The Shadows of Trinity

Severed Ties

In Emden, Wilhelm was standing out on the wharf gazing out at the sky that was shrouded in dark rain clouds. The salty smell of the vast ocean flowed across the cool breeze. Wilhelm felt a slight chill spread across his skin and placed his hands in his pockets. Eventually, he heard some slow and measured footsteps creaking on the wooden boards behind him. Turning around he saw Lennard Bain standing there with a small smile on his face. Lennard wandered over to Wilhelm and stood beside him and Wilhelm turned back to looking out at the ocean.

"Are you alright Mr. Hartmann?" Lennard asked.

"Just worried about what Albert Thalberg might be doing," Wilhelm replied. "He almost killed Koralins brother. And who knows what he might do next."

"Well, I doubt that he will target you he only targets communists. As long as you don't support communists he won't target you,"

"I would never support communists. I prefer democracy,"

"Now you are sounding like an American,"

Lennard placed his hand on Wilhelm's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. Wilhelm glanced over at Lennard and saw the same haunted look in Lennard's eyes that he saw yesterday when Lennard mentioned Himmler. Wilhelm went back to looking at the ocean and watching the waves crash against the shore, not wanting to ask why Lennard felt uncomfortable when he mentioned Himmler yesterday. Lennard glanced over at Wilhelm sensing that Wilhelm wanted to ask him something.

"I can tell that you want to ask me something, Mr. Hartmann,"

"Did Himmler do something bad to you?"

"Not me specifically but it's a long story a story that I never told anyone," he said while he placed his hand in his pocket to search for something.

"But I'm guessing that what he did made you feel hurt,"

"Yes," he said as he pulled out a small photograph that he unfolded.

Lennard handed the picture to Wilhelm who looked at it. In the picture, there was a younger version of Lennard and to his right, there was a teenage boy with a wooden cane in his hand. To Lennard's left, there was a man who looked slightly older than him. All three of them were wearing suits.

"Who are those two standing beside you?"

"They are my brothers.
"My older brother's name is Hermann. He was a Captain in the SS. A terrible man.
"My younger brother's name was Josef. A smart boy even though he was blind and struggled to walk,"

"Was? What happened to Josef?"

"He died,"

"How? He looks healthy in this picture. Other than what you said about him struggling to walk he looks healthy,"

Lennard lowered his gaze and he was now staring at his feet. Tears welled up in his eyes and he tried to hold them back but they slowly streamed down his face. All Lennard could feel was a deep sadness inside himself as if he was drowning in an ocean full of his sorrow. Wilhelm glanced over at Lennard and saw the tears slowly streaming down his face. Upon noticing this Wilhelm wondered what might have happened to Josef that had made Lennard so upset. Wilhelm decided to wait for Lennard to calm down before asking more questions. Lennard closed his eyes took a deep breath and wiped away his tears.

"Hermann killed Josef," he said while still wiping his tears away.

"Why would Hermann murder his brother?"

"I didn't know it at the time because all I saw was him shooting Josef. But Hermann just told me that he was following orders,"

"Who's orders?"