Bruno van Leeuwen has witnessed many crime scenes, but what awaits the inspector on Koniginnedag in Amsterdam’s Vondelpark, presents him with an unpleasant conundrum: Kevin, a young lad of around 13 is found lying under a clump of bushes, with his head smashed in and a gaping hole where the roof of his mouth should be. His brain has been removed. What on earth could be the motive for such a brutish act of murder against a child?
His wife Simone is unable to provide him with the answer. She lives in her own world, which is getting smaller by the day. At barely 50, she suffers from Alzheimer’s and needs care. Only with difficulty and help from nurse Ellen is Bruno still able to care for Simone himself. And he has known for some time that Ellen is right: Simone belongs in a home. But Simone is the love of his life and he can’t bear the thought of it. It’s therefore all the more painful for van Leeuwen when he comes across a bundle of passionate love letters in a storeroom that prove Simone had been unfaithful to him several years earlier. Van Leeuwen confronts Simone, but she can’t remember.
