The Berlin meat king Hans Merklinger is found dead in the cold store of his factory. The dead man had been missing for several days, but was only reported missing by his lover Kathi. When Ritter and Stark enter the meat factory, there are no workers to be found. The boss's son, Maximilian, treats the commissioners with cool arrogance, as he is currently in contract negotiations with the Ukrainian Litvin brothers. They want to join the Merklinger company and aren't bothered by the fact that the company was involved in a rotten meat scandal years ago.