Tatiana spoke calmly. “A group of cleaners will come in tomorrow and Malama says one of them is my height and coloring. She and I will swap clothes and she will stay here while I leave with the others. The next morning, when the cleaners return, I will come back, and by then I will know how we are to be rescued. We have no choice, Papa. You know that.”

Maria intercepted a look between Tatiana and her father that made her shiver. She had been trying to ignore the tension in the house while she recovered from her ordeal at the hands of Bolotov, but there was no doubt everyone was on edge. The firing in the distance didn’t help.

“What must we do?” she asked, her voice faint.

Tatiana replied, “When the cleaner is here in my place, crowd round her so no one gets a close look. Fortunately these new guards scarcely know us. If Yurovsky comes in, shield her from his gaze by some ruse.” She looked around at them all. “I’m sure you will manage. It is our best chance.”

What did she mean? Maria wondered. Best chance of escape? But why not just remain as Yurovsky wanted them to, while the arrangements for their exile were finalized? She sensed there were things the others knew that they had not told her, Anastasia, or Alexei. Usually she resented being left out of the adult conversation, but this time she was glad not to know. She was anxious enough as it was.

* * *

The cleaner looked nothing like Tatiana, Maria thought, and she was trembling as they exchanged gowns and shawls. Tatiana left the house with the rest of the cleaning women and the poor girl hid in their bedroom, scarcely saying a word, clearly terrified out of her wits. Maria wondered how Malama had talked her into it. No doubt she was being paid.

All went according to plan that evening, with none of the guards spotting the deception, but next morning when the cleaners returned to continue their work, Tatiana was not with them. She had been supposed to return. What could they do?

“I must leave with the other cleaners,” the girl begged Maria’s father over breakfast. “My parents are waiting for me.”

“Now, now,” Nicholas soothed. “You can’t leave until Tatiana is back or the guards will notice. If they see one more cleaner leaving than arrived this morning, you would most likely be arrested.”

The girl looked pale and kept wringing her hands together, on the verge of all-out panic. “My father made me do this. We need the money. I wish I had said no.”

Olga put an arm around her. “Stay calm, dear. Tatiana will be back before you know it.”

Maria saw her sister glance across the table at Nicholas and frown. This had not been part of the plan.