Leaning into his chair, a cup of black coffee in hand, his personally written file in the other, Dorn went over the compressed information, like he did every now and then ever since he had been assigned to the case, occasionally adding a few things along the way on a separate note book.
On the 10th of April 2017, Sankt Goarshausen's police department was informed about the bruised corpse of a young boy in a coffin, salvaged from the Rhine by Dieter Kühn. Alongside the child, another victim, a woman now named Fräulein, was found, alive and unscathed.
Dorn took a few sips of his coffee and skimmed over the parts he could recite by heart.
Pathologist Melanie Schneider and doctor Eduard Arzt confirmed the child's death to be the year 1928. Covered in a resin-like liquid, the corpse is in good condition, despite having suffered from blunt force trauma (inflicted post mortem). The cause of death is considered to be drowning. Claw marks around the limbs indicate he was dragged down, instead of his corpse just being thrown into the waters.
DNA tests showed that both, the boy and the survivor, have a genetic defect, its impact unknown, but according to Schneider supposedly harmless.
Furthermore, genealogical research suggests a relation to officer Henning Dorn, a policeman of Sankt Goarshausen's police department, the boy being a possible estranged ancestor.
Reading those lines, Henning shivered, almost spilling a few droplets of his sacred coffee onto the table. He couldn't help but think about how this wasn't the only thing that tied him to the case. To calm his nerves, he took a big sip and continued.
In the beginning of July, the same strange phenomenon occurred a second time. Another person in a coffin, this time a male, was salvaged from the Rhine. The latter is now referred to as N, a reference to the Latin term nomen nominandum – meaning 'I do not know the name'.
At the moment, N and Fräulein are stationed at the Lorelei clinic under Arzt's protection, while the boy resides at the morgue.
Speaking of which, it reminded Henning that he should pay Fräulein a visit again. Ever since the concert he had distanced himself a bit, primarily for work-related reasons. He had to keep Schneider's hands off of N whenever Arzt wasn't present.
All victims share similar features (blonde curls, blue eyes) and the survivors suffer from generalized amnesia.
It seems natural to assume both cases are a series of attempted murder, putting fellow citizens with similar features at risk. As of right now it is unclear how the boy's corpse fits into the scheme.
Even releasing a picture of Fräulein to the public did not lead to new information, only few unrelated witness testimonies of citizens who believed to know her. Regardless, the only clue pointing to the perpetrator is the name 'Ruven'.
His mind trailed back to the picture hidden in the attic and the name engraved on its back. It simply could not be a coincidence. He refused to believe so, even though he still had difficulties tieing it all into a big picture.
Whether 'Ruven' is the culprit's name or just a hint of someone the victim knew has still yet to be investigated.
Slowly, the words in front of him became a blurry explosion of stars. He rubbed his eyes with his knuckles, to no avail.
The p o li c e
dep a r t ment
of San k t
Go ars ha u s e n
h ope s ...
The letters had begun to feverishly dance across the paper, leaving the font a hazy, illegible mess.
YOU ARE READING
Lost in Blue
Mystery / ThrillerOn an early Monday morning in Germany, Sankt Goarhausen's police department finds itself in a peculiar position as several policemen visit the site at the Rhine. Among them, 25-year old Henning Dorn is tasked to investigate the case of the salvage t...
