Chapter III
Miriallia yawned and stretched as she stepped down off the bus. Their tour group had arrived at their first destination, the ZAFT Museum of Military History. The group followed their tour guide as she led them into the magnificent example of architecture, giving them notes and pointing out the various features of the building. "Hey Mike," said Miriallia, tugging on the man's shoulder. "Mind taking a picture of me in front of the entrance here?" she asked.
"Sure." Miriallia handed the man the camera and she stood with a smile on here face and one hand held out as if showing off the building. "Move a little bit more to the left." he said before the tour guide stepped into the picture.
"Excuse me, but you cannot take a picture with an unregistered camera." Mike slowly lowered the piece of machinery. "What?" he asked.
"All cameras must be registered with the ZAFT ministry of tourism. If you like, I could a license arranged for you."
"That would be wonderful." said Miriallia as she grabbed the camera from Mike, then turned around and ran into an elderly gentlemen. She fell backwards and Mike caught here, while the elderly man had fallen sinto a row of hedges. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" said Miriallia.
"It's quite alright. No harm intended." The man up and brushed himself off, then reached down and picked up a large brown envelope. "You must have dropped this." he said, handing the envelope to the young women, then turning and walking off rather quickly.
"No this isn't….mine." She paused and then looked back at Mike.
"I wonder what that was all about?" asked Prinz. Haw looked down at the folder.
"I don't know. I suppose we should go catch up with the rest of the group."
XXXXXXX
Colonel Zavey walked across the large campus of the AA academy towards a large building marked Main Hall. He entered the double doors and walked past numerous students and instructors, eventually coming to a door bearing the word office. He stepped in and walked up to the desk. "Excuse me." he said. The man at the desk looked up.
"Yes, how may I help you?"
"I'm inspector Zavey with the military police." he said as he flashed his ID and badge. "I need to talk to two of your students."
"Oh, dear. Have they done something wrong?" replied the man pensively.
"No, no. We think they may be witness to a crime."
"Oh good. Do you know their names?" he asked.
"Yes, uh…hold on a moment." said Phil as he reached into his coat pocket and produced a small piece of paper. "Here we are. Ross Jacobson and Andre Bayern." The man at the desk typed their names into his computer.
"Ah, they're in 3rd battalion, so they would be in the field house. I'll phone ahead and tell them you're coming."
"Thank you." Phil turned and walked out the door and back outside. He hadn't been to the academy in many years, but he still remembered where all the major buildings were. The field house was beyond the main offices next to the Alexander dorms. He walked at a quickened pace until he saw the large domed building. Upon entering, he found it was filled with about 30 students in formation, an instructor in front of them calling drill commands. He paused when he saw Zavey walk in. "Jacobson, Faust! Fall out and follow me."
"Yes sir!" the two shouted in reply. Each withdrew from formation and followed their instructor as he walked around the students towards Zavey. "You must be inspector Zavey. I'll take you to a place where you can talk in private."
"Thank you."
"Alright, while I'm gone, Tenkawa is in charge!" he called out. "Follow me." The trio followed him as he led them out of the large room and up a small staircase. They walked up to a long hallway and the instructor led them to a small room at the end which contained a single desk and a few chairs. "Just have them come back down when you're done."
"Sure. This shouldn't take very long anyway." The drill instructor walked out of the room and closed the door. Zavey removed his cap and placed on then desk, then opened his briefcase and pulled out a small pad of paper and a pen. He clicked the pen open and then placed his hands clasped together out in front of him. "So, you two were interviewed by my friend Major Elthman not to long ago?"
"Yeah." Replied Jacobson nervously.
"Don't be nervous, I'm not here to accuse. But…there are some holes in your testimony."
"What do you mean?" asked Bayern.
"Well, you came forward around 9:30, correct?"
"Yeah." replied Bayern.
"Well, that body could not have been in the water more than three hours by the time we arrived. Now you said you found it around 7:00 AM?"
"Yes."
"If that body had been in the lake only three hours, then that would mean it would have had to have been dumped around 7:00, and yet, you claim not to have seen anyone." Both of them said nothing. Zavey could see Faust's hands tapping nervously on the table, while Jacobson was looking at the floor.
"So what? They could have dumped it a little bit before 7:00, you know, just enough time to get away." replied Andre, becoming more defensive.
"You didn't see them fleeing the park?"
"No! We didn't see anyone. All we found was the body." Zavey paused and looked at the two them. "I see." he said as he began to write something on the pad.
"There was someone there." said Jacobson.
"Ross, shut the fuck up!"
"Hey, let him speak." warned Zavey pointing to Andre. "So you did see someone. Do you have any idea of who it might have been?" he asked.
"They were driving away, but I managed to get a good look at his face. It was General Kreuze." The inspector's eyes widened.
"Kreuze, you mean as Rau La Kreuze, the head of the Securitate?"
"Yes, I remember him distinctly. He came to give a lecture to our class not too long ago. I don't think I could ever mistake his face." Phil said nothing as he stared at the two of them. "Inspector? Are you alright?" asked Ross.
Phil shook his head and looked at the two again. "Yes, I'm fine. Uh, thank you for your time. You can return to class now." The pair showed obvious signs of relaxation as they stood up and walked out of the room.
When Phil had returned to his car, he sat silently in the driver's seat, pondering the implications of the pair's testimony. He reached over to the dashboard and punched in a few numbers on the video phone. The image of the receptionist Caryl appeared on the screen. "Hello, inspector Zavey. How can I help you?"
"Hi Caryl. Can you please patch me through to General Waltfeld?" he asked.
"Of course." she began tapping her keyboard, and her image disappeared, being replaced with the smiling face of the General. "Yes Zavey, what is it?"
"I thought you might need to know this general. I just talked to the two students who said they found the body in the park, and they did actually see someone driving away from the scene."
"Alright, and did you find out who?
"One of them says it was Rau La Kreuze driving away." Waltfeld's face turned very serious.
"Kreuze? Zavey, get back here as soon as possible."
I feel it would be criminal not to mention this. This story is an AU fic based on Robert Harris' wonderful novel Fatherland. If you ever get that chance, read it, as it is one of the best alternate history novels I've ever read (and trust me, I've read a lot!)
