Reputed musical instruments dealer Martin Traunstein's right hand Nelly Bläule was finished by a blow against the stairs after a fall down the staircase in the home of businessman and major client Bernhard Kämmerer, from which dodgy ex-con counterfeiter Roman Westhoff tried to leave unseen. One of two violins Kämmerer bought from Traunstein, who invests in them as collateral for bank loans, proves a fake Stradivarius. Traunstein's back-office assistant and recently dumped lover, Krista Matthis, hoped for Nelly's job. Traunstein denies having known about Nelly's resignation, invoking “unbearable knowledge“.