“If we fill it in now, can we see him today? I’m begging you,” Maria asked, clasping her hands together.

He gave her a long stare. “Is this your mother?” he asked Stepan.

“Yes, I—”

“Take her away and tell her to keep her mouth shut in future.”

Clutching the form, Stepan led her by the elbow toward the door. Maria stopped at the entrance. Somewhere in that building, Peter was breathing, thinking, his heart beating, and she hoped he could sense she was close by and thinking of him.

They returned the next evening with the form filled out and signed in the correct places, but when they reached the front of the line, the same officer took it and threw it into a filing tray. “Your application will be considered,” he said.

Maria had brought a blanket and some fresh clothes for Peter, wrapped up in brown paper and string. “Please, sir, would it be possible to give these to him?” she begged. “He didn’t bring warm clothes with him and the nights are drawing in.”

“Parcels get handed in over there.” He gestured toward an unmanned desk across the room, which had a pile of packages stacked behind it.

“It has his name on it.” She showed him. “There. On the top. Will he get it this evening?”

“In due course,” he said. “Next!”

“No, please. I am begging you to get my parcel to him tonight. Can you do that?” She had written a note saying that they loved and missed him. It was more important he receive that than anything else.

The man glared at Stepan. “Can you control your mother? Get her out of here.”

Maria was bitterly disappointed. She had counted on visiting Peter that evening and giving him the blanket and clothes in person. She hadn’t been sure if she would be allowed to hug him, but just to see him and talk to him would have been enough. As soon as they left the building, she began to cry.

“Why are they still holding him? When can I have him back? Stepan, you don’t understand. He’s the strong one of the two of us. I can’t carry on without him.” She clung to her big son and he held her close.

“I’ll look after you, Mama,” he said, but that only made her cry harder.

Chapter 34

A WEEK AFTER PETER’S ARREST, WHEN NOTHING seemed to be helping to get him released, Maria went to visit Annushka, the woman whose brother she had found. Annushka’s husband worked for the NKVD. It was a long shot, but perhaps he would help.

When Annushka heard that Peter had been arrested, she was reluctant to invite Maria inside her apartment. She looked terrified, peering along the corridor in case anyone was watching. “I’m sorry for your trouble, but I don’t want my husband to find out I know someone who is under suspicion.”