£100,000 of Robert Sugden's (Ryan Hawley) cash has fallen into another Emmerdale villager's hands.
Last week, Robert hosted a poker night to try and raise some funds to reopen The Hide restaurant. He'd manipulated Gabby Thomas (Rosie Bentham) into selling it to him, though when she discovered his underhand tactics, decided to get her own back.
She'd originally agreed to remain as licensee until he could obtain the correct operational certificates, though decided to cancel them and sell the fixtures and fittings.
Robert now has a restaurant without kitchen equipment, tables, or chairs. An empty building.
He invited local businessmen Jai Sharma (Chris Bisson) and Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) to the gathering, with pensioner and keen poker player Claudette Anderson (Flo Wilson) also tagging along. After a few rounds, she and Jai decided to leave the game, but Robert was insistent that he and Joe continue.
With help from cousin Serena Sugden (Casey Al-Shaqsy), his cards were swapped for another set - and with Joe boasting about his winning days in Monte Carlo, he failed to realise.
That night, at The Woolpack, Robert was on cloud nine and began celebrating his win. Rounds of drinks were bought in, a darts match ensued, and the money was stolen.
But who by?
In today's episode, the Sugdens gathered together to begin their search. Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) and Sarah Sugden (Katie Hill) were sure that Robert's ex-husband Kev Barton (Chris Coghill) was to blame, and raced off to Woodbine Cottage to confront him.
They found him doing some uncharacteristic gardening, and as accusations were flown, Claudette leapt to his defence. It was clear that they'd picked the wrong culprit, and soon moved on to question Jai.
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He was also none the wiser, and the only bit of dirt they managed to prise from him was that he'd launched a podcast. Robert, meanwhile, wanted to ask Woolpack landlady Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) whether she'd seen anything suspicious while on shift.
Charity was sorting through the pub's books with co-owner and son Ryan Stocks (James Moore), and said she'd been too busy to notice anything. However, in Robert's absence, Ryan knew that she was lying.
Under pressure, she admitted that amid her estrangement from Sarah, she was becoming jealous of her relationship with the Sugdens. She took the money to try and gain back some control, but was now uncertain what to do.
Will Charity return the cash?
Read more:
- Emmerdale airs major Tate family twist - as Graham Foster returns with Joe's baby
- Emmerdale airs Vinny Dingle exit after 7 years with major sentencing twist in early ITVX release
- Emmerdale star teases "rocky road" for Sarah Sugden - and reveals hopes for Debbie Dingle return
- Emmerdale airs explosive Nicola and Sadie King scenes at Jimmy's funeral in early ITVX release
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and from 7am on ITVX.
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