Synopsis:
A newspaper stand owner is found dead by one of his regular clients. The team initially suspects a robbery gone wrong and arrests a junkie, who stole the contents of the cash register. However, it turns out that the junkie never touched the murder weapon. The team then discovers that the victim was a closeted homosexual married to a deeply religious wife. They also find out that he had recently won the lottery and that he was planning to emigrate to Gran Canaria. The wife, however, has an airtight alibi, as she was at choir practice at the time of the murder. When they eventually manage to locate the victim's boyfriend, he tells them that his wife was trying to heal him of his homosexuality. When the coroner's report reveals that the victim wasn't killed inside the store, the case is cracked wide open. Meanwhile, Witse has to work together with Billie Tiendalli, the detective from Rotterdam who joins their team during Sam's exchange. While Witse is initially sceptical of Billie, he quickly warms up to her.Plot:
Dries Somers, the owner of a newspaper stand, is found dead in his store by one of his regular clients. She saw an adolescent man running out of the store shortly before she found Dries. Witse and his team get called in, together with Billie Tiendalli, the officer from Rotterdam who's replacing Sam during her exchange. At the scene, the coroner tells Witse that the victim was beaten to death with the lottery ticket scanner in his stand. Witse furthermore spots traces of white residue on the victim's shoes, which makes Billie suspect that he might have been robbed by a junkie. When Witse checks for clues around back, he runs into Fien Buelens, a part-time clerk at the store. Upon telling her that Dries was murdered, Fien states that someone should inform the victim's wife, Lydia, who's practicing with the local church choir at the moment. Witse takes it on him to bring the bad news and visits the church shortly after with Billie. Upon telling her the bad news, Lydia nearly passes out due to the shock. After she recovers, Witse asks her if her husband has any enemies or if she noticed anything unusual, but Lydia denies that either was the case. When Witse asks Raymond Vertonghe, the choir's conductor and Lydia's father, when choir practice started, he states that it started three hours ago, shortly before Dries was murder. Then, Witse gets a call from van Deun: their witness recognized the adolescent man as Roel Tuyaerts, a junkie who has prior for pickpocketing people at the train station. Shortly after, Dams and van Deun spot Tuyaerts sitting on a bench near the station and manage to catch him after a short chase. During interrogation, Tuyaerts claims that he ran because he found Dries's corpse upon entrance, but Witse has evidence to the contrary, as Tuyaert's fingerprints were on the cash register. Tuyaerts admits that he stole the money in an impulse, but denies any involvement in the murder and claims that he saw the murderer leave through the backdoor. When Billie tries to intimidate a confession out of Tuyaerts, Wytinckx intervenes, as Billie was only allowed to observe.After the interrogation, Witse notes that Tuyaerts was innocent of the murder after all, as his fingerprints weren't on the ticket scanner. He asks van Deun if the crime lab has found any evidence at the back of the stand, only to hear that the lab never searched the back for evidence. Witse, therefore, returns to the news stand to search for clues, only to find that Lydia's father erased most of them by mowing the lawn behind the stand. When Witse asks him why he mowed his lawn now, Raymond tells him that they're having a wake for Dries tomorrow and that it would get too crowded inside. He furthermore tells Witse that Dries and Lydia were happily married and that they were trying to have children, but never succeeded at that. Back at the station, Billie proposes that the murder was committed in an impulse (as the killer could've been caught at any moment) and that it might have been a crime of passion involving a mistress. Even though the team is sceptical that Dries had a lover, they decide to investigate this theory regardless, as they don't have any other leads. Later that night, Billie does some investigating on her own and shadows Fien, who she sees flirting with several men, while going on a date at a club. She conveys the information to the rest of the team and proposes that Dries and Fien were having an affair, which cost Dries his life when his wife found out. Dams interjects, however, that Lydia had an alibi, as she was at choir practice. Nevertheless, Witse and Billie visit Lydia and ask her if her husband had a mistress, which she denies. The interview is then cut short by Lydia's father and the pastor, who need Lydia's aid with the funeral. Meanwhile, van Deun received a letter offering him a position as commissioner at another station, which he plans on accepting.
After the interview, Witse and Billie visit Fien and ask her where she was at the time of the murder. Fien states that she was at home, but that no one could confirm it, as she's not in a relationship. When Witse confronts her with the photos taken at the club, Fien states that all of those were flings and that she only seemed to land one-night stands. Upon asking her if she ever had a one-night stand with Dries, Fien reveals that Dries would be incapable of such a thing, as he was impotent. When Witse asks her how she knew he was impotent, Fien admits that she tried it on with Dries once. Then, Witse gets a call from Dams: apparently, Dries deposited 2500€ in Fien's bank account shortly before the murder. When Witse asks Fien what this payment was for, she initially evades the question, but eventually admits (under duress) that Dries recently won the lottery. Shortly after, Witse and Billie visit Lydia once more and ask her why she kept their lottery winnings quiet. Lydia, in return, states that Dries only won the lottery recently and that he payed off Fien, because she was at the store when he validated his ticket. When Witse searches Lydia's phone, he finds an interesting contact in her caller's list: a man named Jimmy, who turns out to be one of the other choir members. Back at the station, Witse asks Lydia if Dries was impotent, but she states that she didn't know, as they hadn't had sex in years. She furthermore admits that their marriage was in shambles and that Dries wanted to emigrate to Gran Canaria with his lottery winnings. Not much later, Witse interviews Jimmy and asks him about his bond with Lydia. Jimmy, in turn, states that he and Lydia were good friends and that they were in the planning committee for the choir together. When they ask him if he knew about the lottery money, Jimmy states that Dries was planning on using it to move to Gran Canaria with his new lover. He, however, doesn't know who Dries' lover was. Upon asking Jimmy when Lydia arrived at rehearsal, he states that she was always one of the first to arrive and that she was there ten minutes before rehearsal started.
Later that day, Witse and Billie return to Fien and ask her if Dries was planning on going to Gran Canaria with her. Fien, in turn, declines and states that Dries was attracted to men instead, but hadn't come out of the closet yet. Witse and Billie subsequently rush over to Lydia and ask her (in front of her father) why she never told them that Dries was homosexual. Lydia admits that it was their secret and that they kept it for years, as they were both deeply religious. When Witse asks Lydia if she murdered him because he was leaving her for a man, she runs of crying. Witse is then addressed by her father, who tells them that he never knew and asks Witse to keep Dries' homosexuality quiet for the good name of their church. Later that night, Witse and his team discuss their leads to Dries' boyfriend and find two of their possible meeting spots: a parking lot near the highway and a gay sauna. Witse and Billie decide to take the sauna, while Dams and van Deun stake out the parking lot, where they are mistaken for a couple of gay lovers. Meanwhile, Witse and Billie question Toon, the owner the gay sauna. He, however, states that he has never seen Dries before. As they leave the sauna, Witse gets a call from van Deun: He found a witness at the parking who told him (under duress) that he saw Dries together with Toon. Witse and Billie hurry back inside and confront Toon with his lies. Initially, Toon doesn't want to cooperate and states that he lied to not get involved any further. When Witse threatens to bring him in for obstruction of justice, however, Toon eventually decides to tell him the truth. He states that both Dries and him had trouble with Dries remaining in the closet, but denies that he murdered him over it. He furthermore tells Witse that Dries was scared to come out as gay because of his surroundings, as his wife even tried to heal him through prayer. When Witse asks Toon for his alibi, he states that he was at the dentist.
The following day, Witse and Billie interview Lydia and Jimmy once more at the church. When they ask Jimmy about the lottery money, he initially states that he knew nothing about it, but eventually admits that Lydia told him. He nevertheless denies that he has anything to do with Dries' murder. When they ask Lydia about the healing prayers she used to cure Dries of his homosexuality, she states that she wanted to save him from the devil, but that she didn't kill him. After the interviews at the church, the team has hit a bit of a dead end, until dr. Maes comes by with the coroner's report. As it turns out, Dries wasn't murder with the ticket scanner, which was used to obscure the true cause of dead: a blow with a stone object. Dr. Maes furthermore identified the white residue as dried-up urine. She also suspects that Dries wasn't murdered at the store, but dumped there after the murder. Witse, who remembers Tuyaerts statement, suspects that he saw more than he's letting on and pays him a visit near the station. There, Tuyaert tells Witse that he saw a glimpse of an older man leaving through the backdoor. Witse and Billie head over to the church and ask the pastor if Raymond arrived in time for choir rehearsal. The pastor tells them that Raymond was there on time, but that he entered through the sacristy instead of the front door. He furthermore states that it was Raymond's idea to heal Dries through prayer and that he wanted nothing to do with it. Witse and Billie subsequently search the church's waste container for clues and find a blood-covered rock in a plastic bag. They rush over to the back of the news stand (where a wake is being held) and confront Raymond with their finds. Raymond subsequently confesses that he killed Dries, when he was taking a leak out back (as the news stand's toilet was clogged). He furthermore states that he caught Dries kissing a man and that he tried to save him from his homosexuality. When that didn't work, he did his duty and killed Dries, as he was planning to live in sin with his boyfriend. The episode ends with Witse calling Sam to ask her about her adventures in Rotterdam.
