Alex's good nature makes him an enemy. The man who killed Kelly's father 15 years ago has been released from prison and is in town to tend to his dying mother. A wall of sympathy and police solidarity is thrown up around Kelly. Tom takes steps to run the released killer out of town, but Alex earns the resentment of his colleagues by treating the man fairly.

The paddock at the lonely Biden farm has revealed the remains of three more murder victims, all teenage girls. Charlie Biden has already admitted to killing one, and is clearly the murderer of the others. His wife, Marie, frustratingly takes the high moral ground, until Charlie dies violently in custody, obviously by means of Marie. Mark takes the blame for this death as well and spins further into despair.

An after-hours robbery of the Imperial Hotel is interrupted by the publican, Chris Riley. There is a struggle in the darkened bar, and Chris is left with a badly cut hand and a young female robber in a coma from a blow to the head.

Mark agonises over his actions after his pursuit of a suspect ends in the young offender's death. His failure to protect himself against a physical threat from another offender is noticed by Susie, who starts to have doubts about his ability to do his job.