4962: A surprise arrest is made

Having ascertained that Charlie's alibi, partly provided by Xavier, was contrived, Robertson wastes little time in acting on the information. He arrests Ruby for impeding the investigation and takes her in for an interview. Charlie is furious with this development and sits in on proceedings with Morag.

Ruby holds out for some time, before admitting that she and Xavier fabricated the alibi. Robertson decides not to charge her, but is quick to suspend Charlie from work and organise searches on Leah and Irene's homes in search of further evidence.

Robertson and Angelo also pay Ross a visit and search his Nursing home room. Ross is distraught to learn that Charlie has become Robertson's number one suspect, but there's little he can do but co-operate with the police. When the day is done, Robertson makes a surprise arrest over Grant Bledcoe's murder.

Xavier is despondent. While everyone tells him he's done the right thing by telling the truth, he sees himself as a dobber who has sold out on his girlfriend and made things worse for Charlie. He's still full of self loathing when he comes across Ruby in the Diner with Geoff.

Their relationship, already shaky, takes a nosedive as a distraught Ruby demands to know why he did what he did. Xavier tells her about the pressure Robertson put him under, but Ruby doesn't buy it.

Seeing Geoff comforting Ruby, a jealous Xavier comes clean. Robertson told him that Ruby was using him and seeing her here with Geoff, Ruby shouldn't need to ask why Xavier eventually caved in. Ruby's stung and his outburst doesn't make Xavier feel any better either.

The fight between Martha and John to win a seat on the local council is heating up and the day for their public debate is at hand. Martha, slow to hit her stride on the campaign trail, has now settled on her policies and warms up by running her speech by Colleen, who is very impressed.

Martha is buoyant as she arrives for the debate, but becomes despondent when the crowd starts to roll in. There are very few women present and Colleen reckons John has stacked the meeting with his own cronies.

Martha becomes dispirited, especially when Leah, Charlie, Gina and Xavier haven't even shown up by the time the debate is about to start. Hugo's there, and Martha's pleased by that, but he's grossly out-numbered by John's supporters. John's speech goes down well with the boaties and fishermen that make up much of the audience. And Martha is nervous as she gets up to say her bit. Her spirits are lifted when she sees Gina and Xavier arrive.

Hecklers give Martha a hard time initially, but she wins some respect for the way she handles them and then garners warm applause for her earthy well grounded policies. The debate is close, but at the end of the day it seems Martha has bragging rights.