Free The Dress Thief by Natalie Meg Evans

all night.’
    A pause. Then, ‘I’m truly sorry. I’ve had a hellish week and I really have tospeak with my brother. He’s in a position to save a man’s life.’
    She’d heard it all in her months on this switchboard, all the life-or-death reasons why one person’s call should jump the queue. So why did she instinctively believe this man? Mlle Dujardin had closed her report book and was heading out the door. Alix whispered into her mouthpiece, ‘Is this true – a man could die?’
    ‘Yes. He’s inprison in Spain, where I’ve just come from. He’s in a desperate condition. My brother knows people in the British government who can pull strings. It’s a shot in the dark, and every hour counts.’
    Alix thought quickly. ‘Give me a little time. I’ll do my best, but I’ll have to break the rules.’ She heard a whisper of relief.
    He asked, ‘May I know your name?’
    Her neighbour was listening avidlyso Alix replied, ‘I’m not at liberty to say.’
    ‘Not allowed to fraternise? One last question: will you marry me?’
    That giggle finally got out. ‘Perhaps. But this time you really will have to go to the back of the queue.’
    *
    Alix slipped the earpiece off and muttered to her neighbour, ‘I have to powder my nose.’
    Ignoring her colleague’s protest that surely she could hold on to the end of theshift, Alix ran along a corridor to a room where female operators sat at consoles either side of a gangway. Mlle Boussac was on duty in this section. She was at the end of an aisle, engrossed in some problem. Satisfied she’d chosen a good moment, Alix searched the rows for the destination sign ‘London’.
    She selected a girl the same age as herself and placed a priority request card in front ofher. She’d filched it from Mlle Dujardin’s desk and filled it in herself. ‘It’s been authorised,’ she said, her stomach diving. She was risking her job for a stranger.
    The girl looked unsure. ‘Hadn’t we better check?’
    They looked to where Mlle Boussac was tapping the end of a connector cord. ‘She looks busy,’ Alix whispered.
    At that moment, Mlle Boussac straightened up and looked straight atAlix. Then another operator summoned her to where a rapidly flashing light indicated an electrical fault.
    ‘You’re new, aren’t you?’ Alix asked the girl, and tapped the card. ‘It’s fine. It’s from the ministry.’
    ‘Which ministry?’
    ‘
The
ministry. They always get priority.’
    *
    The following day, Monday, Alix was reported for breaking telephone company rules regarding the strict order of customers’calls. The girl who sat beside her had seen her take the request card and told the supervisor.
    Alix was docked a day’s pay and warned that no more infractions would be tolerated.
    *
    But the following day, Mémé called in at the exchange in great distress. Mlle Boussac sent a secretary to fetch Alix from the switchboard and to bring a glass of water.
    Alix found her grandmother perched on a chair,trembling so hard her water was in danger of spilling. Alix took the glass away from her. ‘Mémé, what is it?’
    ‘The Germans are trying to break into the flat.’
    ‘Germans, in St-Sulpice?’
    ‘All morning I’m hearing
tap, tap, tap
 –’ The rest was lost as Mémé flowed away in Yiddish. Alix caught one name –
    ‘Hitler was trying to break in at our door?’ She exchanged a glance with Mlle Boussac, who lookedas though she was sucking a bee.
    ‘Not the door, the roof! He’s lifting the slates to come in that way.’
    ‘Why would he?’ Alix asked. ‘How would he get up there in the first place?’
    ‘Perhaps he jumps from the building next door.’ Mémé rocked forward.
    Alix thought,
Is it delusions?
A new fear struck her – her grandmother failing in her mind, needing constant attendance. Then a bird flew pastthe office window and another possibility dawned. ‘Mémé, d’you think you could have been hearing pigeons? They’re nesting, fluttering about