They had stayed in the taxi until Jean had disappeared through the front gate; now they circled around behind the house, tapped the code into the security pad on the garden gate, and slipped into the house through the back door just in time to hear Ingrid asking Jean Simpson if she took her tea with honey and lemon. The back door opened directly into the kitchen and Ingrid made a not altogether pleasant face when she entered the room and found Dietrich and Eva sheepishly lurking out of sight of the sitting room where she had left Jean Simpson. Ingrid managed to convey, in a single glance, Where the hell have you been, some sleazy hotel by the looks of it, go downstairs and tell Gottfried what’s going on, and I’ll deal with your little transgression later, but all she said was “Lemon and honey coming right up.”

“I guess I don’t have to ask where you two have been,” said Gottfried when Dietrich and Eva descended into the basement. “You might at least take a comb with you so it’s not quite so obvious.”

Eva blushed deeply but said nothing.

“We have a visitor,” said Dietrich, trying to change the subject.

“You know you could keep your hands off each other for a few days while we’re in the weeds here,” said Gottfried.

“I said we have a visitor,” said Dietrich.

“I mean really, you’re like a couple of students constantly sneaking off for a little—”

“He said we have a visitor,” said Eva sternly. Her blush was gone and she seemed ready to take charge.

“I know we have a fucking visitor,” said Gottfried, whispering through clenched teeth. “Unlike some people, I was here when the bell rang. And if you don’t talk more quietly, our visitor will know that Ingrid is not alone.”

No one spoke for a moment, and then the tension in the room seemed to ease of its own accord. “Any idea who it is?” said Gottfried.

“It’s our old friend Jean Simpson,” said Eva.

“I thought she went to Dachau,” said Gottfried.

“She came back,” said Dietrich, “and now she’s upstairs drinking tea with honey and lemon.”

“Do you think Ingrid will send her away?” said Gottfried.

“My guess,” said Eva, “is that she didn’t come here to say thank you. She knows or she thinks she knows. And if she confronts Ingrid . . .”

“Then we implement Operation Waistcoat,” said Gottfried with a smile.

Dietrich nodded, but Eva said, “You don’t think that’s a bit of an overreaction?”

“It’s perfect timing,” said Gottfried. “In a few hours Karl and Erich will have the decrypted message and the secret of Projekt Alchemie. Thanks to crowdfunding, we now have enough money to outfit the Fox’s Den. We don’t need this place anymore, and what could gain greater sympathy for Columbia House than Operation Waistcoat?”