My heart raced with excitement. I had found Sadie’s mother. “Where is she now?” I asked. I could reunite them, or at least let Sadie know that her mother was safe.

Her face grew stony. “The Germans came. Usually they avoid the hospital, not wanting to get sick themselves. But this time, they entered and interrogated the staff. They’d received reports of a strangely dressed woman who had nearly collapsed on the street.” The nun’s words sank deep into my bones. Someone had seen Sadie’s mom and reported her. “We could not stand up to the Germans and risk the other patients and the work we are doing here.” Something in her voice told me that their mission went beyond medical care and I wondered if the hospital itself played a role in resisting the Germans. “But we were not about to let them take her. They surely would have killed her as they did the patients at the Jewish hospital.” She paused. “So we gave her mercy ourselves, a simple injection. She did not suffer or feel pain.”

Mercy. The word reverberated in my mind. Sadie’s mother had died. My heart ached for my friend, who had already lost so much.

I swallowed down my sadness, looked up at the nun. “When?”

“A few days ago.”

I shuddered. I was too late. If only I had known, come sooner. But even as I thought it, I knew that I could not have saved her. “And the child, what became of her?”

The nun looked confused. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

“My friend’s mother had an infant with her.”

She shook her head. “She didn’t. She came here alone.”

“But you said she had a baby.”

“No, I said that she had given birth. We could tell that much from her condition. And she kept talking about a child. Such things are not uncommon with women who have lost a child or are in a kind of denial. But there was never a child here with her.” She stood. “I’m sorry, but I’ve told you all that I know. Now for the safety of our patients, I must ask you to leave.” She walked me from her office and let me out of a side door to the hospital.

I turned away, sickened and stunned by all I had learned. I stopped at the fence outside the hospital, leaned on the railing for support. Sadie’s mother was gone, her baby sister nowhere to be found. I felt the pain of losing my own mother so many years ago, as sharp and real as if it was yesterday. But when my mother died, I still had Tata and my siblings to comfort me. Sadie had no family left at all. How was I ever going to tell her?

When I reached the café, I went around back and knocked softly on the cellar door. Kara opened one of the doors and led me to a corner where Sadie sat. Seeing me, her face brightened expectantly. “Any news?” Over Sadie’s shoulder, Kara’s eyes met mine. “My mother,” Sadie said. “Did you learn anything?”