WaPo Elbe

Stella Behritz, the 18-year-old daughter of shipowner Wilhelm Behritz, is kidnapped by two women on a paddle steamer the morning after her birthday party. They demand €300,000 or Stella will die.

The WaPo finds a dead climber on the banks of the Elbe River. Forensic evidence reveals that Toni Stadler fell because his equipment had been tampered with. It seems that Dr. Jaschki is right: sport is murder. Stadler was an experienced climbing instructor, but before his last tour he had been arguing with his girlfriend Angie and his friend Ben, who is also the chairman of the climbing club.

Did one of them get rid of Toni? Or was Kai Wischmann the culprit, whose wife fell during a climbing trip with Toni and has been in a persistent vegetative state ever since? And what is little Nele, one of Toni's students, hiding as she secretly hangs around near the climbing gym?

Timo Faiser, convicted in an old case involving Maike for domestic violence, bodily harm, and attempted manslaughter, reappears after ten years in prison and wants to build a new life as an ice cream vendor. But soon he starts harassing Maike, demanding to know where his now adult daughter Diana Neumann has been living since her mother's death. When Maike refuses to give Faiser this information, the brutal ex-convict and disappointed father kidnaps Maike's partner Doris to force a reunion with his daughter. Maike and the WaPo team embark on a daring pursuit to get Doris out of danger and confront the unpredictable perpetrator.