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Josie doesn’t move. There’s a gun in her face and a brute of a man behind it. She doesn’t react when she hears her name being called the first time. Then she sees the bedroom door nearby opening and Grand-Mère smiling, calling out to her.

“No lesson today, Joséphine. No piano lesson. Run and tell Monique there’s no lesson for her either.”

The code words. Josie hears them through the roaring in her ears. Run. Tell Monique. Run to Monique. Go!

Distracted by Tina’s appearance, the leader turns away. His pistol does not. It tracks Josie, follows her. But his attention is divided.

Josie stands long enough to see large hands drag her Grand-Mère back into the bedroom. Hands that grip too hard. Someone is shouting. Then she runs.

Down the corridor. Down the stairs. Her feet barely touching the steps. Heading for the front door, she hears and ignores Maurice.

“Josie—in here!”

But she is out the door and gone before he can finish his sentence.

“Damn that child,” he mutters to himself. Why today of all days did she succeed in her game of sneaking past me? He breathes a sigh of relief when no one comes down the stairs after her.

Back in the apartment, Tina and Louis are dragged back into the living room and pushed onto the sofa. Tina rubs her arm where she was struck, where bruises are already forming. The leader turns on his inept colleagues, berating them for not keeping Tina under control.

“It was just a child,” the chastened militiaman answers back.

“Luckily for you,” the leader says, waving his pistol in the man’s direction.

Louis clutches his chest. His heart is still pounding, threatening to burst. “Josie, Josie,” he whispers.

“She got away, mon amour,” Tina comforts him, her hand finding his. “She got away.”

Outside the apartment, Josie runs. Turning into the next street, she sees the park and realizes she has automatically run toward her old apartment. Monique’s apartment is in the opposite direction. She’s too frightened to go back now in case the militiamen are outside the apartment, searching for her.

She hurries across the street and enters the park. The beautiful park where she and her family, the Levallois family, and her friends have had so much fun. She looks for a place to hide. The trees are still young, a long way off maturity. She is too exposed here.

But the fountain has large shrubs nearby. She can hide there.

Finding a thick bush, Josie crawls behind it, her back against the wall. She cannot see out, but no one can see her either. She should be safe for the moment in this hiding spot, but she’s alone.

In shock, and suddenly very exhausted, she falls asleep.

Back in the apartment, Tina and Louis sit with their captors, still watching the clock, each hour an eternity.

Four o’clock.

Five o’clock.

Six o’clock.

Seven o’clock.

Outside, the sun is fading into the long summer twilight.

Louis finally speaks. “No one’s coming.”

“So somehow they got tipped off.” The leader’s face darkens with rage. “On your feet. Let’s go.”

“Where?” Tina asks, though she knows. She knows.

“The same place your daughter is. A place where you will answer our questions.”

He points to one of his men. “You, stay here until morning. If anyone knocks on the door, arrest them. I’ll send reinforcements to relieve you in the morning. We’ll stay here for as long as it takes for your friends to come looking for you. Now get up.”