Emmerdale murder shock: Dawn shoots Malone dead - can she and Harriet hide the body?
It's a race against time to bury the bent copper.
He was a hard man to kill, but corrupt Emmerdale cop DI Mark Malone (Mark Womack) is finally dead after being shot by Dawn Taylor (Olivia Bromley).
Harriet Finch (Katherine Dow Blyton) thought she'd saved her stepdaughter from the dodgy detective's wrath by knocking him unconscious with a kettle, but minutes into Wednesday 19th August's episode the baddie miraculously rose up and attacked his ex - pushing Dawn to instinctively grab the shot gun he'd aimed at her and shoot him dead.
Dawn was shaken by her murderous moment, and it was up to undercover-cop-turned-vicar Harriet to take control and move the body out of their house and into the boot of the car, planning to drive to a remote location with some spades and bury him.
Unfortunately, Dawn's dad, and Harriet's fiancé, Will Taylor (Dean Andrews) caught the nervous pair just as they hid the corpse. Cheerily insisting he join them for a takeaway, he was too sozzled by an afternoon session in the Woolpack with Billy Fletcher to take much notice of their furtive behaviour, and the jittery ladies were forced to leave Malone in the motor for now if they wanted to avoid suspicion…
Malone had been terrorising the Finch-Taylors for months, forcing reformed gangster Will to work for his underground drug dealing network and seducing old flame Harriet into a forbidden fling.
Desperate to banish him for their lives, Dawn reported the bad boy's corruption to the police, then found herself held hostage by a menacing Malone who threatened her son - and was about to force the recovering addict her into taking heroin when Harriet showed up.
Emmerdale previously teased Malone's murder a few weeks back when Will hit him with a spanner and left him for dead, only for the village villain to wake up and seek help from Harriet who hid him at the church while he recovered.
Now it seems he's definitely been finished off, although the soap does love to surprise the audience so we're half expecting Friday's episode to start with Harriet and Dawn flipping open the boot to find it empty… Surely Emmerdale wouldn't triple bluff us?
Holy woman Harriet will be wrestling with her conscious like never before after committing the cardinal sin of taking another life. Will she and Dawn be able to hide the body and pretend Malone's gone on the run? Is fragile Dawn going to lose the plot? Can conflicted Harriet reconcile it was self defence to save Dawn?
Or are they both, as Ms Taylor herself said, going straight to hell?
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