Kate faltered. Adalbert was a big supporter of the underground. Gillespie was trying to trick her. If her aunt and uncle did something to help people who were in danger, why would they get into trouble now that the war was as good as over?
But Gillespie wasn’t finished with her. “Did you see this trunk?”
“Yes.” Kate crossed her arms.
“Did you see what was inside?” Agent Bristow, speaking for the first time, leaned forward, pen hovering over his notebook.
“Yes. It was their clothes.” Adalbert and Elsie weren’t thieves, she was sure of it. There had to be some other explanation for why FBI agents were poking around.
“Did it look like there were any secret compartments? Like the inside was smaller than you’d expect from its size?” He directed his attention at Mom. “Smugglers get creative with how they hide their goods.”
Kate quickly answered truthfully, “No, I didn’t see any secret compartments.”
Gillespie turned back to Mom. “Did they ever talk about any paintings? Artwork? A man by the name of Hermann Goering? How about…” He consulted his notepad. “Burgosov?”
She shook her head after each question.
Kate sucked in her lips to keep from gasping. Burgosov.
Bristow frowned as he wrote.
“Can you describe the early activities of this couple when they first got here? Anything suspicious?” Gillespie leaned his elbows on his knees.
“Well, Adalbert was quick to find a job. They wanted a place of their own as soon as they could get one. They always seemed nervous, checking out the window and such behavior.” Mom thought for a minute. “And they did move out faster than I thought they would. They said they had spent all their money to get here. It was surprising they could get a place so quickly. And a nice one, too,” she added.
Kate stared at her mother, willing her to tone it down. She was making Adalbert and Elsie sound guilty. “Adalbert got a job right away. He is very skilled,” Kate spoke up.
Everyone ignored her.
After jotting down the Oberlins’ new address, Gillespie stood. He shook out his legs like they had fallen asleep. “Thank you, ladies.” He held a business card to each of them. “If you think of anything else, please call me.”
Kate was glad her mother didn’t know about Adalbert’s interest in the Polish resistance movement. She would have “sung like a songbird,” as they said in the detective shows.
After Mom closed the door on the detectives, Kate burst out in a harsh whisper, “Mom, you made the Oberlins sound suspicious. You didn’t have to say anything.”
“What does it matter if they’re innocent? If an officer asks me a question, I’m going to answer it. They can’t come back and accuse me of hiding anything.”
“You’d make a terrible spy.”
“Why would I want to sneak around? If everyone spoke plainly, we’d have far fewer problems in this world.” She returned to the bathroom to put away the hair-cutting scissors. “You know, if this is the job your father was hinting at, it’s going to be a big mess trying to find all the art and get the missing pieces back to their owners.” She smiled. A rare smile when talking about Dad and the war. “He’ll love the challenge. Oh, it’s going to be good to see him again.”
Meanwhile, Kate was slipping on her shoes. “I’ll be back in a jiffy.” She grabbed her coat. She had to warn Adalbert and Elsie.
Chapter Sixteen
The FBI must be mistaken about them. They were too nice to do something as wrong as stealing. All the ladies in Alterations ate up Adalbert’s stories. They thought him a great romantic. And Aunt Elsie, why, she was one big heart, no matter the state of her mind. But they did have secrets that they hadn’t fully shared.
When Kate stepped into their kitchen, Aunt Elsie was nowhere to be seen.
“How is she?” Kate whispered.
Adalbert frowned. “She is resting now. This morning, she lit a candle and walked away. The candle tipped over and started a small fire.”
“Oh, no!” Kate thought she had detected a faint burned smell. Poor Elsie.
“Fortunately, I walked into the room and put the fire out before it spread past papers on the counter.” He sighed and stared at the floor. “This is the hard part of growing old.”
“An accident like that could happen to anybody.” Kate felt the need to stick up for Aunt Elsie.
“This I know. But I do not know what would have happened if I had not been here. Would she have known how to put the fire out? Would she have panicked and run to bedroom instead of out of doors?” He shook his head. “I used to be able to work at store for a few hours at a time, but now she cannot be alone any longer. Too dangerous. So many friends have helped to stay with her, but…” He looked at his hands.
Kate thought back to the hours her mother spent with Babcia during her final weeks. It had taken a toll on her. All the doctors’ visits, the medicines, the late nights. And when Babcia gave Kate the amber necklace instead of Mom, Kate could read the hurt in her mother’s eyes. They both knew the necklace was special to Babcia, they just didn’t know why.
As Kate was about to bring up the detectives, Elsie shuffled into the room. She was dressed in her nightgown and a pale-pink bathrobe. Her hair was down and mussed up. Her skin as translucent as the pattern-tracing material they used for dressmaking. But she smiled when she saw Kate.
“Good morning.” She pulled her robe tighter. “You are up at the crack of dawn, that is the expression, tak? Can I fix you breakfast?”
Kate glanced at Adalbert. It was almost suppertime. “No, thank you. I already ate.”
“Cup of tea?” asked Aunt Elsie.
She couldn’t say no to Elsie, not when she was in a communicative mood. Kate nodded and took off her jacket. She slung it on the back of the kitchen chair.
Aunt Elsie busied herself at the stove and in the cupboards. Even if all the other parts of her mind were lost, she would still be able to entertain a guest dropping in.
While Elsie was at the counter arranging a plate of cookies, Kate leaned in conspiratorially to Adalbert. “We had FBI agents at our apartment. They were asking all sorts of questions about you and your steamer trunk, and what you did when you first came here. Have they been here yet?”
He stared hard at Kate for a moment, his big white-and-gray eyebrows giving him the wild look of Albert Einstein. “And what did they learn from you and your mother?”
“I—um, what?” Kate’s stomach clenched. She expected him to say he had no idea what the men wanted. Or that there had to be some mistake. “What do you mean?”
“Your aunt and I do have secrets. None of the illegal kind, I assure you.”
Aunt Elsie brought the teacups over to the table and set the pot to her right so she could pour it when the tea finished steeping.
“Would you like me to fix eggs for you?” Aunt Elsie asked.
“Tea is fine.”
When Elsie went to the cupboard for sugar, Kate turned back to Uncle Adalbert. “Will you be arrested?” She kept her voice low.
Adalbert looked at Aunt Elsie and shook his head. “No, we have done nothing wrong. The secrets we keep are for Poland. And you already know about Kopciuszek. But I am worried someone has been asking about us.” He turned to Kate with probing eyes. “Tell me everything so that I might know where the threat is coming from.”
“Two agents, Gillespie and Bristow. They wanted to know about when you first came. What you brought with you and what you did when you got here.”
Uncle Adalbert held his cup in the saucer while Elsie poured his tea. “And?” he asked.
“That was about it. When Mom told them about the steamer trunk, they gave each other knowing looks.”
“They know about our trunk?” Elsie spoke sharply, like a rebuke.
Kate squirmed. “It was only a trunk. You had to have some luggage with you.”
Uncle Adalbert nodded. “Yes, yes of course. Is there anything else?”
�
��They are after some art thieves. You didn’t have any paintings in there, did you?”
Uncle Adalbert picked up his tea. He shook his head. “No paintings.”
Kate breathed a sigh of relief and took a sip from the cup Elsie had poured. The hot tea burned her tongue a little.
“We deal in fashion,” said Aunt Elsie. She laughed like she had told a great joke. “The dresses of fairy tales is my specialty, is it not, Adalbert?”
He smiled and patted her hand. “Yes, dziecko.” He turned back to Kate. “Thank you for warning us. I am not sure what this questioning is about, but I am sure we can clear it up easy. Did the agents give your mother a card with a phone number?”
“Yes, Gillespie did.” She reached for her purse. “Whoops. It’s in my other bag.”
“Fine. I will give him a call and speak with him myself.”
What a relief. If Uncle Adalbert were a bad guy—not that she thought he could be, but if he were—he wouldn’t go straight to the FBI, would he?
Adalbert drained his teacup. “How do you know they were FBI agents?”
“They told us. And I think they showed Mom a badge.” She looked carefully at Uncle Adalbert, but he avoided her eyes.
He packed up the tea things and set them on the counter before excusing himself and leaving the room.
Elsie cleared her throat. “My fingers are not like they once were. I have a piece of lace that needs fixing. Can you?”
“Of course!”
Elsie brought in the dress. A pretty green one trimmed with a complicated lace pattern.
“Going dancing?” Kate teased as she picked up the shuttle. She studied the pattern before beginning.
“Ha, not anymore.” She laughed, a sound Kate hadn’t heard from her in months.
The mirth brought back memories of the old days when they would sit on the couch in the apartment listening to the radio while Kate learned how to tat lace and dreamed of a silken ball gown while Elsie told stories of Kopciuszek. A time when Kate was younger and still wishing for the magical to break into the everyday.
“They are after the dress, you know,” said Elsie. Her gaze followed Kate’s fingers as she moved the shuttle under, over, over, under, her motions almost as fast as Elsie’s once were. “They have been looking for us ever since we left Poland. I am surprised they have come this close. The dress has never left Europe before. We tried to leave no clues.” She stopped to examine Kate’s tatting. She nodded approval.
The room fell quiet as Kate worked the shuttle and thread. She doubted the FBI agents were after the dress, but there was no point telling that to Elsie. The woman seemed to think everyone was after the dress.
Elsie sighed heavily and shook her head as if trying to shake her memories loose. “My mind, it can be so cloudy, like I am walking through dream.” She looked off in the distance, and her voice grew hard. “I can’t even remember where dress is.”
She lost the dress! Adalbert must know where it was. He has to. “It’s okay, Aunt Elsie. You told me it was back in the trunk. I’m sure it will turn up again.” She leaned forward to see if Adalbert was sitting in his recliner, still reading the paper. He could reassure her the dress was safe. The chair was empty, rocking like he had recently gotten up.
She handed Elsie the fixed lace. “There you go.”
Elsie pressed her hand to her chest. “Perfect.” She stood. “Adalbert, look at this.” Elsie wandered out of the room with the fixed lace. “Katja can make repairs better than I.”
Kate sighed. Katja-Kate. As long as Elsie knew who she was, it shouldn’t matter that she confused Kate’s name with Babcia’s.
Moments later, Elsie returned with a thick package wrapped in brown paper and tied with a string. She made a move to hand it to Kate, but then hugged it to her chest. “Adalbert says I’m supposed to give you this to bring to store. Put at his work station for him.”
“What is it? A work order?” Kate tried to pull it from Elsie, but she tightened her grip.
Elsie’s face revealed her frustration. “I not knowing.”
“Do you mind?” Adalbert entered the kitchen with his paper. “With the candle…is expensive fabric I would like kept safe.”
“Sure thing,” Kate said. “I could keep it at the apartment.”
“No,” he said quickly. “I don’t want you to have to feel responsibility to keep it at home. I’ll get it from my work soon. They are leaving me a space there for jobs when I need to come in.”
Elsie slowly let go, though her face remained troubled. “Prosze,” she said. Please.
Three sharp raps sounded at the door, interrupting them. When Adalbert opened it, the two FBI agents were standing on the stairs, looking even more official. Kate’s breath caught in her throat. Would they know she warned Adalbert? Would that make her an accomplice if he was arrested?
Gillespie held up his badge. “Mr. Adalbert Oberlin?”
Adalbert nodded. He turned to Kate. “You better go home.”
“Yes, sir.” She would have to ask him the whereabouts of the dress later. Kate nodded to the agents while trying not to look guilty. Obviously, they would know she warned the Oberlins. She quickly put on her jacket, hugged Aunt Elsie, and tucked the bulky package under her arm. It was heavier than its size suggested.
Chapter Seventeen
That night, Kate dreamed of the ball gown for the first time in months. She saw a girl with flowing blond hair twirling on a mountaintop. She was wearing the blue-and-white dress. Her arms were outstretched, and a wide smile radiated her joy. Beside her stood an ancient woman with long silver hair, back bent with age, her gnarled hand holding tight to a young girl. All were smiling. All seemed expectant.
Kate smelled the piney mountain air, felt the wind brush across her brow. She longed to be a part of the scene in front of her. The three were so content, so happy. She wanted to know what they were doing with such a beautiful dress. Kate willed her dream self to move closer to hear what they were saying. Then the old woman broke free from the young girl and stepped toward Kate. Peered into her eyes as if this were not a dream at all. The old woman reached out her hand.
Kate woke with a start, the necklace that she’d forgotten to take off again hot against her chest. She sat up, gasping for breath. She blinked in the early dawn light filtering through her window and lifted the pendant. As she held it to the light, she studied its flecks. Tiny bits of life embedded in an instant, the ancient resin, pressed into amber.
How many mornings had she woken to see Babcia doing this very thing? The amber necklace had a hold over her family. Elsie called it a blessing. Babcia a curse. For Kate, it was still a mystery.
…
Kate shifted Adalbert’s package to her hip as she neared Mr. G’s latest window at Harmon-Craig. Mr. G had another winner. Daphne, wearing a new spring jumper in pastel pinks and blues, stood beside a fake waterfall. Kate squinted, trying to see what the water was made of. Different kinds of Bakelite maybe? The manikin held a bouquet of pink and white flowers like she had been out for a stroll in the meadow. Nothing in there looked like “heavy lifting.” Johnny and the other display guys were full of it. The heaviest thing in there was the manikin. She could have easily put together that window.
When she was about to turn away, a young man approached her. “Not enough life in that window. It needs a live model or something. Preferably a pretty brunette.”
Johnny! Kate’s heart flip-flopped. Same broad shoulders, same friendly blue eyes behind new tortoiseshell glasses, only this Johnny was taller and more handsome than the Johnny she remembered. Not in uniform but his regular plain white T-shirt and jeans. Kate felt her face flush.
She cleared her throat. “Mr. G’s new rule is that the live models need to know how to jitterbug before they are allowed to step one size-seven shoe in a display.”
He laughed while pulling her into a big bear hug. “Good to see you’re still here keeping an eye on things.”
She could lose herself in his ar
ms, except that the package was getting squished between them. All too soon, he pulled away, holding her shoulders.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, breathless.
“I’ve got a forty-eight-hour leave. Using most of it up on the train, though. Sure would be nice if I could take an airplane ride instead. Mom insisted I come home so she could see I was well.” He rubbed his stomach. “Had a ruptured appendix that put me down. You might have noticed the mail stopped coming for a while.”
“Wow. That sounds painful. Are you okay?” She had noticed the mail dry up. She thought it had been something she said.
“Should have come to see you sooner. You would have healed me right up.”
“Johnny.” She laughed. “You could have called me. I would have visited you. Brought you my special homemade beet soup.”
“Mom banned all visitors. She was convinced any excitement would set me back.” He gave her another hug and spoke into her ear. “And your visit would have caused a lot of excitement. I missed you.”
Swoon. “Johnny Day! I bet you say that to all the girls.” Kate swatted his arm. “Do you have to go back?”
He nodded. “The war’s not over yet.”
“It almost is. Well, in Europe it is.” She grinned at him. “Besides, can’t you paint your eyeballs in New York?”
“Ha. I wish you were my captain. You make a lot of sense. I’ve been telling everyone I’ve missed so much time I’m up to my eyeballs at work.” His face sobered. “I’m actually leaving again in the morning. But I’m glad I bumped into you.”
Kate’s heart drooped just a little. He hadn’t sought her out after all. So in all his letters, was he flirting or wasn’t he? Men.
She held up the package. “Well, I’ve got to drop this off at Adalbert’s work station.” She hesitated, giving him time to invite her out.
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