‘I could send you to Ravensbrück. That is a camp, for women like you. We have already sent a number of women from Jersey there. You won’t be alone.’ She heard him push himself off the table. ‘They will determine whether you are Jewish and will deal with you accordingly.’

He began to drum his fingers on the table, then stopped, walked towards her, his boots a steady clop, clop on the hard floor.

‘Or.’ He put a finger under her chin, tilted her face so she was forced to look into his. He pushed her hair away from her cheek, tucked it behind her ear. Dora flinched. ‘Bruising fades, wounds heal.’ He brushed his fingers against the side of her face. ‘We could use you here, in Jersey.’ He threw back his head and laughed. ‘Oberleutnant Zepernick, what do you think?’

He flicked his wrist in dismissal and the Feldpolizist marched her from the room, his fingers digging into the tender muscle of her arm.

A cramp began in Dora’s stomach, a slow squeeze along her bowel. She felt for the bucket in the dark, squatted over its rim. There was no paper, not even torn-up scraps of newspaper. She felt sick and soiled.

Who knew she was here? She could just vanish. Plenty of people in Germany disappeared when Hitler came to power. Or ended up in labour camps like the ones in Jersey. What had happened to the Jews they’d sent away? Or the British? Or the men and women who’d stood up to them? Kept a wireless, helped a prisoner? Gone. Not a word since.

And Geoffrey? What had they done with Geoffrey? She closed her eyes, seeing his bowed frame as they led him away. Had they broken him?

The baton rattled across the grille. She jumped. The keys were in the door and a Feldgendarm in an ill-fitting uniform and cap grabbed her arm, slapped on handcuffs and pulled her towards the door. He walked fast and she had difficulty keeping up with him, tripping on her wooden shoes, which slipped from her heel and twisted under her foot. Upstairs, down again, along one corridor, then another, green below the rail, cream above, brown and black tiles on the floor.