(re)Search my Trash

<body> <div align="left"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="800" cellpadding="0" height="100%"> <tr> <td width="100" rowspan="2" background="../stylepix/square.gif" valign="top">  </td> <td width="4" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="592" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="592"> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> </table>  <table border="0" cellspacing="0" align="left"> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%"><img border="0" src="../stills/phantom5x5.gif" width="5" height="5"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> </table> <p>Businessman Müller (Dirk Galuba) confesses to his wife Eva (Christiane Krüger) that his company's as good as bankrupt. A few days after that, while he's on a business trip, she disappears, and when he returns home he receives a ransom letter. He's of course quick to call the police, even if he's threatened not to, and investigating inspector Köster (Siegfried Lowitz) promises assistance. Of course, Müller hasn't got nearly enough money to pay the ransom, but his father-in-law Karst (O.E. Hasse) has. Thing is, Karst hates Müller with a passion, so he only gives him the money if Müller signs an I.O.U., which pretty much signs Müller's whole business over to him. Köster and company are taking all the necessary precautions in regards to the ransom handover, but somehow the kidnappers still manage to get their hands on the money and get away without a trace - in fact, it looks as if they weren't even at the handover spot. And we, the audience, learn that there was actually no handover, it was just a ruse, and Eva is alive and well hiding away - and the whole staged kidnapping was actually her idea, so Müller can use the money to safe his business ... only the fact that Müller had to sign an I.O.U. throws a spanner in the works. And the next day, Eva's found dead. Everyone's left speechless, only Köster has an idea about the culprit and ultimately lures Müller into a trap, and ultimately Müller confesses that he never actually wanted to murder his wife, just hurt his father-in-law - and killing Eva was apparently the easiest and most potent way ...<p> <p>There are several scenes of suspense and a few surprising twists and turns in this one, but ultimately the episode gives away its whole plot in the first five minutes, so there's never any real narrative tension. However, Siegfried Lowitz carries the episode rather beautifully, as could be expected from him, but as a whole this is at  best average German crime TV with a definite by-the-numbers feel to it. <p>  </td> <td width="4" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="100" rowspan="2" background="../stylepix/squareright.gif" valign="top">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="592" valign="top">  <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> currentyear = "2020"; </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT language="JavaScript" src="../scripts/endcredits.js"></SCRIPT> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> dosworsdonn(); </SCRIPT> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </body>