The Paris Agent

Liverpool, England, 1970

Charlotte is very nervous and sad because her dad is so irritable. She asks if he ever worked with an agent named Chloe, and he is alarmed to hear her use this name. He says that he and Chloe were good friends and that Chloe’s real name was Josie Miller. Charlotte is shocked by his emotional reaction to hearing the woman’s name, and Noah feels considerable guilt towards Geraldine as he remembers his relationship with Chloe.

Charlotte investigates her mom’s drawer of papers, looking for clues about her parents’ marriage. In a box of sanitary towels, she finds the letters that Read wrote to Noah. She tells Theo about the letters. He is excited to learn more about Josie’s identity and thinks that she may be his mother.

Paris, France, May 1944

Josie is enduring her fifth day of extreme torture. She was horrified to learn how much the Gestapo already knew about the SOE. Suddenly, Turner shows up and seems contrite. He says that she was not supposed to be with Veronique on the night that they were arrested. Turner tries to justify his betrayal, explaining that because his family was bankrupt, he accepted money from the Gestapo in exchange for giving them intelligence.

As Josie is tortured, she thinks about her mother and Fleur. She is moved to another prison and given bread, and even though she knows it will make her ill, she is too hungry to refuse it. She is extremely lonely and afraid. The guards use the phrase “night and fog” to refer to her imprisonment, as she is stuck in solitary confinement. She feels very helpless.

Manchester, England, 1970

Charlotte visits her aunt, Kathleen. They discuss how much they miss Geraldine. Charlotte tells her that Noah has pursued his attempt to find out more about his past. Kathleen relates that years ago, the young Geraldine was besotted with Noah and waited for him long after everyone else concluded that he was dead. When Noah returned to England after his first long absence abroad, he broke up with Geraldine. Later, the family realized that he did so in accordance with the SOE’s secrecy rules. Kathleen admits that she knew about the letters that Geraldine hid from Noah. Kathleen also knew that Noah was grieving the loss of his relationship in France. She explains that Geraldine was determined to nurse Noah back to health after he received the traumatic brain injury. They resumed dating in 1945 and got married very quickly. Charlotte is shocked to learn that her father was in love with Josie.

Karlsruhe, Germany, September 1944

Eloise is being transferred via train and is now shackled to a French resistance fighter. They are not sure where they are going. The German soldiers have toyed with Eloise, concealing their knowledge of the prisoners’ situation. Eloise feels hopeful that the Germans are moving political prisoners. Suddenly, an explosion causes the train to brake as planes shoot at them. They hear an American man calling for help in the next carriage. He asks if they have any water. The men are shackled to the floor, but the women are not, so Eloise and the woman to whom she is chained run out of the train to fill a canteen for the men. They bring it back. Eloise decides that the woman she is chained to is not strong enough to attempt an escape.

Pforzheim Prison, Germany, September 1944

Josie tries to figure out what time it is. She realizes that she has been in the cell for five months. As Josie is removed from her cell, she wonders what has caused this change in circumstances. She learned that she is being transferred to a prison that has an all-female wing. Because there are not enough cells for her to remain in solitary confinement, she will share a cell with another political prisoner. She feels gratitude when she is allowed to shower and is later shocked to realize that Eloise is her cellmate. She tells Eloise that her real name is Josie. They commiserate about their experiences and share their shock that Turner is the double agent. They worry about Eloise’s son.

Liverpool, England, July 1970

Theo is ecstatic that he has found Josie’s birth certificate. Josie’s mother still lives in Manchester, and he wonders if she might be his grandmother. Theo and Charlotte decide to go visit her. They sit outside her house and see a taxi arrive. A woman in her eighties gets out, and the driver leaves her groceries on the lawn. Theo jumps out of the car and offers to bring her groceries in. At first, Theo pretends that they were just driving past, but then he asks if her name is Drusilla. They abandon all pretense and ask if she is Josie’s mother. Drusilla says that she lost contact with her daughter after Josie left for the SOE. Turner visited her and claimed that her daughter was killed before D-Day. He also told her that Josie made a mistake that led to the capture of herself and another operative. Theo asked Drusilla if Josie ever had a child, and Drusilla points out that Josie was too physically weak to experience childbirth. She had surgery because she had a large ovarian cyst.

Charlotte goes to her dad’s house to tell him about Drusilla. He is shocked that Drusilla lives so close to them. Noah doubts that Josie made a mistake that led to capture and is certain that she was not pregnant when he last saw her. He also hopes to speak to Drusilla.