Chapter 28

Edwin Brandt looked much older than Eva remembered, as the man had to be given the nearly seventeen years since she'd last seen her father. But even Wolfgang remarked to himself how much the ex-Stasi member had changed after nearly three years imprisonment.

He'd escaped justice, if that's indeed what it was, for over a decade after the reunification of Germany. Edwin had disappeared like so many other East German officials into the anonymous chaos of a nation trying to rebuild itself. As a major in the former Ministry of State Security, he'd been able to secure for himself documents hiding his true past. He took a modest job and Edwin and his wife adjusted to their shifting fortunes. Wolfgang, their only child, had been only nine years old when the Wall came down and so it was easier for him. He knew nothing about his father's previous work and the arrest of his father some fourteen years later had come as a rude surprise.

"You will stay seated at all times. Do not attempt to touch him or give him anything. If he tries to give you something, do not take it. You will have fifteen minutes..."

Wolfgang and Eva listened patiently as the uniformed guard spoke, nodding their heads. They'd already been photographed and fingerprinted, catalogued into the database of persons wishing to visit criminals against the state. It was very much unlike visiting a murderer or thief, Edwin had been convicted of treason and political crimes against the German people. He and others like him were kept separate from the regular criminals, in a special prison outside Stuttgart. This was for their protection as even the worst criminals held nothing but hatred and contempt for ex-Stasi agents.

They sat at a large metal table fixed to the concrete floor in a room devoid of anything but cinderblock walls, surveillance cameras, and a two way mirror. Opposite Wolfgang and Eva was another chair, empty for five minutes until a manacled Edwin Brandt shuffled into the room, escorted by two burly guards holding his arms. He was seated gently, they weren't rough with the man, and the guards moved back to stand near the door behind their prisoner.

"Wolfgang," the man breathed, swallowing thickly as his brown eyes searched his son's face.

"Hello, Father." Wolfgang tried to hide his frown. The man was barely fifty years old and he looked sixty, thin and pale. Edwin's face was deeply lined, almost haggard in appearance, and his shoulders were slumped, giving him a stooped and frail posture.

"And..." Edwin's eyes went to Eva, his eyes blinking rapidly as they grew suddenly wet. His voice cracked as he tried to say her name and he cleared his throat, grasping at some hidden reserve of strength.

"Eva," he said, stronger this time and nodding his head. "You're really here?"

"I'm here, Papa." Eva leaned into the table, stretching her arms towards the man, and though they were separated by two full meters, one of the guards shifted deliberately to catch her attention and remind the girl of the rules.

"You found her," Edwin looked at his son with a glimmer of paternal pride that Wolfgang remembered all too well.

"I saw your file," Wolfgang started to explain, but Edwin held up his chained hands to stop him.

"I'm sorry you have to see me this way. Both of you," Edwin sighed and he kept his eyes on Wolfgang. "They wouldn't let me go to the funeral."

"I know," Wolfgang replied.

"Was it ... good? Was it nice for her?" Edwin asked and his son nodded.

"I took care of it, Father."

"And your mother?" Edwin turned his sad eyes on Eva.