Lost in Blue

𝖁𝖎𝖊𝖗: Man with a Mission

The third of May came around the corner and unfortunately, not much progress had been made during the last two weeks. Due to the difficult circumstances – who would have thought that tracing the murderer of an eighty-nine year old homicide was nearly impossible – collecting evidence was more than troublesome.

This being the reason why the head of Sankt Goarshausen's police department had ordered Henning into his office.

Silently skimming over the information compiled into the file in his hands, Wolfgang knitted his brow.

"Don't you think it's strange, Dorn? We found a well-preserved corpse of a little boy, who supposedly died in the year 1928, bruised and battered, almost ninety years later in a coffin salvaged from the Rhine. Next to it, a beauty, who surprisingly emerged unscathed. To top it off, she doesn't remember anything – except a certain name and the fact that she somehow knows this boy, despite that being impossible – I highly doubt she was born in the early 20th century."

Now that Eckert summarized it so briefly, the young policeman couldn't help himself but agree with the notion how ridiculous it all sounded, once spoken aloud.

"Indeed, it sounds like a bad premise for a mystery book, written by a novice writer," Henning commented, nodding.

"Which is why I have a special task for you, Dorn," Eckert announced, a playful smile dancing around the corners of his mouth, "One only you can handle."

Dorn already dreaded what his superior was about to suggest. He had a hunch in which direction the conversation would steer and he definitely wasn't fond of it.

"Please, elaborate."

Lately, funny glances were shot at him in passing, a few chuckles here and there, and of course the quiet mumbling whenever he entered a room marked the beginning of the renowned office gossip that could torture one's every day work.

Really, only a fool wouldn't notice what had been going on behind the scenes.

"So, judging by your report, I think I'm good to assume that our Fräulein has taken quite the liking to you," Wolfgang snickered, like a schoolgirl talking about her crush.

Now matter how diplomatic and adept the policeman had expressed himself in his written report, the word of what had happened at the morgue got out - Henning blamed Schneider for it - and of course, it served as the perfect template to start rumors in the office.

Some, Melanie probably among them, romanticized the event in their head as the tragic tale of an amnesiac damsel in distress finding herself in the comfortable arms of a man of justice, who would help her out of her misery by unraveling the strange mystery of her origin, all while dismissing the fact that such a situation was unrealistic, inappropriate and rightly frowned upon.

In reality, the honest truth was that Dorn didn't entertain the idea of having a romantic relationship with a victim of a possible murder case in the slightest, no matter what some rumors accused him off. He treated the whole incident as the mental breakdown of an innocent survivor, who could not shoulder the pain of losing a loved one upon seeing their corpse.

"Ja, I guess this is what some people might think," he admitted truthfully, "I just caught the witness before she was about to collapse to the ground. Nothing more, nothing less."

Eckert laughed heartily at the young man's seriousness,

"I am aware of that, Dorn. You are not the type of man to court and seduce the fair sex during work. Do not worry about your reputation getting damaged."

The young investigator suppressed exhaling, as he preferred for his superior not to know his instant relief about this certain matter. Even though he did nothing wrong – quite the contrary, he had behaved professionally – the tension and stress of the lack of knowledge as to what would happen next had built up in his body. Only now did his muscles loose up.