Hospital
Finn pleads with Karl to stop and leave his room, but Karl hasn't finished what he started in the last episode and continues to tell Finn to admit the truth. Eventually its Finn's yell (for Karl to get out) that does something when Clive rushes into the room demanding to know what is going on. "I want him to go," Finn tells Clive because "he's saying terrible things about me."

FINN: Please, just make him go now. PLEASE!

Calmly, Clive asks Karl to come with him and very reluctantly (and not without giving Finn a death stare) he walks out of the room with Clive and into the corridor.

Ramsay Street
Paul wants Ned to get the story pulled but he seems almost chuffed to say that its "too late," and tells Paul if he wants to help himself, he should help the police pin down Mel. "How do I know where she is!" Paul protests and the pair are told to calm down by the newly arrived Terese (and Piper).

With the ladies now there, Paul asks Ned again if he will retract the story but it's the same reply - no! Paul does his usual tactic and goes straight for the blackmail, threatening Ned's job at Lassiters. Piper is aghast at what he is planning on doing and tries to get Terese involved but she is trying not to get involved... however Paul forces her to, when he demands that she sacks Ned!

"If that's what it takes," a defiant Ned replies before he walks towards the front door, leaving Terese to go after Paul as he heads towards his car (he's off to see Amy to get the damage control plan started). "Were you serious about me sacking Ned?!" she asks him, and he is deadly serious!

TERESE: Look, I know what he did was stupid, but he really does believe that you were involved in the fire. I mean, are you sure you had no idea about Mel's plans about securing the garage?
PAUL: I didn't micromanage the woman!
TERESE: She was on your payroll!

Paul tries to turn the emotional screw on her by reminding her who the development is in memory of and pleads that he'd never do anything to jeopardise that. "No, of course not," she quietly replies; however, she wants a Plan B from him as she doesn't want to sack Ned, but the choices are either he's sacked, or the story is retracted.

PAUL: Simple as that!

The Waterhole
Despite her promise to butt out, Sheila can't but help interfere when Gary is telling Amy about a special date that he plans to take her on since everyone has been somewhat down because of Sonya's death.

GARY: Are you still keen or what?
AMY: Sure, as long as it doesn't involve Clive, Sheila and a closed door.

Turns out the date is to the ballet and they agree to meet back at the pub later, as she's got to see Paul first after he texted her asking to see her.

Number 22
Terese is trying to get Ned to have the story pulled because it's better for everyone, but he is refusing to back down. Piper isn't happy at her mum taking Paul's side either and neither sibling thinks Paul is innocent, despite what he said.

PIPER: (to Terese) Do you want to fire Ned?
TERESE: No, of course not!
PIPER: Then don't mum, you can't let Paul walk all over you like this. He's pulling at everyone's strings.

She bluntly reminds the pair that its her job as the GM to look after the investor's interests and "no-one wants this story leaked." Changing angle slightly, Piper asks surely Bea deserves to know the truth to be known. "Of course," she immediately replies but equally warns them both that they are "making a huge assumption about Paul's guilt."

TERESE: Publishing that bank statement won't prove anything, it's just going to stress everybody out including Bea. There's got to be another way that we can help her?

And right on cue, guess who appears - Bea and immediately wants to know what they want to help her with?

Hospital
"I couldn't swallow his act any longer," Karl tries to explain as he enters Clive's office.

KARL: I know it was rash.
CLIVE: Rash!!! Sorry, you mean utterly inappropriate and a giant breech of protocol.

Karl tries to remind Clive that Finn is "a genius at deception," including having Susan eating out of his hands despite what he did to her! Clive reminds Karl that as a board member, he is supposed "to be setting an example at all times." I was "just trying to get a reaction out of him," Karl explains, which amuses Clive since it isn't Karl's speciality.

CLIVE: This was completely reckless!

He reminds Karl too how precarious Finn's recover is, although Karl is still sceptical that "there's anything to recover from." "What am I supposed to do here?" Karl asks - does he let Finn keep living the "innocent fantasy until he attacks someone?" Clive has arranged for a specialist to see Finn, but they won't be arriving for a fortnight, and Karl thinks it's a waste of time because "he's putting it on."

CLIVE: A hunch is not a professional assessment and we've gone to great lengths to secure this expert.

Karl doesn't think one consultation will prove anything, but Clive is insistent that this specialist is their best way of making any headway with Finn by proving he is a fraud or recommending treatment.

CLIVE: Karl listen, the police cannot lay charges without a definitive diagnosis, which we can't provide without a psychiatric specialist. Your outburst jeopardises the whole process. You might walk in and find that Finn has completely shut down. Look, I understand this is an emotional situation for you, I get that, but from now on, you are to stay away from Finn.

Terese's office
As she walks into Terese's office with her dad, Amy summarises what Ned's theory is - that Heath knew about Mel starting the fire and Paul gave her money to buy his silence.

PAUL: I know, ridiculous.
AMY: If it's that ridiculous, then why is the paper so keen to run the story?

Amy isn't impressed to hear about the expense account that Mel had, especially given she is the project manager. Paul tries to justify her having one given she is a bona fide real estate agent and didn't think he needed to give her any guidelines on what to spend the money on. He adds that he was happy enough if she wanted to induce folk into giving up their property.

AMY: Right, so you hinted she use the money for bribes then you kept things vague, so you'd have plausible deniability?

"You can't run a project like that," she tells him, but he accuses her of being naive, "it's the business that we're in."

PAUL: I just didn't expect her to set fire to the garage!
AMY: They can't hang you for a bank statement, can they?
PAUL: Yes, except it shows a $10,000 withdrawal on exactly the same day that Mel allegedly paid Heath the bribe.
AMY: You'll look like you were in on it.

Paul's plan is for them to generate a formal response that distances Robinson Pines from Mel. Realising the grave situation, Amy decides she will need to change her plans to help come up with that response.

Hospital
"Not my finest moment," is Karl's polite way of describing what happened with Finn as he chats with David (its all-round the hospital apparently). He still has the daunting task of telling Susan what he did, and he knows already that she won't be happy!!!

Finn is still in a somewhat agitated state when David calls in (Karl asked him to). He is staring at a mirror, shocked to realise that he is actually middle aged, especially when he doesn't remember anything. "There's still every chance that you'll get those memories back," David reassures him with, however refuses to confirm the allegations Karl told Finn. "Why not?!" Finn demands, he just wants answers, and nobody is talking to him, so David calmly explains that they need to wait until his assessment is completed, however frustrating it is appearing to be.

Number 22
While grateful to what Ned is doing for her, Bea doesn't want him to lose his job.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Piper is reminding her mum of the 'chocolate chat' they had and how bad 'chocolate' was for her! "The situation has changed," Terese points out... "its not all bad."

PIPER: It is when you know you can't stop at one or two pieces. Instead, you end up gorging yourself on the whole block, then you get sick and you can't think straight, and you do stupid things like thinking about firing someone that you shouldn't.
TERESE: I'm not firing Ned.
PIPER: Oh really?!

Terese gives her back a look that backs up that statement, so Piper asks what if Paul pushes? Terese doesn't reply, so Piper acknowledges that she isn't "giving up chocolate," so warns her mum take to go easy.

PIPER: I don't want you making the mistake of thinking that its good for you when you know deep down it isn't.

Lassiters car park
Paul is after an update from Terese about Ned when they meet up. She confirms that she couldn't get him to change his mind... and that she isn't sacking him either.

TERESE: He's my employee, I'll decide what I do with him.

Paul isn't happy she isn't falling into line with him, but Terese is siding with the truth, and is confident he isn't telling her everything. While she doesn't think he was involved in the fire, he's not explained what was in Mel's files he didn't want finding.

TERESE: It's as if you knew there was something in there that would implicate you. Look, just because we're a couple, don't expect blind loyalty when you're not being completely honest.

Paul confirms that he did want the files removed, simply so he could be on the front foot - so he could have an untainted development that would be worthy of his father.

PAUL: Can't you see, I can't let it fail.
TERESE: Well if your conscious is really clean, you need to talk to the real victim in all of this - Bea.

The Waterhole
Paul is happy with what Amy has done so far and she plans on heading home to work more on it... once she breaks it to the newly arrived Gary (who swaps places with Paul) that she can't go to the ballet with him and since he can't change the tickets, suggests taking Sheila instead.

Meanwhile, Paul has done what Terese suggested and arranged to chat with Bea. He begins by saying what happened at the garage was "truly regrettable," and wants her to accept he'd nothing to do with it. "You're hardly innocent," she reminds him given the bank account he opened for Mel. Paul acknowledges that he should have kept a better rein on Mel, given her determination to get sales, but never guessed she'd do what she did.

PAUL: I'm really, really sorry for what she put you through.

Bea looks almost stunned that he is apologising to her, but then asks why that was hard for him to do?

PAUL: Because it's not something I do very often.
BEA: Well I guess when you do, it's for real.

Paul admits what Mel did was "a wakeup call," he is going to have to reassess the way forward after being fixated on the expansion core plans. "Good luck with that," she replies and agrees to his plea to try and change Ned's mind about the article.

(Later)

Sheila accepts Amy's idea (via Gary) for her to go instead to the ballet since she now can't make it.

Meanwhile, Ned isn't happy that Bea is trying to get him to pull the story and wants to know what "sob story" Paul pulled on her! "He swears he was innocent," she replies and that he apologised for not keeping a closer eye on Mel too. "I believed him," and thinks Ned will feel awful if he punishes the wrong person by continuing with his plan.

NED: You really think he had nothing to do with it?
BEA: YES! Call up the Star and cancel the story and then we can move on from all of this.
NED: Even if it means not finding Mel?
BEA: Let's just hope that the cops catch up with her sooner or later.

Her plea has been in vein though, Ned gets an alert from the West Warratah Star to say that the story is online.

Harold's Café
Paul is reading the front page headline in the Star (Pines boss linked to fire) when Karl comes into the café. He hands over "Tim Collins latest in-depth character assassination" headlined paper to Karl after he wondered why Paul was so glum. The bit that is really hurting Paul is that they've got a picture of Jim on the front page too and remarks that he's "brought shame on the whole family."

KARL: I know how that feels!

Karl tells Paul about him behaving unethically with Finn earlier and that they are waiting for a specialist, who isn't due for another two weeks. "So, you need an expert?" Paul enquires, and Karl replies yes but is going to have to be patient and try and stay away from Finn.

We can sense Paul has a plan from the facial expressions he is giving out!

Number 22
Terese is reading the online version of the article when Paul arrives in the backyard. She tries to reassure him that the article is pure speculation, it doesn't apparently mention any crimes being committed, much to Paul's annoyance so he can sue Tim! As with what he said to Karl, Paul tells her about his annoyance over the whole thing. "You've just got to let it go," she urges him, but he can't, as he feels he isn't doing Jim's memory proud any more. "You will", she tries to reassure him with before becoming bemused when Paul talks about Karl's woes with Finn. He explains that it's connected to someone from his past and that he wouldn't mind seeing them too.

Hospital
Karl is telling Clive about his conversation with Paul (over the delay in getting a specialist to see Finn), and he's passed on the number of a neurologist that specialises in retrograde amnesia who is available. Clive asks Karl to email him the details and as they approach Finn's room, they notice the door ajar and the patient (and the guard) missing!

Just at that moment, David walks past from the opposite direction and Karl asks if he's seen Finn (no) and at that point the police guard casually walks towards the door too.

KARL: He's gone!

Coming up on Neighbours
- Elly asking how Mark is doing and getting the brunt of Aaron's frustration.
- Terese and Leo trying to reach an understanding.
- Chloe trying to justify herself to her mum.
- Elly meeting Mark and looking for confirmation if they are over?