Lösegeld (2012)

Set in Düsseldorf, the story begins where a crime is almost solved—in this case, a child abduction. A kidnapped boy is freed from his hiding place. For the investigating detectives, Diethard Lysewski and Lutz Weber, all that remains to close the case is to catch the perpetrator and recover the loot: a batch of rough diamonds worth several million euros. By chance, these are now in the possession of Nina Hausen, the head of an escort agency. Nina had inadvertently been near the handover point with her dog when the fleeing perpetrator attacked her. She managed to get out of the dangerous situation and escape with the diamonds. The rest of the story unfolds from this starting point. Nina Hausen is in financial trouble because a surety arrangement fell through. The detectives, too, are under pressure to get results. The perpetrator, meanwhile, learns who Nina Hausen is from the wallet he stole during their nighttime encounter, suspects that she is now in possession of the diamonds, and sets out to track her down. As the story progresses, Lysewski and Nina Hausen grow personally closer. Lysewski suspects that his new lover has misappropriated the diamonds. As the manhunt, driven forward by Lysewski’s partner Weber and their success-obsessed boss Lahn, focuses more and more on the head of the escort agency, who is preparing to flee abroad, Lysewski makes a fateful decision: He keeps his colleague confined overnight in the colleague’s apartment, allowing Nina Hausen to escape to Mexico unhindered.