DANGER ZONE | Kenzou Tenma

Chapter 1: Work to do

Düsseldorf, 1995

"Mr. Mueller, you need to talk."

Officer Hermann frowned. He sat opposite to Mr. Mueller, and right next to me. His hand formed to a fist, and I could feel that his patience came to an end.

"Grinning at us won't bring you anything. If you cooperate right now, your punishment might be less terrible than expected. This is your chance."

He was a rookie policeman, passionate for his job. Sometimes, however, he was too invested in the cases. Mr. Mueller shrugged, leant back in his chair, as we sat in the small, dark interrogation room.

"I told you everything, didn't I? How I killed her? Do you want me to tell you the details again? I'll gladly do it."

As I listened to the criminal, I saw in the corner of my eye how officer Hermann slammed his fist onto the table, glaring.

"This is enough, Mr. Mueller! You know exactly what I'm asking for! Why did you do it?"

"She deserved it. She always got the attention and care of my parents. Once she had been born, I was non-existent. I was just giving her back what she deserved."

"You..." My colleague stood up with widened eyes. I tilted my head towards him. "Officer Hermann." But he didn't hear me.

"Stop grinning! How can you laugh about something so terrible? People like you are the worst in this world!"

"Officer Hermann...!"

"Just you wait, you'll get what you deserve, and then we'll see if you'll still be grinning-" I grabbed his arm.

"FINN!"

He winced and turned to me. I stood up from my chair, letting go of him. "Let's talk outside." I let him walk out first as I glanced at Mr. Mueller, who was still grinning victoriously as if he didn't know what was waiting for him.

The door to the interrogation room slammed shut. Finn stood in front of me, looking to the ground, frowning. I sighed, crossing my arms.

"You need to keep your composure, Finn."

He didn't say anything.

"I know it's hard. As you said, people like him are the worst. But we need to stay professional here, if we want answers."

"That's easy for you to say!" He squinted, pressing his lips against each other. "You have much more experience than I do." He sighed. "I'm sorry. I should have held back."

I shook my head. "It's fine. Maybe your reaction might help us, in the end." He looked at me, astonished. I walked towards the door, about to open it again. "Let me take the lead. Perhaps I can get the truth out of him."

Eventually, we gave up for the day. Not even I was able to get the information I wanted today. Finn and I walked down the hallway. It was almost six o'clock when we finished.

"Hopefully we'll be able to get the truth out of him this week", Finn said. I nodded. "We'll see. I wonder whether his crimes are related to others we're investigating currently..." He chuckled. "You can never switch off your brain, can you?" I turned at him with a wondering expression. "I can if I want to." We stopped in front of the staircase since Finn wanted to go home.

"Let me treat you this Friday to a drink, if we're able to solve the crime with Mr. Mueller."

"... A drink? Just us?" He seemed kind of flustered, nervously sliding the dark hair strands out of his face.

"Just an evening as us colleagues. You deserve it, after all the hard work you put into your job."

Another officer entered he hallway. "H, Inspector Lunge has returned."

I nodded. "Wonderful. I'll go see him, then."

Finn furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait, you're not going home? It's late already!" I walked towards the door to the next hallway, giving him one last look. "I can't. I have work to do."