Episode 7058

Extended Summary

Dean is standing on the beach. Willow joins him and Dean expresses surprise at her being out by herself. She asks him how he is and he says he’s okay but Willow isn’t convinced. She asks if he’s spoken to anyone and Dean snaps that he can’t just ring someone up and start talking about a murder. At school, Maggie finds Bella in the corridor. Bella says Mr Cunningham wouldn’t let her go to the toilet without putting her hand up. Maggie lets her go now, giving her directions.

Colby hails Dean and Willow outside the surf club. Willow quietly tries to get Dean to talk to him. Colby tells them about Robbo taking off. He tries to get rid of Willow, then tells Dean that McCarthy has a lead on Ross. Willow asks if they’ve got their story straight. Colby glares at Dean, who admits she knows. Willow sends Dean to put his board away and tells Colby they need to talk. They head back to the flat where Willow tells Colby Dean is struggling. Colby is worried what he’ll say if McCarthy brings him in. Willow says Dean needs to be a priority and Colby agrees to talk to him.

Raffy complains to Ryder that she brought the wrong textbooks and tells him about Justin and Tori not letting her on the trial. Ryder reminds her it’s the first day and no-one knows what they’re doing. They find Bella outside the principal’s office and she notes her and school don’t seem to get on. Maggie calls her inside and notes Bella has Maths with her next. She says Mr Cunningham has agreed to make allowances for her situation but Bella needs to play her part and follow the same rules as everyone else. Bella says one of those rules is she’s allowed recess. Maggie lets her go.

Dean returns to the flat. Colby doesn’t know if McCarthy’s found Ross but says if he has then it’s his problem. He asks how Dean is and Dean realises Willow spoke to him. Colby says Dean should have come to him. Dean asks if he ever thinks about it and Colby says no, because Ross is where he belongs. Dean isn’t keen on letting Colby take the blame but Colby says he’ll need Dean to look after Bella. Colby goes to the police station and is met by McCarthy who shows him into the interview room, still set up with a board about Colby’s parents’ murder. McCarthy apologetically says he meant to move it. Colby says it’s okay.

Ryder follows Raffy into the corridor and asks her why she walked out of class. Raffy is panicking that she’s going to have a seizure and sinks to her knees, struggling to breathe. Ryder helps her lie down. In a nearby classroom, Maggie has given Bella’s class worksheets to refresh them on what they did in Year 10. She asks Bella if there’s anything she doesn’t understand and Bella admits all of it, prompting sniggers from the class. Maggie starts to explain quadratic equations to her until Bella asks to have a go on her own. Ryder enters and tells Maggie about Raffy; she hurries off with him. The girl next to Bella, Imogen, complains about another tragic disrupting things and mocks Bella’s lack of knowledge. Bella storms out.

Colby asks McCarthy if he’s found Ross. McCarthy says not exactly, checking that Ross was driving a blue Ford and then showing Colby photos of the burnt-out car. Colby asks about forensics and McCarthy says any evidence was incinerated and the plates removed. Colby calls it less of a breakthrough and more of a dead end. McCarthy argues that Ross is unlikely to have had a second getaway car or destroyed his only means of escape, so they’re missing something. At the gym, Dean has a go at Willow for talking to Colby about him. He says no-one can do anything: He sees Ross all the time and this must be what it was like for Karen. Willow tells him to deal with it. Dean asks how.

John and Marilyn arrive at the school where Maggie, Raffy and Ryder are waiting in the corridor. Raffy is feeling silly for getting herself into a state. Maggie suggests she go home and come back refreshed tomorrow. Ryder jokingly pretends it applies to him too. After Raffy has left with John and Marilyn, Imogen appears and tells Maggie that Bella has gone awol. Near the surf club, Dean looks at Colby’s contact details but doesn’t call him. He sees Bella who thinks he’s going to tell Colby she’s wagging. Dean says it was the only thing he was good at and it’s not her fault that she’s behind. Bella says that doesn’t change the fact that she is and it wasn’t meant to be like this: She was meant to go to the city with Colby and Chelsea and do the bridging course, but Ross messed it up. She notes she can’t talk to Colby about it. Dean says she can always download to him.

Colby tells McCarthy he chased Ross for 15-20 minutes then lost sight of him, suggesting he went down a side road. McCarthy says the road’s straight and Colby says it was more of a track. McCarthy tries to get him to show him on a map and Colby snaps that he wasn’t taking notes. McCarthy softens, saying he wants to find Ross to give Colby’s family some peace but they’re just waiting for him to make a mistake. Colby notes he’s good at disappearing. He gets a call from Maggie and goes and tracks Dean and Bella down. Bella doesn’t want to go back to school but Colby says it isn’t optional. Dean asks about “the other thing”; Colby says it isn’t a problem yet and they’ll talk later.

Colby and Bella arrive at the school and meet Maggie. She isn’t going to do anything but says it can’t happen again. Bella says no promises and wanders off. Colby wonders if she might be better off with a private tutor but Maggie thinks she’ll catch up better in a school environment and admits to letting her down. She goes into the office and calls someone about the support teacher. At Salt, Dean is propping up the bar when Karen appears with Willow. She sits down next to Dean, orders a lemonade and says she heard he might need her.