Episode 1.3
Written by Ann McManus, Maureen Chadwick & Liz Lake
Produced by Spencer Campbell
Directed by Ian Barnes
Back with her friends in Hope Springs, Shoo puts all thoughts of her double-crossing ex-boyfriend Nathan out of her head. The girls are delighted to have her back, but their idea to try to legitimately obtain new passports is proving trickier than expected. Oblivious to the fact that her business partners are only biding their time before they can leg it to Barbados, Sadie continues in her efforts to boost the hotel’s takings. She suggests that they cater for Gil and Ann Marie’s forthcoming wedding, an idea which leaves a bad taste in the girls’ mouths and certainly isn’t embraced by bride-to-be Ann Marie. In the meantime, there’s a new guest at the hotel, the decidedly awkward Mr Laing.
Nathan meets up with Marius and does a deal: a substantial amount of cash in exchange for the number of the mobile phone Shoo called him from. However, Nathan’s dreams of easy money come to a bloody end at Marius’s hands. Blissfully unaware of Nathan’s fate, Shoo refocuses her attentions on Dean. However, trouble comes calling when a jealous Ronan snaps after seeing them kiss. He brutally attacks Dean and only retreats when Josie hits him with a spade. As Shoo and Hannah tend to Dean’s injuries, Ellie fumes – they’re meant to be keeping their heads down. Convinced that Shoo’s fling with Dean is potentially problematic, Ellie orders her to break it off with him before she gets in too deep. Shoo’s devastated.
Shoo finds a mobile phone in Josie’s vegetable patch and innocently uses it to call Dean, not realising that it belongs to his missing brother, Billy. Unfortunately, her discovery has serious consequences as Dean’s phone rings while Gil is in the bar. He immediately arrests Dean and drags him down to the station, now convinced that he’s lying about not knowing Billy’s whereabouts. Ina is over the moon that Gil appears to be finally making progress in tracking down the prime suspect in her niece’s murder, unaware that her son and her husband are the only ones who really know where Billy can be found. Euan immediately realises that a third party must have stumbled across the phone and does his best to calm a jittery Ronan down – as long as the police remained convinced that Billy is on the run, they’re in the clear. However, Euan’s air of confidence slips when Ronan reveals that he left threatening messages on Billy’s phone.
There’s a shock in store when Josie finds the phone and, despite Shoo’s protests, hands it over to Ellie. However, it seems that the phone is the least of their worries when awkward guest Mr Laing turns out to be an Environmental Health Officer. Although he is overwhelmed with quite legitimate reasons to close the hotel down, Ellie suspects foul play. Her suspicions are proved correct when Mr Laing accepts a substantial bribe in exchange for a clean bill of health for the hotel. Euan is furious when this latest plot to close down the hotel falls through and resorts to confiding his ‘suspicions’ about Ellie’s background to Ann Marie. With Ellie distracted, Shoo steals the phone and, in an attempt to clear Dean’s name, anonymously hands it in at the police station. Ellie’s outraged by her stupidity – it’s got their DNA all over it!
For different reasons, Ellie and Euan are both desperate to get their hands on Billy’s phone. Fortunately, Ellie is that bit more organised and she and the girls manage to retrieve the phone from the police courier while Ronan lies in wait – oblivious – a bit further down the road. Gil can’t believe it when he hears the news and his reaction pricks Ellie’s conscience. While showing Gil the scene of the ‘accident’, she drops the SIM card from Billy’s phone so that a hugely relieved Gil finds it. Meanwhile, Euan is under the mistaken impression that Ronan was responsible for the theft of the phone and congratulates his son on a job well done. Ann Marie also has cause for celebration – she’s been playing detective and has discovered something very interesting about Ellie’s identity... or rather, her lack of one...