department Sebastian Fleischer," read Chris in his mind. Now he began to have doubts. Should he really have accepted the invitation? The older one knocked and an in was the result. The door opened in front of Chris, revealing the inside. "Mr. Hartmann is here," he informed his superior. "Thank you very much. Go back to your post, I will notify you if Mr. Hartmann would like to be driven back," he grumbled. The officer nodded and disappeared around the next corner with his colleague. Chris hesitated to enter the office.

"I don't bite anymore." Sebastian tried to joke. Chris nodded and entered the office. It looked neat. Even Sebastian's desk was great. Only now did Chris see the second man who was standing in front of the square windows of the office reading a file.

"Ignore me," he said without looking at Chris. Only now did he recognize the inscription on the file. "Christian Hartmann" Chris frowned. Since when did he have a file? Sebastian pointed to a chair. Chris sat down feeling uncomfortable. Usually he sat on the other side of the desk.

"Not seen in a long time.", Sebastian began. Chris nodded.

"Very long.", He showed patience. Sebastian stroked his chin. "Five years. And eight years since ... well. You seem to have changed." He seemed to allude to Chris' goatee.

"You mean since then?" Asked Chris, although he had already understood. Sebastian fended off.

"Please don't get that wrong! I didn't want to let you sit like that at the time.", He tried to explain himself. Chris tried to change the subject quickly before he was reminded of the past even more.

"You have changed a lot too.", Chris said and pointed to Sebastian's stomach. This laughed artificially and hit it.

"I am now a family man, you have to know. I know, I shouldn't let myself go like that, but ...", now he remembered the image of his family, which was diagonally to Chris. He immediately grabbed it and put it in his drawer.

"It's okay, Sebastian, we are both grown men.", Chris replied. Sebastian nodded, caught.

"So why am I here?" Chris wanted to get to the point. Sebastian now looked at the man at the window.

"It's business. It has to do with one of your cases."he rambled. Chris was surprised.

"With one of my cases? I only represent horned husbands. Every now and then a theft or assault," he pointed out. Sebastian nodded and there was a pause. Then he decided to tackle things differently and pointed to the man at the window.

"That's ..." he was interrupted immediately.

"Chief Inspector Ben Jäger. Federal Criminal Police Office.", He introduced himself. Chris wanted to shake hands with him but couldn't get around to it.

"Where were you last Monday between 12pm and 3pm?" He got straight to the point. Another question Chris could have asked if he had stayed with the police.

"When should I have shot him?" He countered. But Jäger didn't smile.

"I didn't say I was homicide," he recalled. Chris shrugged.

"I just wanted to impress you," he stated. Jäger put the file on the table. It was actually his name, written on it in bold black letters and underlined with a red line. Below that was a case number. Chris almost felt honored to have known what it was about. He knew that Jäger wouldn't ask again, so Chris just gave him the answer.

"In the office. My partner and a client can confirm that," he replied. But Jäger didn't seem to be finished yet.

"And two days ago? Same time?" He asked further. "Another murder?" Played Chris the sober. Then came the same answer.

"Chris ...", Sebastian started again.

"You read the newspaper, don't you?" He began. Chris nodded.

"Also the ... well ... crimes?" He expressed himself flowery. Chris stared at him.

"The dead politician?" He asked, although Sebastian couldn't really mean that. "A week ago a 19-year-old was found dead in the park of the third district. Shirtless and covered with cuts." Jäger continued, who didn't seem to like Sebastian's manner. Chris nodded. Jäger was tougher than Sebastian, that was already clear to him. "I may have heard of it," he said calmly. Why did Jäger ask him about his alibi? Did he really think he was a suspect? If so, why wasn't he put on the homicide squad, but invited to see his old friend?

"The girl's name was Nadine Boglárka, doesn't mean anything to you, does it?" Jäger said a bit louder. Chris shook his head, of course. It was very important to him that Jäger did not show him a picture of her, as would normally have been the case. "The day before yesterday we found a second body. In a side street to a well-known club. The dead person was the 53-year-old Carsten Ackermann. Same cuts. Badly damaged.", Jäger sat down on the edge of Mueller's desk. Chris considered briefly how to react to this."Chris ...", Sebastian continued behind Jäger's back. This gave him some sight.

"We withheld some details from the press in order to lure the perpetrator out," he confessed. Chris now looked interested at his former friend. "I'm all ears," he replied. Jäger then also handed the reins to the head of the department.

"I and my department are involved because we found the second victim. Or we were the first at the scene. I asked Mr. Jäger not only to work on the case, but also to bring you in," he confessed. Chris couldn't follow him.

"Why me? I'm just a poor private investigator who can't even afford the heating in winter," he sounded almost blankly.

"We already said we found something on the corpses that we did not pass on to the press," said Sebastian. Chris hated that he made it so exciting.

"Numbers.", Jäger took the chance from his colleague.

"Please?", Chris thought he had misheard. No, he would have even prayed for it. But Jäger seemed to have no mercy. "The number 'Fourteen' was scratched into Nadine Boglárka's forehead. The wound was then cleaned with salt. Exactly as with victim number 2. On Carsten Ackerman's chest the number 'Thirteen' was written in handwriting Victim did not die, but from a stab in the heart. Strictly speaking, stab is not the correct expression. The perpetrator raged. He turned the knife several times so that the aorta looked like mashed beef afterwards. " To have metafers.

"Have you seen this way of killing before?" Asked Jäger without changing a face. Chris jumped up. He would have loved to take his hands now, put them around Jäger's neck and squeeze them until his eyes rolled out.

"What the hell are you thinking?" He looked at him in horror. "Chris please! Sit down again!", Sebastian begged him. Now Chris fished for the file with his name on it.

"There's nothing in it about the cases. Only about you, Hartmann." Jäger disappointed him. Chris was still unstoppable. He opened the first page and saw a report that contained his data. Sheet number 2 was the psychological report that the police school had drawn up. Sheet number 3, the psychological report after the death of his family. Chris didn't like remembering back. Anxiety, panic attacks ... And then ... yes, the police investigations into the Hartmann couple and their daughter Hannah followed. That was too much and Chris smashed the file back on the table. Where she picked up hunters. He didn't leave Chris satisfied and fished a picture out of the file. He didn't know whether it was intentional that he got hold of his little sister. Jäger held it right under his nose. The photo was of Hannah on the cold silver autopsy table.The number "22" gaped on her forehead. Chris was so upset that he snatched the photo from Hunter and turned it into confetti. Jäger didn't seem to mind. Sebastian now began to talk to the chief inspector. "He's a victim too," he appealed to Jäger's reason. He snorted.

"We'll see.", He said, got up and left the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Hartmann. We have settled down here. You are now assigned to SOKO Mephisto." Called to him before he disappeared through the office door.
Chapter 4

This world is not for living, it only exists for dreaming.
Out of respect, Sebastian hadn't spoken to his friend for the next few minutes. There was only one call for him that Chris didn't hear. When he saw the photo he was suddenly back in his house. Shadow path 7a. The front door was open and he went inside. When he found no one in the kitchen, he stepped into the living room. There he finally found what he was looking for. It was hours before he called Sebastian. This came and shortly afterwards called in the homicide squad. Chris watched Sebastian throw up outside. Chris wasn't bad. No piece. Later, during the psychological care, he was asked how he felt.

He replied: I didn't understand why my mother didn't finish cooking. In addition, we always ate the food in the kitchen. When he found his family, at first he didn't think it was Hannah and his parents. Bloody grimaces looked at him, which only stared at you on Halloween. The numbers did not escape him, of course. As he held his mother's head, the number "23" caught his eye. He hadn't given her much value then. The "24" was emblazoned on his father's forehead and the "22" on Hannah's. He would never forget this sight. Not even these numbers. And the words. The criminal police discovered her in front of Chris, because he was just crouching in the dark. The living room table had been pushed aside and the perpetrator had scribbled something on the flat bottom of the package. With blood, how could it be otherwise? His parents and Hannah sat around in a semicircle.

“The strength is weak, but the desire is great.” The letters were blurred, but could be reconstructed exactly. Chris had asked himself at the time who got the blood for it. His mother had the deepest cut, the investigators assumed at the time. "Chris.", Sebastian talked to him in a soft voice. "He's back.", He tried to put it as gently as possible. Chris shook his head. "That's eight years Sebastian. No serial killer