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“What does that mean?”
“It means you personally get to give your press conference. State publicly what you’ve already stated behind my back. The BKA thinks it’s possible that the Lena video is a fake.”
Yasira can’t stop a little smile from creeping onto her lips.
“Don’t grin too soon. You’re the face of this theory now! I hope for your sake that you’re right! Otherwise we’ll be buried alive.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m not doing this for you. And I will remember your demeanor. You’ve broken my trust. Believe me: one more mistake, one more impertinence and you’ll not only lose the case, but also your job. Then it’s time to dust off files in the archives.”
Yasira nods. Working in the archives is a thought that doesn’t seem so gruesome to her in the light of all the hustle and bustle of the last few weeks, but she keeps that to herself.
Before the press conference, she calls Frank Palmer. He answers immediately. Every call from Yasira must put him under extreme tension. A call from her could one day redeem him or seal his misfortune. But not today. Yasira just doesn’t want him to hear about the state of the investigation from the news. She tells him about her suspicion that the video is a fake. Palmer says nothing for a long time. “That’s why you asked about the dress,” he finally says.
“Yes.”
“But where is my child?”
Yasira sighs internally. “We’re still looking for her, Mr. Palmer. We’re still looking for her with all our might.”
Yasira keeps the press conference short. She only reads out a prepared statement outlining the technical feasibility of generating the video and emphasizes several times that it is not a question of the video being recreated, but that it could be computer generated. She explains how Lena Palmer could have been inserted into the video with the help of the abundance of image material available about her, indicates that she may not have disappeared because of the events shown in the video, but rather that she could have been placed in this video because of her disappearance. And yes, if her theory is correct, it also means that an innocent person was murdered in the first execution video, or that this video is also fake. A press conference in the subjunctive. She could not answer any further questions at the moment, as this would jeopardize the investigation.
Tumultuous conditions break out among the assembled media representatives. Questions are shouted at random, but Yasira simply gets up and leaves the podium.
Now things really get cracking. Articles, blog posts and videos appear by the minute. And not just in Germany. Her daughter finds Yasira’s picture in an article inTheNew York Times. She sends the link to her mother with the hashtag FAME. Yasira’s father forwards her a video fromAl Jazeera. She starts googling.Yomiuri Shimbun, The Times of India, evenPravda... They all report on the new development. If it’s at all possible, the video makes even bigger waves than before. Yasira is now a celebrity. Whether she wants to be or not. And she doesn’t want to. Not at all.
From what Yasira can gather, people are divided over whether her theory is correct. The nerds are surprised that the video has noglitches. Otherwise, Yasira feels that belief or disbelief are strongly related to people’s world view. The right wingers see this as further proof that the state is covering up crimes committed by refugees by any means necessary, and depending on their flavor, they also declare that this is just another step in the Deep State’s secret repopulation plan. There is a lot of head-scratching from the middle ground and sentences like: “You don’t even know what to believe anymore.” The left-wing camp clings to the fake hypothesis like a drowning man to a lifeline. And of course everyone still wants to know what happened to Lena.
Much speculation revolves around the people behind all of this. Who could be so ruthless? The answer: a surprisingly large number of people are deemed capable of it. Bear and the Active Homeland-Protection are the most common answers. But of course there are also some significantly crazier theories. Not in the major media, but in blogs and videos.
“What if it’s aliens?” asks a guy who has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on YouTube with Let’s Play Videos. “Imagine if there were real aliens. Reptiloids or whatever. Some kind of critters. Space bugs. And they want to wipe us out. But they don’t do it in the old schoolIndependence Dayway. Wouldn’t it be much smarter if they just set us all up against each other instead?”
That’s obviously stupid. At least the part with the aliens. But maybe someone really does want to set us up against each other, Yasira thinks. Is she herself becoming paranoid now, or could that be possible? The Chinese? The North Koreans? The Russians?
DOUBT
Shortly after half past two, Yasira receives a call that finally stops her from googling her name. Cyber-Chris has found out where Messerschmidt lives. Bingo!
“How did you manage that?” she asks.
“I hacked into his Amazon account,” says Christian Baumann, “and checked where his packages are being delivered.”
Is that supposed to be a joke? Yasira isn’t entirely sure. Whatever.
Cyber-Chris sends her what he’s found.
Yasira immediately enters the address into Google Maps and realizes that the internet sometimes still has its limits. In the place where Messerschmidt’s house is supposed to be, somewhere in the southeast of Brandenburg, about two kilometers from the nearest village, Google only shows a small forest. Apparently there is no house there. Street View is not available either. She thinks of the pixelated house in Kreuzberg. Again this desire for anonymity. Does Messerschmidt just want his peace and quiet or what is he secretly planning there?
She wants to go there immediately with Michael, but her partner hasn’t returned from his lunch break yet. “I’ll be right there!” is the answer she gets when she texts him about his whereabouts. Whatever “I’ll be right there” is supposed to mean. When Yasira calls her daughter to dinner, the reply can mean anything from two minutes to not at all. Nevertheless, she refrains from stressing Michael out. After all, it is Saturday. Apart from her, Jenny is the only core team member currently in the office. She should actually have the day off, but instead she’s scouring the Active Homeland-Protection Telegram groups hoping that someone will brag about making the video.
Jenny, Jenny, Jenny. What are you doing to your relationship? Well. The harshest critics of what people do, are the ones who used to do the same things too. What’sused to dosupposed to mean? Who is Yasira kidding? She passes the waiting time by reading through the latest reports.
No useful new leads on Lena.
No useful new leads on the crime scene.
No useful new leads on the men in the video.
