Ballauf - 65 - Kartenhaus

Murder in a villa district: Klaus Hartmann is stabbed to death in broad daylight in his own kitchen while his wife Carmen is waiting for him in the car with the engine running. At the same time, daughter Laura and her boyfriend Adrian Tarrach disappear without a trace. The young man with the flawless demeanor was making lofty plans for the future of the couple. But now the forensics have found his fingerprints on the crime tool. Immediately the inspectors Max Ballauf and Freddy Schenk get the hint about Adrian's past with drug possession and car theft. His home doesn't fit in with the chic residential area in which his girlfriend grew up either: he lives with his mother Pia in a suburb of Cologne. But Adrian and Laura didn't get in touch here either.
Even Adrian's buddies and Laura's classmates don't want to have heard from the two. But Laura's big party for her 18th birthday was just around the corner. Only when a second murder occurs in a bar do Ballauf and Schenk at least see Adrian - on a surveillance video.