Nick is astonished to discover that the shooter of a young protester at the opening of the duck season is none other than his sometime admirer, Dr Zoe Hamilton. She, of course, claims it was an accident, explaining that the chief protester grabbed her gun just as she was aiming at a duck.
Adam gets an admirer of his own when he assists the pretty eighteen year old daughter of one of the duck shooters after she is injured in the melee. This is Stacey Norse, whose father Ken accuses the chief protester, Matthew Prentice, of stealing one of his ducks.
Troubles escalate when Ken Norse falls seriously ill while eating his specially prepared duck lunch at the Imperial Hotel. When Zoe suspects poisoning, the Heelers wonder if it might have been Matthew Prentice.
But when blood tests show that Norse is actually suffering from a severe case of lead poisoning, they must rethink the case. Because this condition would have taken some 13 years to accumulate, his own children, Stacey and her sixteen year old brother Scott, become the main suspects.
When PJ finally interviews them , a picture of a tragic and dysfunctional family emerges. Both children admit to hating their father, but deny trying to kill him. However, Scott's strange behavior causes the Heelers to suspect him. When Maggie and PJ go to the farm again to question him, the boy levels a shotgun at them before driving off in his father's ute.
Now the Heelers are involved in a manhunt-which Zoe can't help pointing out to Nick, gives them the same hunter's thrill that she gets from Duck shooting. As Nick and Zoe co-ordinate Maggie and PJ's hunt for Scott, Adam, using a clue from Stacey, is able to work out how Ken Norse is poisoned.
Back to the Episode Synopsis Page