There are things in life that stick with you and never let go. I’ve had my fair share of disappointments and breakthroughs, but nothing ever came close to Her Story. Although it seemed intricate at first, the web of lies and strange coincidences was slowly unravelled, and the plot holes began to surface.

I knew right from the start that this British woman called Hannah Smith was hiding something, with her magnetic presence capable of fooling and misleading even the most ethical of persons. But I wanted – correction, I needed – to discover the truth.

The truth is in there

I was going to solve this mystery with the help of a friend who granted me access to this old computer with a state of the art system – well, for 1994, at least – called LOGIC Database. It would help me to piece together all the video clips, all of her statements, all of Her Story. This database contained footage from the Homicide & Serious Crime tape archive and I could comfortably check all the statements to try and discover the truth. It was just a matter of using keywords or short sentences to pull up the corresponding video file and try to make sense of it. It was handy that I could add tags to each clip, so I didn’t forget about a single piece, a single potential clue. And I tell you, it was a mess at first, I was going nowhere fast. But if there’s one thing that I love, that is a good challenge.

Luckily, there was a Database Checker to keep track of all the clips that I already watched, so I knew how far I could be from the entire story. And there were hundreds of short clips, footage from seven different interviews, seven different days with Hannah Smith.

But first things first. She was brought in to talk about the disappearance and likely murder of Simon Smith, her husband. Obviously, everyone is innocent until caught, and I was reaching for straws as I tried to get some clues from her, something that I could use to lead me to the actual events.

Ghost in the police computer

Life hasn’t been kind to me; I have this particular loose thread haunting me since I was born, that has made me cold and rugged. But I’m no stranger to hobbies, something to keep my mind off work and trouble. I was happy to see that this police computer had a game, a little time-killer that I decided to try. It’s inspired by the board game Reversi – I reckon that it is called Mirror Game. It’s a cracked version, but hey, don’t blame me – I don’t own the computer, I’m just using it.

Oh, and these damn computers, they are going to replace human beings anytime soon. I see these machines taking over our jobs and making us, creatures made of flesh, bone and soul, expendable, I tell you. But we might as well enjoy it while we can, and I’m particularly thankful for the anti-glare filter – my eyes aren’t used to the awful reflection of these ceiling lights, which can give me a severe migraine in a heartbeat. I decided to keep the filter, as my very own reflection on the screen popping up now and then made things even harder to see.

But let’s go back to the issue at hand. Hannah, the name, if you haven’t noticed, is a palindrome. That is a word which reads the same backward as forward. I didn’t think nothing of it when I heard her say it, but later it started to spike my curiosity and turned out to be an interesting piece to this puzzle. Always look into the details, no matter how tiny they may seem at first; that is my advice to all of you, fellow detective wannabees.

And the Oscar goes to…

Hannah is a true enigma. Her range of emotions and talents, including playing guitar and singing, are way above average, and the words coming out of her mouth often confused me. I was also astounded by her distinct looks – she almost seemed like a different person from one day to the other. Her clothes, her hairdo, she was definitely easy-going and with quite a temper. That explains a lot, in fact, but it’s not the answer I was looking for.

Slowly but surely, I began to understand what happened to Simon and why… I think. Hannah is quite the ambiguous person and her story may have more to it than it seems. I scribbled down on a piece of paper all these relationships, all these events and yet I couldn’t find any closure. Two to three hours of my life spent watching these old clips, and I couldn’t tie all the knots to her story. I couldn’t understand the meaning of what initially seemed to be Morse code, but it turned out to be tap code. Why did she leave that inscrutable message? After so many hours of questioning, what could she still be hiding?

I logged off the computer with the knowledge that I knew a lot more about this case than before, but I still wasn’t sure how much of it was the truth. Maybe it was just stories that Hannah was telling the detectives, as she said herself. I have a couple of theories, some far-fetched suppositions about other people involved, but I came out with a handful of nothing. I was back where I started, and I guess that in the end, only Hannah herself knows exactly what happened to Simon.

But I don’t regret a thing. I needed this to move on and now I feel lighter. There was no closure, but I surely felt some relief in the end.

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