46
The Letter
28 January 1945
There was no longer a need to hide the radio from the guards. They were as interested in the progress of the war as the prisoners, so Antonio’s contraption was a go-to for up-to-date news inside the camp. Just this morning Pietro heard a broadcast that added insult to injury. The end of the Battle of the Bulge saw 75,000 Americans hurt or killed. Hitler seemed doomed.
Pietro wedged himself into a corner of the old chicken coop, the same exact place he’d found the dead man whose shoes he had claimed after his very first encounter with Iris.
He held the letter with his name on it as if it was both the precious Hope diamond and the worst poison-pen letter ever written. He had run his fingers over every square inch of the envelope, up and down the seams, over
