“Calvin, you have an SS officer working with American Jews!” I gasped. “Do you really think he’s suddenly decided they are worthy of drawing breath after all?”

“Jürgen works closely with Eli Klein and I’ve never seen him speak to that man with anything but the utmost respect. Trust me when I say that man has no interest at all in anything outside of rocketry and his family.”

“Men like that don’t change, Calvin,” I whispered. My voice thickened with emotion as confused tears sprang to my eyes. Calvin gently touched my upper arm, his gaze steady.

“War is brutal, Lizzie. Even if the rumors are true, there’s possibly a whole background and context we can never understand.”

“War is brutal because of men like that. This war didn’t start itself—Nazis started it. Nazis perpetuated it. Nazis murdered millions of innocent people. There is no doubt at all who the villains are here.”

We both heard movement in the hallway then. Cal and I stared at one another in alarm. Then he spun and pulled the door open. Henry was standing there, frowning.

“I thought you went to bed,” I blurted. I could not have sounded guiltier if I tried.

“I just wanted a glass of milk,” Henry said defensively. He moved slowly, opening the refrigerator, pouring the milk, putting the bottle back into the fridge. As he was leaving the room, he shot me a pointed look.

“Good night,” I said weakly.

“Night, Henry,” Cal added.

“Hmm,” Henry said, frowning. We watched until he disappeared out the back door, back to his apartment above the garage.

“Do you think he heard?” Cal said.

“No,” I said, heart rate already settling. “He wouldn’t have been so calm if he had.”

“Henry can’t know what we just talked about, Lizzie. Not just because no one is supposed to know. In Henry’s case, it wouldn’t be good for him to know.”

“My first concern is always Henry’s welfare,” I snapped.

I woke that night to a thud and then a pained cry, and threw myself out of bed, rushing into the hallway. Calvin was there—standing in the doorway to his bedroom. We’d never shared a room, something that perplexed Henry the first time he stayed with us. I explained that Calvin snored terribly, and while my brother seemed unconvinced at first, the buzz saw–like sound that echoed down the hallway later that night when Cal went to bed seemed to reassure him.

Now I came to stand beside Calvin, and I rubbed my tired eyes as I mumbled, “Was that Henry?”

“I think so,” Cal said.

“Lizzie!” I heard Henry cry. The sound was coming from the kitchen. Calvin ran ahead of me down the hall and pushed open the kitchen door, just as Henry shouted, “You leave her alone!”