Exactly an hour later as John assures me time and again, we stand in front of room D-302. Just like the rooms of the floor above, the hallways are spotless and uniform, barring any sense of individually or homeliness, but if my experiences from the previous rooms are anything to go by, there’s an entirely different world beyond the door.

I raise my hand to knock, when the door suddenly opens and Eva stand in front of us, clad in some sort of businesswoman outfit which she fits almost a little too well. How is it that there are so many hot women in this hotel? Where are the actually normal people like myself? Is some sort of model convention going on and nobody told me?

“Good, you’re punctual. Please come in.”
Wait, I had figured that she had heard us or some sort of surveillance system told her we were here, but did she actually only open the door because it was ‘time to do so’? Somehow I shudder at the thought of what might have happened, had we not been on time.

John and I walk in and Eva closes the door behind us. Just as expected, the interior differs vastly from the exterior, however it is a stark contrast to how Miranda lives. Where Miranda’s room could well have been from a jungle room, this place looks like a spacious and futuristic office, looking out over a huge park through the main window, which makes one entire wall.
As I let my eyes wander of the miraculous sight, I do notice something though...there’s not a single person down there. If not for the wind making the leaves rustle occasionally, I would assume the whole scenery to be a mere photography.

“I see you are admiring the view,” Eva says from behind me and I snap back to reality from my thoughts.
“Erm, yes. It must be nice having such an outlook.”
“In fact, it is a horrifying sight,” Eva states, asking us to sit down on a couch.
“A...but it is a beautiful place!”
“I would assume it would be...for those who have only been watching it from a distance. For me, on the other hand, it is a grim reminder of whom I used to be. Of what I used to be.”

The words from the device spring back to mind, ‘After the revolution of block D’. What happened to this woman and her friends? What does this little piece of Eden mean to her? For her, it most certainly is not a happy place to think about. But that begs the question...why live here then? I imagine that the residents have quite a bit of a say regarding the interior design, why does she choose to live here if it makes her feel sad?

As if she read my thoughts, Eva suddenly says, “You must be wondering, why I choose to be reminded of my time of torment like this. The answer is rather simple...so I would not forget who I am. My teacher often said something I have grown to hold dearly: Those who fail to remember their past, are ultimately fated to repeat it. It seems like a simple truth, but history shows it to be true. Time and again. Each time people forgot about what happened before or chose to ignore it, they ultimately made the same mistakes the people before them did. He tried to warn us...but we did not listen. And only by a sheer miracle, we got to walk away from the results with our lives, but little else...but then again, it’s not like we had much else before then either. But enough about me and my personal misery. I believe you have a few questions regarding the incident?”

John, who had remained remarkably silent up to now, clears his throat and explains the situation to Eva and also gives her a description he had gotten from me.

“...an attractive blonde, short girl in some sort of uniform with fishnet stockings you say?”
“Yes. We are currently looking into who she was in order to figure out who might have had a reason to kill her.”
Eva snorts and then replies, “I believe you should rather ask who didn’t have a reason to kill her, that list most certainly would have been shorter.”

It takes me a moment to realize the meaning of Eva’s words and I all but jump to my feet, “You mean you know who she is?!”
“I have only had the pleasure once. She referred to herself as ‘Ensign Mary Amethyst Sue’. She also added a bunch of other names, but I did not care to remember any of them past the first one. She considered her the greatest gift of the universe to all men of this world. She was like a poorly written fanfiction, which had somehow become flesh, lecturing everyone she crossed path with how they were living their life wrong and what, or much rather whom, they should be doing instead.”
“...wait a second, but up to now nobody seemed to know a thing about her.”
“I know. A curious thing, isn’t it? She somehow disappears from memory once she is gone from sight, leaving nothing like a bad aftertaste in your mouth, as if you had just eaten something foul.”
“...this begs the question why you, of all people, would remember her though.”

Eva nodded and I could almost hear the film projector getting started on spinning the roll, but, much to my surprise, the flashback does not start.
Instead Eva says, “Some people are better at remembering than others.”
“Is that...all you have to say?”
“I would have a great number of things to say, but one should not speak ill of the dead,” Eva states, choosing her words ever so carefully. She must be aware that she just advanced to the top of our suspects list. But there is a problem. If what she says is true, and ‘Ensign Sue’ somehow vanishes from memory upon being ‘gone from sight’...would the murderer even remember doing her in? If not, it would make our job much harder, seeing how the bad consciousness is the greatest ally us detectives have in our line of work. There’s nothing worse than a suspect who doesn’t even remember what they did.

John steps into the silence and asks, “Do you have any idea on who could have done it?”
“For all I know? She killed herself and arranged it for herself to be found in the most dramatic way somehow possible, so everything and everyone would go crazy about her.”
“That seems...rather unlikely, to be honest,” I say unable to even imagine how crazy you’d have to be. But then again, ‘crazy’ keeps getting redefined in this place, so there really is no telling what is and is not possible here.
“I have known a number of people, ranging from brilliant to completely bonkers. She is in the latter category. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s terrible for her to have died in a place where the dead come to rest, but I certainly wouldn’t put it past her to have set this all up.”

“...but how would she even do that? I have heard of people trying to commit suicide in this place, but all it ever got them was waking up in their room the next day, completely unscathed.”
“That, dear detective, is your job to figure out. I have told you all I know. Now, I suggest you be on your way. I’ll keep my ears and eyes open and keep you informed if I should find out anything.”
“...thank you Miss Eva,” John says and gets up from his sitting position.
Eva chuckles and replies, “Just ‘Eva’ will do. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been a ‘Mistress’ and even longer since I’ve been a ‘Miss’.”

We say our farewells and after leaving the room, John asks, “So...what do you make of all this?”
“In all honesty? When she claimed to have known her, I really felt that we are getting somewhere, but right now it much rather feels like we’re getting farther away.”
“Yes...most of the people here value their freedom to do as they please more than anything else. Having someone around who tells everyone what they should do...it feels like the pool of suspects did grow rather than shrink.”
I nod and add, “And that thing about ‘fading from memory’...just who...or what is this Ensign Sue?”