Episode 7265

Extended Summary

Colby goes back up to the flat; Bella is lying on the couch while Robbo comes out of his room to make up a bottle. Colby asks how Bella is while Bella asks where he went. Colby doesn’t answer, instead suggesting they go down to the Diner for lasagne. Bella complains, asking if there’s anything else. Colby says they’ve got cheese and toast and Robbo offers to make up a bottle for her. Bella gives in and, with a lot of groans, gets off the sofa and heads downstairs. Robbo asks Colby what that was about but he is saved from answering when Grace starts crying. At Salt, Mackenzie has returned and she, Ryder and Jade are all snowed under. Ryder tries to talk to Mackenzie, and also to get Jade to talk to her, but Mackenzie says it can wait if it’s not urgent.

Alf is sat on the back patio and comments to Martha that Leah’s been gone three days now and they still haven’t had any contact. Martha offers to get him a cuppa. At the surf club, John and Ben examine one of the Missing posters and speculate on what’s happening. Ben is snowed under getting the board shop set up but thinks the workload will lessen soon when Dean comes back. John is less convinced. Ryder and Jade come downstairs. Ryder tries to go back up. Realising he’s going to talk to Mackenzie, Jade promises to tell her first thing and gets him to walk her home.

Colby is on the balcony of the Diner flat. Robbo joins him, having settled Grace, and Colby tells him Bella has gone to bed and about Mackenzie’s theory about Bella faking being sick. Robbo says Colby knows her better than him. Colby admits Bella can be manipulative but points out she’s been in hospital and Alex said it was the after effect of immunisations. Despite Robbo asking why Mackenzie would say it, Colby concludes Bella wouldn’t do it. Next morning, Ryder turns up at Salt where Jade is working, to support her when she tells Mackenzie. He calls Mackenzie over and tries to prompt Jade to tell her. When she instead tries to change the subject, Ryder tells Mackenzie that Jade’s been stealing from Salt. Mackenzie tells them to wait there. Jade tells Ryder he’ll regret this.

Colby is cleaning his board on the beach. Mackenzie approaches, saying she thought he’d be there. Colby isn’t interested in discussing Bella but Mackenzie says it’s not about him: She wants to report a crime. Soon after, a uniformed Colby is escorting Jade from the surf club to a police car. Bella joins Ryder watching and asks what he did. Ryder, somewhat shocked, says he got Jade arrested. Bella, amused, notes he’s dumped. Ryder explains he told Mackenzie she was stealing, expecting she’d tell her off, not call the police. Bella says Mackenzie’s a cow and thinks she did it to spend time with Colby.

Martha finds Alf on the wharf and tells him Irene’s gone to see the liaison officer to ask for information. Alf notes he could have used one of those himself a few years back. Martha apologises for what she put him through. Alf says he read that the chances of finding someone reduces significantly if they’re missing for 48 hours and halves each week thereafter. He says Martha coming back was a miracle and he’s not expecting to get another one. Meanwhile, Colby leads Jade into the police station and says he needs her to make a statement. She declines his offer to call someone. They go into the interview room where she starts talking.

Roo finds Martha sat outside the house. Irene has told them there’s no activity on Leah’s back account or phone. Martha admits that witnessing this has made her realise the pain her disappearing caused Alf and Roo. She says she has an idea for Alf and needs Roo’s opinion. Later, Alf comes home and finds packed bags on the table, wondering what’s going on. Roo and Martha tell him that he and Martha are going away for a couple of weeks. Roo says she can call him if there’s any news on Leah. Alf realises he doesn’t have any choice and accepts it.

Jade meets Ryder by the beach. They apologise simultaneously; Jade says he did the right thing and Ryder says he didn’t expect Mackenzie to take it that far. Jade says Colby was nice but if Mackenzie doesn’t drop the case she’ll get a criminal record. She says she regrets that it came between them, kisses and hugs him…then, out of his view, her face hardens and she wipes away the tears. They go back to her caravan and she pushes him down on the bed as they kiss and undress. While Ryder is taking his shoes off, Jade sets up a phone on a shelf overlooking the bed, then they resume kissing.

Bella storms into the surf club and calls Mackenzie desperate for always calling Colby. Mackenzie says Bella can fool her brother, her friends and her doctor but doesn’t fool her. She also points out Bella claims to be about family loyalty but is lying to Colby, asking what sort of sister that makes her. Robbo watches from near the juice bar. Later, Bella arrives back at the flat, rather loudly. Robbo tells her to keep it down and Bella claims babies need to get used to external noise; Robbo says he’ll run that one by Jasmine when she gets home. He notes he saw her with Mackenzie. Bella calls her a vile witch but Robbo is convinced Bella isn’t sick and says lying to her loved ones never ends well. Bella snaps that it isn’t his house so he should get on with sterilising bottles for his “stupid baby”. She goes to her room, slamming the door and waking Grace.

Roo comes into Salt and asks Ryder how he did on his HSC. Ryder says he’s been too busy to look, but after a bit of pushing he agrees to check during his break. To Mackenzie’s amusement, Roo settles at the bar with a book and asks for a cocktail. Colby enters and says he needs Ryder to come down the station with him, suggesting Roo comes for support. Ryder says if it’s about making a statement against Jade then that was a misunderstanding. Colby says it’s not. At the station, he shows the pair into the interview room and suggests Roo might want to wait outside, since it’s an intimate issue. Roo is prepared to but Ryder says she can stay. On a laptop, Colby shows them a video of Ryder and Jade getting intimate that afternoon. Ryder says they made up after a fight and he didn’t know it was being recorded. Colby says Jade’s accused him of uploading it without her consent. He says it’s a serious charge and he should get a lawyer. Left alone, Roo assures Ryder she believes him. Ryder wonders what he’s going to do.

Robbo is walking up the steps to the Diner flat, on the phone to Jasmine discussing dinner. After ringing off, he checks through post which includes a hand-delivered large envelope marked “Ryan Shaw”. In it, he finds a piece of paper with the ouroboros symbol on it and Lance’s blood-stained police badge…