"You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to", she said.

"Ok." I didn’t want to talk. Not now. But something was bugging me.

"Is Mr. Recker flying to Brussels in person?"

"Yes. He’ll be back by tomorrow evening. He’s used to it."

"But what if the police get there first?"

"What difference does it make? As long as you stay with us, you’ll be safe. Now why won’t you relax. It’s already late and tomorrow is a long day. I made an appointment for you with Dr. Kustel at ten."

"Dr. Kustel?"

"Yes, I’m afraid it’s mandatory. He’s carrying the evaluations. We want to maintain a certain level in Haupthof".

"Haupthof?"

"That’s our residence. You’ll be put there - if you pass the tests. 180 kilometers from Frankfurt. You are now at our private house. It’s a temporary arrangement, but it’s part of the procedure."

She accompanied me to the first floor. Before retreating, she said, "Don’t worry too much about tomorrow. In twenty five years, only two candidates have failed. And I didn’t need Dr. Kustel to see that they were disturbed. As for you, I can see you’re a fine man. I’m quite certain you’ll make it."

The room had a bed, a wall closet and two more furniture items. I opened the window so as to get rid of the smell of wood. Outside, the street was silent, offering nothing to soothe the emptiness of the night. I watched the parked cars and all these tiny black holes in the concrete houses. I had never seen that street before, yet it felt like I’d seen it a million times before.

I had almost forgotten why I was here. I had killed you three days before, but my perception of time was getting mixed up. My mental imprint of you was already subject to transformations. There was this image in my mind, haunting: a blue tongue hanging out of a mouth. It was huge, disproportionate, swollen. That image was an intruder, it didn’t belong to me. It belonged to a story without a name, blended with scraped memories of old movies and pointless flashes. Junk.