Gereon, Charlotte, and Boehm infiltrate the occult ceremony hosted by Tristan Rot. Surprisingly, Anno/Dr Schmidt is also in attendance, and leads the ceremony.
Gereon meets with Katelbach, defending himself for implicating the communists in the May 1 murders while warning Katelbach that he is being watched by the political police. Katelbach spots that Hans Litten, the communist lawyer, is also on the list.
The Armenian and Weintraub call a conference of the criminal syndicates to try and narrow down the suspects for who is sabotaging their film production.
Nyssen confesses his love for Helga.
Charlotte discovers two key names on the list of individuals targeted by the political police.
Despite precedent for confessing guilt to murder being a life sentence, Greta is nevertheless sentenced to death for her role in the assassination of Councilor Benda. Greta and her lawyer do not contest the verdict.
Gereon discovers the locations of Helga's new accommodations, and that her new benefactor leaves love notes signed with "A".
Tropes:
- By-the-Book Cop: Boehm. As a result he is extremely uncomfortable at infiltrating the occult ceremony.
- Call-Back: The bartending girl's trick with the cigarette
- Conveniently Cellmates: The communist Dr Voelcker is suddenly paired with Greta, whose testimony implicates the communists in a political assassination
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Despite pushing her away for some time, Gereon is extremely offended that Helga might have moved on to a new male love interest, and almost takes his frustration out on Moritz.
- Dramatic Irony: The Armenian thanks the very man sabotaging his film production for sharing his warehouse for a gang conference intended to discover who is sabotaging their film production
- Look Behind You: Katelbach jokingly pulls this on Gereon.
- Mysterious Benefactor: Alfred Nyssen for Helga, from Gereon's point of view
- Obvious Judas: Invoked. The Armenian cites this trope when discussing with Weintraub who the saboteur might be.
- Real Name as an Alias: Helga uses her maiden name, Schwarzbach, when checking into her new accommodations.
- The Resenter: Boehm, who dislikes Gereon for having risen quite far very quickly due to evidently having friends in high places.
- Ship Tease: Gereon and Charlotte are forced into intimate circumstances at the occult ceremony.
- Straw Misogynist: Boehm is particularly bigoted against Charlotte. This is actually a distinct departure from his characterization in the novels, where he bucks tradition and gives Charlotte autonomy and responsibility, and as a result earns her loyalty.
- Taking You with Me: Weintraub threatens this at the gang conference if the other syndicates don't help them discover their saboteur.
- That Man Is Dead: Dr Schmidt says this regarding Anno to Gereon.
