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Yasira thinks about it.
“Let’s say it was her strange boyfriend, the hash dealer,” Timo continues. “He killed her. And then he created this video and... well...” Timo stops.
“That doesn’t seem very likely to me,” says Yasira. “He didn’t seem like someone who had the technical know-how.”
“Your Fake-Theory doesn’t seem very likely to me either,” grumbles Michael. “Besides, I’m very suspicious of Schöffler. I can’t stand the guy.”
“Anyway,” says Katja Grebe. “Let’s assume that the makers of the video intend a shift to the right. That doesn’t help us much, does it? There are countless right-wing groups. Moral scruples are something I would attribute to the least of them.”
“Who else could be behind this?” asks Yasira.
“The Russians,” says Katja Jürgens.
Karsten unleashes a burst of his machine-gun laughter, but stops quickly when he realizes that no one else is laughing.
“Sorry,” he says. “I thought it was a joke for a second. It just sounded like a joke. Who’s to blame? ‘The Russians.’” He looks at Katja Jürgens. “But you’re absolutely right, of course. It could be the Russians.”
“The fact that Putin and his troll factories will stop at nothing to destabilize the West is no secret,” says the boss. “Just recently, another fifty thousand fake user accounts on X were exposed. Over a million tweets.”
“Most of them were agitating against aid to Ukraine,” adds Katja Jürgens. “Along the lines of the government sending money abroad instead of supporting the Germans.”
“And in principle, there was a very similar case to Lena’s in 2015 or 2016,” says Katja Grebe. “Do you remember Lisa F.? A Russian-German girl who was allegedly kidnapped and raped by migrants. Many Russian media outlets continued to spread this lie long after it was disproven.”
Yasira roughly remembers the case. It caused diplomatic friction. If she remembers correctly, Merkel had even spoken to Putin about it.
She notices that Jenny is no longer taking part in the conversation. Instead, she stares at her phone. Another new video? But she would have said so. No, it must be something else that’s troubling Jenny.
“Maybe it’s easier if we ask ourselves who would have the technical means to produce such a video,” says Katja Grebe. “And why hasn’t anyone claimed that the video is fake?”
“Mainly because Lena really exists,” replies Yasira.
“Yes, but not only,” says Timo. “If it’s fake, then the video really is—this sounds a bit weird, but you know what I mean—well done. We assume that these tools exist. But they are not yet widely available. Who has access to them?”
“Hollywood, obviously,” says Katja Jürgens.
“Well, that’s certainly not where the video is from,” replies Yasira. “But who has the technical possibilities in this country? That’s a good question. Christian Baumann from the technical department...”
“Cyber-Chris?” asks Katja Jürgens.
“Yes. Cyber-Chris spoke about a Berlin start-up called AlmostReal earlier. Michael and I are going to check them out tomorrow. But keep on digging.” Yasira looks at her team. “See if you can find any rape videos on the darknet that are similar to the video of Lena.”
“We’re supposed to do what?” asks Katja Grebe.
“I want to know if there’s a template. Sometimes fakes are based on a real video.”
Katja Grebe snorts.
“Not a pleasant task,” says Yasira. “I know. I’m sorry.” She pauses for a moment and then comes to the end of her presentation. “If we find indications that there might be something to my suspicions, then we’ll have to talk to Lena’s father, her boyfriend, and her classmates again. Is that really Lena? Take a closer look.”
Michael grunts. “I’m already looking forward to that conversation.Mr. Palmer, please take another close look at the video of your daughter being raped. My partner has been watching too many science fiction movies.”
“We don’t do this job because it’s pleasant,” says Yasira.
“Obviously not.”
Yasira turns to the boss.
“I know I only have circumstantial evidence and no proof, but I’m asking for permission to investigate in this direction.”
