Chapter 1
Philip was sitting in his office, dealing with paperwork, which he hated with a passion. After the Rebecca'scase and the whole Fishing affair, a considerable amount had piled up on his desk, and he always insisted on handling these things himself. Sabina, who knew how much he hated it, had offered several times to help, but he always politely refused. As he was sifting through the papers, he came across a strange file.
“Sabina, can you come here for a moment, please?” he called to her from his desk. Sabina came over, surprised.
“Did something happen?” she asked.
“Does the name Alfred Majer mean anything to you?”
“Hmm, yes. He was the chief investigator here. But that was a few years ago. Why?”
“I have no idea how this file ended up on my desk, but it’s one of his unsolved cases. Do you know anything more about it?”
“If you’re asking how it got to your desk, then no. And if you want to know more about the case, ask Luis. He worked with him back then.”
“Fine. Thank you.”
Philip opened the folder and started reading it. After a while, he went out to see Luis.
“Lui, can you spare a moment, please?”
Lui turned pale with fear and walked into Philip’s office, trembling.
“Y...Yes. You wanted to speak with me?”
Philip looked at him, surprised.
“Lui, are you okay? Is something wrong?”
“No, I just...” Lui finally couldn’t take it and started speaking nervously. “I’m sorry, I’m very sorry. I... it won’t happen again.”
Philip looked at him, puzzled.
“Lui? What won’t happen again? Did you bring me this folder, or what are you talking about?”
“I haven’t submitted the report from the last case to you yet. It took me a while to compile it. But I’ll bring it to you today.”
“Lui, I didn’t even notice you hadn’t given it to me. Besides, I don’t like paperwork. Is the case solved?”
“Yes.”
“Well, in that case, everything is fine. Finish it at your leisure. Is there any other reason you’re stressed?”
“I don’t know. You called me, so maybe yes.” Only then did Philip realize that Luis was afraid of him.
“No. I need your help. But before that, I’m Philip. And I have no idea why you’re using the formal ‘you’ with me,” he said in a friendly manner and extended his hand to Luis. He took it and smiled.
“Fine. Now we can start. Sabina said you worked with Majer, and I don’t know how, but a file with his old case appeared on my desk. Maybe you can help me with it.”
“It’s probably Majer’s last case, which he didn’t finish. The archivists do that sometimes. They send old, unfinished cases here.”
“I haven’t gone through it completely yet, but he was investigating a serial killer. Why did he stop? And he left the police too.”
“I’ll probably never forget that case, though I’d like to. That man psychologically manipulated his victims. At first, we thought there was a new drug on the market because it looked like suicides. In the end, we found out they did it under coercion.”
“How did you figure that out?”
“All the victims were found in a deserted cabin with a farewell letter, in which they apologized for not listening to others sometimes. Some were poisoned, others shot, slashed wrists. Always a different method, but someone had cut their leg before. Some had more scratches, others fewer, apparently depending on how long they resisted. We kept going in circles. We were always missing something, until one day Majer came to work, handed in his badge and gun, and told me to keep my hands off it. Of course, I didn’t, and I kept investigating, but I couldn’t find anything. Then one day, Majer came to my home and asked if anything had happened since. I said no. He knew I had kept investigating, so he asked if I had found anything new. When he found out I hadn’t, you could say he begged me to leave it and only continue if another murder happened. But nothing has happened since. I don’t know what it meant, or if Majer found the killer and dealt with him in his own way. He disappeared from the city, and no one heard from him again.”
“Hm... Majer must have found out who the killer is. And even if I tracked him down, I probably wouldn’t learn anything from him. Thanks, Lui.”
Philip set the file aside and finished the paperwork so he could finally have peace, until another madman who murders occupies him again. After work, he came home and took Beauty for a walk. However, he couldn’t get Majer and his last case out of his head. Of course, he had the file at home, so when he returned, he made a cup of coffee, turned on the TV, and started reading the file thoroughly. Beauty squeezed next to him on the couch and laid her furry head on his lap.
“Oh no, did you miss me?” he said to her and petted her. She purred quietly contentedly and continued lying there. It was sometime after eight when someone knocked on his door. It was Katy, his 17-year-old niece, who studied at the local high school and lived in the dorm. She was soaking wet and crying.
“Katy, what happened? Come in. Are you okay?”
Katy came in and sniffled. “We broke up.” Philip sighed.
“Come on. Upstairs you’ll find dry clothes, if you need a shower, you know where it is. I’m going to call the dorm to let them know you’re here, so they don’t issue a search for you.”
“Thank you,” she said sadly. She was a little afraid that Philip would send her back, but now she felt relieved. After a while, she returned from the shower. She had her own things at Philip’s because she sometimes visited him on weekends, so he looked at her a bit surprised when she was wearing his flannel shirt.
“Was it okay?” she asked guiltily.
“As long as you’re not wearing any of my other clothes, this is fine.”
She smiled at him. “No. Everything else is mine.”
“So what happened?” he asked her from the kitchen counter, where he was already preparing hot chocolate and dinner for her.
“He’s a jerk.”
“That’s clear. But what was the reason?”
“We argued because he never has time. There’s always something more important than me.”
“Hm... be glad I’m your uncle and not your boyfriend. You’d hate me.”
“You never have time either?”
“I have very little of it. But right now, I have as much time for you as you want.”
“Thank you. What were you doing?”
“Working. As always.”
“Oh, of course...” she sighed, took the plate with dinner and the cup of chocolate with her to the living room, where she sat down in front of the TV. Philip went right after her. On the table, he had the papers and photographs from Majer’s last case spread out. Katy picked up one of the photographs.
“Ahem, Katy, you probably shouldn’t be looking at those pictures. Sorry, I didn’t have time to put them away.”
“It’s nothing, feel free to continue working. I’m fine just not having to be in the dorm room. Can you give me a ride to school in the morning?”
“No. I excused you for tomorrow.”
“What??? My mom will kill you.”
“She won’t. I managed to call her too. She agreed.”
“Wow. How did you do that?”
“I’m just a great uncle,” he said and winked at her.
“Thank you.”
“Why are you so interested in that picture?”
“It looks strange.”
“Katy, there’s a corpse in it. What did you expect?”
“No, that’s not what I meant. Show me another one.”
“Katy...”
“Come on. Give me another one.”
Although very reluctantly, Philip handed her another photograph. Katy looked at them carefully. However, she was looking at something completely different than the victims.
“You had some letters here too. Can I have another one?”
“What are you looking for?”
“I’ll tell you when I find it.”
Philip handed her one of the letters as well. Katy placed the two photographs and the letter side by side on the table. And after a while, she nodded to herself, as if confirming that everything she was observing matched. Philip watched her impatiently, waiting for what she would say. He had no idea what she had seen.
“Look here,” she pointed to the faces of the victims. “See?”
“No. I don’t know what I’m supposed to see.”
“And you call yourself a detective? Look closly. Take a magnifying glass if it helps. Do you see what they have near their ear?” Philip stared at the photographs. And he took more.
“Do you know what that is?”
Katy brushed her hair away from her face and turned her head towards him so he could see what she had near her ear. It was a scar in the shape of a wave. Tiny and almost invisible to someone who doesn’t know to look for it.
“Members of a certain therapy group are marked with this.”
“A therapy group? You need therapy? Why didn’t you tell me anything? Why didn’t you come to me?”
“Hey, relax. I was only there once with Marcus. It’s his project. He works with his thesis supervisor, and together they lead sessions. He didn’t want me to go, but you know me... The point is, people there learn to listen to each other.”
“Okay, and why did you want one of the letters?”
“Well, besides the fact that the person in it apologizes for breaking the group’s rules, this exact symbol is on the paper. Bottom right.”
“How long has this project been running?”
“Well, as far as I know, it’s been around for a few years.”
“Katelin, you’re amazing. But I think I’ll have to talk to your ex-boyfriend.”
“But you don’t think he has anything to do with it, do you?”
“No. Not at all. Unless he’s been working on it for more than five years.”
“No, he hasn’t. He’s only been there a few months. ‘Ex-boyfriend,’ that sounds so terrible...” she said sadly and leaned against Philip. Beauty squeezed up to her and licked her hand.
“Linda, where have you been all this time?” Katy asked and started cuddling with her, which suited the big, furry fluffball nicknamed Beauty just fine.
“Philip?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think he’ll miss me?”
“I’m sure he misses you already. The problem is that we men are sometimes too rational and put our feelings aside for later.”
“Is that why you’re alone?”
“I’m alone mainly because of my work. Sometimes I get called in the middle of the night. And that’s not ideal when you have someone. Or they’d call me in the middle of a date...”
“Will you go see Marcus tomorrow about that group?”
“Yes. Should I scare him a little?”
Katy smiled.
“But not too much.”
“Hm... I’ll at least find out what he’s like.”
