Chapter 45 Ingrid
Ingrid
Guilty. Her sister has been found guilty.
Condemned to three months in prison for contempt because she refused to speak about anyone except herself. Ingrid bites her
lip to contain a protest, her eyes never leaving Ada.
Ada is always composed, always what she should be for her audience. Except, as the sentence is declared, her face is white,
her usual poise absent as she takes a faltering step toward the bailiff awaiting her. A momentary lapse. Then she visibly
gathers herself before looking in Gordon’s direction, then Ingrid’s, and disappearing from the courtroom.
A sham trial just to make an example of her? Was the hearing not enough of an example?
Ingrid pushes through the throngs of reporters and spectators until she emerges into the quiet hall, where she presses her
palms against her bruised stomach. How did her efforts to serve her country and protect her sister amount to this? The job
she accepted with integrity and pride reduced to lies and manipulation, and to her own inability to realize it until it was
too late.
“Nice work, Holland.”
She closes her eyes as the remaining energy drains from her body. “For once, will you not patronize me?”
“I’m not, I’m not. I mean it, really.” Archie tosses a cigarette butt into an ashtray. “Even though she’s your sister and
the truth isn’t what you hoped it would be, you still did your job.”
“No, I didn’t, because none of this was the truth. Crenshaw and Stieber used us to make a point.” When Archie’s brows lift
in what might be surprise or the start of an argument, Ingrid steps closer. “Do not trust them. And if Agent Stieber says
anything about me or Ada, tell me. Please. As your former coworker and your friend, if we can call ourselves that.”
She doesn’t await a reply and proceeds down the hall, away from the emerging crowd. Moments later, she pauses, seeking one
face until she finds it. Her handler. She has worked for the man who tortured her sister.
The realization is too revolting to process as she feels him following her down a secluded hallway until they are alone.
“You knew we were sisters all along, didn’t you? You sent those messages and knew Aleida’s schedule, in part thanks to me
keeping you informed. Did you also send Mother to recover the evidence?”
“Your sister was becoming unruly with all those statements you kept encouraging her to give. Beyond the planned hearing, I
needed her credibility hindered. Now, if she pursues a war crimes case, she’s a subversive caught in her lies, holding a grudge
against her mother, seeking revenge against the FBI agent who worked her case by accusing him of being a war criminal despite
a lack of evidence.”
Ingrid digs her fingernails into her palms, wishing she could do something, say something, but it’s useless.
He planned this expertly. With Mother’s exclusive, a lack of suitable evidence to contradict Dietrich’s falsified history, and now a conviction, Ada will not be taken seriously and Dietrich can argue his way out of a war crimes case.
Except, despite losing the execution orders Hattie uncovered, they still have the negatives, which document similar crimes.
If they can keep him from taking the materials, and if they can prove Stieber and Dietrich are the same man, they might have
a chance.
When he steps closer, she takes an immediate step back, hates the faint smirk of satisfaction it brings to his lips.
“Behave yourself over the next three months. I’ll be watching you both. Then I’ll take what belongs to me and we can put all
this behind us.”
“Mother is of no use to you, then?” Ingrid presses, because the only thing she can think to do is put doubts in his mind.
“Why wait three months when you could have her looking for what you want, if Aleida really does have more information against
you?”
“Because I don’t want it from anyone else. I want it from her.”
A chill courses down Ingrid’s spine, then he strolls unhurriedly down the hall, leaving her alone with her unsteady breaths.
She’s got a war crimes case to build and three months to do it—assuming she can do it without Dietrich realizing he failed
to deter her. And assuming he doesn’t change his mind about waiting for Ada to forfeit the negatives herself, because if he
starts looking for them, three months is far too much time for him to find them.
The next morning, after Lars leaves for work, a knock sounds on the apartment door.
Ingrid’s blood runs cold—although Dietrich didn’t knock last time, which is her only consolation.
Cautiously, she answers to find Hattie, who hasn’t spoken to her since their encounter prior to Ingrid’s meeting at the FBI.
Before she can pull Hattie into a relieved embrace, her friend marches inside without looking at her.
“Lest you get the wrong idea, I’m still mad at you.” Hattie plops into an armchair and extends an expectant hand until Ingrid
provides her with a cup of coffee. “But maybe I kept looking into your case.”
Ingrid sits across from her. “And?”
“And you’re not going to believe this.” A pause as she adds sugar and cream. “That man you asked me to look for, Gregor Dietrich?
I found him. Except he’s got a new name.”
“Klaus Stieber.”
Her friend’s face falls. So much for her dramatic reveal.
“Well, if you knew he was your handler, then why the hell did I bother coming over? His agent file is under his new name,
which is why I didn’t make the connection initially, then I found some old paperwork documenting the changes when he entered
the country. Except the file under his original name matches the information listed under the name Stieber. Dietrich claims
he was in the military working in finance, and he never left Germany. Which doesn’t match the paperwork I found about Dietrich
authorizing your grandfather’s execution.”
“He was cleared to work for the FBI, I suppose?”
“Right.” Hattie’s jaw is set in contemplation, incredulity, as she attempts to make sense of it all. “He lied, didn’t he?
Meaning Stieber really is Dietrich? And a murderer? But he’s so dull, so quiet, so . . . normal.”
Ingrid scarcely keeps her penmanship legible as she jots down the claims in his files, all of them entirely different from
the evidence Dietrich has been destroying. Evidence confirming he is exactly who Ada says he is.
“Dietrich is not the man presented in those files. He was in Arnhem suppressing resistance and persecuting Jews. He must not have known the execution orders you found still existed; otherwise I’m certain he would have erased the evidence the same way he erased his past.” When Hattie opens her mouth to reply, Ingrid leans closer—then winces and pulls back when pain flares in her midsection.
“You read my mother’s exclusive, didn’t you? Did you also read my sister’s?”
Hattie nods, although her lips remain pursed in confusion before she claps a hand to her forehead. “After the hearing when
I realized Ada was Aleida, I read all the exclusives, and I didn’t even make the connection. That’s your war crimes case.
The man your sister mentioned.”
Ingrid nods. “She has proof. And I know I don’t have a right to ask for your help, but if you can keep watch from the inside,
ensure the evidence stays in trustworthy hands—”
“Of course I’ll help.” Hattie no longer regards her with the hostility from their last meeting. She glances at the newspapers
on the coffee table, open to articles Ingrid was reading about Ada’s trial. “I heard about the conviction,” she says quietly.
“Aleida was always the one keeping our spirits up at boarding school. I wish we could do the same for her through this.”
There is so much Ingrid wishes she could do. For now, she places a hand briefly over Hattie’s.
“Might the three of us have dinner together the next time Aleida is in town? She would be delighted to see you. In three months,”
she adds bitterly.
“Sounds lovely. By then, I’ll be slightly less mad at you,” her friend replies with a slight, teasing smile, to which Ingrid
smiles in return.
Soon they will spend an evening together, just like old times. But not until this is over. A little spark of hope blooms in
Ingrid’s chest, although she doesn’t dare indulge it too much yet. Still, with the information from Hattie, she has proof
that Dietrich’s FBI file does not match the documents Ada took from Arnhem. Meaning Dietrich lied to the government.
Meaning Ingrid and Ada might have a case.