Werner woke up as normal, took a leak and hydrated, dressed himself and washed his face, then headed out to destination breakfast. He was hungrier than usual, his stomache growled as he opened the door from his dorm to the hallway. He opened it forcefully, he hadn't expected the unwanted visitors to be standing outside. They were three guards all with sullen faces. Werner greeted them with a 'heil hitler' and was about to push past when one of them, a big and burly man from Berlin, grabbed him by the arm. "Sie kommen mit uns mit (you're coming with us)."
"Entschuldigung?" Werner said in surprise. But he didn't resist. It didn't cross his mind until they had marched halfway across camp together that this was because of yesterday, when he hadn't been allowed in the building. The thing Nikolai hadn't wanted to tell him. One man walked in front of him and two behind him. The officers they passed shot them strange looks; they could tell this deportation wasn't normal. Werner made eye contact with an older grey-haired soldier, the man quickly looked away. Did everyone know what was going on and were scared because of it? Or was everyone scared because they didn't know what was going on and expected the worst.
He was paraded into a building he'd never been in before, Nikolai had told him that it was the place they interrogated people officially. The place he'd seen Wojciechowskis hearing had ben unofficial and secret, this place was made for inquiry.
He was taken up the stairs, to the left and into a smallish room with one desk that had a smallish wooden chair behind it which reminded him of the chairs in kindergarten. "Guten Morgen, Werner." The Lagerführer said. Werner hadn't seen him in the corner of the room when he'd walked in. He wasn't sure if he was glad that the Lagerführer was there or not. The man could be a devil but Werner had gotten to know him better and he had a soul...somewhere deep down under the layers of uniform and the swastika on his chest... "Setzen Sie sich. (sit down)." The Lagerführer commanded. Werner walked around the desk and pulled the chair out, he took a seat. The guards who'd escorted him there walked out single file. There were only three men left in the room, Rickenbach, the Lagerführer and Werner himself. "Vielleicht wissen Sie schon warum Sie einberufen worden sind (maybe you already know why you were called here)." The Lagerführer looked at him with high expectations. Werner shrugged.
"I'm guessing it has something to do with the medical departement. I wasn't allowed to enter the building yesterday."
"You're right, it does." The Lagerführer said and nodded. "Do you anything further?"
"No."
"You really didn't try to find out what it was?" It was a trick question. If he said no he'd be suspicious, of course he'd want to know what was up with his station of employment, but if he said yes then the Lagerführer would think he'd tried to bribe or manipulate someone. Werner chose honesty, the second after walking into the room he decided he'd be honest about everything expect for three things; firstly, that he wasn't really a german soldier, secondly, that Nikolai was Russian and thirdly, that he was working with Wojchiechowski and his crew.
"I did." Werner admitted. "I asked the guard, but he wouldn't tell me. And I assumed the men at the table I sit with wouldn't know anyway because none of them have anything to do with the medical departement."
The Lagerführer could tell that Werner was being honest. He'd interrogated enough people to know that; the way the ends of Werner's mouth stayed still as oppose to twitching, the even way he spoke and the innocence in his expression.
"So you have no idea what happened yesterday morning?"
"No, sir."
The Lagerführer glanced at Rickenback. The boy sounded suspiciously honest. But he was the number one suspect, that is, under Wojciechowski himself. "What do you know about the polish doctor, Werner?"
"I know what I heard when I was in the interrogation room with you sir. And Dr. Ziegler and I did some experiments on him." Werner said.
"What did we say in the room?" The Lagerführer asked. He had an outstanding memory, and he could remember that day very vividly. He was hoping to coax something out of Werner that the boy couldn't have known, something that might point to his guilt.
"You talked about him being friendly with Russian spies that worked in his lab with him. There was a short discussion about brain cancer. He was speaking polish most of the time, but he clearly understood german and-."
"That's enough, thank you, Werner." The Lagerführer turned to Rickenbach who's eyes slid over to Werner and then back to his leader. "How did Dr. Ziegler and Wojciechowski get along?"
"Honestly, they're both proud doctors. I can feel some tension between them sometimes, especially when Wojciechowski speaks. Dr. Ziegler always seems to slip into a bad mood." Werner started. The Lagerführer didn't look at him even once. He looked at his polished boots or at the wall or at the Hakenkreuz on Rickenbachs arm. "To me it feels like Dr. Ziegler is a bit jealous of Wojciechowski."
"Why?"
"Well, Wojciechowski knows a lot about medecine. He sometimes talks. I try to ignore him, and so does Dr. Ziegler. But we still here it. And sometimes Wojciechowski even gives Dr. Ziegler advice, but Dr. Ziegler doesn't respond to it, at least not directly. Sometimes he changes how he was doing something though."
"You think Dr. Ziegler was jealous of Wojciechowski?"
"Yes." Werner confirmed.
"And how did Wojciechowski act towards Dr. Ziegler?"
"He was very friendly, even though Dr. Ziegler wasn't the most responsive."
"You said there was tension between them and now you're saying that Wojciechowski was friendly." The Lagerführer said slowly. "What do you mean?"
"Dr. Ziegler definitly had hard feelings towards Wojciechowski but the latter didn't show his towards Dr. Ziegler. I could feel that Wojciechowski didn't like the way Dr. Ziegler worked, and also didn't like what Dr. Ziegler did for experiments. That contributed to the tension between them. But Wojciechowski always remained polite and cooperative."
"Alright." The Lagerführer said. "And how do you feel about Dr. Ziegler?"
"We aren't friends, but we get along fine. Sometimes we have disagreements but I respect his opinion."
"Disagreements about what?"
"About some of the ways he does things. Dr. Ziegler told me that he is in close contact with you and keeps you updated about what he does, sir. If you want an example about where we had an argument I can give you one." Werner's brutal honesty confused the two interrogators. They'd brought him in suspecting him, and now it seemed like he really wasn't the murderer or involved in the crime. He talked about Dr. Ziegler as if he was still alive. There was no flaw in the way he spoke about him, he never tripped over the name...
"Yes, tell me."
"We were working on the vaccination for smallpox, we couldn't continue because we didn't have all the necesarry stuff; but that's another story. I thought it was horrible how he would infect people with the virus and then, if the vaccine didn't work, refuse to help them and just let them die in agony. He argued that it was cheaper, but I told him he was a doctor and doctors save lives not take them."
Had Werner known that Dr. Ziegler had been murdered he would never have said the last sentence. It sounded like he was hinting something; like he was playing with the two officers. Rickenbach thought: doctors don't kill, but assistants can. The Lagerführer thought; is he talking about Wojciechowski, playing on the doctors guilt? Werner was oblivious that he'd pulled himself further into the mess by saying it.
"You're relieved of your duties today. Someone will come and get you when we're ready. Follow the man outside the door."
"What's going on? Can I at least know what happened?"
"I'm afraid I don't need to tell you that, Werner."
"But if you're questioning me don't I need to know what about-?" But the Lagerführer had already opened the door and marched out, Rickenbach in his wake. Werner was not alone for long; a tall and almost barbarian guard fetched him.