CUI BONO?
“Please pay attention to Lena’s dress in the next Instagram pictures,” Yasira says as she clicks through a dozen or so photos of Lena in a flowered dress during the presentation.
“Do you notice anything?”
“It’s the torn dress from the video,” says Timo.
“Correct,” says Yasira. “But the thing is, Michael and I found this dress in Lena’s wardrobe. Without the slightest tear, of course.”
She gives her team a moment to process this information.
“It immediately struck me as odd, but I just couldn’t fit it in. And then, in all the madness . . .” Yasira sighs, “I simply forgot about it. Didn’t think of it again.”
“She could have the same dress twice,” says Michael. “That’s the simplest explanation.”
“Yes, she could,” Yasira admits. “But, my goodness, Lena was . . .” She pauses briefly, “Lena is a teenager and not Hitchcock!”
“Hitchcock?” asks Timo.
“They say that Hitchcock had the same suit in his closet seven times,” says Michael, who caught the reference. “So he didn’t have to waste time deciding what to wear in the morning.”
“What does her father say about it?” Timo wants to know.
“I called him earlier,” Yasira reports. “He remembers the flowered dress, but he doesn’t know if Lena might have bought it twice.
Since her mother died, Lena has been buying her own clothes.
” Yasira looks around. “But Lena is a sixteen-year-old girl! I didn’t have double clothes at that age.
I still don’t have any duplicate dresses. Do you?”
Jenny and Katja Grebe shake their heads. Katja Jürgens, however, says: “Sorry, I have duplicate dresses. I’m always happy when I find something that looks good on me and fits.”
“Exactly! It’s just an indication,” insists Michael. “Lena could also have had two of the same dress.”
“Maybe she had it in two different sizes,” says Katja Grebe. “I mean, she could have outgrown one, but liked it so much that she bought it again in a larger size.”
“As you know, life has taught me to be open to unusual explanations,” begins Karsten Seiler, probably thinking of the supposed serial killer who turned out to be a cotton swab packer.
“But let’s assume Yasira is right . . . What about Snoopy then?
Did Snoopy not exist either? Then who was shot in the head with the MP5? ”
A question that Yasira has also been pondering.
“Was it some poor bastard,” Karsten continues, “whose appearance was used as a model for one of the rapists without his knowledge? And Bear or whoever tracked down this model based on clues. And when he shot him, Snoopy didn’t even know what it was about?”
“Possibly . . .” says Yasira. “We never found a body. We don’t know who was really shot. Who’s to say it wasn’t like with Tesfaye Yemane? Someone was executed just because he had the wrong skin color.”
“But . . .”
“Or . . .” a new thought strikes Yasira, “who’s to say that the execution video isn’t also fake?”
“I don’t know,” Timo doubts. “Are you going to claim that every video isn’t real? What about Red Fox? You were there at the arrest yourself.”
“Exactly! We caught that idiot straight away! But why not the first killer? Huh? Think about it,” says Yasira. “Can you name another case where we put so much effort into finding out so little? Timo, what does your current statistic say?”
“In the last seven days, a total of two hundred and fifty-three police officers across Germany have followed up four hundred and thirty-two tips from the public,” reports Timo.
“And the result is: Nothing! Nada! Niente!” says Yasira.
“We have turned the entire country upside down. We haven’t found a trace of any of the rapists.
How likely do you think it is that a self-proclaimed avenger, an obviously intelligence-limited musclehead like Bear, succeeds where Germany’s entire police and intelligence apparatus fails? ”
“So that would mean Bear himself is behind the videos?” asks Timo skeptically.
“Could be. He’s certainly the one who benefits most from it.”
“Cui bono?” asks Jenny. “Who benefits? Seriously? You do realize that con artists use this very question to lure their victims into the swamp of conspiracy theories?”
“Come on, give me a break. We always ask ourselves that question when we’re looking for a motive.”
“Okay,” says Katja Jürgens. “Let’s assume that someone wants to cause social unrest. They stir up right-wing resentment and hope that the whole system will tilt to the right.”
“I think that’s the most likely motive if the video is fake,” confirms Yasira.
“But since we’re already thinking outside the box, maybe we should take it even further,” Timo interjects, running his hand through his short stubbly hair. “There could be other motives. What if Lena’s real killer created the video to divert attention from himself?”
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 Schoffler. 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.”
Her boss nods. “But do it discreetly. If you’re wrong, we will be ridiculed.”
Yasira nods. “Of course. But . . .”
“But what?”
“What if I’m right?”
“Then,” says Timo, “we are going to have to buckle up. We’ll be inundated with these fakes.”
Steven Gebhardt looks at his watch and stands up.
“Just keep your eyes open,” he says. “In all directions. It’s still just a theory.
And even if Chief Inspector Saad has found a hot lead here, the best proof that the video is fake would be a living Lena telling us what really happened. So find the girl!”
With these words, everyone disappears back into their offices. Only Michael and Jenny remain in the meeting room. Jenny gets up and approaches Yasira.
“There’s something else,” she says, looking troubled. From the look on her face, Yasira thinks she can guess what it’s about. It’s not another video. It’s worse.