Inspector Ellen Lucas finds a woman's body lovingly laid out in the attic of an empty courtyard – mummified by the heat of a summer. The woman had apparently been held captive in the attic and died trying to escape. Lucas quickly finds out that the victim, Sarah Rothbauer, lived nearby. But why didn't anyone miss her there? Inspector Lucas and her team suspect a relationship crime. Why else would Hinrich Rothbauer, Sarah's husband, simply have accepted her sudden disappearance? During the investigation, Commissioner Betty Sedlacek becomes the victim of a stalker. Instead of confiding in Ellen Lucas, she wants to solve the problem on her own. But she realizes too late that there are parallels to the Sarah Rothbauer case.