Blind ermittelt - Das Haus der Lügen (2019)

Alexander “Alex” Haller is a blind former chief inspector in Vienna who lost his sight—and consequently his job—in a bombing. Together with Berlin-born taxi driver Nikolai “Niko” Falk, he investigates his third case. This time, a chief inspector asks her former boss, Haller, to help solve a case. Dr. Lohberg, the director of an elite boarding school, has been found burned to death, and there are no witnesses. Haller is sent undercover to the school as a music teacher to investigate, because the parents’ council has forbidden the police from questioning the students. At the school, Haller meets teacher Lotta Behrbach, who helps him find his way around. Since the bombing and the death of his partner, Kara Hofmann, this is the first time he has felt anything for a woman again. That night, Haller and Falk break into the chemistry lab. According to the inventory, about 400 milliliters of the perchloric acid kept there are missing; it was used as an accelerant in the arson attack on the director. Chemistry teacher Robert Leyer is initially considered a suspect. The director was last seen with Max Holtinger, the son of the school caretaker, Rüdiger Holtinger, who has a gifted-student scholarship. Haller and Falk visit the Holtingers at their apartment in the Alterlaa residential complex. Dr. Lohberg had supported Max, and Haller offers Rüdiger Holtinger his support as well. Rüdiger is separated from Gitte, Max’s mother. Max tells her that he knows about her affair with the director. Haller spends the night with Lotta Behrbach, and in the process notices a scar. She says it came from an accident in her childhood. Behrbach also discovers a call from Inspector Laura Janda on his phone. She then looks into Haller’s true identity. Max Holtinger receives a traffic ticket: on the night of the murder, while speeding from the boarding school to his home in Alterlaa, he was caught by a speed camera. Max confesses to his father that he did what his father had lacked the courage to do. Rüdiger Holtinger subsequently confesses, but Haller does not believe him. Niko accidentally discovers that chemistry teacher Robert Leyer has gambling debts. Photos of the director with Gitte Holtinger are found on a USB stick. The chemistry teacher had blackmailed the director with the photos and had also sold exam questions to wealthy students. A titanium plate is found on the director’s collarbone. It came from a traffic accident around 25 years earlier. The director had caused the accident. One of the victims was Lotta Behrbach; her parents burned to death in the crash. She eventually confesses to murdering Dr. Lohberg.