. They waited an hour, then Ans went up to the attic to let Miriam and Avi back inside through the window. Like Eloise, Miriam was pale and trembling from head to toe. The baby was asleep, but Miriam refused to let go of her. “We’re going to sleep up here in the attic tonight,” Avi said.

Ans didn’t sleep at all. As soon as curfew ended the next morning, she ran to Erik’s apartment to confront him. She pounded on his door the same way the Nazis had. Erik had been shaving and he answered with half his chin covered with lather. “Ans —?”

She pushed her way inside and closed the door. “The Gestapo came last night and searched our town house. Did you tell them where I lived? Did you send them there to look for my friends Miriam and Avraham? Tell me the truth!”

“No! I don’t know anything about it. Are you accusing me —?”

“Why did they search our house then?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because your boss was the one who sponsored your friends. Didn’t they live with you in the beginning?” Her anger slowly faded. He picked up a towel and wiped off his face.

“I’m sorry, Erik. I shouldn’t have assumed . . . But it was terrifying to have them pound on our door, then barge in and search our house that way.”

“Do you believe me now when I say you’re in danger? If you had been hiding them and you were caught, you’d go to prison!”

She looked away, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, she saw the small table by the door where he always tossed his keys and police badge when he came home. She also saw a brochure from the Dutch Nazi Party with a swastika on the front and an exaggerated caricature of a Jewish man with a hooked nose. To see it here, in Erik’s apartment, turned her stomach. She swallowed bile and looked up at him again.