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“And this is our victim. Lena Palmer. Sixteen years old. Reported missing five days ago.”
“Palmer,” says Michael. “Like the dead girl fromTwin Peaks. Laura Palmer.”
Yasira nods. Of course, this has no relevance whatsoever. But she’s noticed it too. All colleagues under thirty just look dumbfounded. All the same. In a few days, some cynical memes will enlighten them.
“I want us to work in shifts—around the clock,” says Yasira. “Somebody from this team will always be on the case. If something important happens, I want to be informed, regardless of the time.”
The kidnapping and murder of Hanns Martin Schleyer by the RAF?22may have happened almost fifty years ago, but at the BKA the failure of that time is still a deterrent example in the training program. On a Friday, the decisive tip-off about the hiding place where Schleyer was being held captive was received by the responsible special commission of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. However, it was not processed until Monday. By then it was too late. The hideout had been abandoned. The trail cold.
Yasira won’t let that happen.
“Timo’s on the first shift tonight.”
“Why am I not surprised?” asks Timo.
“Michael and I are heading to Halberstadt straight away to visit Lena’s father. The Katjas will try to identify the perpetrators. Please also have a word with the experts in Wiesbaden. Maybe they can deduce a region of origin from the men’s dialect.”
“Of course,” says Katja Jürgens.
“Jenny, you take on the uploader,” Yasira continues. “When did the video first appear? Where? Who posted it? Track him down. Maybe we can get to the perpetrators through him.”
Jenny nods. “If we’re really lucky,” she says, “I’ll find a version of the video with intact metadata. Then the file could tell us where and when it was recorded.”
“I doubt the uploader was that careless,” says Timo.
“Let me hope so...” Jenny replies. “You know how dumb criminals can be sometimes.”
“So we hope,” Yasira continues. “Coordinate with the tech team.”
“Of course.”
The IT guys aren’t exactly Yasira’s favorite colleagues. Too many technical terms, too little empathy. But their expertise will be important, so Yasira is glad that Jenny gets along well with them.
“Timo, we need the movement profile from Lena’s cell phone,” she continues. “I don’t care how we get it. Court order, BND?3, PRISM. It doesn’t matter. I need to know where the girl was.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“We’re already receiving tips from the public. You coordinate them. Make sure that our colleagues follow up on every single one.”
“All right, boss,” Timo confirms.
“Karsten, try to find out something about the crime scene. Does the vegetation in the background of the video give us any clue as to the location of the crime? Where is this table?”
“How am I supposed to find out?” asks Karsten.
“I don’t know,” replies Yasira. “That’s your problem. Send the colleagues hiking! Go for a walk yourself. Come up with something. Start from Halberstadt and then gradually increase the radius.”
Karsten sighs.
“You know,” says Yasira, “all our fancy forensic technology is of little use to us as long as we don’t have a crime scene.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“And see if you can identify the brand of the beer bottles on the bench. If we’re lucky, it’s something local.”
“They’re probably Beck’s bottles, which won’t get us anywhere.”
“Maybe. Find out.”
