The dose makes the poison: introduction

Press article from that time.

Brussels 1998

District police officer Louis Van Droogenbroeck finds the corpse of a deceased drug user. Hastily the family doctor, Dr. Rafels, is also called in. Moments later, the entire house is full of urgent responders. The dead man is in his early twenties and his name is Ricky Van Genechten.

During the mourning ceremony, Wiebe and Brigitte meet. He is Dutch, she is French. He has been the lover of the deceased Ricky, she is his mother. Wiebe reminisces about his first meeting with the young man, Brigitte about Ricky’s youth. They sit together in sorrow.

Brussels 2001

Wiebe regularly consults Doctor Rafels and Brigitte also ends up in the consulting room. There they reveal what’s really on their minds. Doubts arise about the exact cause of death of Ricky Van Genechten.

A mobile phone goes missing and the doctor is followed by a gray Citroën. Wiebe, Brigitte, Rafels together make the decision to dive into Brussels’ gay nightlife, with a view to making contact with Fernando and Abdelhak, two friends of Ricky when he was still alive. They make significant observations in the gay hospitality scene.

The search fails, although they manage to talk briefly with Fernando. He is found dead the next morning in his apartment, having died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

1976 Flanders

Brigitte returns to France, but as she leaves she remembers the unforgettable figure of Caroline Van Genechten, the paternal grandmother of the deceased Ricky. The figure of the father who wanted nothing to do with the child also emerges from the past: Victor Van Genechten.

2001 Threat

Dr. Rafels is impressed by the Hajja, a wise Islamic woman who predicts misfortune. Soon it appears that the general practitioner’s son has been kidnapped, in Doctor Rafels’ BMW, after a carjacking. Fortunately, the mother Hafida comes speeding around the corner in a Jaguar.

It comes to a car chase in which fish get caught in the crossfire. The child is found safe and sound, but the perpetrators remain unknown. The investigation brings new facts to light. Ricky died from a white powder and the autopsy report leaves little to the imagination.

The concierge saw a man go up the stairs the evening of Ricky’s presumed death. It can only be Abdelhak.

2001 Paris

Hafida, Rafels’ ex wants to go to Paris by force in an escape reaction and she takes the whole family in tow.

Wiebe travels after Rafels to search for Abdelhak in Paris, based on a loose hint from the late Fernando.

Wiebe and Rafels get lost in one of today’s decadent gay night temples. Upon their return to Brussels, two transvestites sit in the waiting room.

2001 Brussels hospital

Abdelhak is not found until one fine day he climbs into a crane only to jump off. His fall is broken by a car. At the hospital he is operated on and admitted. About the same time, Louis the neighborhood cop is admitted with heart spasm.

Wiebe and Rafels arrive late at the hospital. Rafels goes to Louis and Wiebe to Abdelhak, who has meanwhile been admitted to the sterile care unit, with sterile gowns and masks.

Louis is the victim of a disciplinary measure for alleged pedophilia and subsequently had a heart attack during a stress episode. He accuses Inspector Robeyns of being behind the false accusations.

Arriving at Abdelhak’s house, Wiebe sees a figure standing by the IV bar. This one has just injected a lethal fluid into Abdelhak’s IV and is holding Wiebe at gunpoint.
During the conversation they move away from the ward. They take the elevator down, but thanks to young nurses, Wiebe manages to outsmart his assailant. The latter is none other than Robeyns, the corrupt police inspector.

2001 Hospital Basement

A farcical chase ensues in the underground corridors of the hospital, during which various things are destroyed. Robeyns wants to arrest Wiebe, but he is admitted to emergency and then promptly left to his fate. The task now is to stop Abdelhak’s poisoned IV. Finally they manage to get a telephone connection with the ward, but the operator cannot make sense of the contradictory information, with a French and a Dutch term proving not to correspond.

Abdelhak is rescued and tells of his part in Ricky’s death and also that the latter contacted his father. There it stops briefly in the present tense.

2005 Courthouse

Years later, in the future tense, it comes to a major corruption trial, where Abdelhak must stand trial in a side branch of the proceedings. Meanwhile, he lives in the Netherlands with Wiebe, under probation. Brigitte also comes to Brussels.

At the reunion, Brigitte reveals that Ricky’s real father is not Victor Van Genechten, but Bernard Van Genechten, the minister. This leaks out. The media pay a lot of attention to this.

Ultimately, it was Bernard Van Genechten who made a deal with Robeyns to eliminate his biological son Ricky. The minister must resign. In the toilets of the Palace of Justice, a remarkable confrontation takes place between Brigitte and Caroline Van Genechten, the ancient grandmother.

Curious for more? The first episode will follow next week!