Neben der Spur - Sag, es tut dir leid (2018)

Hamburg psychiatrist Dr. Johannes Jessen is now living apart from his wife, Nora, and wants to spend a week alone with their daughter, Charlotte. On his way to his apartment, he notices a police operation at the Port of Hamburg, where what appears to be a body pulled from the water is being recovered. When he gets home, Detective Vincent Ruiz is already waiting for him and asks for help with a double murder committed three days earlier. The suspect is Andreas Schaller, a mentally disturbed man who claims he was only trying to rescue the married couple from their burning house. Ruiz needs to know whether the man is putting on an act or is genuinely mentally ill, and asks Jessen to find out. In his conversation with Schaller, who is constantly talking to his imaginary “brother,” Jessen gets the impression that the suspect is telling the truth. Schaller describes seeing a snowman and a woman like an angel with red feet outside the house. Jessen is certain that the real killer is capable of structured thinking, which is not the case with schizophrenic Schaller. As far as the psychiatrist is concerned, that concludes his part in helping his friend Ruiz, and he lets police officer Gregor Römer drive him back to his apartment. Römer tells him more about the body found on the Elbe. It is believed to be one of the “Elbe girls,” who disappeared two years ago. Tanja Bredesen and Pia Hansen never came home after visiting a beach bar. Römer himself was part of the search team at the time. The school caretaker was initially suspected, but they could neither prove that he had committed the crime nor find the girls. In the end, they assumed the two had simply run away, an idea supported by a statement from a friend of theirs. Although his daughter is waiting at home and Jessen is looking forward to spending time with her, he cannot put the case out of his mind and returns to police headquarters. The photos of Tanja Bredesen fit Schaller’s description: she was wearing a white dress, so she must have looked like an angel, with her feet cut by glass and appearing bright red with fresh blood. Jessen believes the two cases are connected and is certain that Schaller saw the killer, whom he described as the “snowman.” Ruiz and his colleague Anna Bartholomé initially assume that the murdered couple had held the girl captive and that she escaped by jumping out of a window. Jessen sees things differently based on the evidence at the scene: he thinks Tanja Bredesen probably took refuge in the house after escaping from her abductor. The abductor followed her, killed the two witnesses, and eventually killed the girl as well. When Jessen finally heads home, his teenage daughter has meanwhile “gone off on her own.” She does not answer calls to her cell phone, and after night has fallen, Jessen asks Ruiz for help. Ruiz quickly locates Charlotte using her phone and finds her very drunk at a nightclub. His arrival really does prevent something worse from happening: two young men had already targeted Charlotte and spiked her drink with knockout drops. So that her father will not be able to reproach her, Ruiz takes Charlotte to his home and lets her sleep off the effects of the alcohol there. The next day, when her father again has no time for her because he has to work and give lectures, Charlotte packs her things and goes back to her mother. After his last lecture, Andreas Schaller’s treating psychologist, Julia Allenstein, contacts the psychiatrist. She asks Jessen to help prove her patient’s innocence. Schaller has meanwhile attempted suicide. After he recovers, he is to be released from custody, but as soon as he leaves the police building, Tanja Bredesen’s father is waiting for him. He learned from the press about the accusation against Schaller and obtained a gun, with which he shoots the man he believes to be guilty. Based on various clues, Ruiz and Jessen conclude that the second “Elbe girl” is still alive. A call from Pia Hansen to her father proves them right. She, too, has managed to escape, but she has no sense of direction and tries to describe where she is so they can save her from her pursuer. It seems to work, and every patrol car nearby is sent to her at once. Contrary to expectations, the officers do not find the girl, but they do find the dungeon where the abductor had held the girls captive all these years. Although the abductor tries to throw them off with a false trail, Jessen sees through the trick. He also concludes that the culprit must be a police officer, which would explain why they could not find the escaped Pia Hansen: the officer got there first and was able to abduct her again. After reviewing the old files, Jessen is certain that police officer Gregor Römer is the psychopath they are looking for. While Ruiz is still following the false trail and out on a call, Jessen manages to convince Anna Bartholomé of his theory, and the two go to Römer’s apartment. Without voicing their suspicions about the officer, so as not to endanger the girl, they gain entry to Römer’s home. But Römer quickly realizes that they have figured him out and shoots Bartholomé, who is wearing a bulletproof vest beneath her uniform. He then forces Jessen to kill him. The psychiatrist does so very reluctantly, but with the certainty that he is saving Pia Hansen. The girl must be taken to the hospital as quickly as possible because Römer gave her a large quantity of sleeping pills to keep her quiet.