Reaching the barn, he placed Boar on the ground and cleared away an area of molded feed potatoes. The place reeked of manure and rotting vegetables. Last night, he had paid little attention to the smell, distracted by the overwhelming pain in his shoulder, dislocated like a chicken wing that had been snapped by a butcher. He noticed that Boar, still groggy, didn’t seem to mind the stench. The lieutenant rested his hand on his holstered pistol, leaned back, and immediately fell asleep.

As Ollie returned to the house, he saw Louis nestled beside a shrub, his head lowered on his front hooves. Ollie glanced around the farm to make certain there were no approaching vehicles, then reached down and petted the hog on the head. Louis twitched his tail and snorted.

“You can come in now,” Madeleine said, standing in the doorway.

Ollie thought the woman was speaking to him, until the hog sprang up and trotted inside. Its hooves tapped across the wood floor.

“He’s smart,” Ollie said, entering the cottage. “I’ve never seen a tuffle hog before.”

Madeleine laughed and produced a cigarette from her pocket. “Truffle.”

“Truffle?”

“You don’t know what a truffle is, do you?”

Ollie noticed a hoarseness in her throat, as if years of smoke over her vocal cords had lowered her voice a full octave. “No,” he said.

Madeleine sucked on her cigarette. Wrinkled skin stretched over her sharp cheekbones. “I’ll teach you about truffles,” she said, exhaling smoke. “But first, we have work to do.” She retrieved a wooden toolbox from a doorless cabinet, concealed by curtains made from a burlap bag. She placed the box on the counter and retrieved a hammer and a small pry bar. “Move the table.”

Ollie slid the table to the side of the room. His shoulder ached.

“Remove them.” Madeleine tapped her foot on a floorboard. “But don’t scar the wood.”

Ollie looked at her, suddenly realizing what they were about to do. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Madeleine took a deep drag on her cigarette, then exhaled. “The Wehrmacht stop here. One of their officers is quite fond of requisitioning my truffles.” She scratched her hog behind the ears. “They’d find you if they searched the barn.”

Ollie took the hammer and pry bar, then hesitated. “If we stay in the barn and we’re caught, you could pretend that you didn’t know we were there.”

“Wouldn’t matter. They’d shoot me either way. When the Germans invaded, there were British soldiers that didn’t make it out of Dunkirk. They hid in basements, attics, and barns. Many were captured. French residents were shot, regardless if they knew the soldiers were there.” Ashes dropped from her cigarette. “The Nazis have no tolerance for those in the company of their enemy.”