Kalt ist die Angst (2017)

For Claire, the bleak days finally seem to be over, as her husband returns from his six-week business trip to Ethiopia. But her happiness does not last long. That same evening, she learns that David suddenly died while sitting in his chair during a meeting. The doctor suspects an African virus; later, she is told it was an aneurysm. But that does not comfort Claire. She has been emotionally fragile for some time and can now get through the day only with the help of mood enhancers. In light of this latest blow, her doctor prescribes an even stronger tranquilizer, which she is told to take regularly. So she is not sure whether she can trust her senses when she sees her husband alive with a mistress. However, she really is only imagining it. But after much questioning, David’s boss, Peter Hagedorn, confirms that David did have a mistress. Strange things start happening in her house on the very first day after David’s death. First, the alarm goes off, though there are no signs of a break-in. Then David’s travel bag suddenly disappears, and Claire is certain she later sees a darkly dressed man in the house, who flees as soon as he realizes she has noticed him. The next day, however, the bag is back in its place. Claire suspects David’s assistant, but does not know what he could have been looking for, since nothing appears to be missing from the bag. Later, Claire discovers a balance of a quarter of a million euros in David’s bank account. She does not believe these are supposedly bonus payments; after all, David worked in development aid. Claire researches online and finds indications that the organization may be involved in land grabbing. Since David’s assistant will not tell her anything concrete either, she meets with the blogger whose website first alerted her to the issue. Her attempt to confront Peter Hagedorn about it fails, as he denies any involvement in such activities. She also distrusts the assistant, Michael, because he has suddenly been allowed to take over David’s desk. Claire cannot and does not want to imagine that David would have taken part in such dealings. Shortly before he died, he had told her that they would talk about everything together. While searching for what Hagedorn is apparently looking for too, Claire finds a memory stick containing horrifying images. The people who refused to give up their land were presumably killed there. At first, she cannot open one of the folders because it is specially protected. Claire’s phone regularly reminds her to take her medication. When it does so again, the pills that had been lying on the table beside her phone are nowhere to be found. Claire is therefore admitted to a psychiatric clinic by her doctor. After her release, Hagedorn takes an unusually keen interest in looking after her, and she distrusts him most of all. He claims he only wants to help her and clear David’s name. Hagedorn knows about the data and is determined to get it. He does not hesitate to have Claire kidnapped, but Michael just manages to stop her from “succumbing” to a staged suicide. He takes her to his home and explains that, on his last trip to Africa, David had gone to investigate rumors of a massacre. He had been the only one at the scene and had taken photographs. After they returned to Germany and David suddenly died just before an important meeting with a minister, Michael had initially withdrawn completely. He suspects Hagedorn had actively set something in motion, but cannot yet prove it. However, when Claire tries to give him the memory stick, it turns out that Michael is also working for Hagedorn. The whole kidnapping was staged simply to make her trust Michael. Fearing that Michael will not be able to obtain the memory stick, Hagedorn resorts to another tactic. He kidnaps the daughter of David’s mistress. Since Claire already knows the girl is also David’s daughter, she immediately sets out with the mother to find the child. To deprive Hagedorn of any chance to harm her or anyone else, or to put them in danger, she asks the blogger to decrypt the folder and publish the pictures and videos online. They prove that Hagedorn was responsible for the massacre. When Hagedorn calls to demand the memory stick, he admits that he killed David. Claire then shoots him in self-defense. Michael reveals his true identity once more, but this time as a special investigator for the State Criminal Police Office who was placed undercover at SANTA to expose the organization’s operations as a whole. Since his cover is still intact, he intends to continue investigating and says goodbye to Claire. The next morning, Claire wakes up relieved in her house and finds David’s mistress Sabina and her daughter asleep on the sofa.