Chapter 3

Restlessly, Steve paced up and down in his living room. Finally he went upstairs, threw some clothes into his duffel bag, took his car keys and was about to leave the house when there was a knock at the door. Astonished, Danny looked at Steve's duffel bag.

"Steve? What's wrong?"

"Mel is gone."

Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't she fly to Düsseldorf?"

Steve nodded.

"Yes, the flight was diverted and she was going to spend the night in Frankfurt and today she's not answering her phone. And the police found all her things in the hotel room, except Mel herself."

"You'll find Mel for sure, Steve. Did you call Mattes?"

Steve nodded.

"He's on his way to Frankfurt. Danny, I'm afraid for her.

And I'm so far away. I have to go to Germany and look for her."

"Wait Steve, maybe there's a perfectly reasonable explanation and she'll get right back to you."

"Danny, I have a really bad feeling. Something happened, I can feel it."

"Okay, let me pack a few things quickly. I'll go with you. Tani and Junior can take care of the reports."

About half an hour later, they were standing at a private airfield not far from Honolulu. A pilot friend looked out at them from the Cessna Citation X+ and greeted the two men.

"Thanks Harry."

"No problem, this way I can finally pay you back. Come on in."

Shortly thereafter, they were on their way directly to Frankfurt. Steve nervously looked at his cell phone again and again, but the call from Mattes was a long time coming.

Chris and Mattes greeted their colleague from the federal police, who met them in front of the airport guard. Together they went into the hotel and examined Mel's room, where forensics were already on their way. It looked like Mel had left it only briefly for something. The only things that were demonstrably not in the room were the hotel robe, her walker, and the key card. But where had she gone?

Markus Frings had already looked at the hallway shots.

"So far, we have been able to reconstruct the following.

Dr. Kinsella was awakened at around 2:00 a.m. by a young man in a hotel uniform and led under a pretext to the room at the end of the corridor. However, according to the reservation system, this room was not assigned due to a technical defect. The hotel manager confirmed that the man on the video is not an employee of the hotel, and after asking him, one of the service staff is missing a uniform. We were in the room shortly before you arrived. It's completely empty. Forensics is already in there as well."

"So what do the records show after Mel entered the room? If the room is empty, people must have come out somehow."

"That's the ominous thing about it, neither after Dr. Kinsella entered the room nor before she was lured there did anyone go in or out of the room."

"How can that be?"

"According to this, either there must be another access point or the video has been tampered with."

"But then why didn't they cut Mel out on the way to the room, too? It doesn't add up."

"When will the colleagues there be ready? I'd like to take a look at the room."

Restlessly, Mattes and Chris stood around in the hotel corridor. The forensics team was still in the room. Finally, they opened the door and a colleague from forensics joined them.

"Detective Chief Inspector Peters?"

Mattes nodded and introduced his colleague, then asked, "Do you have anything for us yet?"

The forensic scientist swayed his head back and forth.

"So far we have different traces of blood, which according to the rapid test are from three different people. Two male, the other female. Some hair, but unfortunately hardly any fingerprints. Is everything going to the lab now, as soon as the results are in, I will inform you accordingly. If you want you can go in now."

Mattes nodded and thanked him. Then he and Chris entered the hotel room into which Mel had been lured.

"Okay, there's still the question of how people got in and out of here unseen."

Chris looked around as well.

"So a second door is already not there."

He opened the bathroom door; this, too, was a bathroom that had been built especially for this room. Mattes, meanwhile, went further into the room. Then he noticed a sticker on one of the windows. It said 'Emergency exit'. Mattes stepped closer and examined the window and sure enough, it could be opened with a small hidden lever and then pushed open. Under the window the carpet was slightly damp. Mattes hung out of the window and looked up and down. Far above, he spotted something. He quickly ran into the hallway where the forensic colleagues were just saying goodbye.

"Excuse me, could I ask you to go up to the roof to the crane? I think that's what got our kidnappers in and out of the room. And maybe the lever on the window in the room has another lead for us?"

The forensic scientist looked at Mattes.

"Which lever on the window?"

"The one you're supposed to use to open the window for the fire department in an emergency, or I guess the fire department can open it from the outside?"

"Oh. I'll take a look at it."

Somewhat embarrassed, the technician stomped back into the room.

"Thank you."

After the technician had also secured the traces of the window lever, they went together to the roof. Shortly after, Chris and Mattes knew that this had definitely been the kidnappers' route. In the gondola for the window cleaners, they found the access card to Mel's hotel room. But up here their trace was lost, where had they taken Mel then? Nothing else could be found on the videos.

Indecisively, Mattes and Chris stood on the roof. Normally, a kidnapping would eventually result in a ransom demand, but who would the kidnappers report to? Steve? Mattes looked at his watch. Twelve hours had already passed since Mel's disappearance and so far they had nothing. Hopefully the leads they had secured would turn up something.