She lowered her eyes, and for a moment, I thought that maybe I could see the little girl under all those years. “When the war ended-when the world believed that I was dead-I searched for the Butcher of Lodz. I wanted to bring him to justice for what he did. I contacted groups that search for ex-Nazis.”
I didn’t know where she was going with this, but I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “Did you find him?”
She looked off again, not responding to my question. “You see, sometimes I still see his face. I see him on the streets, or out my window. He haunts my sleep, even now, even all these years later. I still hear his laugh before he killed my father. Still. But mostly…” She stopped.
“Mostly what?” I said.
She turned and met my eye. “Mostly I remember the way he looked at me when my father asked him to spare me. Like he knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That my life, the life of a girl named Lizzy Sobek, was over now. That I would survive but never be the same. So I kept searching for him. Through the years and even decades. I finally found his real name and an old photograph of him. All the Nazi hunters told me to relax, not to worry, that the Butcher was dead, that he had been killed in action in the winter of 1945.”
And then it happened. She turned the page and pointed at the photograph of the Butcher in his Waffen-SS uniform. I saw right away that he hadn’t died, that the Nazi hunters had been wrong. You see, I had seen this man before.
He had sandy hair and green eyes, and last time I saw him, he was taking my father away in an ambulance.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I had a blast writing
I want to thank my great Penguin YA team: Shanta Newlin, Emily Romero, Elyse Marshall, Erin Dempsey, Lisa DeGroff, Courtney Wood, Greg Stadnyk, Ryan Thomann, Jen Loja and Shauna Fay-not to mention the usual suspects, Brian Tart, Ben Sevier and Christine Ball.
I also need to thank Maria Cannon’s students at George Washington Middle School for helping with the cover.
My kids and their friends were all tremendous inspirations. Yes, I eavesdropped, so you might see yourself on some of these pages. Sorry!
I especially want to thank my wonderful editor Jen Besser and my dear friend and new publisher, Don Weisberg. And of course, my wife, Anne, who knew that it was finally time to write this book.
I’m hoping to write more books about Mickey Bolitar and the gang. To stay in touch with us, please visit MickeyBolitar.com.
