“Mrs. Radford!”
Someone was shouting her name—someone real. She leapt off the log pile. Sergeant Lewis was running down the path toward them.
“Mrs. Radford.” He paused, catching his breath. “They’ve found something in the river. Can you come?”
The two fishermen on the riverbank were among the men who had gone on strike when the army left the camp, depriving them of the extra cigarette ration. Now they stood awkwardly, hands thrust in their pockets, next to a small bundle wrapped in a scrap of blue checked cloth.
“I told them to leave her there until you came, but he’s wrapped her in his neckerchief.” Sergeant Lewis glanced at the taller of the two men. “He found her in the weeds by the mill wheel. The other one came running to tell me. I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I followed him down here and saw her—just lying there on the grass.” Sergeant Lewis shook his head. “I think she must have been there for a while.”
Martha didn’t trust herself to speak. The cloth covered everything, giving no clue to what lay beneath the folds of fabric. It could have been a hunk of cheese wrapped up against the melting rays of the sun, or a trout destined for the dinner table. But it was a baby. A little girl. And she was dead.
Stefan knelt down on the grass. He looked at her as she crouched on the other side of the tiny shrouded body. She nodded, relieved that he had the guts to do what she could not. Very gently, he peeled back the cloth, revealing a face so white and perfect it looked like a china doll. As more of the fabric came away, she saw faint purple marks on the baby’s neck.
Stefan turned to the two men and said something in Polish. They shrugged and shook their heads.
“They say they did not make these marks,” Stefan said. “The baby had them when they found her.”
Martha’s stomach turned to ice. She pictured a woman giving birth in the woods, alone and desperate—so desperate that she had taken her baby’s life when it had barely drawn breath.
“We’ll take her to the hospital.” Martha struggled to keep her voice level as she addressed the sergeant. “She’ll be properly examined there. I’ll notify the major.”
Stefan carried the baby through the camp. Neither of them said anything as they walked. It felt like a funeral procession. When they reached the hospital, they found Delphine sitting with Wolf at the entrance to the maternity ward. He had Rodek in his arms, singing a lullaby to the little boy in Polish. It was a heartbreaking sight. Martha could barely speak, she was so choked up. Delphine quickly took command of the situation, ushering Martha and Stefan into a side room.
“She couldn’t have been more than a few hours old when she went into the water,” Delphine said, as she examined the tiny body. “The cord had only just been cut.”
“Are there any babies missing from the ward?” Martha asked. “Could one of the new mothers have done this?”
Delphine shook her head. “I doubt this child was born in this hospital or any other. My guess would be that the mother gave birth in secret and disposed of her baby before anyone knew what had happened.”
“Do you think it was someone from the camp?”
“Possibly. But it could just as easily have been a local German girl. We don’t know where the baby was put in the river, do we? The body could have traveled some way downstream before the fishermen found it.”
“How many pregnant women are there in the camp?”
“Twenty or so that I know of,” Delphine replied. “I have a list of those I’ve examined, if you want to see it. But there could be others, of course, who haven’t come to me. I haven’t had time, yet, to find out how many pregnancies there are among the new arrivals.”
Martha glanced at Stefan. He was standing next to the baby, but his head was turned away. He was staring at the floor. His hands were clasped together, the knuckles showing white. She saw the muscles of his jaw tighten. She wondered what was going through his mind. Did he know something that Delphine didn’t?
CHAPTER 15
It didn’t take long for news of the grim discovery to spread throughout the camp. The wedding party fizzled out as word of what had happened passed around the tables.
Kitty came over to the hospital, her face flushed from dancing. Dr. Jankaukas was with her. He carried out a second examination of the baby, confirming Delphine’s opinion that the child had been killed before the body entered the river.
It was getting dark when the three women made their way back to the cabin. Martha had summoned a hasty meeting of the blockhouse leaders, but none of them had been able to cast any light on what had happened.