Chapter 9 - The Trial

Ingrid's trial was a grand spectacle and she was found wanting and summarily sentenced to a life of hard labor on a penal colony in a remote archipelago surrounded by man eating sharks.  She did not weep.

Oliver however was a complete embarrassment to the Politiburo and to avoid scandal he was not placed on trial and instead given an extended 'holiday' on his family estate on a provincial town.  As a name sake of a Signatory # 3, his life was assured.  He confessed freely that he was a disciple of Karl Knutmudsen and of the Artesian cause.  He refused to say if there were additional co-conspirators besides Ingrid and himself, but he was generous in saying that poor John was never a willing participant and was caught up in all of this as he was assigned as Karl's final attache before his downfall.  This however, was of no help and John was sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor.  The lanky man wept in his prison cell when he heard of his sentencing.

Michael, was found wanting and proudly accepted hard labor and was ready to join his compatriots and died a few years later of exhaustion.  John shortly after.

I spoke with Wolf Gustafson who thanked me for outing what we all hoped were the last remnants of the Artesians.  He then shared, he had long suspected his own son Stephan might have been in the process of being recruited by Karl and it was his sister Sophie who vehemently intervened.  He apologized that he himself could never investigate his own children and had left a trial of bread crumbs to do so vicariously.  He was relieved that I found nothing to suspect Stephan was ever enthralled in the Artesian movement and reminded me of how our two families are intertwined.

Wolf knew of my brother and spoke highly of the Admiral.  He also added to my family story sharing that the vintner's son saved General Gustafson from a sniper's bullet.  It made more sense then why the General would carry him to the field hospital and again help him sign such an important document.  He also wished me to visit Sophie.

Stephan and Sophie were very close and it would have devastated her to know that he would join Karl's cult.  My relentless inquiries and me being a friend of Karl and also rejection of his Artesian cult made me the perfect investigator into finding out if Stephan was ever an Artesian and finding no proof or even suspect he was relieved the entire Gustafson clan.