Page 73 of The Little Liar

She carried a dumpling to the table and sat down. She lowered her voice.

“If it’s all right to ask... how did you pay for such a nice home? I mean, after what...”

“They did to me?”

Fannie frowned. “Yes.”

“Darling. I thought you knew.”

“Knew what?”

“The boy.”

“What boy?”

“The boy with the red hair.”

“What boy? Who is he?”

“He never says his name. But he started coming a few years after the war. He brought a bag of money. He said it was for me and not to ask why.

“The next year he came again. The next year, again. He’s a grown man now, but every year, there he is, on the same day, August 10. He gives me the bag, then he leaves.”

“Wait,” Fannie said. “I don’t understand. Who is sending you this money?”

Gizella’s eyes widened.

“I thought it was coming from you.”

The date Gizella mentioned was significant.

Perhaps you remember it. Fannie did. She was still thinking about it a few weeks later as she exited a railway station in Budapest.

August 10.

The day her train left Salonika.

Fannie would never forget that morning. The platform. The confusion. Nico. Her being shoved inside the cattle car, the light disappearing, the air evaporating, the car rumbling horribly in its departure. It was the turning point of her life.

But how was it connected to Gizella?

Why was money being delivered to her in Hungary—on that day of all days? Was it just coincidence? Was the government reimbursing her? No. That made no sense. Why would a redheaded boy deliver the bags?

Fannie tried to recall if she’d told anyone about Gizella. Only Sebastian. Could he have something to do with this?

From a phone center at the train station, Fannie had an operator call the apartment in Vienna. She waited a long time. No answer. She hesitated, then gave the operator Sebastian’s number at the agency. Someone answered and said he was there.

“Hello?”

His voice sounded thin and distant.

“Sebastian, it’s me.”

“Where are you?”

“Budapest.”

“Why?”