Interrogation I

The Lagerführer had completel changed when he came back to question Werner a second time. All traces of friendliness were gone, all the 'thank you Werner' and 'tell me please' had turned into stone cold 'speak when I adress you' and constant interruptions. The inquiry had turned into an interrogation. Rickenback and three other officers backed up the lagerführer. Werner was forced to sit on the cramped little chair. He was lower than all the others in the room, they looked down on him. He guessed that it was due to psychological affect; they were trying to intimidate him. There was no clock on the wall, and there was no window, it was impossible for Werner to know how long he'd been there. 

"Why did you want to work with Dr. Ziegler?"

"I didn't like the post I was in. I have always been interrested in medecine-."

"Why did you not join the medical soldiers?"

"I was given the oppertunity to meet with Dr. Ziegler an I took it. I'm sure you remember, Herr Lagerführer, Hart was the one to ask you for it-."

"Why did you accept the offer? You later said that you disagreed with Dr. Ziegler about quite a lot." 

"I didn't know what being a doctor meant here." Werner answered truthfully. The questions were starting to scare him; he didn't know what was going on and the not-knowing suffocated him. What was he being accused of? Had they found out about the cooperation of Ziegler and Wojciechowski? 

"But you never left. You've been there for over one and a half months." 

"I want to be a doctor myself. Any experience in the field is-."

"Were you more often in the lab or in his office?"

"That's hard to say, recently we've been in the lab more often, but there are times we're in his office almost all day." The questions seemed random to Werner, but they made sense to the Lagerführer. In the time he'd kept the young lad waiting he'd further interrogated Wojciechowski, who'd refused to answer a single question. The polish doctor kept his mouth glued tightly shut. The two other russian scientists and the other polish one weren't of interest. They'd all been cooped up elsewhere at the time of the murder. 

The Lagerführer took a step forwards, put his fists on the table in front of Werner and stared him in the eyes. "Where were you on that morning?"

"I was asleep in my bunk. By the time I arrived everything was closed off."

"You were asleep, so were all the other soldiers, so they couldn't have seen you leave?"

"No sir. It wasn't like that-."

"But it was! If they were asleep you could have-."

"They were all already gone sir, my shift starts later." Werner interrupted the Lagerführer. Everyone in the room held their breath exepct for the two charging bulls. They glared at each other. The Lagerführer regained his calm first. 

"You're admitting that they weren't there. So nobody could underline your alibi of not having snuck out to do it?"

"To do what?" By then Werner had realized that it wasn't about cooperation with Wojciechowski. He couldn't be sure if it was about vandalism or stolen things or, god forbid, death. 

"Your friend Nikolai would have told you about it." The Lagerführer snapped. "He's so talkative, he can't keep that trap shut." 

"Sir, Hart never-."

"Yes he did! Of course he did!" The Lagerführer said, he began to pace up and down. Dr. Zieglers death had confused him, he'd seemed alright and not suicidal so it must have been murder. And who else except for Werner or that cursed Wojciechowski?

"Sir, Nikolai got the information out of somebody, but he refused to tell me what it was." Werner said. He was still playing on his bet of being honest as long as he could. 

"So Nikolai knows?" The Lagerführer said. He stopped pacing and turned on his heels. "I'm going to find Nikolai, Rickenbach it's your turn with Werner. Have fun, gentlemen." With a curt nodd to the leftovers he dismissed himself and left the room, leaving Werner in bloody hands. Werner was much more afraid of Rickenback than the Lagerführer...Rickenbach looked like he was born to be a nazi. 

The Lagerführer marched straight across camp all the way to where Nikolai was stationed. He recognized his comerade from afar but didn't speak to him until directly behind him. "Kamerad Hart!" 

"Ach! Erschrecken Sie mich nicht so! (don't scare me!.)" Nikolai cried. He apologized for jumping at the sound of the leaders voice. The Lagerführer asked him to come quickly. Nikolai wasn't sure what was in stock for him; was this a quickie or did the Lagerführer want to ask him something concerning Werner? They left the workers unattended for a second. Once in a safe place, a small bathroom about fifty meters away from Nikolai's post the Lagerführer adressed him properly. 

"Nikolai, did you tell Werner about Dr. Zieglers murder?"

"No I didn't." Nikolai answered. This was one of the questions he'd expected to be asked sooner or later. "I did tell him that there was something going on, and that I knew what it was, but I refused to say exactly what." Nikolai chose truth because he was sure that Werner had. 

"Who told you?" The Lagerführer pried. Nikolai just smiled. He wasn't afraid of the Lagerführer. He was just the slightest bit shorter than Nikolai, but the Russian was stronger by far. The years that the Lagerführer had spent in Ringen (wrestling) were no match for the life of farming and labour that Nikolai had lived. 

"Don't make me say that, Joseph. I'm friends with everyone, and everyone needs to get things off their chests..." He smiled his most charming smile. The Lagerführer could tell what Nikolai was attempting even though Nikolai didn't realize it himself. The soviet spy was a true master of seduction.

"I'm going to kill you one day, Nikolai. Just wait until I prove that you're a soviet spy." He hissed through bared teeth. Nikolai just shrugged, opened the bathroom door to the outside and started whistling. 

"Catch me if you can!" He called to the Lagerführer as he stolled back to his post. The Lagerführer angrily stormed off. Werner hadn't been lying, Nikolai got the best of him and the interrogation was leading nowhere. His calm demeanor had been completely fucked by the russian, he'd been more emotional, felt more helpless. As he headed back towards the room, full of frustration, he promised himself that one day he would end Nikolai. And he'd do it with his own hands.