Wiener Blut 2 - Berggericht (2025)

Viennese prosecutor Fida Emam, whose roots are in Egypt, lives under the same roof as her alcoholic mother, Afifa. Her daughter is studying in Frankfurt. Eighteen-year-old Laura Spindler is found on a country road in the Weinviertel, two years after she was abducted from a Viennese wine tavern district. She has now escaped from the wine cellar where her tormentor held her captive. There is still no trace of Laura’s friend Emilia Schreiner, who also disappeared at the time. The owner of the wine cellar is Paul Ritter, a Viennese antiques dealer. He claims to have had nothing to do with the abduction, although he was already among the suspects at the time. Prosecutor Fida Emam and police officer Markus Glösl work together to find the missing Emilia. Their investigation is accompanied by Marie Schubert-Retzenthaler from the Interior Ministry’s public relations section, who liaises with the minister and the press and repeatedly puts pressure on Emam. Laura says that her abductor always wore a balaclava and that she never saw his face. Emilia’s father, Erich Schreiner, runs a wine tavern in Stammersdorf; some of his vineyards are in Lower Austria. A photograph from the time shows Paul Ritter with Erich and Emilia. Ritter has rented other wine cellars in the area. Florian Pollak heads the investigation team, and one of his staff members is Fritz Gamma. Paul Ritter asks Fida Emam to let him visit his mother, Trude, who is also an alcoholic, because she drinks even more when he is not there. Paul studied law and was a judicial candidate until he had to take over his late father’s business. His daughter Judith Richter suffocated three years ago and had a potent opioid in her blood. Her father was also investigated at the time, but the investigation was discontinued. Judith’s mother, Edith, apparently died by suicide six months later. Paul has looked after his mother ever since. From Trude Ritter, Emam learns that the antiques business was founded by her father, Professor Albrecht Ritter. He built up his collection through Aryanization; some of it was restituted after the war. Emam commissions a doctor to prepare an expert report, and the doctor is to coordinate with the adult representative. The police arrest Peter Schweiger, who has been blind since birth; his fingerprints were found on food in the wine cellar. He had obtained the food through a delivery service. Laura says she picked three locks with hairpins. But since one of them was a lever lock that could not be opened that way, she says the abductor had left the door open. Laura Spindler’s DNA is recorded in the Electronic Criminal Police Information System (EKIS). At the time, Laura and Emilia were investigated because they were suspected of dealing drugs. Christiane Koch, the home-care worker for Trude Ritter and Peter Schweiger, is in a romantic relationship with Paul. More than 700 tally marks had been carved into the wall of the wine cellar, corresponding to the number of days Emilia had been missing; the cellar itself is empty. Laura and Emilia had delivered wine to Trude and had repeatedly stolen from her a remedy for alcohol withdrawal. Judith had taken that and other medication and died as a result. Laura and Emilia had left Judith outside her parents’ house without calling for help. Emam suspects Paul found out and took vigilante action by holding the two girls in darkness. Laura confirms that Christiane locked her up and supplied her with food. Paul continues to claim he had nothing to do with any of it; in any case, no criminal act can be proven against him. Koch offers to take the police to Emilia. In the stairwell, she throws herself down and dies instantly. Glösl and Emam eventually find Emilia alive in Paul’s wine cellar. They also suspect that Trude prepared a cocktail of medication for Laura and Emilia, who had regularly stolen from her. The two had, however, passed the medication on to Judith, who died from it. According to Trude, it was an accident.