‘Two bluffs, yes? Misspell the girl’s name. Insert the word beer. That’s all? Because if you try any tricks,’ Eaton said, ‘your days are numbered. Your miserable life is already hanging by a very slender thread. One false move and you’re for the gallows.’

‘Believe me, I understand.’

‘Then carry on, Mr Young, and you might just live.’

*

‘What does it say, Heidi?’

‘This takes time, Herr Reichsleiter. Jung is like a tortoise, he makes mistakes.’

He ripped the fresh decrypt from her hand and read it at speed.

KARLA DEAD, BURIED IN LAKE. VICKERY DEAD. TIME FOR BEER. ADVISE METHOD OF RETURN.

Bormann read it, then read it again. Then he burst out laughing, struck a match and burned the message to a cinder. He was in the clear. Nothing could stop him now. Not Goebbels, not Göring, not Himmler. He was untouchable.

*

‘My locket, my locket!’

Klara clutched at her throat, just visible above the collar of her new coat.

Lydia and Romy looked at each other. Romy put her arm around Klara’s shoulder and whispered in her ear.

‘Not too loud, Klara darling. Now then, where did you leave it.’

‘It was taken off at the hospital. I was told it would be brought back to me.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Lydia said. ‘I’ll send it on to you as soon as I can. I’m sure it will be fine.’ She unclasped a fine gold necklace and heart pendant from around her own neck and handed it to Klara. ‘Here, this is for you in the meantime – from Tom, Johnny and me. A little token of our love for you.’

Klara took the pendant. There was still a tear in her eye, but she brushed it away.

‘Thank you, Frau—’

‘Lydia. I must always be Lydia to you. And be sure that you will find a lovely puppy as soon as you arrive in your new home.’

‘Like Bismarck?’

‘The prettiest one you can find. And you must know that our home will always be your home if you can ever get back to England.’

She gave her a huge hug, and then Johnny demanded one too.

They were on the dockside at Liverpool. Boarding had begun and everyone was excited – but nervous too. No ship was safe from the U-boat wolf packs in the Atlantic these days. Lydia and Romy had discussed the locket before they left Cambridge.

‘She must never see it,’ Romy had said. ‘She must never have the slightest inkling of her true parentage.’

‘No,’ Lydia said.

‘But what if . . . ?’

‘Romy?’

‘I’m just thinking, what if AH stands for someone other than Hitler?’

‘But who else could it be?’

‘Of course, I haven’t told you about Sasha Heine – Geli’s Jewish singing teacher in Vienna. They were very close.’

‘Sasha?’