Die Tote ohne Alibi (2012)

In a taxi driving through a brightly lit city at night, a cool blonde woman pulls a few black-and-white photographs from an envelope: a man, photographed from different angles while apparently unaware he is being watched. At a nightclub, she boldly flirts with him; she speaks with an accent, he does not. He quickly hits up his buddy for some cash. Before long, the two disappear into the restroom for a blowjob. At dawn, the bartender throws out the last of the guests and finds the dead blonde in a locked stall. The Munich homicide squad, represented by Chief Inspector Lukas Laim, investigates the woman’s murder with the help of his young assistant, Tim Berners. The woman from the restroom is named Anja Grubicza. What stands out is that she was carrying a mobile EC card reader. Laim sends Berners to the forensic institute and follows the money trail to a high-end escort agency. He seems to know his way around, speaking to the women in a familiar tone. Anja worked there and also had more financially suitable clients on her books. The man from the club is visited the next day by his roughly eight-year-old daughter, who comes across as much more sensible than he does. Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Department questions witness Rüdiger Nefzer, a consultant and lawyer for a well-known pharmaceutical company and a regular client of Anja Grubicza. Later, Berners is impressed by the amount of money involved: at €600 an hour, it came to €30,000 for sex in six months! Laim asks him why he didn’t ask Nefzer that, and it becomes clear why Laim treats Berners like a young puppy and sends him to the forensic institute rather than taking him along to the agency: the young colleague is a nuisance to him, and, on top of that, he was favored by the chief. Berners’s rugged style of dress also stands out next to Laim’s relaxed elegance and the suits worn by the company executives. During interviews at the club, they learn that the man was Olli Michalski, an unemployed photographer. He is found dead in his apartment, and an “I’m sorry” on his computer’s screensaver has to serve as a suicide note. The swift investigative success is announced at a press conference, but Laim can’t really take any pleasure in it: too many things don’t add up. For example, why would Anja Grubicza have anything to do with a loser like Michalski? Berners can’t put the case out of his mind either. What was his motive for the crime? Laim is annoyed by all the questions that are never put to the right people (but to him instead) and sends his young colleague to reconstruct Michalski’s final days. At the forensic institute, it quickly becomes clear that Michalski was hanged while unconscious. So the detectives now have another murder to investigate; moreover, after his death Michalski is removed from the list of suspects in the Grubicza murder—and they are back at square one. Laim focuses on Nefzer and the men’s circle for which he often booked the high-end prostitute. The pharmaceutical company has come under scrutiny by the public prosecutor’s office over illegal cartel agreements, insider trading, and fraud, and the executives have to answer questions about it. Laim leaves Berners on the scene to collect alibis for the night of the crime. That evening, Laim still hasn’t heard from Berners. He calls him but gets only his voicemail. He praises his work and apologizes for sometimes being so curt with him. Right afterward, he receives a call saying that Berners has been found dead. Laim is devastated. He was responsible for Berners! He is certain that Nefzer is behind the murder, and it nearly drives him mad that he can’t prove a thing against him.