Leon has spent half his life trying to solve this mystery. Sometimes publishing one more article on the case, or collaborating on a new documentary, but mostly following leads in his spare time and learning about new forensic avenues.
Twenty-five years ago, a young woman checked into a five-star hotel in Berlin as Joselyn Lynton, a false name. Days later, staff found her dead in her room, in an apparent suicide. But the scene was strange enough that investigators couldn’t definitely rule out a homicide. No documents were found, all brand tags had been clipped off the woman’s clothes, and it was rather odd that the powerful pistol hadn’t flown from her hand when fired using the thumb. Joselyn was never identified.
Leon lights a cigarette and ponders how easy it is sometimes to develop the illusion of affection for someone you never actually met. Maybe when the distance to that person is insurmountable, like between life and death, such a delusion can last a lifetime...
After a lengthy legal battle, Leon finally got the green light for a familial DNA search to be carried out, in an attempt to crack the case. The first meeting with the police being tomorrow morning in Berlin, he decided to commemorate this small victory by staying overnight in the same expensive hotel where everything started so long ago.
At 2 a.m. Leon wakes up uneasily and soon realises how close he must have gotten to solving Joselyn’s mystery. Two men dressed in gray suits move around in the dark. One has just collected Leon’s wallet and is now clipping tags off his clothes. The other one screws a silencer onto a pistol. Both offer only a blank stare when Leon turns the lamp on.
The men in suits are so smooth and silent, Leon could simply turn the light back off and wait. In somewhat thrilled resignation, even: finally surmount that impossible distance and have all the answers, who knows? As the song goes, between the click of the light and the start of the dream.
(Contribuição para um desafio do Riga Language and Literature Group do Internations em Maio de 2021.)