“What’s the matter? What happened?” Melanie asked.
Eva’s breath was still coming in shallow heaves, but she sputtered out the words, “Yvonne said two men in suits came by for me yesterday. They wanted to talk to me. She said they are coming back tomorrow.”
A thin burst of alarm shot through Melanie. “Who were they? What did they want?”
Eva shook her head, still gasping. “They didn’t tell Yvonne who they were. I don’t know what they wanted. They just asked Yvonne if I was German. She told them I was Polish.”
“You think they were immigration officials?”
“I don’t know!”
The front door opened at that moment and June stood ready to greet them. She was wearing a ruffled white blouse, black pedal pushers, and a red and green chiffon apron sprinkled with smudges of flour.
Her smile quickly turned to concern. “What’s wrong?”
“Two men showed up at the house where Eva lives, looking for her. Asking about her,” Melanie said.
“Come inside.”
Melanie, Nicky, and Eva stepped into the house and June shut the door behind them.
“Who were they?” June asked.
“They didn’t say who they were.” Eva was still slightly out of breath. “Yvonne said they wanted to know if I was German!”
“And they didn’t identify themselves as immigration officials?”
Eva shook her head.
“Did she say they asked about me?” Melanie asked.
“No.”
The three women stood in the entryway in momentary silence. It was possible the two men had nothing to do with the blacklist,Melanie thought. Perhaps Eva’s true nationality had at last been uncovered. Perhaps those men were in fact immigration officials who didn’t know Eva worked for an actress on the blacklist. Or knew and didn’t care.
“I don’t know what to do.” Eva’s voice sounded almost childlike. “There are other things I’ve done…”
“Now, let’s just think about this a minute,” June said. “Come into the living room and set your things down.”
They moved into the next room. Melanie and Eva set their totes of gifts down by the little tree and Nicky ran up the stairs to look for Algernon.
The women sat down.
After a moment June said, “All right. Here’s what I think. I think you should stay here in Malibu tonight, Eva. I will take you back to your place early tomorrow morning, before anyone’s workday starts. We’ll get your things and you’ll come back here like you were going to in a few days anyway. Those men won’t know where you’ve moved to, whoever they are, and they’ll have to find you all over again.”
“But what about Yvonne?” Eva said. “What do I tell her? She knows I was planning to come stay here for a while.”
“Do you trust her?” June asked. “Is she your friend?”
“I think so.”
“Tell her you don’t want strange men knowing where you are. It’s as simple as that. Tell her she’s not to share your new address with them. If these fellas have a legitimate reason for wanting to talk with you, they will give her their business card or something, won’t they? And then you’ll know who they are.”
“Wait a minute. I think I should take her to get her things tomorrow morning,” Melanie said. “I’m not the one just getting over a back injury, and if they happen to be there when Eva arrives Iwant to see who they are. If they are there because of me, I want to know. And if this has to do with only her immigration, I’ll step in if they start giving her trouble.”
“Okay, but you’re not exactly a lawyer, Melanie,” June said.
“I’m an actress. I’ll act like one.”
