I found the tree with no hesitation. The bushes around it had not been trimmed for some years, partly hiding the statue. I had walked past it several times, pausing to look at the sad face of the Greek god as the sea ate away more of his body, and I had remembered every detail of that magical night with Leo when I was eighteen and the world was full of romance and possibility. I walked warily past the statue, still not daring to hope it was Leo, still half expecting a trap. If I was taken, what would happen to Hanni? Surely Francesca would look after her?

Then I heard the whisper, only just discernible over the night breeze from the lagoon.

“Julietta?”

I squeezed past the bushes that were now invading the hiding space between the statue and the big tree, and he was there. I sensed, rather than saw him. “Leo!”

We fell into each other’s arms, kissing with hunger and urgency.

“Where have you been? I thought you were dead.”

“Listen,” he said. “I have no time. I am a wanted man. A boat comes for me in a few minutes, but I wanted to do this one thing for you: to give you a way to safety. Here.” He thrust an envelope into my hands. “This is how you get to Switzerland. Go now. Do not wait another second. As the Germans continue to become more desperate, they are also becoming more ruthless. If one of their number is killed, they will round up whole towns and machine gun the entire population. And you will be shot as an enemy spy. You must go. Do you understand?”

“Yes, but you? Why are you wanted?”

“I have been working for the Allies for a long time,” he said. “You know my feelings about Mussolini and how wrong it was for us to be involved in this senseless war. I wanted to do something about it. Now I have been betrayed. It is only a matter of time before they find me.”

“Then come with me to Switzerland, now.”

“I wish I could, but I cannot. I must make my way back to the Allies in Umbria. But for you—I have a letter from your family in Stresa, a travel pass to visit your dying grandmother. You remember I told you of Stresa? It is on Lake Maggiore. At the other end of the lake is Locarno. Switzerland. Safety. You go to Stresa and you pay a boatman to take you. You still have money?”

“Yes, I have taken money from my account to keep for emergencies.”

“I have put more into that envelope. Take it and go—now.”

“Angelo,” I began. “Have you seen him?”