Page 58 of Views
“How the hell did you come to the conclusion that people order bulk packs of condoms from Amazon?” asks Michael.
Yasira laughs. “I’m sure people do, don’t you think?”
“Sure they do. Not me, but I’m sure there are people who do.”
Yasira laughs again. It’s good to laugh. Despite everything. “I’ve never ordered bulk packs of condoms either. Don’t get any weird ideas. But when it comes to hand blenders, I can’t guarantee that I’ve never ordered one. It must have come from somewhere.”
Yasira thinks about her botched date with handsome Steven. Was that last week? Or has it already been two weeks? It feels like something from another life. It all started that evening. Should she call him again? She feels so lonely. Absentmindedly, she tears open Messerschmidt’s Amazon package.
“Now, listen, that’s not yours, partner,” says Michael with feigned indignation.
The package contains a biography of Elon Musk. Kind of disappointing. Yasira had hoped for something more exciting.
“What did the chief actually want from you?” asks Michael.
“To stare at me,” Yasira says.
“Oh,thatnumber,” grumbles Michael. “That means we don’t have long before he takes us off the case.”
“Yes.” Then, giving herself a push, she lets her partner in on the question that’s still bothering her despite the boss’s refusal.
“What if we let something slip?” she asks.
“To the press?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“A bad idea,” is all Michael says.
“But it just drives me crazy that everyone is freaking out, that I’m in danger myself, that my daughter is in goddamn danger because of an event that may never have happened.”
“I understand that,” replies Michael. “But what if you’re wrong? Picture the damage to the BKA’s credibility if we claim the video is fake but it’s real!”
“I know it’s fake! I just know it!”
“Even if it is. How stupid do you think the chief is? You ask him to tell the press, he says no and then something leaks out. He wouldn’t have become our boss if he couldn’t at least add one and one together.”
Yasira is silent for a while. Michael is probably right. Nevertheless, she wants to tell the whole world about what she has found out. It must have some effect. Doubt is good, isn’t it? Anyone in doubt won’t try to storm the Reichstag. Or is it perhaps the other way around? Damn it! It’s so complicated.
Didn’t the handsome Tinder Steven mention that he works for some newspaper? Which one was it again? She could just give him a call. Meet up casually. Just a little chat.
THE SCOOP
In the late afternoon, Yasira attends the funeral for Tesfaye Yemane, who was murdered by Martin Riedel. Yasira didn’t ask her colleagues to join her, to avoid them feeling pressured. Her team already has too few rest breaks anyway.
Like about half of the Eritrean population, Tesfaye was a Christian, and so—in the absence of such an organization in Saxony—the Eritrean Orthodox community in Berlin has taken charge of the funeral. The funeral is held in the borrowed Protestant Philippus Church in Berlin Friedenau. Yasira is quite astonished at the massive security precautions in front of the building. The Berlin police are obviously afraid of an attack, which given recent events is only understandable. The media are on site and because of them, of course, some political celebrities. Nobody obliged Yasira to come, but it just felt right.
But now, as she waits on the uncomfortable church pew for the pastor to finish his sermon, she is jittery. She sits with the other women on the right-hand side. Her feet are cold, because Eritreans worship God barefoot. Out of respect, Yasira has also taken off her shoes, which she now regrets a little. She tries to focus but keeps drifting off. This video has done so much damage. By Sunday, she will have to attend another funeral. Andreas Müller, the police officer who saved his colleagues from the grenade, will be given a full state funeral. Yasira must prevent things from escalating any further. It’s not inconceivable that otherwise her own funeral service will take place next week. The boss is wrong. People need to know that the video is probably a fake.
As soon as she gets home, she calls her date from last week. She can happily do without another lonely evening in her quiet apartment anyway. Steven is pretty surprised to hear from her, but immediately agrees to meet her for another dinner. She doesn’t even have to entice him with the promise of confidential information. For a moment, she feels proud. Then she questions this feeling, as she always does, and it dissolves into nothing. What is she proud of? That a divorced online journalist with a seven-day beard that is already turning gray is willing to cancel his evening date with Netflix in the hope of ending up in bed with her instead? What an achievement. She can really be proud of that.
Although she may have misjudged Steven, because the first thing he says after greeting her is: “I saw you on TV. At a press conference. I almost would have been there too, but the head of my department wanted to go himself.”
Maybe Steven wants to meet for the same reason as she does. Because of the video.
This time they meet at Byblos in Spichernstraße. Yasira suggested the Lebanese restaurant. Ostensibly because the food there is always delicious. But secretly, she also chose Byblos because it is guaranteed that no Active Homeland-Protection activists will stray there. Yasira is uncomfortable with her unwanted prominence.
“Listen,” says Yasira after the waitress who brought the starters moved on. “You know what case I’m investigating. You know how tense the situation is.”
