Close to Home: Murder in the Coalfield (2022) s01e02 Episode Script

[mysterious music playing]
[Martin] I want a happy life.
Like everyone in this land,
which is my home.
This land, full of water, full of swamps,
full of treasures.
They have betrayed this land.
They have plundered its heart.
- [people cheering]
- [dance music playing]
[Martin] A wild and free land.
CLOSE TO HOME - MURDER IN THE COALFIELD
[vocal music playing]
INTO THE DARK
You said I'm the only one you need ♪
And I know ♪
If you leave my heart will bleed ♪
Tell me that our loves just began ♪
And stand by my side forever ♪
One day we shall belong to the past ♪
Like a dream our lives go by so fast ♪
Promise me you'll never forget me ♪
And stay by my side ♪
I don't wanna live my life without you ♪
I feel free
And we have nothin' to hide ♪
Tonight it's so hard to breathe
Without you ♪
Oh baby
Tell me you'll stay by my side ♪
You say ♪
[breathing heavily]
[grunting]
[woman on radio] Now it's your turn.
Register at careerportal
dash lausitz dot de.
Decide now.
The cause of death
was trauma to the throat.
Probably via the leather strap
of her necklace.
So the perpetrator
didn't have a weapon on him.
Or he didn't need a weapon to do it.
Or it's not her necklace.
The soft tissue of her face is bruised.
The larynx and hyoid bone are broken.
What about the wounds on her face?
It was just as I suspected. Crows.
- Do you think she was she raped?
- That's inconclusive.
The rapid test of the vaginal swab
came back negative for semen.
Is that a yes or a no, Leyla?
Those are the facts, Maik.
It's up to you to figure it all out.
On the right, please. Regional league.
It's like a warzone.
We have a ton of foreign DNA.
Some contaminated.
We'll have to figure out a way
to analyze it completely.
- Anything that helps us?
- A dog hair.
There's quite a lot of it here.
I'll be in touch.
[sighing] Okay. Thanks.
- Oh, Leyla?
- Yeah?
Do you only work on the dead?
At the moment,
I can't get to the orthopedist.
[laughing] Okay.
[soft music playing]
[breathing deeply]
[clears throat] Good morning.
- Morning.
- Here.
17-YEAR-OLD FOUND DEAD
Yeah, her mother sold it to them.
Fifty euros for a photograph
of her little baby girl.
So? How long is going to last?
Until we've left.
Are you the boss now, or what?
- Colleague.
- We need your help.
Uh-huh. And the conference room,
my people.
- Take my apartment, my wife!
- Uwe, what's your problem?
You're one to talk, Maik. You left.
You just pissed off to homicide.
One reform after the next,
now there's only eight of us.
Eight people for 200 square kilometers
of security.
It used to be over three times
that and for half the trouble, remember?
First things first.
Tracks around the site weren't preserved,
so put it bluntly: They're crap.
What was left by the rain
was destroyed by looky-loos, tourists,
and far too many of your own men,
Mr. Voigt
Is she telling me how to do my job now?
You didn't put up enough barriers,
let alone prevent tourists from putting
their cigarettes out
all around the crime scene.
And for all that,
there were clearly too many of you.
Ramona was one of us.
We take that personally.
Should I sympathize with everyone
waltzing through the crime scene?
Explain that to Dr. Hamadi,
she's analyzing evidence day and night.
They've got a doctor.
And we're out of jobs.
- Marianne.
- Okay.
Everyone, let's just start
with the suspect, alright?
Juri Schavadenov.
He survived his fall, but he's still
in no shape to be interrogated.
He's the boyfriend,
or rather the ex-boyfriend, of the victim.
Born in Bulgaria and been in Germany
for three years.
Was in juvenile prison several times.
Allegedly sells magazine subscriptions,
but in reality it's drugs.
He does crystal, sometimes,
he does more or less, at present, more
Evidence four-point-two-point-seven,
the footprint next to the body.
A trekking shoe, men's, size eleven.
It definitely doesn't belong
to Juri Schavadenov.
We were able to secure 20,000 Euros
in cash that he had on him when he fell.
The money was likely stashed out
in the victim's garage.
And it's possible
they were fighting over it.
A seventeen-year-old with 20,000?
Where did she get it?
- Where do you think?
- Do you know?
- Why me?
- Because you knew her.
Not that recently.
The girl was going out
with an alleged drug dealer.
According to several witness statements,
she was also dealing herself.
We're making a mistake by focusing
too much on the Bulgarian.
What about the music?
What about the climate camp?
Their main character is well known to us.
He's from Poland, 19-years old.
Janosz Radomski.
Disturbing the peace, resisting arrest,
and destruction of property.
He says he doesn't know any Ramona,
but there was an altercation.
The victim wanted
to sell weed to a witness,
Radomski allegedly freaked out.
And he's shoe size is eleven.
They're climate activists, not criminals.
Are you sure?
A witness saw a homeless man
with a saxophone,
and other witnesses said that at the time
of the crime, a saxophone was heard.
He was among the onlookers on the day
of our initial investigation.
The tour guide of the F-60 has positively
identified him.
He's the old bell maker's son,
everyone knows him.
- Oliver Batko.
- Bartko.
[sighing]
Okay, thanks. That will be all.
We need his shoes and a DNA test.
Which we're not going to get,
because there's no probable cause.
No judge is going to play along,
you know that.
Then maybe he will volunteer?
- I'll take care of it.
- Good.
You go over to the school.
The principal is Adrian, Irene Adrian.
The teacher's name is Hennessen,
double-N, double-S, first name Ralph.
You can put that in your tablet.
[soft music playing]
[indistinct chattering]
[crows cawing]
[dramatic music playing]
Evidence six-point-two-point-thirteen,
Ramona wearing traditional Sorbian dress,
Thälmann School.
Excuse me? I'm looking for Ms. Adrian.
She's in biology. Just go up the stairs
to the right, and down the hall.
Thank you.
- She's in that room back there.
- Thank you.
- Ms. Adrian?
- May I help you?
My name is Annalena Gottknecht,
Cottbus state Police.
And I'd like to ask you about Ramona.
In the past,
Ramona was a very good student.
Quiet but diligent.
And more recently?
[sighing] She had an F in German,
D minus in three other subjects,
though in English she had a B.
There are 23 absences.
Unexcused.
She wasn't stupid or anything.
On the contrary.
She just had it very hard.
You mean with her mother?
Ramona always had to fend for herself.
She paid her book money in installments.
Ten Euros per month.
At some point,
we started giving her books.
She didn't come when
we went to the cinema or to theater.
She never came on class trips.
Not ever.
And when we offered to pay her fare
from the class fund, she refused.
She had to watch her brother.
Except for the theatrical production
where she played the lead role.
And she was so good.
She totally thrived.
Because, for once in her life,
she finally got to be some one other
than the daughter of Jennifer Schinschke.
You wanted to talk to me?
[sighing] Luisa, hello.
Your Mozart is coming along great.
Luisa is Ramona's best friend.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- Shall we talk over there?
- Mhm.
Thank you.
I'm not Ramona's best friend.
We just sit next to each other.
Okay. And do you know
if she had any problems lately?
Any issues with anyone, fights?
- She never talked about that.
- Then what, perhaps?
About, dudes. Fashion.
Just the usual stuff.
- Did you know her boyfriend?
- Juri?
Mhm.
Only by sight. He picked her up once.
She did her own thing.
Well, did you like her?
Sure, Yeah, I guess.
Yeah, but?
All the teachers played favorites
with her.
In English, they gave her a good grade,
even though she was never there.
- I got a D.
- When did you last see her?
Friday.
Friday on the bus.
We were going to meet on Sunday.
Three of us were supposed to work on
a presentation. About strip mining.
- But
- She didn't make it.
[sighing]
[soft music playing]
I remember how annoyed I was with her.
I was so angry.
I didn't know that she
Who's the third one?
Jackie. Briegand.
- Do you want to talk to her?
- Is she in the school orchestra?
Jackie? Nah. She's saving the planet.
[dramatic music playing]
Hey, what's up.
Do you know how to use that?
I'm still practicing.
I have to watch out
so I don't get it stuck in the trees.
The camera's incredible.
Now we can go live,
stream to the internet.
But the forest is pretty dense.
That could be kinda difficult, right?
That's why I'm still practicing.
And your old man? How are things with him?
Mmm. Stressed. My mother, too.
My grandparents spent
their whole lives in the coal,
so to them,
everything I'm doing is high treason.
My father's a banker.
He makes half a million a year,
has a private jet, and he's still crazy.
Now he sells green investments.
Because everyone's into sustainability
all of a sudden.
He can make even more money that way.
All the same.
Check it out.
Last time I took these.
We'll be coming
from several directions at once.
Okay, yeah.
One group will come from the west,
and jump straight into the open pit.
[man on radio] Climate activists
have announced demonstrations
in several regions of Brandenburg
and Saxony over the coming weeks.
The protesters, most of them young people,
are calling for an immediate phase-out
of coal energy
and adherence
to the one-and-a-half-degree target
stipulated in the Paris Climate Agreement.
The police want to prevent an escalation.
[man] That's all right, yeah,
we've got to wait for the equipment.
- [Maik] Is old Bartko here?
- [man] Just go right through there.
Bodo?
Maik? [grunting]
- Do you want some food?
- [laughing] No, thank you.
[laughing] I heard that you
were a detective in Chósebuz.
[sighing] Yeah. And you?
I thought you were retired.
[Bartko grunting]
No more bells?
No, no more bells.
- [soft music playing]
- [people cheering]
Soon no door handles, either.
There's no more work.
And you?
Longing for the good old days?
Sure, sometimes.
I always hated socialism.
[laughing]
[chuckling]
But now, where only money rules.
- I think
- I have to talk to Oliver.
[sniffing]
Because of the dead women?
He has nothing to do with her.
- Just leave him alone.
- The cot out there, is that for him?
I can't tell you where he is.
[dramatic music playing]
Okay.
If you see him, give me a call me. Please.
I'm his friend.
POLICE
- Jackie. Looking for something?
- Erm. Mom's sewing machine.
Well, I have one you can borrow.
What do you want to sew?
Something for the play at school.
Can I be of any help?
Yeah.
The victim's cellphone is a piece of junk,
I don't know if we can
get anything out of it.
Cell site data won't tell us much either,
there's too much of it.
The only thing we can say for sure is,
wherever she logged in, is where she died.
- Do you always work like that?
- What?
You know, like "first, second, third."
Our house was anarchy growing up.
It didn't work well.
Bartko senior last saw his son Oliver,
when exactly did you say?
- Last month.
- Last month when?
[sighing] Thursday the 15th.
The 15th is a Wednesday, for sure.
The 16th is a Thursday.
Where did he see Oliver?
Do you happen to know too? Approximately?
[phone vibrating]
Leyla, hey. How far are you with the DNA?
[Leyla] There's tons. At the crime scene,
on the body.
Everybody touched her at least once.
- Schavadenov?
- Our Icarus?
Nothing so far. Nothing on the body
or on any of our other evidence.
He wasn't there. How is he doing?
He'll be fine.
Doctor Hamadi, you'll be receiving
some reference material
from the girl's teacher.
His name is Ralph Hennessen,
double-N, double-S.
- [Leyla] Okay, I'll take care of it.
- [laughing]
Thank you.
Apparently, he was very generous
when he was grading Ramona.
Makes me wonder what he got in return.
Sex?
That, or [sniffing]
A girl scoring drugs for her teacher
in exchange for a good grade?
I don't believe it.
Hey, hold on a minute.
What are you doing tonight?
What am I doing tonight?
After work. Am I not speaking clearly?
Erm Well, nothing.
You wanna pick me up?
Sure. Is it a date?
You wish.
[dramatic music playing]
[mumbling] Such bullshit, I'm not going
to let them take away my kid.
It's bullshit.
Bunch of fucking bastards.
Come here.
Now you can look
through them again. There.
You'll still have to wear them
like that for a while.
You done eating?
[woman coughing]
I have to go.
[soft music playing]
Will you be okay?
[wheezing, mumbling]
[man] Marianne, will you fetch me
the file, please?
Thank you.
I don't know what's wrong with him.
Walter, please. Of course,
you know what it is.
It's not my fault that he has to deliver
advertising leaflets.
He taught me everything.
He was the best policeman I ever knew.
Walter, I need you to call
the Cottbus State Police for me.
Walter!
My dear, guess who's about to take
a vacation?
And go sailing through the Caribbean.
Stop it.
Cold buttermilk. Want some?
Ugh.
Right, of course.
No animals, not even to drink.
So, did you know her, too?
- Who do you mean? Ramona?
- Mhm.
Nah. We actually know the all
from 20 Peace.
We wrote them up so many times,
they're like brothers and sisters to us.
What violations?
Noise, theft, boozing, brawling.
Basically everything.
But you never found drugs?
Nah. Those guys are like eels,
you can't get a hold of them.
And our supercop thinks
that we have a leak somewhere.
- Maik Briegand?
- Oh, you think he's a supercop?
Well, his dad's a cop, so is his brother.
People used to give them
a real wide birth.
You became a cop yourself though.
Well, can't be a miner now. Or a vet.
I'm too dumb, too lazy to be a farmer,
so all that's left is to be a cop,
or a criminal if I want to live here.
Are you serious?
What? About being a criminal?
No, I mean about living right here.
Dead serious.
Anyway, Pötschi wants to take over
from Uwe. But that's no secret.
From Voigt?
Yeah, he's retiring next year.
That's why Pötschi's
always trying to score points.
Well, he does earn good money.
- [man] Well, no.
- [woman] And you suggested it? Really?
- [man] True, I suggested it.
- [woman] So, you deserve the credit?
[man] Yeah, before that,
it was just Sven Kopek.
He wasn't even in the same class
to be honest.
- It was a classic case of
- [woman] What was his name again?
Kopek, Sven Kopek.
And then I said: I have a suggestion.
Total underdog, in my opinion.
He wanted to open a surfing school.
But it never happened.
He was too much, that Kopek.
And then he said something
I will never forget
Why does everyone call you Junior, anyway?
You're not that young anymore.
[laughing] Well, nobody came after me.
And probably no one will.
They'll call me Junior
when I'm 60, I'm sure.
My real name is Jannik. Jannik Wolff.
So? Do you really think there's a leak?
If there is, I wouldn't know.
Fuck.
Well, did someone break in?
Anything gone?
My dumbbells.
I can fix it.
[doorbell ringing]
Come on in.
[indistinct chattering on TV]
I already heard about the dead girl.
There's another one Merkel
has to answer for.
[grunting]
Then it's easy.
Let's just go arrest Merkel.
Now the borders are open,
and what comes through them?
Crystal and asylum seekers.
We wouldn't have hesitated to arrest them
for a second back then, that's for sure,
Arrest who? Merkel? Honecker?
Gorbachev? What?
[sighing] The deadbeats at 20 Peace.
I saw Walter Schubert there.
He does security for KROMOS.
Ever heard of them?
[sighing] Walter doesn't interest me.
Ronny got him the job himself.
No one tells me anything anymore.
And no one ever asks me.
Not you,
and not your brother Ronny either.
Otherwise? You're all right?
[laughing bitterly] Nah.
I need new glasses.
But the insurance won't pay.
I'll take care of it.
[sighing]
You can sleep on the couch if you want.
Dude. That's where you're staying?
The bed is pretty narrow,
but 29 Euros is a great price.
Okay,
What you think a guy my size would fit?
That's not something you're going
to find out tonight, Junior.
I'll finish up your car
and park it outside for you, okay?
I just didn't have the right tools.
Wasn't so easy after all.
Thank you.
[soft music playing]
- Good night.
- Night.
Well then, uh, do you need some help?
[clears throat]
[man] Ronny Briegand, KROMOS
Personnel Resources and Company Limited.
Our office is closed at this time,
please leave a message.
[machine beeping]
Hey, Ron. It's me, Maik. I'm at dad's.
Please call me back, it's urgent.
[sighing]
[dramatic music playing]
[Maik] The people's policeman,
who lends us a hand.
He shows us the way, for he is our friend.
[boy] Louder, I don't hear anything!
[Maik] The people's policeman,
who lends us a hand.
He shows us the way, for he is our friend.
[boy] Louder, you idiots!
[music continues]
Jackie, here. Look at what I just found.
This was the overskirt
of my wedding dress.
And this was my maiden's bonnet. Hm.
Yeah.
But I just, I just cried all-day
because everything was so filthy.
The skirt, the upholstery
that was on the chairs, and even,
even the icing on the wedding cake.
All full of coal.
Yes. That was coal for you.
I chose the dirt back then.
I chose your grandpa.
No one chooses the dirt anymore, grandma.
Coal's the past.
We heated this country every winter,
and that was often tough enough.
Without us, none of this wouldn't exist.
I always liked it a lot, being a pitman.
Pitwoman, you mean?
You won't find me saying
"gender-neutral pitpeople" anytime soon.
I'd rather get run over by a dump truck.
[both laughing]
Very good. It's coming along quite nicely.
Why don't we finish it tomorrow?
I'm getting kinda tired.
Hmmm. Jackie.
Those characters by the F-60,
in the forest.
Grandma, I know them.
Hmm-mm.
I hope for your grandparent's sake,
you don't join the ranks of their kind.
They're here to destroy everything
we've worked for our whole life.
We are still a family of miners.
Yeah. And Janosz is from Poland.
Also a coal country.
And Hayley is from Australia.
And do you know what our problem is?
All of ours?
That this is where we live and our planet
is being burned right out from under us.
And all with your coal.
[dramatic music playing]
[radio] Car three, please respond.
We have an accident at interchange 43
with injuries.
Ambulance is on the way. Over.
[man] This is car three; we're on our way.
[car engine revving]
[music intensifies]
Come on, get out.
Real slow, I want to see your hands.
Turn around. Hands behind your back.
[grunting] Let's see.
[sighing]
Hi, Uwe. Took you long enough.
- André.
- Here, this was under the gear shift.
Cottbus will take another look
at the vehicle.
Key's are in it.
I'll take our friend here to the precinct.
Okay.
[indistinct chattering over radio]
Where is everybody?
Erm, Marianne has her pole dancing
workshop at the pool.
And Pötschi nabbed the dealer, by himself.
So, he just needed some backup. Uwe went.
Hey, why is he out on his own?
Good afternoon, Lauchhammer police
[phone vibrating]
Leyla, what's up?
We found fibers,
all over the victim's clothes.
Fire-resistant grey upholstery fibers.
She was in a VW Passat station wagon
at some point before she died.
You drive that model.
So do my co-workers, my barber.
[Leyla] And on the case we found DNA.
It'll take some time to analyze.
What kind of case?
[Leyla] The instrument case.
That saxophone wasn't your daughter's.
- Thank you, Leyla.
- [Leyla] You're welcome. Ciao.
- Ms. Gottknecht.
- What?
I'm a policeman, all right?
Since I was 19.
Even my wife says that's all I am anymore.
So, I'd never withhold evidence.
Yeah. But lying to your colleague somehow
that's not a problem.
I've known Oliver Bartko
since we were children,
he wouldn't hurt a fly.
But yeah, he has massive problems.
Yeah, and if he goes on like this,
he'll have a few more too.
And so will you.
- The boy's lying.
- What boy?
Dustin. The seal on Ramona's door
was peeled off with steam.
If he'd just pushed open the door,
it would have torn.
- So it was the mother.
- Her, or
Yeah, get him in a cell.
[dramatic music playing]
Oliver, give me a hand.
This soil is like concrete.
Yeah, I can't believe how deep it goes.
Here, have a look, my boy.
It's just crazy.
I've never seen anything like it!
[indistinct chattering]
Maik, can you come?
I think Oliver's looking for you. Good.
There he is.
Oliver.
Here. Your saxophone.
Did you miss it?
How nice.
It's a saxophone.
Yeah.
What?
I was looking for you,
I wanted to tell you something,
but I couldn't find you.
Erm. I'm so sorry.
[sighing] I've been really busy, you know?
Next time I'll be there, I promise. Okay?
What did you want to tell me?
He's by the garden, over there.
That bum there was stealing. There he is.
- No. Oliver! Don't run!
- Stop, police!
He's not a bum!
And he didn't steal anything, come on!
Police, stop!
[panting]
Stop! Stop right there!
Oliver!
[groaning]
[screaming, groaning]
Okay. Come on!
[groaning]
Start walking.
- [policeman] Come on.
- [Oliver] Maik!
- [people groaning]
- Maik!
Hey, you guys. Take it easy.
Maik! Maik!
Come on, now. Come on.
Olli, calm down!
[groaning]
[panting, groaning]
Man.
[screaming]
Fuck!
All right, get him in.
You stop that right now.
You know he can't stand being confined
like that.
Liese, you stay out of it, all right?
Please. Let him walk over there.
- It always calms him to walk.
- [panting]
Shit!
Don't be so rough on him,
he's a human being.
Marianne, he bit me.
Damn man, I think I'm gonna puke.
Don't make yourself so heavy, you bum.
- Open that door.
- Yeah.
Sit down.
Right. If you go in,
wear protective clothes and gloves.
He's got lice, guaranteed.
[soft music playing]
[panting, gasping]
[dramatic music playing]
[screaming] No! No! No!
No! No! No!
No! No! No!
Help me!
No!
[screaming] Why! Help me!
No!
[phone ringing]
Yeah.
[Annalena] Where are you? We have a hit.
What kind of hit?
[Annalena] Whoever held
the instrument case in their hands
also touched Ramona's dead body.
Your friend is in real trouble.
Okay, coming.
[screaming] No! No! No!
No! No!