The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau

Colette knows things are getting more dangerous, and she promises her mother to look after her sister. She knows her mother’s theft of the bracelets went against her usual code, “for she hadn’t stolen them to fund justice; she had stolen them to avenge a friend” (180). However, Colette feels her thefts, too, are an attempt at payback for Tristan’s disappearance.

One night, German officers pound on their door, and Annabel tells the girls to run. Colette helps Liliane out of the bedroom window, then goes to her mother. One of the officers identifies himself as Möckel, and he claims he owns the bracelets Annabel stole. Colette runs back into the bedroom and sees a man in a uniform carrying Liliane down the street. She, her father, and her mother are taken to jail, where Annabel is questioned. Annabel accuses Möckel of stealing the bracelets from the Rosmans, recognizing that he’s a stupid man who has been made a puppet of the Nazi government. She suggests he feels guilt over what he did to Salomon Rosman, and Möckel vows to take her life.