Chapter 1
Chapter One
November. Cologne.
“Mom, have you seen my black sweater? I’m running late.”
The answer came almost immediately.
“I washed everything yesterday. Check the drying rack. Need a ride?”
Hana was already heading toward the balcony.
“That would be perfect.”
The morning was unexpectedly bright.
For late November, it almost felt wrong.
The rain had stopped sometime during the night, leaving behind cool air and the scent of wet pavement. Sunlight spilled across the neighboring buildings as if autumn had decided to linger for just a little longer.
She quickly found the sweater among the freshly dried clothes, pulled it over her T-shirt, and returned to the hallway.
Someone was already waiting for her.
Herta.
Arms crossed. The expression of someone carrying far too many important questions.
“Don’t.”
Her younger sister smirked.
“So... where are we rushing off to today?”
Hana glanced at her watch.
“Herta.”
“What?”
She tilted her head dramatically.
“Your serial killers aren’t going anywhere if you give your sister ten seconds.”
Hana sighed.
“I don’t chase serial killers.”
“Not yet.”
A brief silence.
Herta stepped closer.
“Hug me first. Then you can leave.”
For a moment, Hana simply looked at her.
Then she pulled her into a quick embrace.
“Happy?”
“Much.”
Hana chuckled, slipped on her shoes, and checked her pockets.
Phone.
Keys.
Student ID.
Everything was there.
She stepped outside.
The driveway was empty.
“The timing couldn’t be worse...”
She had just reached for her phone when someone called her name.
“Hana!”
She turned.
The family car was parked on the opposite side of the building.
Her father rolled down the window.
“If you keep looking this slowly, you’ll actually be late.”
Laughing, Hana hurried over and climbed inside.
Warm air wrapped around her.
So did the comforting smell of fresh coffee.
Her mother handed her a paper cup.
“Caramel latte.”
Hana smiled.
“I seriously love you guys.”
The car pulled away.? ?
Cologne drifted past outside the windows.
Rain-darkened streets.
Trams rattling through the city.
Old brick buildings.
People walking with steaming coffee cups in their hands.
November always seemed to slow everything down.
Hana rested her head against the window.
For the first time in weeks, she felt completely at peace.
As though everything in her life was unfolding exactly as it should.
Today was important.
Yet somehow...
It still felt like an ordinary day.
“Have a wonderful day, sweetheart.”
Hana leaned over to hug her mother.
“Thanks. Love you.”
She stepped out of the car.
The university building towered before her.
Only then did she feel the slightest knot tighten in her stomach.
Not fear.
Anticipation.
Maya was already waiting near the entrance.
She spotted Hana immediately.
“Have you seen the time?”
Hana looked at her watch.
Three minutes.
She smiled.
“Technically, I’m still not late.”
Maya shook her head.
“You’re impossible.”
“No.”
“Just optimistic.”
Together they walked inside.
The building smelled of coffee, paper, and warm radiators.
Outside, it was November.
Inside, life carried on as usual.
Students hurried upstairs.
Others crammed for class.
A few looked as though they hadn’t slept in days.
As they approached the lecture hall, raised voices echoed through the corridor before they even reached the door.
“I’m telling you—it was him.”
“You just enjoy accusing people.”
Hana smiled.
Some things never changed.
They stepped inside.
One glance around the room was enough.
Everyone was already wide awake.
Most of the class had already arrived.
Jan was standing near the whiteboard, arguing with far more passion than the situation seemed to deserve.
Across from him, Heini wore the expression of a man who already regretted getting involved in the conversation.
Jasmin was asleep.
Jasper was asleep too.
Jens was sleeping so professionally that he looked like part of the furniture.
Hana placed her bag beside her desk.
“Morning.”
Jan turned around immediately.
“Oh, perfect. We need a judge.”
Every head in the room turned toward the newcomers.
Hana took her seat.
“What happened this time?”
Jan pointed dramatically at Heini.
“He refuses to accept the obvious.”
Heini rolled his eyes.
“Because it isn’t obvious.”
“The killer is Reinhold.”
“You haven’t even finished reading the case file.”
Jan looked at Hana.
“Well? Tell him.”
Hana slipped off her coat.
“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Then just guess.”
She shrugged.
“Fine. My guess is that you’re both wasting your morning.”
Maya dropped into the seat beside her.
“I agree.”
Jan looked at her as though she’d personally betrayed him.
“Nobody appreciates me around here.”
Heini let out a tired sigh.
“He’s spent the last hour trying to prove the suspect is guilty.”
“Because he is.”
“Based on what?”
“I have a feeling.”
Maya raised an eyebrow.
“That’s not evidence.”
“For great minds, it is.”
A loud thud echoed from the back of the room.
Everyone turned.
Jasmin had woken up and nearly fallen off her chair.
She blinked, slowly looked around the classroom, remained silent for a few seconds, then asked in a sleepy voice,
“Did somebody say murder?”
Silence.
Then laughter spread through the room.
Jasmin nodded to herself.
“Perfect.”
She rested her head on the desk again and was asleep within seconds.
The classroom door opened.
Conversations faded almost instantly.
The rector walked inside.
Mr. Zimmerman.
He wasn’t a particularly strict man.
Yet somehow, his presence alone made everyone instinctively sit up straighter.
He placed a folder on the desk, looked around the room, and smiled.
“Good morning.”
The students answered almost in unison.
Before anyone had the chance to start talking again, the door opened once more.
A man in a police uniform entered the classroom.
A black folder.
A calm, focused gaze.
The expression of someone who had no patience for wasting time.
The room fell completely silent.
The rector stepped aside.
“We have a slight change of plans today.”
He looked at the students.
“I’d like you to meet Chief Inspector Heinrich Lenz.”
The officer gave a short nod.
He didn’t smile.
Oddly enough, that alone was enough to make the entire room straighten in their seats.
He opened the folder.
“Good morning.”
For several long seconds, he simply studied the class.
Then he began.
“The Major Crimes Division is forming a new investigative task force.”
Silence settled over the room.
Someone stopped taking notes.
Someone else forgot to breathe.
“Some of you were observed during your practical training.”
Hana turned away from the window.
Lenz continued.
“As a result, several students have been selected to receive an invitation.”
He lowered his eyes to the list.
He read the first name.
Then the second.
Then the third.
When Hana heard her own name, she was certain she’d imagined it.
She turned toward Maya.
Beside her, Maya had frozen as well.
The list came to an end.
No one spoke.
It was as though the room hadn’t quite caught up with what had just happened.
Jan was the first to break the silence.
“Wait...”
He swallowed.
“Are you saying...”
He hesitated.
“...that we’re actually being recruited to work on real investigations?”
Lenz met his eyes without hesitation.
“Yes.”
And in that single moment, the room came alive.
For a few moments, the classroom seemed to exist in two different realities.
Half the students were already imagining themselves solving murder cases.
The other half still couldn’t believe any of this was real.
Jan was the first to stand.
“Seriously?”
Chief Inspector Lenz looked at him for several seconds.
Then answered with complete composure.
“No. We came here to conduct a social experiment.”
Silence.
Jan slowly sat back down.
A few quiet laughs broke the tension.
Lenz closed the folder.
“Yes,” he said evenly. “This is real.”
He clasped his hands behind his back.
“But before anyone starts imagining themselves as the stars of a crime drama...”
His eyes swept across the classroom.
“Let me make one thing perfectly clear.”
His voice never changed.
Yet somehow, the room grew even quieter.
“This job isn’t about brilliant theories.”
A pause.
“It isn’t about flashes of inspiration.”
Another pause.
“And it certainly isn’t about discussing psychological profiles over coffee.”
Several smiles disappeared.
“It’s sleepless nights.”
“Mistakes.”
“And people you can never bring back.”
No one was smiling anymore.
“If anyone wishes to withdraw,” Lenz continued calmly, “this is the moment to do it.”
Silence stretched across the room.
No one moved.
He gave a small nod, as though that was exactly the response he had expected.
He opened the folder once more.
His eyes moved across the documents.
Then he looked up.
“Last night, a young woman was murdered.”
The words were delivered so simply that, for a heartbeat, nobody reacted.
Then the atmosphere changed.
The air itself seemed heavier.
Hana realized her fingers had locked together without her noticing.
Lenz continued in the same calm voice.
“Her body was discovered in the city’s southeastern drainage system.”
Pens stopped moving.
Several students lowered their eyes.
For the first time, everyone understood that this was no classroom exercise.
“The victim has not yet been identified.”
Silence.
Somewhere in the room, a chair creaked softly.
A chair creaked somewhere in the room.
Fritz cautiously raised his hand.
“Do you have a suspect?”
Lenz looked at him for a moment before answering.
“If we did, I wouldn’t be standing here.”
No one smiled.
“At this stage, the investigation points to a violent death,” he continued. “You’ll receive the remaining details once you arrive at the department.”
He closed the folder.
The sharp click echoed through the silent classroom.
For Hana, that ordinary sound changed everything.
Until now, this had felt like an opportunity.
Now it felt real.
The rector stepped forward.
“The selected students are expected at the police headquarters at eleven o’clock.”
He paused.
“Everyone else will continue with today’s classes.”
The room instantly erupted into conversation.
Some students congratulated those who had been chosen.
Others tried to hide their disappointment.
Several had already reached for their phones.
Jan was enthusiastically telling anyone who would listen that he’d always known he was destined for greatness.
Jasmin had somehow fallen asleep again, as though none of this concerned her.
Only Hana remained perfectly still.
Maya nudged her gently.
“Hey. You okay?”
Hana blinked.
Her eyes drifted toward the place where Chief Inspector Lenz had been standing only moments before.
“I don’t know...”
She hesitated.
“It’s just...”
She looked out the window.
The pale November sunlight.
Students crossing the campus.
The familiar university building.
A day that had seemed completely ordinary only an hour earlier.
“It feels like everything is about to change.”
Maya smiled, slung her backpack over one shoulder, and stood.
“I hope so.”
She laughed softly.
“Because I fully intend to become a legend.”
That finally made Hana smile.
She picked up her bag and followed Maya toward the door.
She had no way of knowing that some stories don’t begin with the first murder.
They begin the moment someone decides to step closer—
and look.
