“And the friendship?”
Otto spoke up. “I am afraid I didn’t think much of our team this year Herr Colonel. I have had to live that down ever since I said it,” he said turning slightly red in the face.
The two saw the Colonel visibly relax. “Good. I was told something else,” he said.
“I know, Herr Colonel, and that may be a problem. The person who told you came up to our table, sat down and began to threaten us. If someone had overheard there might have been a problem. Luckily he is the school bully and no one noticed. I stood up to him and acted as if he was just up to his old tricks and he stormed out. Herr Colonel, our cause cannot have someone’s temper jeopardize it. I have learned from our meetings and I know that patience has served us well. It cannot be ruined because someone doesn’t know how to maintain himself,” Fredrich said hoping he hadn’t overstepped his bounds.
“You are quite correct, Stadt. Both of you are. I will talk to the individual in question. But remember, he is as valuable to the Party as you are. You must understand we all have our place. We will all need each other when the time comes,” he said finally smiling. “You may continue your program, Stadt. It was smart of you to realize the danger and act on it. Keep me personally informed of your progress,” he demanded.
The two young men took a step back and raised their right arms in a Nazi salute. The Colonel returned it. As the two left the room the colonel called out, “By the way, who won the football game?”
Fredrick broke into a big grin. “We did, Herr Colonel.”
Müller smiled and waved them on. Discipline had been maintained, although he would have to talk to Johann. Inwardly, he feared Johann would try to take it out on these two young men. On second thought, young Fredrich would probably be able to handle that problem as well.
Sergeant Betz and Inspector Dresner had a warrant to search Mantz’s house and vehicle, but had decided to make the search a clandestine one. They had almost been caught when Mantz unexpectedly came out the back door, locked it, and walked past the car to the street where another car picked him up and departed for some unknown destination. The old Mercedes was parked beside the small house under a tree. There was a tall set of shrubs along the drive and the other side of the tree that blocked the view from the next door neighbors. There were no lights on in Mantz’s house.
Dresner and Betz made their way to the car, opened the rear doors and got in. The floor of the car was littered with old candy wrappers, paper, tools and various parts. The men meticulously sorted through each item and noted it. They then looked under the seats, in the glove box and under the dashboard. That is where they discovered the Sauer 38H pistol hidden between the bottom of the dash and the radio. The serial number was taken and it was replaced. Since all hand guns had to be registered, they would check that first.
Once the interior was complete, the men moved to the boot. Betz pulled out his key set from Mercedes. It had all of the master keys on it. In just a few minutes the boot was open. The boot was almost as bad as the back of the car. It was littered with junk. Using their penlights the men began working through the pile. It didn’t take long. To one side was a pair of rubber gloves. “Isn’t that interesting,” Dresner whispered to Betz. “Let’s take some photos,” he said.
Using his Leika with one of the new electronic flashes, Betz took several photos and waited as Dresner carefully lifted the gloves from their resting place with some tongs. Under the places where the gloves touched the mat on the floor the area was discolored and in some cases partially eaten away. Under the mat, the metal of the car was corroded. More photos were taken. Inside a cloth next to the gloves was a set of American vice grips. The teeth were corroded. Once the search was complete, Dresner bagged up the gloves and the vice grips to be taken and tested.
Next came the house. Betz easily opened the door and went inside. Unlike the car, the house was immaculate. It appeared that everything was in its place. The two men quietly went through, room by room searching the closets, furniture, cabinets and any place where something could be hidden. The house had two bedrooms and the answer came in the closet of the second bedroom. The back wall sounded hollow when tapped. Removing the few clothes hanging there, the men found a spring loaded latch hidden in what appeared to simply be an imperfection on the top of the shelf. The back of the closet pushed in and slid to the side.
Inside were several German uniforms, each with its SS insignia and red arm band. There was also a submachine gun, a rifle and pistols. There were no papers or other evidence that this was not just a nostalgic reminder of former duty.
Dresner stared at the uniforms, his mind remembering those days and especially the fanatic lengths the SS had gone to weed out traitors in the final days of the war. It was almost as if the Nazis were reaching out for one last wave of terror before giving their last gasp. Squads of SS troops were killing up to the very last. Surely this was not what was going on. It had been seventeen years since the war ended. Even the werewolf bands of men to sabotage the occupation efforts had been routed or given up long ago. What was going on? Why was this man stealing acid? Dresner needed to find out before he made the arrest.
“Maybe our little company didn’t get the job completely finished, Herr Major,” Betz said behind him, obviously thinking some of the same things.
Dresner turned to look at his friend. “Let us hope not,” he said sadly. He had hoped that chapter of his life was long over. “But either way we have a job to do. When we first talked, I noticed an orange discoloration on Mantz’s hand. According to the chemistry professor at the university, it is a sign of someone getting splashed by nitric acid. It does something to the pigment in the hand. If the gloves and the tool have acid on them, we know who did this. Our problem is we don’t know why and we don’t know where the acid is.”
“Ja, Herr Major. I suggest we watch him for a while before we strike,” Betz suggested. “Maybe we shall get both answers.”
Dresner nodded. “I agree. Let’s close this place up like we never entered and watch him. Too bad we don’t know where he went tonight. He’s been gone a long time.”
“I am not complaining,” Betz chuckled.
Silently and quickly the men returned everything to its place, gave a second look to make sure all was where it should be, and left the house. They made their way to the car and returned to the police station to have the items tested and to get the film developed. Mantz returned to his home after midnight and seeing nothing amiss, went straight to bed.
The next day Fredrich did not see Otto at school. Figuring Otto might not be feeling too well, he finished his classes and went through his football drills like he always did. Catching the city bus back home, Fredrich decided to get off the bus early and go by Otto’s home. Otto’s parents both worked and usually didn’t get home until after seven pm, so he wasn’t concerned when there was no car in the driveway. The shock came when Otto opened the door.
Otto’s face was puffy and red. There was a huge bruise on one cheek and one eye was darkened.
“Mein Gott! What happened?” asked Fredrich. Otto just shook his head and turned into his home. Fredrich followed as Otto walked in and sat quietly on the couch. “Did Johann do this for what we said last night?”
Otto shook his head. “No. He told my father that we both were disobeying our orders and that Colonel Müller was angry with us. He said I was a great disappointment to him and that I should learn discipline or else. Then he started hitting me. With each hit he quoted one of the rules,” he said as he lifted up his shirt. Otto’s chest and abdomen were covered with bruises along with his face.