Tereza nodded. She understood perfectly. “I think you made an impression on him. It’s obvious he respects you, so I hope he does as you told him.”

  “If he ever shows up here again, let me know immediately. Jakub is coming Tuesday at noon to install your phone. I’ll be here when he comes, and I’ll give you my number at home and at the office. You need to memorize both numbers and burn the slip. Do you have matches?”

  “Yes, I have plenty. I’ll burn the paper in the sink and wash the ashes down.”

  Anton was calmer now, and he felt the need to explain a little further about Erik and Jakub. “Did you hear of an assassination that occurred here in Prague? I think it made the news everywhere.”

  “Of course. We heard about it when I was still working at the hospital at Fort Sam.”

  “I just want you to know both Erik and Jakub have been very useful in our work. I can’t say any more. Now if we can just rein in their youthful lack of judgment, maybe they won’t get us all detained, tortured, and killed.”

  He had to finish his tea now so he could be on time to meet the contact. He found himself wishing Tereza could walk across the Charles Bridge with him. He thought about how much she’d enjoy Our Lady of Victory Church and the famous statue of the Infant Jesus. He wondered whether she was Catholic, whether she was a believer. A woman like her, well, she could almost make a believer out of him.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The weeks had dragged by. The doctor had come to see her twice—once to remove the stitches from her wounds, and once to check her leg. She had heard the doctor’s name mentioned at a checkpoint, but she wiped it out of her mind. There was no need to know. He was impressed with the way her leg had healed, and he removed the cast. He said she’d be ready to walk without the crutches by the end of the sixth week. He wanted her to get outside and do some walking on the street, and she was more than ready. She asked Anton for money, and he gave her what seemed to be a fortune.

  Reading in Czech had been easier than she imagined. She read everything Anton brought with occasional help from her dictionary. She always carried a book with her now when she went out in the afternoons. She stopped at one café or another, found a cozy corner, and read while drinking weak coffee. One time, at the Café Slavia, she had seen Anton having coffee with another man. They ignored her, and she had pretended not to recognize him.

  After two weeks of walking every day, the doctor was coming this evening to see how she was doing. She had managed to buy a small cake, and Anton had given her a few teabags she’d been hoarding, so she was planning a celebration if the doctor said she could ride a bicycle and go to work.

  The doctor arrived, pronounced her leg healed, and she insisted he stay for tea and cake. He appeared to be charmed by the idea. She had found an ancient linen tablecloth with a lace border in a second-hand shop, and she spread it over the table before cutting the cake and serving the tea. She had no napkins, but with all the shortages, she hoped this would be acceptable. There would be no war talk. She chatted with him about all the things she’d seen while walking the city for two weeks, and he recommended many more places she should investigate. She didn’t mention the ever-present Nazis she always encountered in the streets and cafes. It was a small tea party with a man whose name she didn’t know. The only drawback to the celebration was that Anton wasn’t there.

  #

  She pushed her bicycle up the hill to the castle area. Before her injuries, riding it would have been no problem, and she was sure that with weeks of riding, she’d be back in shape. After passing through security, she went to the entrance of the Cernin Palace as Anton had told her to do, wearing the identification tag he had furnished. He had insisted she leave the camera behind for at least a week, maybe longer. “I’m to see Olga Klimanova. I’m a member of the cleaning staff.”

  One of the guards at the door looked over her documents then took her inside to a room off a long hallway where she was searched by a heavy-handed woman in uniform. Thank God she hadn’t brought the camera. She wondered whether she’d be searched every day, and if so, how she’d ever be able to bring it. After the search, the woman directed her farther down the hallway to the last door on the right. She knocked and heard a woman’s voice shout, “Come in.”

  Olga Klimanova was seated at a desk covered by stacks of papers. She was a stout woman with dark hair pulled back from her face. She stood and came forward to shake Tereza’s hand. “You’re Tereza Valentova. I’m Olga Klimanova, as you already know. Call me Olga. You’re here to work with the cleaning crew, and you’ll be assigned at first on the lower level of the palace. I’ll show you around, and then you can get started.”

  Tereza suspected that someone on the staff at the palace had arranged for her employment there, and she wondered if it were Olga. Something else she didn’t need to know at present, something that would be better for everyone concerned if she didn’t know. “Thanks. I’m eager to get started. My rent is coming due, and I need the money. I was lucky to get this job.”

  They went to the hallway and down a set of stairs to the lower level. The first room they visited was a large supply room lined with shelves stacked with various forms and office supplies. On the far side of the room was what Tereza took to be a mimeograph machine where a young man was working. “You’ll dust everything in here,” Olga said. “Just be careful not to rearrange anything. Our bosses are particular about how everything is lined up down here.”

  “What will I use for the dusting?”

  “You’ll have a cart with all your supplies. It has your name on it. There’s a large lamb’s wool duster you’ll use in here. There’s a mop and bucket for the floor when you’re through.” They approached the man, who had been watching them all the time they were in the room. “This is Wilhelm. He operates the mimeograph and takes supplies upstairs when they’re ordered. Try not to get in his way.”

  “I’ll try. Hello, Wilhelm.”

  He shook her hand. “Pleased to meet you.”

  Tereza saw that he was young, probably eighteen, and was tall and thin with blonde hair. Remembering her training at Catoctin in German military rank, she saw he was a private. She followed Olga from the room and down the hallway to several small offices that would be her responsibility. At the end of the hallway they came to a large storage area where the carts were kept. Her name was already on hers. A sink stood in a corner of the room—this was where she would fill her mop bucket.

  “Could I write down the room numbers where I’m supposed to clean? I don’t want to miss anything.”

  “You’re not allowed to have paper, pencil, or pen. You’ll have to memorize them. We’ll go over them again as we go back to my office.”

  Olga certainly was allowed to have paper, considering the stacks on her desk. When they returned to the office, Olga asked her to read and sign a sheet which outlined her duties and listed the rooms that were her responsibility. She memorized them quickly. “You’ll be here at seven in the morning and work until four. If you finish with your assigned rooms, come back to me and I’ll find something for you to do till your shift ends. You’ll be searched on leaving, and the woman who does the searching isn’t on duty till four. The door will be locked until then, and no one goes out until they’re searched.”

  Tereza went back downstairs to the cart room, got her cart, and filled the mop bucket. She’d start with the supply room and clean the offices next.

  Wilhelm was gone when she returned to the supply room, and he came in after she started dusting. “What was your name again? I’ve forgotten already.”

  “Call me Tereza. Is it okay if I call you Will?”

  “Sure. Some of my friends call me Will. You speak German very well.”

  “I’m from the Sudetenland.”

  “I’ve heard of it. A lot of Germans live there, don’t they?”

  “Yes, my mother was of German descent. I learned both languages growing up.”

  He gave the impression of being a little slow in his thinking, which could be a useful trait if she were ever to have a chance to see what he was printing on the mimeograph. A huge metal cabinet stood against the wall at the side of the room. A padlock secured the doors. It would be interesting to see what was in that locked cabinet. She finished the dusting and mopped the floor when Will left to deliver a ream of typing paper to someone upstairs.

  Tereza moved on to the offices. There wasn’t much to be seen in any of them—no loose papers lying around. Three of the six were occupied by men in uniform talking on phones, but they hung up immediately when she came in and left so she could clean. She had finished her duties by three forty-five, and she wondered if Olga had assigned a light load to give her time to look in desk drawers and check out what was going on with the mimeograph.

  She returned her cart and took her time rinsing her mop and bucket. She wanted to go outside to shake out the duster, but she didn’t know how to get out except through the main door, and she wouldn’t be able to go out there without being searched. She shook the duster over a waste basket and hoped that was good enough. She didn’t want to be fired for incompetence before getting started doing any of the real work.

  Olga wasn’t in her office when Tereza knocked on the door, so she stood in the hallway till the older woman appeared. “I’m through now, but I’m wondering—is there someplace outside where I can shake the dust out of my duster?”

  “Come, I’ll show you.” They went back downstairs, past the cart room, and down a second hallway with a door leading outside. They were in a patio that was enclosed by a high brick wall. “Bring your duster out here. You can whack it against the wall. You can come out here and eat your lunch, also, but you need to make that quick. Did you bring some lunch today?”

  “I didn’t have anything to bring, but I have a little money left. I’ll try to find something this evening.”

  “You can leave now. It’s almost four. Go out the way you came in. Just remember, there will be a search on the way out, also.”

  Tereza wondered how she’d ever be able to smuggle a camera in or any information out with two daily searches. Maybe it was just for the first week. The woman who searched her on the way in was in her office with the door open, and two women were waiting outside while she searched a third. Tereza stood in line behind the other two. A guard stood to the side, watching the line.

  The one next to her turned. “I’m Natalie, and this is Pavlina. You’re new, aren’t you?”

  “Yes. I’m Tereza. I’m assigned to the lower floor.”

  “You’ll move up eventually. Sometimes there’s an opportunity for some food if you’re on one of the upper floors.”

  “That would be helpful.” She wanted to ask whether the searches would go on forever, but she was afraid the searcher would hear. Both these women gave the impression of having been around a while, so that probably answered her question. When her turn came, the searcher was even more thorough than she had been in the morning. There were many indignities to be suffered in her line of work, obviously, but she would suffer them gladly if she could make a difference.

  She had chained her bicycle with a combination lock in a thicket of trees, and she unlocked it, threw the chain into the basket, and coasted down the hill, feeling free as a bird. Anton had delivered the bicycle yesterday—actually he rode it to her apartment—and she kept it just inside her door. She could walk to the palace, but the bicycle made it easier, especially coasting back to Old Town at the end of a day of cleaning.

  She took the bicycle inside, stood it by the door with the kickstand, and got her money and coupon cards for shopping. A few small stores were located in the area, and she visited all of them. There was never any butter, and how she longed for real butter. She got two potatoes and a little bread and returned home. She was starving by this time, and she quickly made some potato soup with water, leaving the skins on. Fortunately she had some salt that Anton had given her. She ate some of the bread while the potatoes were cooking and put the rest back for breakfast and lunch tomorrow. The soup was filling, if nothing else.

  She was washing dishes when Anton came in. He never knocked, knowing that she wouldn’t answer a knock, so she always dressed in the bathroom. “How did it go today?” he asked.

  “Very well, except that I was searched on the way in and on the way out. It looks like that will continue, because two women who appeared to have been there for some time were being searched also. There’s a mimeograph machine, and I might be able to take photos of what’s printed on it, but I don’t know how I’ll be able to take a camera in, even as small as that one is, or bring anything out.”

  “Don’t worry. It’ll be taken care of eventually. It’s probably better that you don’t look in any desk drawers yet, or try to check out what’s going on with the mimeograph machine. Get used to the routine for a couple of weeks.”

  “The lady named Olga told me that I should report back to her if I finished my work before four, and she’d find something else for me to do. Maybe I’ll get an opportunity to expand my horizons. I clean a supply room where there are a lot of forms as well as the mimeograph machine, and then some smaller offices. The offices have desks and phones, but no papers anywhere. There were men in some of the offices today, and they stopped talking on the phones as soon as I came in. All the desks in those rooms appear to have a locked drawer, because there’s a keyhole.”

  She had been rattling on, trying to avoid the thought that in spite of her determination to avoid getting involved with Anton, she found herself wanting him desperately. Maybe it was just that she’d had so much exposure to him in all the weeks he’d been looking after her, but she didn’t want to avoid it any longer. If they’d given her any advice or rules about this in her training, she couldn’t remember them. She did wish he’d make the first move, but if he didn’t, she would. “I still have a couple of tea bags. Would you like some tea?”

  “Have you eaten?”

  “I had some bread and potato soup. How about you?”

  “Not yet. I came directly from the office. My landlady will have something for me when I get back to my apartment. We have an arrangement—I pay her extra for doing my laundry and giving me some food in the evenings. She almost always has something. I give her part of my coupons.”

  “How about that tea?”

  They were sitting at the table now. He reached out and took her hand. “Maybe later.” He kissed her fingertips. “You’ve probably figured out by now that I’m falling for you. I tried to avoid this, but I’m afraid it was inevitable.”

  She was smiling. “Come to bed with me.”

  In her bed, among the sturdy cotton sheets, he held her and kissed her. All thoughts of their age difference were gone, and she put her arms around his neck. “I need you,” she said, as he drew her to him.

  #

  Tea never tasted as good as it did this evening. They sat together at the table, and her entire body was still filled with the ecstasy of their lovemaking. He didn’t say anything, just held her hand and drank his tea. She knew he’d have to leave soon. She wished he could stay; she wished they could hibernate here in her apartment till the war was over. His staying wouldn’t be a good idea, she knew, and the last thing she wanted to do now was anything that would endanger them. She kissed him at the door and told him goodnight.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  The streets had taken on a soft glow as he walked back to his apartment. Was it just the last of the sunlight being reflected down from the clouds, or was it that making love to Tereza permanently altered his vision? He was smiling. Anyone who met him would think him demented, walking along and smiling to himself. Reality would come crashing down on him soon enough, he knew, but for now he was smiling.

  When he got to the bottom of his stairs he could see that the lights were on in his apartment. Eliska was there. Eliska or someone who had broken in. Whoever it was, he was certain he didn’t want to see them. He couldn’t make love to Eliska tonight. He didn’t think he could ever make love to her again. He went into his garage and closed the door after him. Eliska didn’t know about the garage or the Rosalie. He got into the back seat of the car and curled up. Before long he was dreaming of Tereza.

  #

  He woke up in the middle of the night feeling stiff and cold. He left the garage and went to the bottom of the stairs. The light in his apartment was off. If Eliska had gone to bed there, she’d be waiting for him in the morning anyway, so he climbed the stairs and let himself in. The apartment was empty. He found no note, and nothing appeared to have been disturbed. He found bread and cheese on his table, and he ate it before going to bed. Maybe it was simply Mrs. Svobodova bringing his food, but then she always came earlier, before it was necessary to turn on a light.

  #

  He woke up early and went to the office. Josef was already there and came pecking on his door as soon as he was seated behind his desk. “You’d never guess what’s happened—or perhaps you already know. Eliska Muller is calling off the divorce. She came in yesterday and told me to forget the whole thing. She’s reconciling with her husband. She left this for you.” He handed Anton an envelope.

  So Clara Plankova’s gossip had actually been true. He took out the note and read, in her flamboyant handwriting, “Darling—I wanted so desperately to see you last night. I’m leaving on the train this afternoon for Germany. Kurt’s family has made me an offer I can’t turn down. Hans Schiller will be looking after my house. Please meet me for lunch at 1 p.m. at the Slavia, and then ride with me to the station. I’ll always love you. Eliska.”

  He looked up at Josef. “Not only is she calling off the divorce, she’s leaving town.”

  “Where’s she going?”

  “To Germany. Apparently his family is dead-set against the divorce, and has offered her a house and quite a bit of money to get back together with him.”