Certain Demolitions
[A/N:] I made a new cover image and FFN ate the edges of it, again. That's frustrating. I wasn't intending to post chapter 12 so soon but there is a crossover sidefic to this story coming to FFN later today and it contains two spoilers for Certain Demolitions. Posting this chapter now negates one of them.
Chapter 12: Another Witch Hunt
True to his word, Phoenix shows up at Edgeworth's office the next day. He's waiting in the anteroom when the other man comes in.
"You're out early this morning." Edgeworth said when he saw the other man.
"I need to talk to you." Phoenix said, glancing at the secretary who's already at her desk.
Edgeworth nods. "Come into the office."
When they are inside, and the door is closed, Phoenix recounts the whole story of Klavier's disappearance, as much as he knows.
"We were wondering if you had heard anything." Phoenix finished.
"I have not heard anything in any accident reports." Edgeworth replied, but he pulled out a sheaf of papers. "But I haven't looked at the reports from yesterday in any detail. Let me look at them now." He flipped through them in a hurry, pausing to look at descriptions of the victims. "I don't see any reports on anyone that matches Klavier Gavin's description." He reaches for the intercom on his desk and buzzes his secretary. "Find Detective Gumshoe and send him in, please. Tell him to bring what we need to file a missing person's report." Edgeworth let go of the intercom button and looked back at Phoenix. "I wish I knew what to tell you."
"I wish I knew what to tell Trucy." Phoenix said, rubbing the back of his head.
Detective Dick Gumshoe burst into the office a moment later. "I've got the papers Mr. Edgeworth." He exclaimed. "Who's missing!? We haven't heard a thing about it or we'd have been on the case!"
"A friend of Apollo's who was staying with us has vanished." Phoenix admitted.
"Really? Tell me about him, pal. I'll get right on it!" Gumshoe promised.
"His name is Klavier Gavin. He's from Germany. A little taller than me, blond hair, blue eyes, tendency to slip into German when he's talking. He went missing about two days ago now and we can't figure out where he could have gone. What is it?" Phoenix asked, noticing the look on Gumshoe's face.
"You don't have to file a missing person's report, pal. I know where your guy is." Gumshoe admitted.
"Where?"
"He's in jail."
Edgeworth frowned. "That can't be correct. He is not listed as being in jail. I have the arrest list right here."
"Sorry Mr. Edgeworth. But the federal prosecutors who came in took over the East wing of the jail and the rooms in that wing and they've been doing their own thing ever since." Gumshoe said.
Edgeworth and Phoenix looked at each other. "May I use your typewriter?" Phoenix asked.
"By all means." Edgeworth replied, getting out of his seat so that Phoenix could take it and start typing. "Gumshoe, how did you hear about this?"
"Oh, I heard about it from the jail officers. They're not really happy about it." Gumshoe said. "And I heard about the prisoner the Feds have because he's the only one and the jail warden thinks it's a waste to give up a whole wing for one prisoner."
Phoenix had been typing away in a hurry and now pulled a document off the typewriter. He added another sheet and started typing again.
"Well the warden is right. It is a waste. Who's conducting the investigation?" Edgeworth demanded.
"Blaise Debeste."
Edgeworth gave him a sour look. "I hope you're joking."
"Sorry, Sir, but I'm not."
"Wonderful," Edgeworth said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
He turned around to say something to Phoenix, but the other man was signing the papers he had just typed. Then he held them out to Edgeworth. "Notarize these."
"I'll need my seal out of the drawer." Phoenix pulled open the top drawer of Edgeworth's desk and pulled out the press with the seal in it. He handed it to the other man, who signed his name and used the press to crimp a seal onto the paper. He handed back the first page and notarized the second one.
Phoenix was typing away again. "What do you need yet?" Edgeworth asked, looking at the papers he'd notarized.
"I'm going to do a discovery in case I need it." Phoenix replied. "Then I'm going to head to jail."
"Gumshoe and I will come with you." Edgeworth said. "You might need the help."
Blaise Debeste slammed his fist down on the table in the interrogation room. "I know you are associated with the members of the Bund who were protesting the president. Admit it!"
Klavier, undisturbed, inspected the handcuffs around his wrists. He looked bored. "I could, but I would hate to lie."
Debeste glared at him. "You might want to cooperate. It would make things easier for you."
"Since you are asking me to make a false confession to further your case, I sincerely doubt that." Klavier responded.
Debeste looked furious but before he could say anything else, there came a knock on the door and Simon Blackquill poked his head into the room. "Mr. Gavin's attorney is here."
"Attorney?" Debeste demanded.
Phoenix had not bothered to wait for Blackquill to let him in, and had followed the other man. Now he pushed the door all the way open and held out his Notice of Appearance for Debeste to see.
"What is this?" Debeste asked.
"A notice of appearance." Phoenix said. "I am representing Klavier Gavin. I need to speak to my client and I'm invoking attorney-client privilege to do that, so I need both of you to leave and turn off any recording equipment too."
"What?!" Debeste exclaimed.
Phoenix pointed at the door. "You heard, and saw the notice. Get out. Please."
Debeste didn't look happy, but he left the room and closed the door behind him.
Phoenix waited until he was gone, then took Debeste's seat at the table. Klavier watched him sit down but didn't speak.
"I'm glad we found you." Phoenix said. "We couldn't figure out what had happened when you just vanished."
"I did not expect to just up and vanish in America. In Germany I would have expected the government to cause me to disappear, but not here."
Phoenix frowned. "That might be the most damning condemnation I've ever heard of my country. What does Debeste want?"
"He thinks I support the Nazis and have been feeding them information."
"Did he say what the information was about?" Phoenix asked.
"No."
"I mean I guess you could send them information about everyday life at the Wright house but I don't think that's would be worth the effort." Phoenix joked.
Klavier didn't look amused. "I am not feeding information to anyone in Germany."
"I know." Phoenix was suddenly serious again. "Let's see what we can go to get you out of here."
Munich, Germany
Late December, 1940
"I wish you would hurry up."
Klavier had been watching the snow fall outside the window, but now he turned to face the other man. "Herr Elg, we are going as quickly as possible here. Please do not disturb Heidi while she works. If you do, I promise it will take longer for us to leave."
Heidi, for her part, was doing her best to remain undisturbed. She was carefully sewing up a slit in her white muff. She had cut the slit in it to slide in and hide the new ID cards that Elg had forged for the Jews who were hiding with Frau Dreier.
The run down building was remarkable intact for a place that hadn't been touched since the Great War. It had been the only place that Elg had agreed to meet Heidi, and Klavier had come with her. The place was dusty, there were cobwebs everywhere, and mice could be heard in the walls.
Elg adjusted his monocle. "This is a terrible idea."
"If you have a better idea we will be pleased to hear it." Klavier replied. He stepped away from the window and back into the center of the dimly lit room. Elg had brought and oil lamp with him and it was the only light except for the grey daylight that came in through the windows. It sat on a decrepit table in the middle of the room. Heidi was sitting on a stool close to it, using the light to see what she was doing. Her coat covered the stool to keep dust off her dress.
"Listen," Elg said, pointing at Klavier. "It's getting harder to get the supplies to make these fake IDs, and if you don't have good supplies, you don't get good fakes. And it costs me time to make the things, too!"
Klavier considered the statements. "So this is about money for you."
"Well…yes. I've got bills to pay."
Klavier's smile was chilly and made him look a lot like Kristoph. "Don't worry about it. I will see that you get the money for the supplies, and that you are properly recompensed for your work. Next time we meet, bring me a receipt for your supplies and time."
Elg nodded.
Heidi had looked up at the exchange but said nothing. She made the final stitch, and satisfied that no one would notice her work, bit the thread off. She pulled off the thread that was left on the needle and dropped it on the floor. The needle went back into the silver vial on a chain around her neck, and her tiny sewing scissors that were sitting next to the lamp went back into their holder, another slightly longer necklace. The tiny bobbin of white thread she slipped back into her glove as she put them on. Then she stood up and put her coat on. She put her hands into her muff.
"Ready?" Klavier asked.
"Yes." She replied.
Klavier slipped his coat on, and wrapped his scarf around his neck. "We'll be in touch, Elg. You will bill your expenses to me next time."
"Of course, Herr Gavin." Elg said. Once Heidi and Klavier were out the door, he blew out the lamp and vanished into the rear of the building.
The pair walked in silence for awhile; the sound of their footsteps and the plopping of fat wet snowflakes the only sound. Klavier broke the silence. "I don't like Herr Elg."
Heidi glanced at him. "Because he wants money?"
"Yes. Does he know what's going on here? I thought I had missed it because I was out of the country at the time."
"He might be greedy, but I don't know who else to ask about this." Heidi said. "He is good at what he does." They were turning on to their own street now. "Did you mean what you said when you told him you'd pay him?"
"Of course. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't."
Heidi nodded. In a family as large as hers, there was very little extra money these days. Only her older brothers had extra income, and since all her older brothers but one had joined the Nazi Party there was no point in asking any of them.
"You never told me how me how you got started doing this." Klavier said.
"Well, you never told me why you were so upset that the Rosenbaums were gone." Heidi retorted.
"True. Herr Rosenbaum had married his wife the year before my mother died. Frau Rosenbaum was the one who came over after my mother died. I remember that I stayed with them for two days after it happened." Klavier said, trying to think back through the timeline. "I know Kristoph was in and out of their home too. I learned later that was because Herr Rosenbaum was helping him with the funeral arrangements. They have been good friends for as long as I can remember."
Heidi nodded and looked at the snow under her high-topped shoes. "Do you remember Bert?"
"Your brother?" Klavier asked, thinking back to a young man a few years older than he was, and obsessed with airplanes; usually carrying a toy one wherever he went.
Heidi nodded. "He was, well, you met him. He was slow. But he was kind and good, and…" Her blue eyes filled with tears. "And the Nazis killed him. They put him down like a dog. I know he was never going to amount to anything, really, but he never deserved that. I hate the Nazis. This is how I will get back at them. I will do everything I can to save the people the Nazis hate. They are the animals!"
"I am sorry." Klavier told her.
"So am I." Heidi dried her eyes on her muff. "And I will do whatever I can to be dead weight for the Nazis."
"What did your brother Franz say?"
"Franz? That fanatic? He told Father it didn't matter; Bert was going to be useless forever anyway." Heidi said bitterly. "I hate Franz. He's a fool."
They walked the rest of the way to Frau Dreier's house in silence. "Do you want me to go in?" Klavier asked when they were standing in front of the woman's house."
Heidi shook her head. "No. I've got it from here. Thank you." She darted up the walkway to Dreier's house and vanished inside. Klavier waited until she was inside, then turned and finished the short walk to his own home.
[A/N:] I was so mad when I went out to research this chapter the first time. I wanted to see information on treatment of Germans during the Warand some, ahem, "responders" to the questions of how Germans were treated during the War basically blew that question off in favor "NEVERMIND THAT LOOK HOW THE US TREATED THE JAPANESE."
I have LOTS of things to say about this. For the moment I will just say that I don't like thread hijackers and I have lots of thoughts about FDR's treatment of the Japanese during the war and the ongoing historical revision about it, but it's irrelevant to this story so back on point.
This idea of "Let's send Klavier to America in the middle of WWII and see how his open embracing of his heritage works out for him" was one of three incidents that drove me to start the story…back in 2013. It's been a while! And I know the translator of the games basically blew up the idea that he's actually German, but I'm running with the Gavins being German anyway.
The title of this chapter comes from the Petra song "Witch Hunt." During World War II there was some mistreatment of Germans and Italians. They could be detained, and some were. Some were deported back to Germany. Interestingly enough is that the First World War was the beginning of the clamp down on a lot of German ethnic stuff. People changed their last names to get rid of surnames that sounded Germanic. Students in some schools used to take German classes and some states in the first war made it unlawful to do that (Source: America The Last Best Hope Volume II by William Bennett.) I don't recall the exact number at the moment or where I saw the number, but some 25 million Americans are actually of German extraction (So you see the Gavin brothers could still be German!) That number may be larger because I don't know if that's a recent number or a World War I number. This was not exactly surprising news to me, since I've got some German ancestry myself and I've known that since I was small.
Debeste does not have any actual claim against Klavier, in case it wasn't obvious. Accusing Klavier of working with the German-American Bund would require that Klavier be able to time-travel. The Bund was pro-Hitler and was most active in 1939 and oddly enough, the Nazis were not big fans of the Bund either. In the traditional American way of "getting rid of people we don't like": break out the taxes! (See also: Al Capone.) A tax investigation showed that the Bund leader embezzled, the Bund declined to prosecute him, but the New York District Attorney did prosecute him, and in 1939 that was the beginning of the end of the group. Since Klavier wasn't in America until 1941, well…you do the math.
Alright, this note's long enough. Any questions let me know. Please review.