Clara nodded. She didn’t trust herself to speak and went back to the kitchen, casting a discreet sideways look into the study as she went. She could see the briefcase beside the desk.
From the kitchen Clara checked the stew. It didn’t really need anything doing to it, but she wanted to appear busy. As soon as she heard Müller and the little dog leave the house, she hurried down the hallway and carefully opened the door to the living room, poking her head in. Ursula appeared to be fast asleep, she didn’t stir at all.
Clara’s heart was racing and as she pulled the door closed, her hands shook. The hall rug deadened her footsteps as she almost sprinted back towards the study.
Without giving herself time to think what she was doing, Clara was moving the case onto the desk and flicking the catches on the briefcase, grateful it wasn’t locked. The tan leather lid popped open. Inside were several files. She didn’t have the luxury of time. Her fingers quickly flicked through the different coloured folders as she checked the contents. It was the third file in the pile.
‘RELOCATION’ was stamped across the cover. Clara set the other files to one side before opening the folder. The second page yielded the information Max wanted. A list of names, women’s names, their age, family members, address, due date. Clara’s breath caught at the next column headings. Transportation Date. Location. Completed.
The names were listed in date order. The first page of the list, all the names had a red X marked in the Completed column. The dates all historic within the last three months. She flicked over the page. The same for the first ten or fifteen names.
Below that the next ten names all had the same transportation date of the following week. She looked at the due dates, all ten women were due to give birth within the next six weeks. In the Location column there were two different codes. EH.R or EH.N. She looked back at the previous location codes. It was either one of the above or EH.G. She knew enough from her medical background that EH was often an abbreviation for Entbindungsheim, meaning maternity home.
So, the women were being transferred to some sort of medical facility, but where? N, R and G obviously stood for the precise location but that could be anywhere.
She swiped the pen and notebook from her pocket and began copying down the names of the women due to be relocated next week. Her hand shook making her writing untidy. It didn’t matter, as long as it was legible. As long as Max could read it.
A few minutes later, she’d copied the names down. She still couldn’t believe it all. What if these women were just being taken somewhere to give birth and Max had got it wrong. She couldn’t believe that they were really disappearing. Who would do that? There must be an explanation. There must.
As she went to close the file, she noticed a sheet of paper attached to the inside front cover that she hadn’t seen before. It was a key with codes down one side and the details of the code alongside.
She spotted what she was looking for.
EH.R – Entbindungsheim Rostock
EH.N – Entbindungsheim Neuruppin
EH.G – Entbindungsheim Griefswald
The locations of the maternity homes. Again, she scribbled down the cities. All of them were to the north of Berlin. She wasn’t entirely certain, but Griefswald was up near the Baltic Sea if her memory served her correctly. These women were being moved hundreds of miles to presumably give birth. No wonder no one knew what happened to them after that. Were they relocated permanently to those areas?
She paused as she looked at Neuruppin. It rang a bell somewhere in her head, but she couldn’t think why.
She closed the file and moved it back into the briefcase, but as she did so a sheet of paper slipped out. It was a letter from a Doktor Hector Smidt introducing himself as the leading obstetrician at the Entbindungsheim Neuruppin and he was looking forward to receiving the new patients.
Clara noted down the address in her book. She wasn’t sure where exactly the letter had slipped from within the file but hastily put in back under the list of names. She had just replaced all the files and closed the lid when she heard the unmistakable yapping of Kaiser from outside the house.
She grabbed the case and dumped it back down beside the desk before darting out of the study and into the hallway just as the front door opened.
‘Frau Bergmann,’ said Müller. ‘Is everything all right?’ He studied her face with a mix of concern and maybe suspicion. Or was that Clara’s conscience?
She forced herself to smile. ‘Everything is fine, Herr Müller. I was just waiting for you to return before I left. Frau Müller is still sleeping but it would be a good time to wake her soon.’
‘Is she well?’
‘Yes, nothing to worry about, just taking her rest when she can,’ replied Clara. ‘I’ll say goodnight then.’
‘Are you sure everything is all right?’
‘Positive. It’s been a busy day.’ She picked up her bag, forcing herself not to rush or hurry but to take her time. What she really wanted to do was to flee from the house as quickly as possible, but she must maintain her composure.
She wasn’t quite sure how she hadn’t thrown up with nerves, but when her feet hit the pavement outside, Clara walked steadily towards the tram stop, taking in large gulps of air as she went. She glanced back and could see Herr Müller standing at the door, watching her leave.
She gave a polite smile which wasn’t returned.
Chapter 15
Clara pushed open the door to her apartment building and paused to check the mailbox in the foyer. It was empty. Once upon a time, she would have checked in excited anticipation for a letter from England from one of her sisters or her parents. The empty mailbox was an accurate representation of the gaping hole in her heart, one that yearned to be filled with contact from her family.
