Dana (Ally Harris) has been skating on thin ice as she’s worked to expose new housemate Bronte (Stefanie Caccamo) as a con woman, as everyone else in Summer Bay falls for her charms.
Bronte’s supposed terminal illness has seen Irene take her into her home, and been the cause of a crowdfunding campaign to raise $100,000 for a medical trial in Canada.
Bronte had quickly jumped on the bandwagon when she heard a customer was suing the diner following benzine poisoning, claiming to have also been affected, with Irene encouraging her to also sue in order to add to her funds.
The plan backfired when Irene learned that the insurance company were unwilling to pay out, and whilst Bronte and the other customer dropped the lawsuits, Irene offered to gift $50k out of her own pocket instead.
Diner co-owner Leah (Ada Nicodemou) later came on board, with the ladies splitting the donation into $25k each, much to Dana’s concern.
Confronting Bronte once again, suggesting that she was faking the whole thing, Bronte didn’t even try to deny it, instead coldly telling her to prove it.
With Irene, sister Harper (Jessica Redmayne) and boyfriend Xander (Luke Van Os) all refusing to entertain Dana’s concerns, Dana enlisted Bree (Juliet Godwin) to help her do some digging at the hospital.
A statewide search for Bronte’s medical records proved that no such person existed.
Hearing about Dana’s meddling, Bronte finally decided it was time to take drastic action, and after putting in a call to accomplice Chase (Joshua Mehmet), the pair kidnapped Dana from the Beach House.
Next week, Bronte has to think on her feet as people begin to question Dana’s whereabouts. Xander is particularly worried when he hears that Dana has gone away without telling anyone.
When Bronte claims that she took a call from Dana at the Beach House, who explained that she was on a silent retreat with no phones allowed, alarm bells begin to ring for Xander.
“Dana? Silent?” John (Shane Withington) questions when Xander tells him where Dana apparently is, thinking it sounds most out of character.
Xander also comments that barely anyone uses landlines now, so why could Dana be calling the one at the Beach House?
In fact, Dana’s trying to be anything but silent, locked in a shipping container in the middle of the bush!
Meanwhile, Bronte is on the home stretch. Leah’s half of the money has been transferred into the crowdfunding account, whilst Irene’s will be along in 24 hours. Chase is urging her to cut her losses and run, but Bronte is determined to stick it out for a few more hours.
When the money does eventually come through, Bronte considers sticking around even longer when Leah points out they would be able to raise the full $100k within the week…
Overhearing John and Xander talking, Bree admits that she was the one who had helped Dana search for Bronte’s medical records, and as the three begin to put together the evidence, they realise that Dana could well have been telling the truth about Bronte’s deceit.
They take their suspicions to Rose (Kirsty Marillier), who agrees to talk to Bronte. Heading to the Beach House with Constable Hendricks, Rose questions Bronte on Dana’s whereabouts, pointing out she’ll be able to look up the phone records, and also queries the lack of medical records.
Bronte is sure it must be a mistake, but as Rose explains she’s happy to wait as Bronte finds her own copies, Bronte feigns a dizzy spell.
Rose reluctantly leaves, telling Bronte to bring her paperwork down to the station asap. However, when John and Xander then see Bronte heading off somewhere in Irene’s car, they decide to follow.
Back at the container, Dana concocts a plan to escape by stuffing some old sacks with straw, made to look like she’s asleep.
As Chase enters and approaches the sacks, Dana jumps out from behind the door and hits him over the head with a jerry can, successfully managing to escape the container.
As John and Xander follow Bronte’s route along a dirt track, Chase is living up to his name as he runs after Dana.
Bronte isn’t impressed when she arrives to find the container empty, and when she tracks down Chase, the two split up to find Dana who is hiding amongst the grounds of some formal gardens.
They cannot let her escape, Bronte reminds Chase; Dana knows too much!
When John and Xander arrive on the scene, they hear Chase and Bronte calling out for Dana. Xander runs off in pursuit whilst John calls Rose at the station.
Dana’s relieved when she runs into Xander, but Bronte and Chase soon come across them. Their threats are futile though, as they hear the sound of approaching police sirens.
Bronte and Chase hotfoot it back to the car, but John manages to stall them long enough for Rose and her fellow officers to show up, who promptly arrest Bronte and Chase.
Dana’s ordeal finally over, it’s John that she embraces instead of Xander.
Back at the station, Dana is particularly frosty with Xander as she asks why he didn’t believe her—pointing out that he trusted a perfect stranger over his own girlfriend.
All Xander can do is apologise, but will that be enough for Dana?
Meanwhile, Irene is shocked when Leah tells her that Dana is safe and that Bronte has been arrested. When Irene heads to the station, Bronte momentarily believes she is there to help her, but Irene soon lets rip.
“You are a disgrace,” Irene snaps as Bronte is led to the cells. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
An unrepentant Bronte turns the tables back on Irene however, with a cutting remark.
“You want someone to blame?” she tells her. “Blame yourself. All I needed was a stupid old woman, gullible enough to believe me…and I found you.”
Irene is broken, and whilst Dana is able to forgive her, it doesn’t appear that Irene’s is in any hurry to forgive herself for blindly putting her friends at risk…
