Paula has been a victim of crime twice in one day and it sure is no coincidence. Unknown to her, she has evidence of a certain prestigious businessman involved in a dodgy deal which has led to murder.
Summary for last week:
Monday 09 October
George arrives early at Jan Hendrik and Dezi’s place and shows them the offer that Robyn made. They are as shocked as George about the high offer made but break it to him that it does not make business sense to invest so much money into KDL, it’s just not worth it. George is frustrated because he won’t be able to handle the financing by himself and expresses his dislike for Robyn just as Madel comes downstairs.
Not sure why Madel had that look on her face when George was speaking about Robyn.
Aggie comes to an untidy mess at the Times’ offices and thinks Paula and Altie went crazy with loving, Paula vehemently denies it and she realizes that her files are all over the place. It dawns on Paula that their offices have been burgled but funny enough, nothing seems to have been stolen.
Charmaine goes to visit Stefan in prison. What is it with Charmaine and prison, first her husband, then she landed up there and now Stefan who’s become a very dear friend to her. Stefan seems to be adapting to prison life and tells Charmaine he’s being transferred to Kimberley the following day, to be nearer to his brother. He thanks her for coming to visit and tells her to keep an eye on Vanessa.
Nellie goes to the Boekwinkel to try and work while the police are busy at the Times’ offices. He tries to get a hold of Mr Vermaak again and is told he’s not available. His personal assistant informs Nellie that Mr Vermaak is in Australia and will soon be emigrating there.
Later, Nellie gets a call from Trevor, his contact in East London. Trevor tells him that the Imnyama Bay land is pristine wetlands and that Mr Vermaak will never agree to development on that land since he’s very much into the environment. It would appear that Mr Vermaak is not in Australia and Trevor can’t understand where Nellie’s getting his information from.
Altus is stressing about Robyn taking over and changing things at KDL when the lady herself walks in and tells George they need to celebrate their new partnership. She invites him and Karien to dinner and request George to make reservations. She’s handling George like a puppet on a string and Altus is not impressed.
Aggie deletes Paula’s fictitious article about the break-in and tells her to concentrate on Matrone’s article. They both start looking for the bend-and-stretch pictures but the file is nowhere to be found.
Xander and Charmaine discuss Stefan being in prison and Vanessa overhears her mother saying that Stefan is more concerned about Vanessa than himself. This prompts Vanessa to go visit him in prison and he’s surprised but delighted to see her.
The girls are all on their way out, Karien and George are going out with Robyn, Alyce is on her way to the club and Paula and Altie are going on a date. Alyce reminds Paula to lock the flat and this is exactly what Altus did as he and Paula left kissing.
A figure appears at the staircase and it’s the same burglar who broke into the Times’ offices. He breaks into the flat and trashes the place in his search for Paula’s camera.
Vanessa tells Stefan that she feels totally dead inside, she’s unable to forgive him as yet but hopefully that will change in the future. She reaches out to take his hand but pulls back, not ready yet to make that kind of connection.
Alyce and Paula return home and Alyce scolds Paula for leaving the place a mess after her passionate night with Altie. These people really think Paula is into wild, passionate love making, it’s the second reference made to that in one episode.
Paula obviously denies she’s to blame and refers to Aggie also making the same accusations that morning when in fact it was a burglary. She suddenly realises the same thing has happened, somebody has broken into their flat and it is no coincidence.
Tuesday 10 October
Hilda, Maria and Oom Oubaas are early at the girls’ flat to discuss the break-in of the previous night. They can’t understand why somebody would break in without stealing anything. Later when Paula leaves for work, she hurries back to the flat because she forgot her camera but the camera is nowhere to be found.
Dezi tells Jan Hendrik how disappointed she is about not being George’s partner. Just then Madel enters and asks who Robyn De Swardt is but she does not know the woman. Later, Madel sticks her nose into JH and Dezi’s marriage once again when she questions him about investing his money into Dezi’s business interests.
Matrone confronts Aggie about her article that has still not been published, she tells her to relay the message to Paula. At the Times’ offices Aggie tries to get Paula started with Matrone’s article but they can’t seem to find the file in which the bend-and-stretch photos were in.
Vince approaches Tokkie to tell him how excited Marko is that he can still be part of the deal. Tokkie tells them to hustle with the cash before they miss out on this deal as well.
Inge has taken the bull by the horns when she tells Tokkie that she has decided to quit so that she’ll be able to finish at the end of the month. She’s also waiting on Tokkie to give her the green light before she gives notice at her flat. Inge’s full of plans for her future with Tokkie but his smile does not look convincing. Will he really disappoint Inge a second time?
Robyn rocks up at KDL all hyped about starting work. She tells George they have to brainstorm ideas for her party where they’ll announce their new partnership to the media. She makes some remarks about there not being enough space for her desk. Altus and George are not one bit impressed about their cosy setup being abruptly changed by the devious smiling Robyn De Swardt.
Felicity and Xander are smooching in the Deli and Vince is totally put off. He’s sarcastic and cold towards Felicity and when she leaves, Xander has a word with his brother. The two brothers eventually make peace but one can see that Vince is really cut up about Felicity. Too late brother, what goes around comes around!
Paula is just about ready to leave for the day when Aggie stops her, telling her to finish her flower exhibition article. Paula makes up all kind of excuses telling Aggie to write it instead. Just then Nellie walks in and tells Paula in no uncertain terms to finish her article otherwise she can go job hunting at Oppiekoffie. She has no choice but to stay behind alone.
Mandla and Nellie meet for drinks and Nellie thanks Mandla for his report on the Montague murder thus far. Mandla says there’s something about the case which is bugging him, all the facts does not add up but he can’t put his finger on it.
Mr Vermaak’s receptionist phones Nellie to tell him that Mr Vermaak is an old man in his eighties and does not know what’s going on around him. His assistant Ms Maree, has been lying about Mr Vermaak emigrating to Australia.
Paula has finished her article and is reading it aloud when suddenly the masked burglar grabs her from behind demanding to know where her memory card is.
Wednesday 11 October
Paula struggles with the masked burglar and he puts a gun to her head demanding the memory card from her camera. She tries to stall but the guy gets rough with her. She sees the memory card on her desk, throws it to the floor and kicks it under the desk, all this without him noticing. She eventually tells him that she borrowed it to Mandla and she goes searching for it in his drawers. Luckily for her, she sees Mandla’s memory card on his desk and hands it over to the burglar. He leaves satisfied and warns her to keep quiet about what happened.
Madel confronts Dezi about wanting to invest in KDL and forcing JH to invest his money for her business interests. Dezi is completely taken aback and tells her that it’s not going to happen anyway so why is Madel carrying on about it.
Madel just never changes hey, she’s back to being her busy interfering self and JH is big enough to make his own damn decisions, they’re in a marriage for goodness sake, its “their” money.
Madel explains to Dezi that her situation was very different to Dezi’s, she was alone for many years while Dezi has JH, there’s no void that needs to be filled. That’s where you’re wrong Madel dear, why do you think she’s hesitant about starting a family, she’s pining for her first love Theuns.
Emma tells her father that she hates being caught in the middle between him and her mother, who still does not know that he’s back in town. She persuades him to get together with her mother so that they can make amends. Tokkie says he’ll do anything to make Emma happy and agrees to meet with his ex-wife if she’s willing to meet with him.
Paula phones Aggie to come to the flat quickly without anyone seeing her. When Aggie gets there, she fills her in on what happened and tells Aggie to cover for her by Nellie and to fetch her laptop from the office.
Nellie advises Mandla and Vince to be careful about going into a deal with Tokkie when the man himself walks in, documents in hand. He tells the boys that Mr Vermaak has signed the agreement and they are making progress with the deal.
Dezi and Altus are at Oppiekoffie discussing Robyn when she walks in, makes herself comfortable and shows them who’s boss by giving Altie instructions for her party. She eventually acknowledges Dezi and introduces herself saying she never pictured Madel’s daughter to look like Dezi.
What exactly did she mean by that and how come she knows Madel?
When Aggie returns with the laptop, Paula inserts her memory card and scans the photos but nothing looks incriminating, which further frustrates her.
Tokkie is in a good mood when he comes to pick Inge up at the boutique. He tells her of the owner signing the agreement and she has her own good news to share when she tells him she handed in her resignation to the lawyers.
Tokkie and Nellie bump into each other in the arcade and Nellie literally drags him over to Oppiekoffie where they can be alone. Nellie lays it into him about his shady deals and Tokkie shows him the signature of the owner which shows his deal is legit. Nellie tells him about Mr Vermaak being senile but Tokkie refuses to believe a word he’s saying and angrily storms out.
Thursday 12 October
Nellie phones Trevor again to find out more about Mr Vermaak. Trevor confirms that the old guy is big into nature and would definitely not have signed his land over to a property developer. Neville phones Mr Vermaak’s offices again and is put through to his assistant, Ms Maree who insists Mr Vermaak cannot be reached in Australia.
Nellie is frustrated, the phone rings again and this time it’s the receptionist at Mr Vermaak’s offices who tells him not to phone Mr Vermaak since Ms Maree is keeping him away from speaking to anybody. She hurriedly gives Nellie Mr Vermaak’s home address in Cradock and Nellie quickly books a flight to my hometown, PE.
Paula is still scanning the bend-and-stretch photos on her laptop. She’s unaware of her flatmates around her and its clear Paula is not herself as she’s being very nice towards them, even apologising for not getting milk. She tells them not to let anybody know she’s working in her flat, not even dear old Altie.
When Karien and Alyce step outside their flat, they find a stranger standing by Hilda’s plants and he claims to be the garden service. They immediately sense he’s lying and questions him just as Oom Oubaas steps out, the man starts running and Alyce shouts after him.
Danny is fitting on a jacket in the boutique when Robyn approaches her. She’s being all nice with Danny asking her questions about her studies and her plans for the future. She’s pleased to hear Danny will be working at KDL after her studies and tells her she needs an assistant to help her. When Danny leaves, Robyn buys the jacket that Danny couldn’t afford and tells Inge to wrap it.
Looks like Robyn is planning to use the innocent Danny since she has no allies in the KDL camp.
Paula is still agonizing about the photos when she suddenly sees a figure in the background of one of the photos. She zooms in and sees a man with a briefcase in hand and another man standing a few feet behind him. Bingo!
Vince and Mandla are wondering where to get cash for their Imnyama Bay deal when the subject turns to Melanie Montague, the socialite who was murdered. Apparently her will was read and it appears she was stinking rich, not her husband as everyone assumed. She was the daughter of some rich maize baron.
Altus approaches Mandla wanting to know why Paula is avoiding him and swears that if she’s cheating on him again, then it’s finally over between them.
Aggie comes to the flat and Paula excitedly shows her the pictures of the suspicious behaviour of the two men in the background. As she goes from picture to picture, it shows the two men going into the bushes and then the second guy coming out carrying the briefcase that the first one had. Paula recognizes the bracelet that the guy is wearing as the same one the burglar wore when he held her at the Times’ offices.
7de Laan has decided to do some location shooting this episode as we see Nellie in Cradock going over to Mr Vermaak’s house. He enters the quiet house and nobody seems to be around. He notices a grey-haired man sitting outside in a wheelchair and is just about to make his way over when Ms Maree appears demanding to know what he’s doing there.
After introductions are made, Nellie like a true journalist starts cross examining the woman. Her story does not add up and Nellie starts getting aggro with her demanding to know who the man is in the back. She threatens to call the cops while preventing him from going outside and Nellie tells her that she has just given him the answer he’s looking for.
Paula is trying to figure out why the two men met and most importantly what happened to the other man who never did come out from the bushes. Her mind goes into Nancy Drew overdrive as she suspects a crime has been committed. Aggie tells her to phone the police but Paula disappears into her bedroom only to come out disguised as a French Mademoiselle, trenchcoat, ruby red lips, beauty spot on cheek and big scarf over her head. Well she looked very French to me but Aggie said she looked like a Russian spy.
She tells Aggie that she suspects foul play and will uncover the secret of the burglar. Aggie is nervous for Paula and hugs her tightly telling her how brave she is.
Another location shoot as we see Paula walking through the bushes at the park and it’s clear there’s someone following her from a distance, watching her every move. Paula comes to the spot where the man in the photo had disappeared into, she sees what looks like a dead body covered in green plastic sheeting, she uncovers it only to find bags of soil and garden tools. Just then a gun is pointed at her head, she turns around and we see the same guy who was loitering at the girls’ flat that morning.
Oops! Paula is in real danger and nobody knows where she is, except Aggie. How will she get out of this one?
Friday 13 October
With the gun still held to her head, Paula thinks fast and starts speaking casually to the guy like they’re old friends meeting in the park. At first he’s taken aback and this is just enough for Paula to run away but he chases after her, grabs her and drags her to a car where another black clad figure is waiting. Paula is shoved inside and the man holds a chloroform cloth to her face and she passes out immediately as the car speeds off.
Mmmm, this bit of action is not too shabby for a soapie, good for you 7de laan giving us some action on location instead of the usual weddings.
Linda Maree the personal assistant to Mr Vermaak, phones Tokkie to ask how the deal is progressing. She tells him that Mr Vermaak is quite anxious to tie up all his business dealings before her goes to Australia. I wonder who this lady is working with, she obviously wants to bamboozle the old man out of his hard earned money.
Tokkie bumps into Vince and tells him they need to hurry with their cash as the owner is getting rather impatient.
Altus asks Karien about Paula and is very concerned that she’s nowhere to be found. Karien tells him that Paula is in her flat working and she swore them to secrecy. He rushes to the flat, bangs loudly on the door but there’s no answer. Altus asks everybody where Paula could be but nobody has seen her.
Mandla feels the pressure of meeting deadlines and there’s just not enough articles to fill the entire paper. Aggie is nervous about Paula and Mandla comments on her being jittery. Altus comes looking for Paula and just when Aggie is about to tell him, she stops herself saying she doesn’t know where Paula could be.
We see Paula being taken to a mansion, surely the house of Clifford Montague?
A very worried Altus is pacing up and down making Aggie even more nervous. Paula’s cell phone is still off and Altus decides to go to the police. Aggie stops him and decides to spill the beans, telling Altus and Mandla everything. Altus demands that Aggie go with him and Mandla to the park.
Paula is tied up and slowly comes to seeing a blurry picture of two men talking in hushed tones about the memory card.
Nellie returns from Cradock and finds his offices empty and immediately thinks his staff is up to no good. He phones the printers and tells them to hold back on printing the following day’s edition because he has a front page story. He’s shocked to hear that the printers never received the articles yet.
If only you knew what front page scoop your journalists have for you, Mr Meintjies!
Altus speeds like crazy in his Toyota Conquest and they finally arrive at the park. Aggie shows them where it all happened and Altie starts calling out to Paula. When he finds her diary lying in the bushes, he knows something has happened to her.
Paula and the burglar are alone in the bedroom and he starts questioning her about giving him the wrong memory card. She pretends to be clueless but he catches her out with his questions and he starts losing his patience with her. When she asks for water, he throws it in her face.
Altus, Mandla and Aggie return to the offices to try and figure out what could’ve happened to Paula. Altus wants to know where the memory card is and Aggie retrieves if from her bosom stating that Paula told her to guard it with her life.
They look at the photos and Mandla zooms in on the man with the briefcase. He recognizes the man as being Clifford Montague, the murdered socialite’s husband.
So my suspicions are confirmed, Clifford Montague paid a hit man to kill his very wealthy wife and made it look like a random burglary gone wrong. Now Paula is in the thick of things and needs rescuing before they make mincemeat of her. Ok ok I know I’m getting carried away here, it’s a local soap not Jessica Fletcher’s Murder, She Wrote.
Tune in next week to see if Altie will be the hero to his damsel in distress, if Linda Maree will be caught out in trying to embezzle money from a defenceless, old man and if Tokkie’s Imnyama Bay deal will go thru or fall flat?
7de Laan
Mondays – Fridays
SABC 2
18:30