The man's body was like a laurel wreath on an athlete's head.

That's because his curve was so large that only a professional gymnast could achieve such a feat.

The police started chasing the neighbors away, "Please come, please go away, we're all human, don't do this!

The young policeman was caught between rage and despair, brought on by this first time in front of a dead body.

Pete sat down in the chair, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a tissue.

He let the police officers do their work, his assistant standing nearby. "Please Mika, sit in a chair, our time will come," he said politely.

The girl didn't listen to him, she kept looking at the body. All the time! So much so, that the coroner's assistant gave her a poisonous look but didn't speak, whispered though: "Idiot!"

Pete paid no attention. He had received a call from the owner of the Club, who was a friend of his. Pete still didn't know what to make of this incredible thing that had happened.

The dead man was found in the basement at dawn by the drunken manager of the place.

It was an industrial complex in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin.

The real owner was an old painter with red hair and a fierce face. She called Pete and they met at five in the morning at the Admiral's Bridge. She was wearing a hat and a long black dress... and she was... she didn't look it! The worst witch in the world.

''Pete!" she said in a husky voice. 'My mother was greedy and a bitch, she waited thirty years to marry the man she wanted, she ruined me!

With all the money she left me... everyone comes for it.

Nobody loved me and you know it, Pete! I'm a good painter.

But everyone gets blurred with money, even the one who sometimes thinks he's satisfying me! When he's completely drunk... and I've had him in charge of the club for thirty years, behind my back he curses me! Pete!

They killed that man in my house! It's bad luck, Pete!

You need to find the guy who did it, fast! ''

There, Pete learned, that, the fallen tall man, the night before, had been dressed as a woman and was attending a show, in the same place, where he was later found dead, in men's clothes. Pete was like a pin nailed to the Earth balloon. The paradox was that if you removed the insignificant pin, the balloon remained intact, but the pin disappeared into infinity.

Pete knew it well, he knew his insignificance, and he knew how to live suspended, just before he was lost to eternity.

Don't keep looking at the corpse! He whispered to Mika again.

"Oh! I'm not looking at that! I'm looking at the carpet! Shit!" she said angrily, and lunged forward, leaned over, grabbed the edge of the carpet, and lifted it violently, covering the corpse and causing the coroner and his assistant to pull back abruptly.

Surprised, they saw on the floor painted the face of a young girl, whose eyes were covered by the hairy hands of an animal!

The bear could have been, or a gorilla!

The head of the investigation, Felix, unbuttoned his coat and knelt down, touched the paint with his finger, and without saying anything he rose slowly and went up the stairs. After a moment he appeared with the manager. ''Was that here on the floor before?" He screamed and stuck his finger like a revolver in the guy's ear.

He didn't seem scared... "No" he replied calmly,

"There was no carpet, not the body, not you!

I can go home because I have two children to look after!

He turned and left without waiting for an answer.Mika returned home late in the afternoon.

Her father was still wearing his suit and invited her to sit next to him on the sofa.

Her face was pale and her freckles looked like the last small flames in the dying fireplace. Her mother brought her a hot cup of tea and laid it beside the dresser.

No one spoke, they read the anger on her face and waited for her to start talking.

Mika clasped her hands around her stomach. "No one can prepare you for what you will feel when you see a corpse.''

She said angrily, "Everything that movies show and writers says is bullshit! it's so low level! which I'm almost ashamed of, a dead body you see is always a death of a part of you, one day you'll know exactly whose...''

She got up, and went to her room, she carefully carried and laid out her dress full of flowers. "Oh! Mom, I can't keep these clothes on anymore, I'm like a spot in the snow!" she said and looked at her mother's surprised face.

"I don't understand what you are saying, sweetheart, but can we go and get some new clothes if you want, can we go on Saturday?

''Yes, sorry,'' Mika muttered and headed towards the corridor that led to her room.

Pete's body was so short that once in London a taxi driver parked in the square saw the back door of the car open by itself, got scared, and shook himself out, when he came back, Pete was sitting there waiting for him casually.

At ten o'clock sharp Mika was downstairs in his house. She was wearing jeans and a thick leather jacket, much larger than her own size.

Her father had been looking for it for hours and when he found it, he was almost in tears:

"Once, I had a bike that fit!" He patted it, and helped her put it on, "Better than a boy?" Mika asked him and winked!

''Much better! Her dad lowered her head and stroked her red hair.

"Shall we go there to the cafe across the street?" asked Pete.

"Yes." They walked on in silence. After they ordered, Pete looked at her.

"You're smart!" He said, in his thin voice. "Thank you, Mr. Pete," Mika replied quietly.

"What thesis are you writing?" She asked.

"About the author James Elroy, he writes crime novels.

"I've never heard of him! "Pete looked at his phone.

"We're going to a painter I know to tell us about this portrait on the floor."

"Yeah, it's weird! "Mr. Pitt, how long have you been a detective?" Mika asked. "I'm a tailor, sweetheart, I'm sick of people! But I have to do this now, I have an obligation, what do you think of the case?

"Oh! Yes, I think you are very kind, I think his posture is not something a man with such a body type could do on his own!

''You're right! Let's wait to find out exactly what he died of... Let's go...

CHAPTER TWO

The painter was waiting for them. Mika recognized him, he was very well known and his works were worth, as much as ten lifetimes of a worker's savings.

"Lou! This is my assistant Mika! Mika, excuse me, look in the back of my pants, do I have anything?

"It's a piece of gum," said Mika and pulled it out. Lou led them into the back.

The space was huge so they sat close to each other.

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Pete showed him the pictures. Painter concentrated on them.

Mika was curious about him.

He had dirty fingernails and was barefoot, his face was so serious, it depressed you. Several minutes later, when he spoke, gently nudging his jaw, Mika thought he had awakened from a dream.

His voice, reminded her of old books and natives in a jungle, just what he was drawing. Strange creatures with a spirituality of an unknown world.

She realized that the man had an attraction to her. It's a bit like his paintings, she thought, they grip you, but you're afraid, you don't know what, but you just want to go.

"I must see it in person," said the painter, "his subject, I've never seen it before, he's good. "I think it's a woman!" cried Mika. They both looked at her.

"Why do you say that?" Pete looked annoyed by her interference.

"I don't know, but I know, she's a woman, she has a partnership, the little girl, the way she accepts the winking, we don't feel threatened by the animal.

"Yes!" Pete turned to the painter.

He stood up and put the pictures on a board with magnets.

"Let me think about it for a moment," he said, "not many people paint like that.

They got up and went to the door.

"Can Mika come over one morning to go with you and have a look at the painting?" said Pete.

"Yes, let her come the day after tomorrow, in the morning, if possible around seven o'clock. That would suit me.

"Okay", Mika opened the front door, they got out and pulled up to the tram stop.

As it seemed the dead man had strength. Nowhere was it in the news.

Her father, a former journalist, called a friend. He hung up the phone with a look of astonishment on his face, which the two women agreed they'd never seen before.

"He's the son of a banker from the Burescon family!

"I think you need a drink," said the woman and stood up.

"Dad, what's wrong?" Now it was Mika's turn to show her surprise.

She spat a rotting hazelnut in her palm, wiped her mouth with her pajama top, and put her feet up on the couch.

"My friend said they knew all about it, but no one dares to write about it!

I don't remember that ever happening in my day.''

"Yes, but he told you something else, didn't he?" Her mother handed him a whisky and sat down beside him.

"He told me the investigation was closed, that he died of a heart attack.

"What! No way!" Mika jumped up, spun around the couch, and turned on her cell phone.

"It's late, darling, it's past eleven!" her mother stressed the syllables in a deterrent tone, but Mika was already on the phone.

"Mr. Pitt, it's Mika, have you heard the news? ..... yes...you're a family of journalists....thanks...am I going to Ludwig tomorrow?... I think I should...my opinion is...I'll be ashamed...no I mean...it's too big a lie...yes...see you tomorrow.â

"Did she know?" Her father looked at her, curious to know.

"Yes, she knew, she spoke to the police detective.

"Who is Ludwig?" asked her mother.

"A painter who will tell us about what was found under the man's body." Mika was about to cry.

"Calm down so we can talk," said her father.

"I'm calm, I just hate all this interference, how the hell do they do this? Somebody killed him! It's not fair! It's terribly cynical and... insulting to all of us!

Her Mother hugged her, "What are you saying, Roth, we can hear you." she said, and Mika wiped her eyes.

Did the clock strike? Mika let out a scream, grabbed a skirt, and put it on over her pajamas, put on the first jacket she could find, old trainers, and grabbed a bag with a zebra. She got on her bike, she felt the tension in her body as she pedaled as if it were a matter of life and death. When he got outside the painter's house the clock said 7.30. She rang the bell, cursing with every second breath she took.

A short woman, with fat calves and fresh baby-like cheeks, was looking at her from the open doorway; "Very clever!" thought Mika as she was confused about what she wanted to say, but the painter, pushing the bike, appeared in the hallway.

In half an hour they arrived. Pete was waiting for them at the door. He was eating ice cream and looked like a school figure in front of the tall wooden door. They didn't talk about yesterday's phone call, since the painter didn't know anything.

Before they entered, from the street corner the owner ran and literally ran into Ludwig, hugging him.

"But it's not possible! Lou, my love, how many years? How much I remember you and I cry! You sat on the floor and saw me painting! How far ahead did you go? Oh, come and see, I have a job I don't know, I really don't know what it's like.

Come and see it!

They went down the stairs, the place had been cleaned, and there was mold on the walls, but no one cared about the dampness, only Mika went left into a small grave-like space, put her palm against the wall, and dragged it down.

She let out a scream and stood still with her eyes rolled and her open palm thrust forward. Blood dripped from her fingers.

Pete picked her up and made her sit in a wicker chair.

"Is that blood? Oh, my God! That's blood!" The owner looked from one to the other.

Felix appeared on the stairs. The policeman had no appetite and was in a bad mood. He had a good relationship with Pete, even though he thought he was strange.

"Felix, can our friend get that figure off the floor?" said Pete for the first time in a loud and determined voice, but he didn't stop there.

"Felix, come here with me, here, turn left, touch your palm like this and slowly go down, good, what is this?

The policeman smelled it. "What the hell is going on here?" he whispered...

"What's happening is happening, Felix! and no one can tell us it's not happening!

Pete was angry, took out a small device, and sucked in a deep dose of oxygen.

"I'm so tired of people!" he said and climbed the stairs.

They all met outside the shop. The Berlin sky was like a dark face, like the rotting teeth of an athlete who is aging prematurely, even though he is only thirty years old. Ludwig was in no mood for conversation, he held the role of sandpaper with the dust and cola he had scratched into his hand.

''Pete we'll talk about this thing'' he pointed to the portrait, picked up the bike, and rode off, leaving the owner stunned, who was rubbing her chest in embarrassment.

Mika was in the mood for ice cream, she finally got a cheesecake, it seemed expensive, but she looked at herself in a window and said:'' No misery Mika!" she bared her teeth and grimaced. She sat down on the street. She felt alone, so alone that she hid her face in her hands, spread her legs, and pressed her back until her forehead touched the concrete.

On the wall, sliding, sticky, there were grains of sand, a small hole, framed with grains of sand, and an ant with red claws was piercing the abdomen of a bee.

A thick liquid drifted them towards the tip of her nose, she blew but they didn't move, the liquid was like glue, and the ant was stuck and making desperate attempts to escape.

The bee was dead but it had certainly had its revenge.

"Oh my God!" she shook herself upwards, grabbed the bike, and rode back to where she was before, to BRUT, to the shop with dried olives on the sidewalk and a clown figure on the wall.

Mika went inside, the place was still dark, and a waitress was sweeping, she knew her. "Good morning Ulrich," she said, she raised her palm along with a grim look and continued sweeping.

On the left was the entrance to the basement, there was the police ribbon, she picked it up and went down the stairs.

A man was smoking in the background, she stopped behind the back of someone standing.

"What do you want?" a young voice asked her. "I forgot something from before," Mika said and leaned down to look at his face. It was a young dark-haired man with scars on his face. "Officer, she wants to come in," he said loudly.

Felix didn't even turn around. "Mr. Felix, Mika is Pete's assistant.

She passed the young man, who didn't stop her but followed her bored.

"What are you doing here again?" Felix stood in the light. Inside the small room, two men in white uniforms and masks were examining the wall, which was dripping blood instead of moisture.

Mika saw on the floor the square shape left by the portrait, it had a sticky substance, still wet.

''May I speak freely?", Mika was calm.

"Yes," Felix replied without looking at her.

"I think the whole thing is connected, it's an Installation.

"What does that mean?" the man looked like he wanted to sleep.

"What it means is, some artist put up the wall with the blood and the photograph on the floor, and the body was added afterward.

Now Felix took a good look at her, he walked past her and up the stairs, in a moment he came down with the manager.

"I asked you if the photograph was here on the floor and you said no! If you say one more untruth I'll take you straight to the cell, talk!

The man was this time more humble and a little scared, but with an arrogant look, he said: "Maybe it was a piece of Installation, I can't know everything!

There are thirty painters in the shop. ''

"Here, who was it?" Felix brought his face close to his own.

"A director, he played a film and a painter in the rest of the room.

"Get them on the phone and get them over here now!

The guy smiled sarcastically but said nothing, walked up the stairs, and disappeared.

Mika waited for about an hour, but no one showed up.

When she left, Felix was still at the bar drinking beer.

Out on the street, the young police assistant caught up with her. "I'm Rudolph, can we talk?" he asked politely, but defiantly at the same time.

He was Mika's age and looked more like an anarchist than a cop.

They sat further up the canal. "I'm listening, Rudolph, tell me what you want. "She was aggressive and she didn't like it, but that's how she felt at the moment, a feeling of futility and human vulgarity had taken hold of her.

She had certainly been influenced by the owner of BRUT, she had seen before how he treated women, she had heard things about him, and she no longer went to this supposedly alternative, exhibitionist place.

"Will you talk?

The young man handed her a small note. "Take it, it might interest you," he told her.

Mika took it and opened it, it had a capital 'T' and nothing else.

"Where did you get this?" she asked him.

"Somewhere in the basement.

"Why are you giving it to me?

"Because the policeman has been ordered to close the case and everything he does is just a formality," he breathed deeply and threw a stone into the water.

''Isn't that the best thing ever?'' he asked smiling wryly.

''It's a shame!'' said Mika and stood up. ''Let's go, I'm tired.''

They stood up and walked alongside the water that stood still as if frozen.

''If I hear anything else I'll call you, do you want to give me your phone number?

Mika handed it to him.''Thanks, you're all right!" she said and left him alone on the bank of the canal.