The Fifth Cord

Andrea Bild attends a lively New Year’s party with friends and acquaintances, including John Lubbock, Edouard Vermont, Isabel Lancia, Sofia and Riccardo Bini, Helene, and others. Tensions are subtly present, particularly John’s unspoken love for Isabel and Andrea’s past relationship with Helene. The party sets the stage for the subsequent events and confrontations among the characters.

While walking home from the party, John is viciously attacked and nearly killed by an unseen assailant inside a tunnel. Walter Auer and Giulia Soavi come to his aid at the scene, but Walter briefly glimpses the attacker without taking further action. The attack raises concern about a possible serial killer in their circle.

The next morning, Andrea learns about John’s attack through his connections and tries to get details from John himself, but hospital rules prevent visiting. He also visits Giulia, who is reluctant to cooperate and threatens to call her father, indicating a complex web of relationships and secrets.

Sofia Bini, who was crippled and appeared distressed, is murdered after her record player is moved outside her room. She crawls to the top of the stairs and is strangled and pushed down, suggesting the killer is targeting multiple victims in a sequence. The murder intensifies the investigation and suspicion among the characters.

It is discovered that both the attack on John and Sofia’s murder involved a similar glove, with Sofia’s glove missing a finger. This clue implies that more victims may be targeted, and links the cases together, heightening the urgency of the investigation.

Andrea learns that Richard Bini had an alibi for Sofia’s murder, but follows him and witnesses him paying Walter Auer, raising suspicions. Andrea then discovers that Walter is Walter’s sister, Giulia, and realizes they are hiding information about the attacks. Walter’s involvement remains ambiguous.

Andrea investigates and finds that Isabel Lancia has been murdered in her bathroom, with a glove containing only two fingers floating in her bathtub. Her death marks the escalation of the killer’s spree and reveals a pattern of targeted victims tied to the ongoing mystery.

Giulia Soavi is found dead at a lakeside, her throat slit by the killer while prostituting herself to a customer. Her death further confuses the case, showing the killer’s brutal reach and its connection to the victims’ personal lives.

Andrea confronts John at his school, where John is still in recovery, and later visits Tony, Helene’s son, just before a Tuesday murder. At a construction site, Andrea fights and throws John off the railing, uncovering that John committed the murders out of jealousy over Edouard marrying Isabel, revealing a motive rooted in friendship and obsession.

In the final moments, Andrea unravels that John Lubbock is the killer, motivated by jealousy rather than romantic love for Isabel. John confesses to the murders to cover up his true motive, attempting to frame others and disguise his obsession with Edouard. He is ultimately arrested, bringing the case to a close.