Code Name Verity Part 2, Chapter 23 Summary

  • As it turns out, Amélie easily walks into City Hall and gets the information she needs about the Chateau de Bordeaux, which was Julie's job.
  • She leaves the 411 in Engel's drop-off spot, and when Maddie goes to pick it up she meets Engel in the café.
  • Engel asks her to go for a walk so she can tell her some things, and Maddie agrees.
  • They walk and talk, chain-smoking all the way, like people did in the 1940s. Hey, we guess their life expectancies aren't that long, anyway.
  • Engel tells Maddie about what happened when Julie was captured, how she fought, and how Engel found evidence of her real mission written on her palm and wiped it away before anyone else could see it.
  • Engel says that when Julie was done with her confession and completely worn down, Engel wrote the numbers on her own palm and asked Julie what she should do with them—speaking in code, Julie told her to blow the place up.
  • Engel advises Maddie to give up her Käthe Habicht identity and turn back into Maddie Brodatt; Maddie knows this will mean going back into hiding, but she thinks Engel is probably right.
  • Maddie says Engel reminds her in some ways of Julie when Julie was playing Eva Seiler.
  • Maddie suddenly gets angry, accusing Engel of never giving Julie any cigarettes. Engel says she did, all the time, but Julie could hardly write that down because it would have gotten them both in trouble.
  • Engel says Maddie can keep Julie's confession because the landlady told von Linden she used it to light the kitchen fire.
  • As they are about to part, Engel gives Maddie a key. It turns out Engel is the one who stole the keys—she used them to make a duplicate so the Resistance workers can get into the building easily.
  • Suddenly they run into von Linden, which causes some uncomfortable moments as Maddie pretends to be Käthe.
  • All Maddie can think about is how much she hates von Linden and how he doesn't know she holds his fate in her hands.
  • Maddie is determined to bring the Ormaie Gestapo down.
  • She watches Engel and von Linden walk away together.