The first day after
What happened so far:
Lena Berger works for the homicide division and receives a disturbing anonymous email about a possible threat at a charity Christmas dinner at the restaurant “Frost & Flamme.” The tip does not contain a specific threat, only the name “Jonas Keller.” While Lena is thinking about the mysterious tip, she receives an emergency call about a lifeless person in the same restaurant. She rushes to the scene, unsure whether the threat has come true.
The smell of the restaurant still stuck to her nose when Lena read the crime scene report the next morning. Blood on a light-coloured parquet floor, a smashed back of the head, a guest room that is too tidy. The dead man: co-owner, host, figurehead. The name was now more than just a file entry.
She leafed through the first minutes of the night. Statements from staff, guests, rescue workers. Overtired scribble. No one had seen anything that immediately felt like murder. Everyone had mentioned lights, music, glasses. And again and again the same sentence: "Then suddenly the music became quiet."
No time, just this "suddenly" that could mean anything and nothing.
Lena put the pen next to the form with the heading "Interrogation Jonas Keller". His photo was on top: white teeth, dark suit, the professional look of sorrow that successful men put on when something inappropriate disturbs their world.
She remembered his face in the night. Not shocked, not hysterical. Controlled. Too controlled.
On the table by the window was the printout of the anonymous mails. She had taken them out again this morning. Someone had mentioned exactly this place, exactly this evening, exactly this name. Before the crime.
Coincidence was possible. Chance was convenient.
Lena took the file, stood up and walked towards the interrogation room. She had read enough prose. Now she wanted to hear Jonas Keller tell himself his story.
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