The resolution
What happened so far:
Investigator Lena Berger receives an anonymous warning about an imminent danger at a charity event at the Frost & Flamme restaurant, where a co-owner is later found dead. Under pressure from her superiors, Lena investigates the connection between the warning and the murder and notices Jonas Keller's unusually controlled reaction. Despite formal evidence against a suspect, which the prosecutor also expects, Lena doubts the accuracy of this conclusion, especially after new details from a witness that point more to Jonas Keller. Lena decides to re-examine the anonymous clues and audio recordings to ensure she is not making a mistake.
The interrogation room was silent, as if even the building had held its breath. Outside, poinsettias sparkled sporadically in the windows of the city. In here, only the small lamp above the table shone, in the light of which Jonas Keller seemed pale.
In front of them lay a laptop, the cursor on a frozen picture: Jonas on the restaurant stage, microphone in hand, the dead man next to him, laughing. In the background the music system, a small flashing dot. The recording Mia had brought had shown more than any testimony.
Lena had listened to the soundtrack dozens of times. The euphoric announcement of the dead man, the beginning of the terrible Christmas carol, the forced laughter of the guests. Later, in the back room, the dull throbbing, a stifled argument, the impact of a body on wood. Then: a last, choppy note when someone hit the system while falling and silenced "Jingle Frost".
"It was an accident," Jonas said now, without her asking. His voice sounded brittle, no longer polished. "I just wanted to silence him. Just this one damn moment."
Lena thought of the anonymous lines: Beneath all your glow of lights, the truth is rotting. Someone had known before the blood dried. Someone who knew the hatred that had accumulated in the walls that evening.
She left Jonas' words and wrote them in the minutes, as sober as possible. Outside, others would judge how many accidents, how much intention there were.
When she later left the presidium, the air was clear and cold. A pale moon hung over the city, and a few fairy lights flashed between the roofs. Lena stood still for a moment.
This year, someone would actually not go home. But for the first time in a long time, she felt like she hadn't set her sights on the wrong person.
German Audio
English Audio
