Chapter 40 Ingrid
Ingrid
My sister echoes with each of Ingrid’s pounding heartbeats. With each of Ada’s deliberate footsteps away from her. With each shuddering
breath. Then the door closes behind Ada, and the silent room erupts.
This has gone so horrifically wrong. The questions, the transcripts with information deliberately removed to frame Ada’s supposedly
Communist leanings, the photographs, all of it. Everything she gathered to prove her sister is harmless, now twisted to condemn
her.
A tight grip finds Ingrid’s arm. “A conflict of interest?”
She returns Crenshaw’s glare with her own. “You and Stieber altered my report so HUAC would subpoena her, didn’t you?”
“We used what we needed. And you’re lucky we can blame any discrepancies on you trying to protect your sister; otherwise you
would be out of a job.”
“I don’t want a job. I don’t want any part of this.” Ingrid shoves his hand off her. “My career is not worth my integrity.”
The chatter and flashing cameras fade as she rushes out the nearest door. Ada can’t leave, not like this. Not until she’s heard Ingrid’s explanation.
Down the hall, Ingrid spots the lone woman strolling away from the Caucus Room—her gait elegant, poised, neither hasty nor
leisurely, simply intentional steps to take her from this place that, Ingrid is certain, she never wants to see again.
She follows and catches Ada’s forearm. “This was not my intention, I swear it. But you couldn’t have talked to me privately
instead of blurting out that we’re related in the middle of a bloody hearing? Do you realize how much damage you’ve done?”
“Let’s not compare who has caused the most damage,” Ada retorts as she jerks her arm free. “That’s the only reason you reconnected
with me, isn’t it? Not because you cared that I was alive, but because you saw an opportunity.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Even as she says it, Ingrid feels heat rising to her cheeks. “I was trying to protect you, not hurt
you.”
“By lying to me and using me and my friends to further your own career?” Ada crosses her arms. “That’s all you care about.
The politics. Fighting Communism even if it means sacrificing your own sister.”
“I was trying to prove you weren’t one of them, and to keep those who are from damaging your work and image.”
“The entertainment industry is the problem, then?” Ada asks with a dubious laugh. “All the actors, writers, directors—men
and women trying to make a living when really they’re all liars, schemers, menaces to society. Subversives, every one of us.”
“Don’t twist my words. You know I don’t mean you or Gordon or—”
“Or yourself?”
The accusation makes Ingrid’s breath catch in her throat. The thunderous gray in Ada’s eyes deepens while voices sound down
the hall, coming closer. A sign everyone else has emerged from the Caucus Room. If Ada notices, though, she doesn’t tear her
eyes from Ingrid’s.
“Like it or not, you’re in show business too. The media is your silver screen, the courtroom is your stage, the committee is your crew, and you are the actor. The biggest fraud of them all.”
Ada lets a beat of silence fall, as if challenging Ingrid to dispute her. Even if she wanted to argue, the constriction around
Ingrid’s throat prevents her from speaking.
Her purpose was always to defend her country, her beliefs, her family. Not for her efforts to lead to this, to the destruction
of lives and livelihoods. To drive away the sister she lost once and cannot lose again.
Before the crowds can reach them, Ingrid takes Ada’s hand. She stiffens but doesn’t pull away. There is no time to explain
everything—the way Ingrid, too, was used, the way none of this was supposed to happen. So she can only say the most important
thing.
“I will make it right, Leidje. And I’m so sorry.”
“I don’t want an apology. I don’t want empty promises about making it right when you can’t. I don’t want anything from you
ever again.”
She cannot mean it, not when reuniting was supposed to ensure they would never part. This cannot be the way they lose each
other again.
The hurt in Ada’s eyes is too overwhelming as she pulls her hand free, leaving Ingrid clinging to nothing. Then she steps
back.
“Goodbye, Ingrid.”
Goodbye. Somehow it feels final.
Hours later, when Lars comes home, Ingrid is sitting in the living room with a half-empty bottle of wine and a cigarette.
Finding her like this, he will know something is wrong, but she can’t bring herself to look at him when he sits across from
her. He extends a hand, so she passes him the pack of cigarettes. After a few quick puffs to light one, he takes a deep inhale.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Of course she doesn’t. But she must.
“When I went to Hollywood, I was investigating Communism. Specifically, Aleida. I didn’t want anyone else on the job, because
I thought I could advise her away from Communist leanings—if she held them—so such views wouldn’t reflect poorly on her or
her career. Not because I thought it would come to hearings or ostracization or anything negative, simply because I wanted
to help. I convinced her to clarify her views, which she did, and she isn’t Communist, never was, except . . .” She takes
another drag of the cigarette before a tear slips free. “Except it’s all gone so terribly wrong.”
Now she has neither sister nor career. She told Ada she would make it right, but she’s not certain she can.
No, perhaps that’s not entirely true. Even if she can’t remedy the situation entirely, she can try to help Ada rehabilitate
her public image after this, because the truth remains: She is not subversive. Perhaps Ingrid has a way to prevent Crenshaw’s
efforts from destroying her sister’s career. Through the one thing Ingrid hasn’t ruined yet.
She goes to her bedroom and searches through her briefcase until she finds them—her copies of Ada’s documents, of which Mother
has the originals.
This case. Maybe Ada will never speak to Ingrid again, but she asked for her help, and Ingrid agreed to give it. A war crimes
case can’t change what happened at the hearing, but it can reaffirm Ada’s commitment to justice. To the truth.
Maybe there is still time to prove who Ada Worthington-Fox is—and who Ingrid van Essen is. Because Ingrid van Essen will be
damned if she’ll allow herself or her sister to be defined by corruption, by lies, by manipulation.
Something in these documents will lead to determining whatever happened to Gregor Dietrich. All Ingrid has to do is find it.