Dr. Michael Reidinger, the well-known chief physician at Regensburg Marien hospital, has gone missing. In a chance meeting, his father, Horst Reidinger, runs into Detective Lucas, who takes on the case. When Reidinger‘s car is found unlocked under a railway bridge, the team works flat out to find the missing man, at first without any luck. Shortly afterwards, Ellen Lucas finds Horst Reidinger at his son’s house, seriously injured. Ellen Lucas feels that there must be more to Reidinger’s disappearance than meets the eye and is soon proved right when it turns out that a patient safety initiative has filed a collective lawsuit against Dr. Reidinger for a breach of hygiene standards. Hospital director Dr. Lindner denies all blame. Judge Gerhard Huber, who dismissed the suit, is also keeping a low profile, stating only that there was no evidence of a hygiene deficit at the hospital.
Detective Lucas seeks contact with the two patients affected in Regensburg: Heinrich Stadler, whose daughter, Jasmin, has been left severely disabled following an operation performed by Reidinger and Reinhold Mayer, who is now wheelchair bound after being infected with the dangerous hospital virus MRSA. In both cases neither the clinic nor Dr. Reidinger assumed any responsibility. When Detective Lucas has the clinic searched, Michael Reidinger suddenly turns up again, but he remains silent. Where has he been? And why does he make his way straight to Lindner? The situation escalates when Detective Lucas receives a bomb threat. There’s not much time. Lucas’ fine-tuned psychological skills are put to the test when she learns that the bomb is ticking precisely where her family, including her sister Rike and her landlord Max, are holding a party.
