There is unexpected fallout from the deaths of Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) and Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths), with Emmerdale locals taking the fall for their illegal businesses.
Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb) is one such victim, whom Celia cleverly set up to be the fall guy for the entire operation. Moira is blindsided to find herself the centre of the police’s investigations and is ultimately arrested under suspicion of being the trafficking ring mastermind.
Next on the list is Jai Sharma (Chris Bisson). Initially, the investigation centres around the Depot being used to courier drugs. This is not a new allegation, having first surfaced months ago after Ray forced Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) into learning to drive so that he could become the delivery man.
Nothing was found at the Depot at the time, but the enquiry was never closed. Now the police are back to dig for more evidence of law-breaking.
But things take a huge twist when Ray’s body is found inside one of the vans. Jai, Caleb Milligan (Will Ash) and Billy (Jay Kontzle) are shocked to learn of his dead body, and now the police investigation takes a dark turn for Jai – he was one of the last ones to use the van and must now provide a timeline of his use of it.
When the police leave, Caleb asks Jai if there’s something he needs to confess. Jai maintains his innocence, claiming that Celia must have killed Ray. Caleb is not convinced.
The next day, DC Stewart asks Caleb if there’s any connection between Ray and Jai, and Caleb reveals that Jai and Laurel were once together and have since been divorced. Suddenly there is a possible motive for Jai wanting Ray dead.
Laurel doesn’t help matters when questioned by DS Walsh. She implies that Jai might have been jealous of their relationship, though she tries to assert that Jai would never have killed him.
The damage is done and Jai is hoiked in for questioning, which gets the gossip mongers’ tongues wagging – Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler) begins to speculate to Laurel if Jai did in fact kill Ray.
The questioning worries Jai as he realises how bad things look. As he returns to the village, he is the centre of suspicion, and as he gets defensive in the pub. But he has his own theories on who might be behind Ray’s demise, and he points them out publicly to the Woolpack – he names April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) and Dylan as the killers.
Is Jai just out to save his own skin, or does he have something on these two that he’ll be sharing with the police?
