Series 1, Episode 2
It’s early morning in Kirkdarroch. There are ribbons tied to lampposts; teddy bears and condolence cards outside the burned-out house.
Teenager DYLAN walks through the town in just his underpants – still high as a kite.
Jess and Steve collect Tom from hospital and drive him to Ruth & Callum’s. There, Collins and Darlington ask Tom to talk through everything leading up to the fire. Tom’s adamant that his and Kate’s relationship was fine. They were a normal happy family with the usual ups and downs – we catch a charged look between Jess and Tom.
At the station, Steve looks through mobile phone footage from Tom’s phone. In one video, Tom stares dead eyed into the camera. It chills Steve. Dylan raids the lost property box for clothes – he lost his bike a few nights ago as well.
At the IVF clinic, Jess has some embryos implanted. Three of them – just like the girls… Steve suggests she skip the funerals, but Jess is determined to go.
A handful of mourners gather at Kate’s funeral – including SASHA who it’s clear Tom isn’t pleased to see. Sasha remarks that Tom was always good at putting on a show – which is something Jess knows all too well…
We see the night Tom & Jess had sex. How he gently, but purposefully seduced her. Made her feel comfortable enough to discuss a failed IVF attempt, her tricky relationship with Steve. How she felt alone.
Intercut with this, we see the girls’ funeral. The town has come out in force, including Sandra and new boyfriend LUKE. Tom delivers a eulogy to a packed out church. But to Jess, with every moment that passes, Tom appears more and more to be a man playing a role – portraying an image rather than being an actual grieving father. She can’t shake her doubt.
A patch of ground near the school is being turned into a memorial garden – four rosebushes planted – for Kate and each of the girls.
Kate is cut out of the pictures shown at the wake; her rosebush is ripped up and vandalized.
Jess contacts Sasha – who admits she was also coerced into having sex with Tom. Tom hated people coming in-between him and Kate. They both realise that there was something violent about sex with Tom. Something controlling.
Jess realizes she has to come clean to Steve. When she does, Steve is cold – he tells her that Tom is their prime suspect and leaves the room.
Steve spots something in the photos of the crime scene – Dylan’s bike.
Desperate to know the truth, Jess drives Tom to his mother’s house – a farm out in the country. His mother, Carol struggles with talking about it all… how can you even comprehend it?
Tom has a bath and leaves the door open. He knows Jess can see. In his room, Jess confronts Tom, willing him to tell her what really happened. Tom simply drops his towel – a clear power move – and asks, ‘what do you want, Jess?’
Dylan recounts what he saw that night to Collins and Darlington – Emily running through the forest and her father, Tom, dragging her back in.
At the farmhouse, Jess gets a call from Steve – ‘It’s him’. Jess steels herself. Tom gives her a hug as she leaves. As police cars race toward the farm, Jess drives, in complete shock, toward the only place she can think to go.
Jess collects Kate’s rosebush and plants it on the cliff overlooking the beach. Jess curls around the bedraggled plant, the only thing she’s got to remember her lost best friend.
We see Emily running through the woods once more, but it’s not Tom who grabs her. It’s Kate.