Ziegler continued, “Instead, Mr. Vance accosted me, out front of this building. He knew who I was. He tells me his investigation is a matter of such secrecy and sensitivity that he cannot go through official channels. Now I think this man is maybe cuckoo, regardless of his credentials.” She eyed Brodie. “I would have told him to go away, except he got more specific with me than he had with my colleague over the phone. He says he is trying to find information about an American military official who acted as a spy for the Stasi in the eighties. Someone who had never been discovered or prosecuted. And then I understand. Because I know who he is looking for.”
“Odin.”
She nodded.
“How did you know about Odin?”
“My position provides me a unique vantage point.”
Of course. Elsa Ziegler, Chief Archivist. A woman with unlimited access who had been here since the beginning. Brodie said, “You are the person who originally intercepted the Stasi report on Odin and gave it to Anna’s mother.”
Ziegler stared at Brodie, blank-faced. “That would be a crime.”
“Not one I’m investigating.”
After a moment, Ziegler said, “I was familiar with the tragedy that befell the Albrecht family, and that they never got closure. Let us leave it at that.”
Well, that was good enough for Scott Brodie. Especially since he was no longer actually on this case, and even if he had been, he had no jurisdictional authority to be interviewing Elsa Ziegler in the first place. In fact, he was pretty far out over his skis here, and should probably wrap this up soon, before Herr Lehmann decided to call the Bundeskriminalamt headquarters to confirm whether an American CID agent named Scott Brodie was involved with the Vance homicide investigation.
Brodie asked, “How many interactions did you have with Mr. Vance?”
“This single in-person encounter, which was quite brief.”
“Have you told the German authorities about this encounter?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I didn’t think it was relevant.”
“You had a conversation with a man in the days preceding his murder, in which he was inquiring about an American double agent who was never discovered and who was responsible for the unmasking and execution of four Western intelligence assets, and you did not think that was relevant to report to the authorities investigating his homicide?”
She gave him an odd look. “My encounter with Mr. Vance occurred lastyear. Back in the spring.”
What?
She added, “Early or mid-May, I believe. Yes. The cherry blossoms were all dropping their petals.”
Brodie didn’t respond. According to Anna, she and Harry hadn’t even met until early July.Unless…
Something had been bothering Brodie ever since that first encounter with Anna, something that didn’t sit right: What were the chances that an American military investigator just happens to stroll into an art gallery and meet a woman with a tragic family history involving an American military double agent? That was a hell of a coincidence. Unless it wasn’t a coincidence at all.
Brodie said, “You told Harry Vance about Anna Albrecht.”
She looked at Brodie as though that were obvious. “Yes. And that is all I told him. Her name, and that she might have the information he was seeking.” She added, “It was something of a violation, I understood that. But Manfred’s death… it ruined Ursula. And this investigator comes along, and I thought, maybe he could help Ursula’s daughter find some answers.”
Of course. Harry now had a name: Anna Albrecht. He looked her up, found her gallery. Came in to admire the art and chat up the gallery curator. Made it all seem like happenstance, as a way to build trust…
He asked Ziegler, “Why did Harry approach you in the first place? If you sent him to Anna, who or what sent him to you?”
“I was curious about that as well, and I asked him. He would not tell me.”
“Right. Okay, is there anything else you can recall about your conversation that might offer a clue as to his motivation for searching for Odin? Something he may have mentioned or asked about?”
Ziegler thought a moment. “All I can say is that he seemed a very serious man, quite driven to find what he was looking for.” She looked at Brodie. “I still fail to understand how my referring him to Ms. Albrecht last spring has anything to do with your case. His death was an act of Islamic terrorism. Was it not?”
Brodie had a feeling Elsa Ziegler was getting nervous that she’d possibly failed to report something of relevance to the German authorities investigating a homicide. Brodie said, “The timeline of your interaction with Mr. Vance is different than my assumptions. Given the context, there is little reason for you to have thought you needed to report a conversation from eight months ago.”
