Synopsis:
Geert Huyse, a real estate agent, is assassinated in the house of Frank Mussen, a known fraudster. Sam knew the victim from high school and develops a strong interest in the case. Initially, Frank becomes the prime suspect, as he was seen fleeing the scene, but things don't add up. When it turns out Frank had debts with a loan shark, the team starts to suspect that Frank was the intended target. The victim, however, had quite some struggles in his love life and saw any other man as a romantic rival. When the team finally manages to track down Frank, he sheds a light on the case that lands Sam in hot water.Plot:
Frank Mussen, a known fraudster, enters his house together with Geert Huyse, a real estate agent. The two are there to arrange the sale of Frank's house, but they hear someone rummaging through the house, just as Geert is about to hand part of the purchase sum to Frank in cash. Frank takes out his gun and goes off to investigate the noise, leaving Geert alone in the living room. When Geert walks into an adjacent room, however, he stands face-to-face with the invader and gets shot three times. Shortly after, Frank is seen fleeing the house by a neighbour. When Witse and his team arrive, they talk to the neighbour who witnessed Frank fleeing the scene and mark Frank as their prime suspect. As the team discovers the victim's identity, Sam takes Witse aside and tells him that she knew the victim from her high school days. Witse suggest to take her off the case, but Sam states that she hasn't been in touch with Geert for 10 years and that she, therefore, isn't too involved to work the case. Inside the house, they find 50000 € on Geert's corpse, which confuses them, as Frank would have taken the money in a robbery gone wrong. Meanwhile, Dams and van Deun are questioning Stefaan de Wit, one of Geert's colleagues, at the real estate office. He states that he saw Frank with Geert several days before, but he can't find a client file on Frank Mussen in the company database.Later that day, Witse and Sam visit Geert's wife Isabelle. When they try to tell her Geert is dead, she's initially in a state of complete denial. However, Isabelle becomes completely hysterical with grief when her GP, Philippe Meunier, enters the room. Upon asking Witse and Sam for information on Geert, Philippe suddenly recognizes Sam. As it turns out, Philippe is a close friend of the family and he used to be a class mate of Sam and Geert as well. After Philippe calmed Isabelle down, Witse asks him when they can question her. Phillipe recommends that they wait until the following day, as Isabelle is in no state to speak to them. The next day, Sam informs Witse of Frank's shady dealings: it appears that Frank borrowed large sums of cash from a loan shark, when his accounts were frozen by the fraud squad, and invested it in the electronics store of a man called Guy Verlé. The team believes that the loan might have been the reason for Frank to sell his house, but no official paperwork was filled in by Geert for the sale, hence the sale might have been under the table. As there's no sign of Frank yet, Witse and Sam decide to question Geert's wife Isabelle first. Isabelle, however, knows nothing about Frank, except that he one of Geert's clients. When Witse asks her about the 50000 € they found on Geert, she states that it couldn't have been from their personal account, as they don't have that kind of money. She does, however, tell them that the two of them were looking for a new house, causing Witse to suspect that Geert might have been interested in Frank's house himself. As they leave Isabelle's house, Witse and Sam run into Phillipe. He asks Sam if they could catch up with each other over drinks later that night, to which Sam agrees.
Later that day, Witse and Sam visit Guy Verlé's electronics store, where they witness Verlé carrying electronic equipment out of the store. When they ask him about it, Verlé states that the store is bankrupt because Frank scammed him out of the store's monthly turnover and that he's trying to sell of the equipment before the bussiness is foreclosed. He furthermore states that Frank was threatened and beaten by a racketeer's henchman, who demanded the money Frank owed them. When Witse and Sam ask Verlé who the henchman was working for, he initially stays quiet out of fear. However, when they threaten to tell the financial squad about Verlé's embezzlement of electronic equipment, Verlé states that Frank owed money to Marcel Puissant. Witse, who knows of Puissant as a politician and bussiness man of seedy reputation, tells Sam that Puissant's a slippery eel and that they'll have to be careful with him. At the station, van Deun tells Witse that Geert took out a 200000 € loan, presumably to buy Frank's house, and that he cleared out his personal accounts to obtain 30000 of the 50000 €. Then, Dams comes in with a new lead on the case: a set of footprints have been found leading away from the back of the house, indicating the presence of a third person there. Furthermore, the firearm registered to Frank turns out not to be the murder weapon. The team comes to the insight that the killer was (most likely) targeting Frank, because of his debts, and that Geert was murdered by mistake. Witse and Sam decide to subsequently pay Puissant a visit and tell him about the attempted murder of Frank and Frank's debts with him. Puissant, however, tells Witse that he wasn't troubled by Frank's outstanding debts and that he never touched him. Puissant then sends them packing, as they have nothing on him. Back at the station, Witse is called to Wytinckx' office, who tells him that Puissant is accusing him of harassment. He furthermore orders Witse and his team to stay away from Puissant, much to Sam's ire.
Later that night, Sam awaits Puissant and his henchman as they leave Puissant's office. She confronts them with Geert's death and tells them she'll bring them in for murdering an innocent bystander. This, however, doesn't impress Puissant much. Then, Sam spots Frank as he's planning to perform a drive-by shooting. She manages to push Puissant and the henchman out of the way before Frank can shoot them. Shortly after, both Witse and chief commissioner Wytinckx arrive at the scene to give Sam a proper scolding. Nevertheless, they decide not to suspend her and Witse reminds Sam of her appointment with Philippe, which she immediately leaves for. Furthermore, Witse invites Puissant to come to the station the next morning for questioning about the attempt on his life. During her get-together with Philippe, Sam discovers that he used to have a crush on her in high school, but that he waited too long to tell her. Sam subsequently ended up dating Geert for a while, causing Philippe to believe he missed his chance. The next morning, Witse and Sam interview Puissant at the station. On the record, Puissant admits that Frank owed him a considerable sum of money and that he sent his henchman to collect it. He denies any further allegations and tells Witse he's only willing to discuss them off the record. Witse agrees and Puissant tells him (off the record) that he had put some pressure on Frank to pay his debts, but that he had no interest in killing him, as he would never get any of his money back if he did. He furthermore states that he was together with his henchman on the night of the murder and that other members of his staff could confirm this.
As they terminate the interview with Puissant, Witse and Sam are called over by van Deun. He tells them that Geert was having a conflict at work with Stefaan de Wit and that Stefaan was threatening Geert and the real estate agency with a lawsuit. When they confront Stefaan with this conflict, he states that Geert was having it in for him, ever since he danced with Geert's wife Isabelle at a staff party. He furthermore tells Witse that Geert was sabotaging him and tried to get him fired for unfounded reason. When Witse asks him for his alibi, Stefaan gets frustrated, but eventually tells him he was with a client at the time of the murder. Shortly after, Witse and Sam visit Isabelle and ask her about the conflict between Geert and Stefaan. She, however, has no knowledge about any conflict and is still under the assumption that Geert was accidentally shot. Seeing a personal motive for Geert's murder, Witse decides to shift the focus of the investigation towards the friends and relatives of Geert, which doesn't sit well with Sam. When they wonder where Geert got the remaining 20000 €, Witse suggests that he might have borrowed it from his best friend Philippe. This causes Sam to storm out furiously, as she considers Philippe Beneath Suspicion. Before they have time to respond to this, they get notified by the desk warden that Verlé reported one of his vans missing. This van turns out to be the van used by Frank in the drive-by shooting. Witse sends Dams and van Deun to Verlé's store to investigate the theft. When they arrive there, they find the van in front of the loading dock and Frank inside the store. They arrest Frank and bring him to the station for questioning. Meanwhile, Witse interviews Philippe at the station and asks him about Geert's plan to buy Frank's house. Philippe, however, states that he knows nothing of this plan, nor anything about the 20000 € Geert borrowed. When Witse asks Philippe for his alibi, he reluctantly states that he was doing house visits the entire afternoon and hands over his dayplanner.
Later that night, Sam gets a strange call from Isabelle. She rushes over to her place and finds her overdosed on sleeping pills. Sam decides to call Philippe for help. In the meantime, Witse and van Deun interrogate Frank. He's still under the assumption that Puissant tried to assassinate him and admits to the attempt on his life. When Witse asks Frank how he and Geert got in touch, he states that he got in touch with him through Philippe. At that moment, Dams enters and informs Witse that Philippe had no alibi for the time of the murder, as he had no patients planned around that time. Meanwhile, Sam managed to rouse Isabelle from unconsciousness and listens to her as she confesses her role in Geert's murder. Isabelle tells Sam that she cheated on Geert with Philippe, albeit for one night, and that Geert somehow knew that she had been unfaithful. However, as she wasn't certain that Geert knew who she had been unfaithful with, she assumes that Geert had started his conflict with Stefaan over her infidelity and that it all got out of hand. In the meantime, Philippe has entered the room and he orders Isabelle to go upstairs to rest. As Isabelle goes upstairs, Sam asks Philippe if he murdered Geert, but Philippe doesn't answer. When she asks him again at gunpoint, Philippe tells her that she doesn't have the nerve to shoot him. As Witse arrives on the scene, he sees Sam handcuffing Philippe and they bring him in for interrogation. At the station, Philippe confesses to murdering Geert out of jealousy and admits that he saw Geert's deal with Frank as the perfect opportunity to do it.
