De Ridder

- Season 3

(2015)

Emma Browne, a successful young banker, is found dead at her apartment. Helena De Ridder is convinced she was murdered and starts preparing for her first big case. The results of the autopsy and the investigation however prove it was an accident. Helena refuses to accept this. The death of Emma Browne just must be more than the umpteenth, trivial drug related accident.

There is a lot of pressure on Helena when a railway guard is the victim of an unscrupulous and brutal attack. They have to find the perpetrator fast. She does her job carefully, but through some events in her personal life, she makes a cardinal mistake. Gust Martens in the mean time, tries frantically to proof is innocence in the case of Emma Browne.

After a night out, Tess Verbeken is raped violently and left for dead. Helena discovers parallels with events in her own personal life. She feels less authorized to continue with the case objectively. Gust Martens tries to prove his innocence to write an article from jail in which he accuses banker Karel Decoster.

Gust Martens wants to prove to Helena there is a connection between the death of a Croation prostitute and the murder on Emma Browne. According to him they were both victim of a Croation drug gang, who are recently active in Gent. When Tim, Cleo's love, violently gets involved in a drug conflict, Helena fears it might be the same gang.

During a demonstration against genetic modified organisms, a field of leeks at the university is ruined. The charismatic professor Kloosters puts himself forward as the eloquent defender of the activists. But the demonstration leads to death and violence. In the drugs-investigation the local police observe a few drug-premises. Helena and Inspector Stevens get along very fine.

At the Christmas-market in Gent, Inspector Tony Laeremans finds a few days old baby. The parents Valérie Pieters and Daan Vergauwe, a drugs-couple, are found quickly. When she wants her baby back, Helena tries to prevent this. But is this justified? Or is her judgment clouded by her own mother who suddenly turns up again. Helena makes an impulse decision in her love-life.

A prisoner is found dead in his isolation cell. It's Paul Vandenbon. An old acquaintance of Helena. She discovers that the former footballer is treated harshly as a pedophile in jail. Not only the prisoners, but also the guards act strange when they're questioned. Meanwhile everyone is getting ready to prepare for the final blow against the Croations drug gang.

Landlord Frank Huysman is violently forced to sell his pub. It looks like Adam Horvat has something to do with the dossier again. The drug-gang has been tipped off. Bracke searches for the responsible one within the police and even his own office. Helena fears the leak might be very close. In the mean time everyone is searching for Gust Martens.

A tango-teacher is the victim of arson. He immediately knows who did this to him. An ex-student of him, who accused him of rape in the past, started a hate-campaign against him through social media. So she has to be it. Together with her friend, she sets a chain of events in motion she can't control any longer. Banker Decoster is finally questioned about the disappearance of Gust Martens.

A divorced woman accuses her ex-husband of touching up their little daughter. Is this the alarming truth? Or is it just a new low in a very bad divorce of a couple who can't deal with their heart rendering trauma from the past? Louis starts a very risky poker game with Aleksandra Arbanas. And Cleo has exciting news.

A female student seemingly attacks people at a supermarket without any reason. One of the victims is Zohra. Her life hangs by a thread. The defense of the woman claims she can't be held responsible for her actions. Helena refuses to accept this at face value. Louis fears it's the end of the road for him.

Louis Stevens finally gets some result with his undercover work. He finds the evidence Helena needs to finally stop the Arbanas-gang and put them behind bars for good. Because the gang starts to distrust Louis, Helena thinks it's time to stop the undercover operation. But then someone makes an inexcusable error with far stretching consequences

Helena's first murder case starts bad. Three murders. The goal is high, but the evidence is thin. Besides that, her major opponent is the very experienced lawyer Jan Ravenakkers. With Bracke as her counselor and Manu as her loyal supporter, Helena tries to get the Arbanasgang convicted. Will she convince the jury of twelve?