The farmer? Geoffrey? Dora felt a surge of guilt. He had not been her first thought, had been shunted into second place. She wasn’t sure whether Nurse Hoffmann was tricking her into talking. Or bluffing.

‘Oh,’ Dora said, sounding casual. ‘Where?’

‘At his farm, of course. I thought, how nice you go to visit. He must be a lonely man. How lucky, you are close.’

She must have known where to spy on them, unseen from the house. What had Collette said, Feldpolizei? Bad as the fucking Gestapo. Who had told her about that spot?

‘What were you doing at the farm?’ Dora said.

‘Watching birds.’

‘That’s unusual,’ Dora said.

‘My boyfriend is very keen,’ Nurse Hoffmann said.

An unexpected confidence that made no sense. List had never hinted he liked birds. This must be somebody else Hoffmann was talking about, another lover.

‘And do you miss him?’ Dora said. If Nurse Hoffmann could trick her into talking, so could Dora.

‘Yes,’ Nurse Hoffmann said. ‘I miss him very much.’

‘He’s not here, then?’

‘He’s going to Germany soon,’ she said.

‘Why?’

Nurse Hoffmann shrugged. I can’t say.

Dora picked up a pile of dressings, placed them in a package. This wasn’t true. List was in Alderney. Dora’s instincts were right. He couldn’t possibly love Hoffmann. She wasn’t talking about him.

‘May I ask you something?’

For all Nurse Hoffmann’s intimacy, Dora knew her mood could turn. Nurse Hoffmann sniffed. She was weeping.

‘The farmer,’ Dora said. ‘Do you know what happened to him?’

‘Who?’

‘My boyfriend,’ Dora said. She felt the rip of pain. Torn loyalty.

Nurse Hoffmann brushed her tears away and shrugged. ‘Sent to Neuengamme. For work.’

‘Work?’

‘Arbeit macht frei,’ Nurse Hoffmann said. ‘Redemption through labour.’

Geoffrey could still be alive. Neuengamme. Wasn’t List something to do with that?

‘Alderney?’ Dora said.

‘Nein,’ Nurse Hoffmann said. ‘Deutschland.’

Dora felt sick. For one giddy moment she thought that Geoffrey was not so far away, that List could help him. But what would she have said to Maximilian? She’d have to admit she’d had a lover, and she wasn’t sure how he would respond. She’d have to get word to him too, and that would be impossible, unless he called for her. And what would she say to Geoffrey? She wasn’t sure she knew what to say to herself. What was List to her? If he treated her as his mistress, did that make him her lover?

‘And the Kommandant?’ Dora said, hoping her voice sounded casual, nonchalant. ‘He hasn’t been here recently.’

Hoffmann turned and plunged the long needle into the soldier’s other buttock as he screamed.

‘Now,’ she said, pressing hard, ‘that will teach you to use protection.’

Despite herself, Dora felt pity for the soldier. He was so very young. And the side effects from Salvarsan if administered badly were so very dreadful.