Only Lotti looked utterly disreputable, her jaw-length hair smoke-ridden, her face smudged with rubble dust and dirt. Her army greatcoat was now unbuttoned, revealing trousers, a high-necked sweater and a tight belt with a knife tucked into it.

The lift doors clanged open, seconds later the door leading into the apartment’s hallway opened and then closed. There was a pause and then the door of the drawing room opened and Claus entered, alone.

He was wearing an overcoat and looked terrible, his handsome face ravaged by anxiety and stress.

‘You shouldn’t still be in the city,’ Lotti said abruptly, making no move to either hug or kiss him. ‘If the Russians capture you, you’ll be shot or shipped off to Siberia.’

‘I can’t leave the city,’ he said, halting yards away from the three of them. ‘I have workers to protect.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I’ve brought someone with me,’ he said. ‘Someone I’ve been hiding, but who I will no longer be able to protect once the Russians arrive and, as Lotti has so succinctly put it, either shoot or imprison me.’

‘Someone you’ve been hiding?’ Ilse stared at him, noticing for the first time that he was no longer wearing his gold swastika pin. ‘Do you mean a Jew?’

He nodded. His hair had fallen across his eyes and he pushed it backwards. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘A Jew, or, more correctly, a Jewess.’

He turned back towards the door, opened it—and a ghost entered the room.

Zelda sucked in her breath.

Ilse gave a cry of disbelief.

Lotti said incredulously, ‘Hester? Hester?’

Hester moved forward, taking hold of Claus’s hand as she did so, tears of emotion streaming down her face.

Lotti covered the distance separating them at the speed of light, seizing her, hugging and kissing her, saying over and over again, ‘Hester! Is it really you? Is it really you? Oh, my God, but we thought you were dead! We thought you were dead years ago!’

Ilse was also hugging her and showering her with kisses.

Zelda had simply sat down abruptly, her near-black eyes disbelieving.

‘But how did Claus find you?’ Lotti was demanding. ‘When did he find you? What happened to you after you were arrested? Where has Claus been hiding you? In the Ruhr? At Spandau? Oh, God, Hester! I can’t believe this is true. It’s too wonderful. Too miraculous.’

‘Claus didn’t so much find me, as I found him.’ Tears of joy at being reunited with them still streamed down her face. ‘I was sent to his Spandau factory as slave labour.’

Ilse spun round to face Claus. ‘And you didn’t tell us? How could you not tell us? When was this? How long ago?’

‘Two years ago,’ Claus said, knowing exactly the reaction his admission was going to meet with.

‘Two years ago?’ Ilse’s spellbinding Prussian-blue eyes opened so wide he thought they were going to pop out. ‘Two years ago? But we’ve seen you since then! We saw you at Vati’s funeral—and you said nothing. Not a word.’