Those Who Search (Janine Liberi)
| Those Who Search (Janine Liberi) | |
|---|---|
| Date of Cutscene: | 06 December 2017 |
| Location: | Alberichstadt |
| Synopsis: | Karl Vernunft pulls an all-nighter to add another piece of evidence to his growing personal case file. |
| Cast of Characters: | Janine Liberi |
Iman Abdul Mantiq clocks in to his morning shift with a hefty yawn and a sustained mouthful of his triple-shot mocha frappe with six sugars. As the combined efforts of glucose and caffeine attempted to rev up a brain stricken with sub-par sleep, he walks past his partner's cubicle, only to realize with a start that the man is sitting there, in the same position the junior detective left him when he clocked out last night.
"Did you seriously stay up all night?!" the Iraqi exclaims as he leans over the portable wall, eliciting only a tired grunt from the German investigator. Immediately, Iman begins pressing his coffee cup against Karl's face. "Drink, man! You need this more than me!" Another grunt, and a limp hand smacking the takeout away. "Get that swill away from me. I've found something." Iman only snorts, and steals an office chair from an adjacent booth. "Found what? All our cases are cold right now. Vandalism, Christmas shoplifting..."
Karl leans back and gestures at his computer screen. Grainy black-and-white footage whizzes by, depicting a parking lot surrounded by thick trees. "Footage of the carpark for the Grune Hugel National Park. We got a hold of it for that spate of recent animal mutilations." Iman clears his throat. "I'll note that /we/ did not get this footage. Gustaf and Leonard did. You know, the guys who were assigned that case? But hey, it's not like this violates protocol, and several laws. What have you got?"
Karl barrels on, plainly ignoring Iman's concerns for perusing evidence outside his jurisdiction. "I have a nurse friend the next town over-don't you dare snort, I do mean 'friend,' you knucklehead." Iman snorts regardless. "She was telling me about some rich visitors to the hospital. Mother and two kids who got lost in Grune Hugel. They were found passed out and took a couple of weeks to wake up. Also mentioned how they got visited by an older daughter. She spoke Italian and had an arm in a sling."
In his sleep-deprived state, it takes Iman a few seconds to link the dots. "What, so Janine Liberi misses out on a nature walk, and so avoids getting lost in the woods with the rest of her family?" Karl shakes his head and gestures at the footage again. "I've been crawling through this. It goes back over a year. Not once have the Liberi ever visited Grune Hugel." The Iraqi just rolls his eyes and drains his cup. "The rich and powerful lie about whatever shady shit they were doing. That's not worth all this."
"My /friend/," Another snort. "Was talking about their test results. They were in a coma... but the amount of cortisol they had in their blood, and continued to have the whole time they were under... frankly, they're all probably going to have issues, the kids especially." Iman clears his throat. "Need I remind you that I studied religion, not medicine. What the hell is cortisol?" Karl saves everything to a USB and tosses the stick into his personal 'open case' draw, alongside the rest of his evidence on August Kohler and Janine Liberi.
"Stress hormone. Whatever happened to them messed them up bad."
