Forget Me Not by Erica Pensini - HTML preview

The trial

The prosecuting attorney

“Ladies and gentlemen, Iris Celati is a dangerous and psychotic criminal, who killed Otto Hermes in cold blood after carefully planning his murder!”

Iris Celati confessed having poured down Otto Hermes throat mercury cyanide, which is the very substance that has been found in his dead body. Iris Celati told the police that she had defended herself from physical assault and that Otto Hermes had been forcing her to drink orange juice when they were in the lab. Does this seem like a reasonable accusation to you? Who would try to harm somebody by pouring orange juice down the person’s throat? This is outrageous! Ridiculous! Iris Celati said that the fight took place in the lab, but Otto Hermes body was found in his apartment, dressed in clothing from the 18th century! Who would dress in costume a man after killing him? Of course only a deeply deranged person who had planned the murder, and lied about the facts to…”

The door opens abruptly, cutting the attorney’s sentence in mid-air.

A police officer says, “Your honour, there is further evidence to be examined”.

Behind him come two other policemen, with a handcuffed man between them. The room is silent, then a murmur rises, first soft, then loud.

“Silence, please!”, dictates the judge, pounding his hammer.

“We found him in his apartment”, says the first policeman indicating the handcuffed man, “he was packing his belongings in great rush. We retrieved these lab books, they must belong to Iris Celati, her name is on the first page”.

The policeman displays my lab books as a trophy and brings them to the judge. The judge examines them for a moment, then asks the policeman to hand them to me.

“Do you recognize these lab books?”, he asks me

“I do”, I say

“Are they your lab books?”, he continues

“Yes”, I confirm

“Do you recognize the handcuffed man standing at the door?”, he asks

“Yes. He is Otto Hermes, and I killed him”, I say

“I believe you on the man’s identity, not on the fact you killed him”, the judge tells me with the flash of a smirk that immediately disappears

Hushed voices swarm along the room.

The first policeman speaks again.

“We found potent hallucinogens in the apartment in which Otto Hermes lives. Our colleagues from Germany called us few hours ago to inform us that this man is researched there. He is accused of drugging people with the purpose of causing them to have hallucinations. There is evidence that he uses this method to manipulate people and induce them to commit crimes of different nature while they are not lucid. So far he has always pulled it off, but his last victim has been able to prove his innocence with the help of a doctor who detected the presence of hallucinogens in the man’s brain after he had been arrested”

“Which crimes did Otto Hermes want his victims to commit?”, asks the judge

“He makes them steal scientific discoveries on his behalf, then he appropriates the discoveries as if they were his and sells the information to corporations, to government institutions even”, the policeman says

The judge arches his brows.

“How did the German policeman link the presence of hallucinogens in the blood of the man they arrested to Otto Hermes illegal activities?”, he asks

“Otto Hermes has the habit of moving from place to place. Before being in Germany he was in Italy, disguised under the name of Ricco Ermete, and there he made the mistake that gave him away as soon as the Germans started their investigations. Otto Hermes signature is unmistakable because wherever he goes he uses the same hallucinogens. In Italy he met Iryssa, the wife and partner in science of the world-famous chemist Cesare Mercurio. He befriended her and then lured her into an illicit relationship, with the purpose of stealing the chemist’s discoveries. One day Otto Hermes gave her a bottle of wine as a gift, and the woman opened it the same night she received it to drink it with her husband. The next morning the maid found Iryssa and her husband lying unconscious on the floor, and few hours later Cesare Mercurio died, killed by the potent dose of hallucinogens in the bottle. The death of Cesare Mercurio was likely a glitch, Otto Hermes intended to drug Iryssa so that she could be manipulated into subtracting confidential data from her husband. Iryssa survived her husband and when she understood what had happened she went crazy”

The judge shakes his head.

“She is currently withheld in a psychiatric hospital”, the policeman continues

“If Otto Hermes is alive, who is the man who was found dead in his apartment?”, the judge asks

“A man who had a striking resemblance with him and that he overdosed with the usual hallucinogens. Otto Hermes has gone too far with his crimes and felt his end was getting close, so he probably tried to find an easy way out by staging his own death”, the policeman speculates

“It is likely that Iris Celati was drugged too then. This would explain her apparent insanity…”, the judge says pensively, observing me as if he could ponder the truthfulness of his judgment just by looking at my face

“I wouldn’t be surprised. All hints in this direction”, the policeman replies

The judge embraces the court with a broad gaze, then pauses his eyes on me.

“There seems to be no limit to the perversity of the human mind”, he comments, shaking his head sadly

He is silent for a moment, the court waits.

“Given the new evidence, I declare Iris Celati innocent. The case against her is closed. Iris Celati is clearly a victim, not a criminal. Otto Hermes shall be retained and prosecuted for murder, illicit drug use and fraud”, the judge concludes.

The hammer of justice pounds.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

The person they’ve called Iris Celati walks away from the court. Don’t ask me if I am Iris Celati, I can’t really tell you. I simply don’t know. Am I Iris or Iryssa? Or again someone else? Is anything truly real?

I am about to leave the palace of justice, but I feel compelled to turn around one last times for reasons I cannot define. And there, on top of a stairwell, I see Cesare Mercurio…or perhaps it is Cesar Mercury I am seeing? His clothing belong to another century. He smiles at me. I make a move towards my lover’s figure, but when I blink my eyes suddenly I see somebody else walking down the stairwell. Did I imagine everything, even this? I leap up the stairs, breathless. I don’t want to lose Cesare, or Cesar or whoever that shadow was.

And I haven’t.

In a corner I find a small package, which I recognize immediately. I open it and feel my necklace and his ring in it, even before I see them. I roll them between my fingers for a while. Then I close the necklace on the back of my neck and slide the ring on my annular.

I know he’s there.

“Our love has no boundaries”, I say