Begierde - Mord im Zeichen des Zen (2015)

Detective Louise Bonì is sent to the area near Aachen after a young Asian monk is found there injured. The young man has a wound on his head and does not say a word. Louise Bonì follows him into the forest, where he seems to be hiding fearfully from someone, but then loses sight of him. Back in Aachen, Louise Bonì first has to deal with her father, who has announced that he is coming to visit her. She has actually been suspended from duty because, after her husband left her, she slid into alcoholism. She also shot a man while on duty, something she has clearly not yet come to terms with. Her boss, Bermann, therefore does not believe her reports about the injured monk. So she seeks help on her own and contacts the interpreter Richard Landen, who speaks the monk’s language, but this does not get the detective any further. When an abandoned police car is found the next day at the edge of the forest where the monk was last seen, Bermann finally takes the detective seriously. He calls for reinforcements, then finds one police officer shot and a second dead in the forest, with a gunshot wound to the head. He promptly blames her for his own failure to act, even though Bonì had urged him to do so. He says she must have acted unprofessionally because of her drinking. Bonì doggedly continues investigating the monk, and her search leads her to a Zen monastery nearby. She is surprised to find Richard Landen there. He helps her speak with Roshi, the head of the monastery, and she learns that the young monk is a Zen student. She wants to know who injured the boy, but receives only an answer that does not satisfy her. She also becomes suspicious when she learns about orphaned children housed at the monastery who are supposedly waiting to be placed with adoptive parents. The detective fears human trafficking, since international adoptions may only be arranged through official agencies. Private placements are illegal. The next day she drives to the monastery again, but all the children have disappeared. Four people hurriedly leave the monastery and drive away in a minibus. When Bonì follows the vehicle, she is shot at and finds herself in the hospital. Her superior is annoyed because she had a blood alcohol level of 1.8 per mille, but he has also begun his own inquiries, which clearly point to human trafficking. In recent years, 58 children have reportedly been placed this way. It becomes clear that these are not ordinary adoptions, but a pedophile ring is using the monastery to temporarily house young children “imported” from Asia. Thanks to Bonì’s persistence, those responsible are brought to justice, including Richard Landen, who is in the process of adopting a little boy “for himself.” He tells the detective in his own defense that it is just a normal adoption. After successfully solving the case, Bonì goes to the monastery to take some time out.