Das dunkle Paradies (2019)

In Zell am See, the body of call girl Irene is found on the shore of Lake Zell. The first suspicion falls on Roland Teichtner, a former junkie who was also violent, has no alibi, and was probably the last person to see Irene alive. Roland lives in a boathouse with his young daughter Mia and his sister Anni, raising Mia on his own and trying to get back on his feet after several blows in life. Roland worked as a driver for Irene’s agency, Serenissima, which is run by the well-connected Beate Rottner. However, Franziska Heilmayr, the station commander in Krimml, cannot imagine Roland is a murderer, especially since she is in a relationship with his sister Anni. At Anni’s request, Heilmayr begins investigating on her own, much to the displeasure of Martin Merana, the lead detective and an old acquaintance of hers. Heilmayr is also going through a personal crisis. Her parents want grandchildren and a husband for their daughter, but Franziska initially cannot bring herself to come out to her conservative family and publicly stand by her girlfriend. Concierge Leopold “Poidl” Mitterrupfner tells Heilmayr that work was carried out in the hotel’s server room on the day of the murder. He gives her a USB stick containing footage from the hotel’s security cameras. This enables Heilmayr to win Merana over to her side. He discovers that the footage has been tampered with. The hotel director, Hans Loacker, then tells them the name of the hotel guest who checked in under the pseudonym Humphrey Bogart and was never questioned. The guest is Khaleed ibn Hamza, a businessman from Saudi Arabia whose family has international connections. Khaleed says that at the time of the murder he was in a video conference with a business partner, and that the conversation was recorded. Roland tells the investigators that he had sold drugs to Irene. She was subsequently picked up by a black BMW 7 Series. From surveillance footage, the investigators identify the car’s license plate. While Roland is in pretrial detention, he is threatened that something could happen to his daughter Mia, and he confesses. Heilmayr does not believe him at first, but Roland knows details that only the perpetrator would know. Anni suspects someone may have fed him this information. Heilmayr believes he is confessing in order to protect his daughter. Prison officer Ankerl tells her that Roland briefly had a cellmate, and she suspects he was blackmailed. Poidl gives Heilmayr a lead on another hotel guest who was never questioned. Heilmayr breaks into the Serenissima agency’s villa, where Merana recognizes an employee of the Foreign Ministry. Benoit, head of a Belgian delegation that was negotiating in Zell am See over a Deltacom pipeline project, is an acquaintance of prosecutor Bernsteiner. Benoit was absent from the negotiations in the days after Irene’s murder. Heilmayr and Merana threaten to take the information they have gathered to the press unless the case against Roland is dropped. Roland is subsequently released. Franziska proposes to Anni, and Anni accepts. The television news reports the successful conclusion of the Deltacom negotiations.