A short girl, whose dark auburn hair was blowing in the wind, was marching confidently down the sidewalk of a busy street, where cars passed one after another like roller coaster wagons. At one point she looked around the area, then turned her steps into another street. She continued walking for a short while, and when she finally reached her destination, she paused to get a better look at the building in front of her.
'So this is the university in Dusseldorf...'
Emiko decided to start searching for Rudi Gillen from the place where he met and studied with her brother - that is, from the University in Dusseldorf. After quitting her part-time job and checking out of the hostel in Frankfurt, she went on another trip with her luggage. She hoped she would find out something interesting, but before that could happen, she needed to find someone she needed help from.
She stared at the college building for a long moment, then turned her steps inside the building to look for a place where she could find the information she needed. First, Emiko decided to visit the secretary's office and learn something about the graduates.
'All in all, I could say that I'm the younger sister of a graduate who knew Rudy Gillen, and that she is busy with her family and she only gave me information about her university, because she lost contact with him...' Walking, the girl slowed down a little pace and looked around the corridors where she saw a group of students. She immediately approached them.
"Hi, excuse me, how do I get to the secretariat?" They turned around and looked at her curiously.
"Go straight ahead and behind the mezzanine, turn to the left." One of the girls answered her.
"Thank you." Emiko smiled kindly at her and turned around to go on further, but something unexpected happened.
"Was it a freee~shgirl for the next year?" One of the boys chuckled meanly, making the rest of the group struggle to refrain from laughing. The young woman stopped in her mid-step and slowly turned around, taking on the sweetest expression she could do.
"You aren't sooo~ amazing, darling. When I'll start studying here, you can ask me for a date, but please, do it in a more subtle way, okay?" Emiko sent another smile towards the confused boy, and then as if nothing had happened, she started walking away.
"I-I am... not gonna ask you on a date!" He exclaimed confusedly at her, but she wasn't listening to him anymore as she was focused on what to say when she will reach her destination. She quickly walked away without looking back, and disappeared behind the next corner, leaving the group of students stunned.
"Nice chick... Hey, Hans! You're all red!" Said the girl, who had shown Emiko the way a moment earlier; now bursting out laughing.
"Because she...!!"
The rest of the group burst into loud laughter that spread throughout the university. The neighborhood children were teasing Emiko in her childhood, Hiro was teasing her now... but thanks to these constant and constant struggles, she learned how to shut people's mouths in a simple and effective way - all she had to do was a playing a small role; a bit like in the movie, to show them what they least expected at the moment...
****
Emiko touched the secretariat's handle, but suddenly she stopped herself from pressing it and going inside.
'Wait... If I say that I'm the younger sister of a graduate, they may ask about her identity. Wait a minute... I have to come up with something new-' She didn't finish her thought, because someone pressed the handle on the other side and swiftly opened the door wide. Emiko came face to face with a lady in a white blouse and tied up hair.
"Good aft-"
"This is really too much!" Young Tenma didn't have time to say anything more, because the woman interrupted her in mid-word. "These students think that they can do anything, but this is not what the world is about, oh no! Oh, excuse me, move over, please." Emiko, a bit confused, moved to the side, and the woman, raising her head with a dignified movement, marched down the corridor.
'...The secretary or a professor? Because when it comes to the latter, I feel sorry for her students...' thought Emiko, staring at the empty corridor.
"How can I help you?" A woman's voice from the depths of the secretariat snapped her out of her thoughts; the door was still open and Emiko was standing right next to them. She swallowed hard and turned to the secretary sitting behind her desk.
"Oh yes, I..."
"Please come in and close the door behind you."
At that moment, however, the girl remembered with horror that she hadn't come up with any story that would allow her to get the information she wanted! Her mind turned to a huge white blur in an instant, and her throat felt dry.
'Shit!'
Hesitanting in her steps, she go inside and sat down in the chair the woman indicated, feeling her hands start to sweat and her heart slowly pick up its pace.
"Please, speak up."
Emiko looked at the woman sitting in front of her, who was staring at her in such a way as if she wanted to x-ray her. She decided to remain calm.
"Well, I..." She took a deep breath and tried to focus at all costs. She had to move on despite her situation because she had no other choice - either she would do it now or she would lose that chance entirely. After all, she couldn't just back out and get out, and then come back tomorrow or the day after tomorrow... No. It had to be dealt with now.
"To be honest, I am a journalist and I am looking for one of the university graduates. I heard that he has great authority in the field of psychology and I really care about his opinion..."
"Name?"
"His? His name is-"
"Not a graduate's. Yours."
"Ah." Emiko felt that her hands were starting to tremble. "Emilie Himmel."
"Mrs. Himmel." The woman crossed her legs and began to stare at her even more persistently and at the same time... with impatience in her eyes. "The University does not provide such information to third parties. I am sorry, but these are the rules here." Emiko felt that she was getting inexplicably hot, even though the temperature in the room wasn't high.
"I understand." She slowly stand up from her chair and headed for the exit. "I'm sorry I took your time. Goodbye." After that, the secretary's door slammed shut deafly behind her.
Emiko was marching heavily along the corridor, feeling that it was boiling inside of her with anger and helplessness.
'What is this "The University does not provide information to third parties"?! Damn! She treated me as if she wanted to get rid of me as soon as possible!' Emiko looked glumly through the window she was just passing, where she saw buildings on the other side of the street. 'Again I learned absolutely nothing...!' She stood still and looked back, frowning.
'Then, I have to take drastic measures. First I'll go to the publishing house of the daily newspaper and somehow ask them to give me a permission to look at the archives. If, however, it fails...' A dangerous flame appeared in Emiko's eyes. 'I'll go to the police. If I can't ask about my brother, I can definitely do it about a CRIMINAL psychologist, whom I have only heard about and I don't know where he is. I'll tell them a convincing story there...'
Emiko smiled under her breath and quickly left the campus, heading straight for the publisher of the daily newspaper.
****
As she had expected before, she also experienced a refusal from the publishing house. All arguments and requests to get a permission to look at the archive didn't work at all on the editor-in-chief to whom she had been referred at the entrance. Keeping the remnants of her good manners, Emiko made a polite goodbye to the man and left the building, but silently shouting words that I would better not quote here.
Determined by the previous two failures, she decided to go to the nearest police station to be over of this as soon as possible. Really.
Not even half of the day had passed, and the girl was heartily fed up with this excess of emotions and constant uncertainty. She had to know something at last... anything.
****
"Please, sit down." The policeman from behind the desk politely pointed Emiko the chair, on which she sat down without hesitation. "How can I help you?"
"My name is Emilie Himmel and I'm currently writing an article on recent unsolved murders all over Germany. However, I need to find a certain man whose help would be of great use to me. I tried to find out something about him from various sources, but I was unlucky enough to find nothing. So I thought that I would be able to learn something from here, because..." Emiko made a little pause and looked at the policeman with a smile. "...He is a criminal psychologist."
"Why right away the security services? Wasn't it better to go to the publisher of the daily newspaper?"
"Well, you see..." Emiko intertwined fingers on her lap. "I was there, but the editor-in-chief refused me; however, I'm not surprised - after all, I am an third party. Fortunately, the man I'm looking for is related to forensics science, which is why I was hoping to find out something in a place that is directly related to the topic. Could you please help me with this?" The man stared at her silently for a moment, then rested his elbows on the desk.
"What is the name of the person you're looking for?"
"Rudy Gillen."
The face of the policeman sitting in front of her showed a slight surprise.
"You mean that Rudy Gillen? An outstanding specialist in the field of criminal psychology?"
'Is he that famous?'
"Yes."
"You must have been unlucky before, really." The man smiled slightly amused. "Are you sure you were looking thoroughly before? His name is famous all over the country."
"It looks like I still have a lot to learn." Emiko calmly replied to the perceptible mockery in his voice. "However, I didn't want to disappoint my readers, so I decided to look for a reliable source." The policeman continued to stare at her from behind his desk.
"Are you aware that we do not provide this type of information? We solve criminal cases, we look for criminals and missing people... Talking to journalists is not our responsibility."
Emiko stared at the man sitting in front of her in silence, at the same time feeling that she was slowly beginning to boil from the inside with anger. However, she couldn't show it, because it would destroy her image of a calm person (at least in the present place)... But she had to do something to calm her nerves at least a bit, so she clenched a fist of one of her hands resting on her lap.
Nor could she just push forward with this conversation, as some unforeseen consequences could have arise... What if her expression revealed that she needed contact with Red Gillen on a more private matter? And what if the policeman started asking her some uncomfortable questions? It was wise to just get out of here and try to look elsewhere... Anyway, Emiko wasn't going to give up. She got up slowly from her chair.
"I'm immensely sorry that you are unable to help a person in need. I'm sorry to take your time, sir. Goodbye." She replied with perceptible contempt, then nodded and turned to the exit. Since she managed to find out at least that Rudy Gillen is known all over the country, surely there is information about him elsewhere...
"You care so much about contacting Dr. Gillen?"
Emiko stopped mid-step and was about to answer "Yes, of course!", but that would show her too much enthusiasm, and thus - the information that she needs him VERY MUCH. So she put on a calm expression, then turned slowly towards the man.
"Certainly, my article would be much more interesting."
"Oh... and you need a criminal psychologist for that?" The man smiled. "Wouldn't an ordinary policeman on duty be enough for this?" The girl took a deep breath, venting her irritation. She was fed up with these little word games enough.
"First, you end the discussion with me and now you try to continue it, sir?" She smiled slightly, assuming a mocking expression. "Since you didn't help me in the case with which I came, I don't need nothing more. It looks like I have to deal with the analysis for the article by myself."
"If you could have done this before, why did you seek help from such a great specialist?"
The young woman noticed with horror that her hands were starting to sweat with nerves. She didn't want to hear a single question or a single additional comment more, but she was bombarded by them over and over again - new and new. She wished to end this discussion as soon as possible. Suddenly, a strange glimmer in her eyes appeared.
"I wanted to diversify the article by adding information confirmed by the analysis of a criminal psychologist. However, since it is not destined to me, whatever. It just takes longer to write it. So, excuse me, goodb-"
"It's interesting." The man interrupted her, then grabbed a pen and began to write something on a piece of paper. "So you will do your own analysis?" Emiko frowned because she didn't like this pushy pulling of the topic.
"I don't understand why you are suddenly interested in this."
"Well..." The policeman got up from behind the desk and started walking towards her. "If you, as a journalist, start to speculate and come up with hundreds of theories, it could only make everything worse. You'd better get in touch with the man who works at that address." The man handed her a small scrap of paper.
Correction facility, Welheim, 46 238 Bottrop
"I don't understand?"
The policeman smiled with considerable amusement.
"You will find the person you are looking for there." Emiko stared at him in disbelief. Is he kidding...? The man, however, was looking at her as normal as possible. "Please write a good article, I will for sure read it. In which publishing house do you publish your works?"
The girl froze for a second from the daze, feeling that the time suddenly stopped, and in an instant she was swallowed up by a previously invisible black hole. Without way to escape...
The publishing house where she publishes?!
However, she quickly remembered one very important thing, and despite the current situation, she smiled kindly at the policeman in such a natural gesture as if nothing had happened.
"I'm a freelancer." She said, taking the piece of paper handed to her. "Thank you for your cooperation."
"Please don't be angry with me, I'm just doing my duty."
"Oh? Did you not mention a moment earlier that talking to journalists isn't part of these duties?"
"Exactly, but helping people yes." The policeman extended his hand towards her. "Well... Our conversation dragged on a bit. Goodbye, miss." In a dignified movement, Emiko shook his hand, and quickly left the office.
When she finally stepped out of the building into the street, she took a deep breath, then noticed that there was a fairly large eatery in front of her. At the same moment she felt her stomach rumble. So without thinking she headed straight for her door to satisfy her need.
It was true that today's events had exhausted her immensely.