Marie Brand

The building contractor Borris Angersbach announced at his wife's birthday party that he wants to get more involved in politics in the future and is therefore handing over the company to his son Malte with immediate effect. Not only Angersbach's wife is outraged, but especially her son Kai. After all, he would be the rightful successor, because his mother had brought the company into the marriage, just as her husband had brought his son Malte. The next day he is found dead on the banks of the Rhine and Kai is suspected of murder. Inspector Marie Brand and her colleague Jürgen Simmel are also investigating in other directions and cannot rule out that the crime may have been an act of revenge by an employee of the company whom Malte had recently dismissed without notice. Nonetheless, Kai remains the prime suspect, because according to the investigators' research, he still had a score to settle with his stepfather. Kai was the victim of a kidnapping four years ago that was never reported to the police. Borris Angersbach had paid the ransom at the time, but accused his stepson of faking the kidnapping. This led to the final rift between the two and Kai founded his own company with his friend Daniel Weisach. When suddenly one of the registered banknotes from the ransom money from back then turns up, Marie Brand suspects a connection between the two crimes. According to her research, Angersbach had hired a detective to search for the ransom, and Malte was therefore close to exposing the kidnappers, which became his death sentence.

When a stalker is secretly staying in Annika Herforth's house, she returns home surprisingly. A short time later, the young woman is found dead by her neighbor. Herforth was obviously pushed down the basement stairs. Inspector Marie Brand and her colleague Simmel take up the investigation and Annika's sister Nelly immediately expresses a concrete suspicion. She accuses Florian Leffers, who has been bothering Annika for some time and has even been reported by her for stalking. Leffers is questioned and gives as an alibi that he was ice skating with his new girlfriend and her son at the time of the crime. The alibi is confirmed by Joy Wagner. So Nelly Herforth herself comes under pressure because the investigators find out

Nelly Herforth works as a freelance tax consultant and has her own law firm. Among their customers is the dentist couple Heike and Erik Böttcher. Herforth had helped them smuggle money past the Treasury, which Florian Leffers overheard when he was secretly in Annika Herforth's house, as was so often the case, and overheard a phone call in which she had advised her sister and her clients to report themselves. So he tries to blackmail the Böttchers, but it doesn't work. As a result, Leffers is in a coma with cerebral hemorrhage. Leffer's girlfriend Joy Wagner then begins to run amok and kills him as he wakes from the coma. Initially, however, suspicion falls on Erik Böttcher, who had just been in the hospital and actually toyed with the idea of killing Leffers. However, this could be ruled out by the surveillance cameras at the entrance to the intensive care unit. But Brand can convict Wagner in this way. According to the accused, she also pushed Annika Herforth down the stairs because that day she wanted to talk to the woman who accused her boyfriend of stalking. However, this escalated and ended fatally for Herforth. Wagner knew of her friend's obsession, which had repeatedly led him to the house of his beloved. Fearing that he might have loved his Annika more than she did, she would have killed him in the hospital. Simmel rolls his eyes at hearing this logic. because that day she wanted to talk to the woman who accused her boyfriend of stalking. However, this escalated and ended fatally for Herforth. Wagner knew of her friend's obsession, which had repeatedly led him to the house of his beloved. Fearing that he might have loved his Annika more than she did, she would have killed him in the hospital. Simmel rolls his eyes at hearing this logic. because that day she wanted to talk to the woman who accused her boyfriend of stalking. However, this escalated and ended fatally for Herforth. Wagner knew of her friend's obsession, which had repeatedly led him to the house of his beloved. Fearing that he might have loved his Annika more than she did, she would have killed him in the hospital. Simmel rolls his eyes at hearing this logic.

Cyclist and Olympic hopeful Stefan Lürs has been missing for two years. His body has now been found in the immediate vicinity of his training stadium, based on an anonymous tip. For Commissioner Marie Brand, the question immediately arises as to why the notice came now? No missing person was reported by the family, as it was assumed that Stefan wanted to escape the pressure to perform and start a new life abroad. His last signs of life came from Barcelona .

The following investigations lead Brand and her colleague Jürgen Simmel to the dead man's stepfather. The family situation is a bit tense, because after the death of his wife, Joachim Novotny raised his stepsons alone from the age of 10. Although Sebastian and Stefan were twins, Sebastian was always in Stefan's shadow and didn't have a very close relationship with his father. Stefan's former trainer Ralf Krieger confirms to the investigators that his protégé really wanted to get away from his stepfather, who only felt he was being exploited because he consistently turned fame and success into money. The autopsy revealed that the victim suffered from severe coxarthrosissuffered, which would have ended his sporting career at some point. So that this doesn't happen too quickly, Stefan had been given strong painkillers. He was able to avoid the sporting controls because his twin brother had always submitted the urine samples for him.

Brand and Simmel find another potential for conflict in the network of relationships between Stephan, his trainer and Sybille Reif, who maintained Stephan's website. She had always had hopes for Stephan, but then had to realize that her idol was obviously gay and had entered into a relationship with Ralf Krieger. Krieger declares that he has a family that he didn't want to jeopardize and that he didn't want to continue the affair. But he could never have done anything to Stephan. Brand finds out that Julia Krieger knew about her rival. Another suspect is Tharde Rickling, who had to end his professional sporting career abruptly after a training collision with Stephan.

During the investigation, Sybille Reif is found dead on the banks of the Rhine. The commissioners cannot tell whether she jumped off a bridge voluntarily or was pushed. However, since she obviously gave the police information about where the body was found, a suicide is not conclusive for Brand. After Stefan's disappearance, Reif turned to his brother, but always saw only Stefan in him, which put a strain on their relationship. It was not lost on Brand that the boy seems to be under a lot of psychological pressure. She wants to talk to him and comes over just as Sebastian is freaking out and is threatening his stepfather. So emotionally agitated, he speaks for the first time about the events two years ago. He would have been so disappointed that Stefan wanted to let him down, after which they had a massive argument. Suddenly Stefan fell over and stopped breathing. He didn't know what to do and would have called Sybille Reif. She then told him to bury the body. Since Sybille had been asking more and more of him lately and he was supposed to be more and more Stefan, he would have pushed her off the bridge in the argument.

Renowned anesthetist Raimund Weirath is found lifeless in the hospital's smoking area. The body shows signs of a fight, but there are no witnesses. The dead man's potential successor is Florian Groth. He is a former lover of Marie Brand. From him, the commissioners receive information that the murdered man was recently entrusted with a delicate task.

Jessica, the daughter of former professional boxer Joe Kramer, is in a coma after an accident under general anesthesia and is declared brain dead. The task of the dead Weirath was to inform the parents about the hopeless condition of the child and to ask for approval for an organ donation. At the young girl's bedside, Marie and Simmel meet the mother Sybille Krämer and find out that she is not informed about her daughter's brain death. When asked about her ex-husband, she explains that Joe is in open custody and is on his way back to his cell. But he never arrives there and thus becomes the focus of the investigation. Then Marie finds out that there was also a dispute between Florian Groth and his superior about the Jessica case. When a witness reports

The decisive lead is then provided by the autopsy of the dead man. There are dried paint residues in his trachea. Was the man in the white coat perhaps not a doctor, but the master painter Stefan Fassbender, who was at the clinic with his daughter? Marie and Simmel learn that he too has lost a child. After talking to Weirath, they approved their daughter's body for organ donation. The loss of the child deeply traumatized the whole family. But is the master painter also the murderer?