Chapter 18
April 20, 2024 at 8:50 PM
Late evening was embracing the city, more and more cars were on the street, people piled into trolleybuses and ordered taxi. Only a few of them dared to walk home.
Adler was in a very excited mood. A short call from Peter told them that they had taken an English girl named Holly. If everything had been done correctly, this was the same Holly mentioned in Wilhelm and Werner’s interrogation. And why did not they pay attention to that right away? Why did not they immediately rush to make enquiries, but instead dismissed her as an unnecessary element? For this inattention Adler blamed himself, he should have listened to the interrogation tape several times before taking it to the archives. He walked from corner to corner, hoping that today they would finally know something. Walking got on the nerves of Wieland, who was tired of the twinkling in his eyes. Ehrman was not thrilled either. However, he was quiet, realising that everyone was on edge at the moment. Fritz, Peter and Otto went off on their own to close the documentation on the victims.
“Adler, stop pacing back and forth! Enough. Sit down and calm down!”, shouted Wieland.
“I’m sorry, Wieland, but no. They’re bringing Holly in now, then I’ll be out of your sight.”
Adler leaned against the window. Wieland rolled his eyes. Adler had a lot of energy today, but there was no use for it.
A sudden bell rang to break the silence of the room. From the look in Wieland’s eyes Adler knew the victim had arrived. He picked up his leather gloves and quietly walked out the door.
***
Wieland and Ehrman was sitting quietly in their seats. There was no doubt that they were close to the solution, but Wieland, going over the theories in his head, discarded one after another. In front of him there was a piece of paper on which Wieland wrote down one thought after another and crossed it out as soon as there was a contradiction. Ehrman smoked a cigarette in a long puff, wrinkling his nose at the poor quality of the tobacco. Each was thinking of his own in the silence of the office. Ehrman glared out the window, watching the street lamp illuminating the street. He did not immediately notice the man quietly walking into the room to join the two of them at the table. Later, as the stranger settled himself, Wieland turned his attention to him. So did Ehrman The stranger was very thin and tall, looking more like a pillar than a man. His large and sunken eyes were intimidating, but Wieland drilled him with a look of ill-will. “Good day! Are you Wieland Lange?”, the man addressed with courtesy. “Yes, that’s me,” Wieland said clearly and without hesitation. “I’m very glad I found you so quickly. And you, as I understand,” he turned to Ehrman, “are Ehrman Weber.” “Yes, that’s right. I’m sorry, who are you? You came in without knocking.” “No, I knocked and more than once. But you were so absorbed in your worries that you didn’t hear me knock,” the stranger took out a notebook and a pen. “So, what is it you want to see us about?”, Ehrman did not stop. “I’m Fritz from the RSHA,” the stranger introduced himself, leaning across the table. “Hm-m-m, imperial security…”, Wieland said slowly. “Well, what do you want? You don’t leave your building for nothing, so it must be something serious,” Wieland leaned back in his chair more casually. “If I’m not mistaken, there was supposed to be another one with you, right?”, the man pointed to Adler’s chair. “He’s in the basement right now, conducting an interrogation,” said Ehrman. - Ah, that’s the way it is. Actually, this is what I’m here for. Tell me, as I know, you’re on the Ingrid Fuchsmann case, right?”, they both shook their heads in agreement. “I’m here to ask you about something. Tell me, who interrogated Werner Fuchsmann?”, Wieland and Ehrman looked at each other. Such conversations had to only take place in the presence of Adler, not behind his back. “Adler Schiller, he’s in charge of questioning all witnesses,” Wieland replied and tensed, pulling his chair up to the table. “Tell me, why are you interested?” “Three days ago Werner Fuchsmann disappeared,” Fritz spoke calmly and measuredly, emotions were unnecessary in his case. He had come to Wieland and Ehrman to ask for clarification. “Disappeared?”, Ehrman was surprised. “And you decided to come to us. Why didn’t you ask to search for him?” “We did, but we found nothing in the vicinity of Berlin or in the city itself. We think he may have fled to America.” “Thank you for the information,” Wieland interrupted Ehrman. “He disappeared with quite a large sum of money, do you realise how that could turn out?” Fritz pressed on, Wieland and Ehrman immediately realised what the matter was. “Sure. I think he disappeared for a reason. I think he ran away with someone else. But Adler’s conducting interrogation now. I think we’ll get more details when he gets here. Thank you for telling us.” “I think you should check him out. We’ll look for him and you check him out,” said Fritz, giving them a piece of paper with the address of Werner’s house. Fritz left as quietly as he had come. Wieland and Ehrman decided that they would not do anything without Adler.***
Adler went lower and lower, saying hello to everyone. The lower he went, the colder it got; the cellars were unheated, full of rats and smelled awful because of the constant stream of convicts, some of whom were dying there. Adler went to the door. When he pushed the window, he saw a small, frightened creature huddled on the wooden bedding. So that’s who Holly Austin was, she did not look like a woman of Ingrid’s age, maybe she was just short. A sudden cough from outside brought him out of further thoughts. “What are you doing here?”, he asked Peter, who had just approached. “The same as you do, I’m preparing for an interrogation,” the man stretched out. “Yes, but I’ll be conducting the interrogation, she is directly related to my case.” “As much as it’s related to mine.” “Let’s not show off. That’s how we’ll proceed: I’ll talk to her first. If she doesn’t say anything, you’ll break her physically. You’ll do whatever you want,” said Adler in a low whisper, his companion agreed. “We’ll always be able to break her bones, but we won’t be able to talk normally to her afterwards.” “Totally agree with you. Fine, you can start Adler,” Fritz stepped aside and the private opened the room to Adler. Inside it smelled of blood and death, cold water was dripping from the ceiling, mould covered almost all the walls of the cell. The only glowing lamp shone half-lighted, making the environment even more terrifying. Adler stopped beside the prisoner, as if to hover over her. Holly, trembling, slowly turned her head and with just a glimpse of Adler immediately shook like a mouse. Adler nodded to the private to put her in a chair. Holly’s hands, which had been tightly bound before, were twisted back. She screamed in pain when the hands appeared behind her. Adler waited until he could talk to her. At such moments he remembered Ingrid, who was strongly opposed to torture, whether it was torturing a child killer or a rabbit, it made no difference to her. He always looked at her with a guilty look when he told her that the screaming in their cellars was especially loud today, even the soundproofing sometimes did not help. When Holly calmed down, Adler placed a chair in front of her with one hand and, switching on the tape recorder, waited for the girl to stop shaking. “Holly Austin, do you know why you’re here?”, Adler’s quiet voice was more like slow poison spilling into the cell than a human voice. “No-o-o-o… No-o-o-o,” the girl stammered, barely able to speak. Her eyes were full of tears, but Adler was adamant. He remembered Wieland’s words that he should not have pressured the girl. But if she did not speak, he would have to use force. Not him, but Fritz. The Gestapo had never been able to measure up in this respect. “Holly Austin, do you know the woman in this picture?”, he held out the photo of Ingrid. The girl smiled a fake smile. “Yes. I do,” Holly said in a quiet voice. “Her name is Ingrid Fuchsmann. Holly decided to look into the eyes of her tormentor and executioner for the first time, as she thought, but the bright light of the bulb shone in her eyes. So, she squinted and lowered her gaze to his boots. “Yes, that’s the right answer,” Adler turned the photograph round to face him. “Do you know this man?”, he held the picture of Wilhelm closer to her. Holly looked at his picture and began to cry. He had been pictured like that even before he left for Berlin for his last visit, just as Holly remembered him. “Yes,” the girl said nervously. “That’s Wilhelm Fuchsmann.” “That’s right. These two people were killed: first Ingrid, then Wilhelm,” Adler held out Heinrich’s photograph to her. She confirmed that she knew him too. “You knew all these people, you were on the same team with them. Do you know why you were captured?” “Because I crossed the border, right?”, Holly’s voice was suddenly broken and hoarse, her eyes were fixed on one point. For a moment Adler thought he had already killed her, just by causing memories of these people. “No. You were illegally involved in black market sales, you face the death penalty. However, if you cooperate with the investigation that is underway into these three men, we may consider changing your punishment to jail. Even with a blind eye to your previous thefts.” Holly was shaking her head. She felt bad. Not just because she was facing death, but because she was bitter that she should have been the one to speak for everyone. More than anything she wanted to be in Wilhelm and Ingrid’s arms right now, she wanted that. She did not want to forget them. She wanted to be anywhere but here at that moment. Adler waited, Holly proved to be an obedient and soft girl. “I’ll tell you everything,” Holly said slowly. “Not because I want to help you, but because I love Ingrid, and I love Wilhelm, and I love Heinrich and Arthur, who’s dead too. It’s a pity I’d realised that too late.” Adler listened, her every word would be very valuable to them. Yes, even if she did not help them, she would help Ingrid, because in the end they were not working for justice, but for Ingrid. “I’m listening to you very carefully,” said Adler. “Wilhelm. It all started with Wilhelm. He always wanted more money than his father would give him. They were fighting, Wilhelm was always complaining to us about his father. Wilhelm once stole a vase from his father and sold it on the black market, making a lot of money. From then on he was hooked. He started selling more and more. When there was nothing left in the house, he made a deal, I don’t know with whom, to transport goods all over Europe. He even dropped out of university.” “So was Wilhelm the first to join?” “Yes. Then a friend of his, Heinrich, joined him. He’s a former liaison officer, but he had no choice but to get involved.” “Who was he?”, Adler stood up, hovering over her. Holly, shaking with fear, spoke, but her voice was broken. “He was the liaison between all the points. Germany was sort of the centre…”, the girl continued to speak as if into oblivion, unblinking her eyes, her quiet voice was close to a whisper, but Adler could hear it well enough in the silence of the walls. “Wilhelm found out when the goods would arrive in Germany from Heinrich, then he was taking them to Britain. Ingrid dealt with money, she had to transfer money to buyers and sellers, that was her main task in Berlin.” “Then who were you in the chain? Another man was recently murdered, Arthur. You know him too, don’t you?” Holly shook her head. “Arthur and I were the receivers. They brought us the goods, then Arthur would ship them either to America or Canada. I was selling them within Britain itself, supporting small groups,” Holly suddenly stopped, Adler looked at her in surprise. “What happened next?” Holly was silent. “What happened next?” Nothing changed. Holly remained silent, seemingly determined now to test his patience. “So, have you remembered what happened next?”, said the man in a metallic voice. “At some point it all went wrong. Wilhelm suddenly stopped contacting us, Ingrid didn’t call, we thought maybe they had forgotten, but then when Heinrich stopped contacting us, we realised that something was wrong. That’s why we came to Berlin. To find out what happened. Before we left, we agreed with Helmut that if we didn’t deliver the goods, he would come himself, and when I realised that Arthur was dead…”, the girl continued to cry and shake. “I called Helmut.” “Yes, Holly, your friends have been killed. Tell me, who is Helmut?”, Adler tilted his head, his grey eyes ware giving off something devilish and terrifying. Adler sat down. “He is the main customer. He pays for the most expensive goods, the unusual ones. He’s considered the most prestigious customer. If he orders something from you, you have to bring him the goods. I think he’s the one who killed Ingrid and Wilhelm.” “Helmut then. And what kind of deal did you agree to?” “We agreed that he would come to Wilhelm’s house to take the gold if we didn’t bring the money. But I didn’t think it would turn out this way…”, the girl said hoarsely. It was evident she feared for her life. Adler went out quietly, the door closed. Fritz came up to him with asking how it went, but Adler only replied that she did not need to be tortured, she had said everything.
