Code Name Verity: Part 2, Section 25 Summary & Analysis

Etienne’s little notebook is almost full; Maddie is running out of paper. She’s pretty sure she knows what she’s going to do with these accounts, so like Julie, she’s not going to give the Machiavellian Intelligence Officer’s name. She’s going to call him John Balliol, after the king William Wallace died defending.

Maddie’s interview with Balliol was in the debriefing room. She realized as she walked in that she was such a ragamuffin—she was still wearing the pants the photographer gave her, Etienne’s jacket, and Jamie’s boots. Maddie couldn’t help but think of the interrogation room in Ormaie as Balliol held a hand out and asked if she’d slept. Suddenly angry, Maddie called him “mein Hauptsturmführer” and then apologized in French. This shocked him, but Balliol helped Maddie sit and got her a cup of tea. He then asked what she was afraid of. Maddie admitted she killed Julie and was afraid of being hanged for murder. In that moment, Maddie realized that Julie was tortured in that room—the German spy tried to strangle her, as Eva Seiler, in the Cottage.

Balliol told Maddie to tell him the whole story, starting when she arrived in France. Maddie told him everything, but she left out that she still had Julie’s account and her own account in her bag. Engel and Penn told Maddie enough that she didn’t have to mention it. Maddie doesn’t want to have to give the account away to a London filing clerk.

When Maddie finished, Balliol assured Maddie she wouldn’t hang. Verity was “killed in action,” just as the first report stated. He promised to keep her secret and asked if she’d told anyone. Maddie admitted she told Jamie, and then she pointed out that the room is bugged, and that people always listen in. Balliol shook his head but then sent Maddie away to take a short nap. Maddie dreamed Julie was teaching her the foxtrot in the kitchen of Castle Craig. Waking up was torture, as the dream felt real.

Then, Balliol grilled Maddie on all sorts of names and coordinates until Maddie snapped and asked why he needed this; he already knew everything. He admitted that he was supposed to test her, since nobody knew what to do with her. The Air Ministry wanted to take away her license, while the SOE wanted to get her a medal and keep her with them. It turns out that Maddie won’t get a medal, but she does get to keep her job. She’s so relieved. Soon she’ll be ferrying planes to France for the invasion.

Maddie is exhausted, but she has one more thing to write. Balliol gave her a copy of a message from the Damask Circuit, which says that Isolde’s father has been found dead. It seems like a suicide. Maddie explained to Balliol that von Linden is Isolde’s father, the man who questioned and sentenced Verity.

Maddie keeps thinking of the “ripples in the pond.” Nothing stops in one place. Maddie met all sorts of people briefly and didn’t even learn most of their names. She doesn’t know the name of Julie’s great-aunt, or the Rosalie’s driver. There’s the Jewish doctor and the Jewish flutist whose papers Julie wrote on. Maddie doesn’t expect to see Engel again, and Isolde is in Switzerland. She probably doesn’t know her father killed himself. Maddie still has the matchbook von Linden gave Amélie.

But now, Maddie has had a bath and will spend just one more night here. She’s going to keep Julie’s scarf, but she’s sending her account and Julie’s with Jamie to his and Julie’s mother. Maddie is so grateful that she’s in England and can keep working, but part of her is buried under roses in France. That part of her is “unflyable, stuck in the climb.”