The Girl in the Fog(2017)

On a dark night in a remote Italian mountain village an aged but prominent police detective runs off the road and is taken to a local hospital. Though physically unharmed, his behavior suggests he is mentally distraught and so he is subjected to an interview with the staff psychiatrist. The flashback that follows tells the story of his latest investigation, the sensational disappearance of a local high school girl. The story that unwinds quickly suggests a suspect in the case, a local high school instructor. He appears guilty, too guilty, in fact. As the narrative continues, we learn of the detective’s failings in a recent case where he arrested and tried an innocent man. in spite of this, the detective still believes the teacher is guilty.

As media scrutiny builds, so much conflicting evidence arises that he must drop his case. The press turns up evidence that the case is connected to five previous school girls murdered thirty years earlier. The detective continues to explain to the psychiatrist how the teacher had leveraged public sympathy and even played the detective himself to get away with murder. So convinced is he of the man’s guilt that he has just returned from taking justice in his own hands and killing the suspect.

The interview ends and the local police come and arrest the detective. The psychiatrist goes home and digs out a box hidden in his garage containing six locks of hair, one from each of his victims.