Hammelburg, Gestapo Headquarters, Office of Major Wolfgang Hochstetter
December 23, 1943, 0600 hours
Captain Dorfmann stood next to Major Hochstetter, looking at a map of the area on which they were tracking the progress made investigating the murders of Hans Dietrich and Franz Hurst. Small pins dotted the map, indicating the places that they had already searched and questioned.
Hochstetter pointed to the large red pin that indicated the site of the attack. "Have we talked to everyone in this area yet?" he asked.
"Nein, Major," Dorfmann replied. He pointed to two farms that did not yet have pins next to them. "Here we have the Wagner farm, and the Groelsch farm."
"Wait a minute," Hochstetter responded. "Did you say Wagner?" Dorfmann nodded. Hochstetter walked away from the map and started pacing. "Wagner. Wagner," he muttered. "Why does that name mean something?"
Dorfmann watched Hochstetter pace the room. "Do you think there is something special about the Friedrich Wagner farm?" he asked.
Hearing the name, Hochstetter wheeled around quickly. "That's it!" he exclaimed. "Friedrich Wagner!"
Dorfmann looked at Hochstetter in puzzlement. "What's so special about him?" he asked.
Hochstetter was excited now. "A couple of months ago, before you were transferred here, Friedrich Wagner came in and accused two of my men of assaulting his daughter," he said. Hochstetter then snapped his fingers. "And those two men he accused are the ones that were killed." Hochstetter walked over to the map on the wall. "Look, his farm is not too far from there."
Dorfmann nodded. "Should I go out and talk with him?" he asked.
"Nein," Hochstetter replied. "Get a squad of men and a truck. We are going to pay a visit to Herr Wagner and see if we can find anything incriminating."
"Jawohl, Major," Dorfmann replied. He picked up the phone and barked orders into the mouthpiece. When he hung up, he said, "It will be ready in ten minutes."
"Good," Hochstetter purred. "Very good."
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Ilse Wagner was carrying the bread to her father and brothers at the table when the door of the house suddenly burst open with a loud crash. She screamed and dropped the bread as Major Hochstetter came running through, followed by Captain Dorfmann and several more of his men.
"Nobody move!" Hochstetter yelled. He motioned for his men to begin searching the other rooms of the house.
Ilse was still standing where she had been when the door opened. Dorfmann was surprised when he saw her. He smiled at her in an attempt to reassure her, but he could see by the look in her eyes that it didn't help. "You can pick up what you dropped, Fräulein Wagner," he said kindly. As she bent to retrieve the dropped food, Dorfmann was aware of the angry glare that Hochstetter was giving him.
"What is the meaning of this?" Friedrich Wagner asked angrily.
"Herr Wagner," Hochstetter began. "Where were you two nights ago?"
"I was right here!" Friedrich replied truthfully. Once he said that, he realized what the next question would be and remembered that his children had left the house that night. He glanced at Hans, who was avoiding his father's gaze.
The phrasing of the response was not lost on Hochstetter. "Just you?" he asked curiously.
"We were all here," Hans replied. He knew that he had to lie, and he hoped that his father would not say anything to the contrary.
"Is that so," Hochstetter commented thoughtfully. "And none of you left the house the whole evening?"
"Of course some of us left the house that night," Friedrich responded. Hans quickly looked over at his father.
"Oh? He says all of you were here and you say that some of you left," Hochstetter commented.
"I said that some of us left the house that night," Friedrich said boldly. "Maybe you are not aware of the workings of a farm, Major. But the animals are not able to take care of themselves." Friedrich showed a patronizing smile. "We had chores to do in the barn."
Captain Dorfmann quickly looked away. He could not suppress the urge to smile when he heard that response. He caught Ilse looking at him curiously and smiled at her.
"You know what I meant," Hochstetter growled.
"I just know what you asked, Major," Friedrich replied. "I am just trying to be truthful with the Gestapo."
Dorfmann could tell that Hochstetter was on the verge of exploding. He stepped in quickly to prevent this. "Did you happen to see anything out of the ordinary that night?" he asked.
Everyone shook their head. "Nein," Hans replied. "But when my brother and I were in the barn, we thought we heard gunshots in the distance. Is that why you are asking?"
In the background, Dorfmann could hear the Gestapo men searching the other rooms of the house. From the sounds of it, they were not concerned with leaving the place as they had found it.
Hochstetter was getting impatient. He looked at Friedrich and asked, "Herr Wagner, two months ago, you came to me accusing two of my men of assaulting your daughter." He paused and looked at Ilse. "I take it that this is the vixen you were talking about?"
Ilse was watching Captain Dorfmann and saw him frown when Hochstetter referred to her as a vixen. She began to blush at being thought of in that way.
Friedrich stood angrily. "I'll not have you talk about my daughter that way!" he shouted.
Hochstetter laughed. "Herr Wagner, I will refer to her any way I like," he retorted.
Friedrich fumed but remained silent. When he sensed that Hans was about to say something, he motioned him to keep quiet.
"So that you know, Herr Wagner," Hochstetter said. "The same two men that you accused of assaulting your daughter were ambushed and murdered two nights ago, not far from this house."
Friedrich let out a small gasp. "That's terrible!" he said. It is indeed terrible, he thought. Now I know where my children were that night. Those stupid fools! Now the Gestapo suspects us of the murder.
"It is terrible," Hochstetter replied. "And it will be even more terrible for the people that killed them, when we catch them."
"What are you searching our house for?" Ilse asked nervously.
Dorfmann smiled at her. "The men that were killed did not have their weapons on them," he replied. "Whoever killed them must have taken them."
"So when we find the weapons, we find the killers," Hochstetter growled.
The Gestapo men returned to the room and shook their heads at Major Hochstetter's inquisitive glance. "Search this room," he ordered. "Captain, you remain here while I see to the progress in the barn."
Ilse was still standing in the middle of the room, and Dorfmann pulled a chair away from the table for her. "Please, sit down," he said kindly. Ilse thanked him and sat, looking at her two brothers. They were watching the room getting destroyed as the men searched.
After several minutes, they stopped and informed Dorfmann that they did not find anything. Hochstetter then returned with an unhappy look on his face. "Anything in here?" he asked angrily. Dorfmann shook his head and Hochstetter swore.
"I told you, Major," Friedrich said. "We were here all night."
Hochstetter growled and motioned his men out of the house. Dorfmann followed Hochstetter out, and as he was closing the door he looked back at the Wagner family, sitting in the middle of the mess made by their search. He locked eyes with Ilse, and instead of seeing the rage present in her brothers, he thought he saw something more – something that looked like confusion and fear. I'm sorry Ilse, he thought. I wish I could have stopped this from happening.