After the recent arrival of her estranged father in Summer Bay, Lacey (Sophea Pennington) is forced to deal with another blast from the past next week, as she faces the person she believes is responsible for her mother’s death.

David Langham (Jeremy Lindsay Taylor) was unveiled as the new ‘sarge’ at Yabbie Creek police station last week, and he quickly had Senior Constable Cash (Nicholas Cartwright) in his sights as he pulled him into a meeting over his spurious personnel file.

But as Cash attempted to offer up explanations for the various incidents, David was distracted by seeing Lacey’s name listed as a witness in the recent River Boys case. David ordered Cash to bring Lacey in, despite the case being closed.

Lacey was confused to be summoned to the station, but that soon turned to anger when David walked into the room. It was only at that point that David revealed to Cash that Lacey was his daughter.

It was revealed that Lacey had left home around six months earlier, and in a bid to stop her father tracking her down, had resorted to using her mother Kristina’s maiden name.

Furious at being tricked into the meeting, Lacey made it clear she wanted nothing to do with her father.

Though David insisted that his taking a job in Yabbie Creek was pure coincidence, Lacey wasn’t convinced and stormed out.

Shaken by the unexpected reunion, Lacey packed a bag and headed straight to the bus stop, where Leah (Ada Nicodemou) spotted her.

The pair didn’t get off on the right foot with Leah blaming Lacey for Theo getting attacked by the River Boys, but they recently began to bond after Leah invited Theo and Lacey over for dinner.

When Lacey turned down Leah’s offer of a casual job at the diner, she later admitted to Theo that Leah reminded her of her late mum.

Opening up to Leah, Lacey explained that her dad had moved into the area, and that they hadn’t seen eye to eye since the death of her mother in a car accident two years ago.

“His love doesn’t mean anything, he proved that when mum died,” Lacey stated. “He was more interested in forgiving the driver than he was mourning the loss of his own wife.”

David later reached out to Lacey again, asking to meet her at Salt. She showed up, but had no intention of staying.

As he tried to talk about moving forward, she firmly told him she wanted nothing to do with him.

Next week, David grabs a coffee at the diner cart, where he introduces himself to Alf (Ray Meagher), Irene (Lynne McGranger) and Leah.

Leah’s curiosity is piqued as she asks whether he has a daughter named Lacey, but she keeps things vague, only mentioning that she’s seen Lacey at the Diner before.

As David returns with his (presumably cold by now) coffee to Yabbie Creek police station, he glances at the framed family photo on his desk. David stands proudly with Kristina alongside Lacey, and another daughter…

At that very moment, Tane (Ethan Browne) is heading into Yabbie Creek when he finds that same young woman struggling on the side of the road with her broken-down car.

Jo (Maddison Brown) has burnt her hand and is clearly in pain, but when Tane offers her a first aid kit, she quickly makes it known that she doesn’t require his help.

Amused by her method of shouting at the car in an attempt to fix it, Tane offers to take a look under the bonnet. But after quickly establishing that he’s not a mechanic, Jo again refuses his assistance

Taking the hint, Tane backs off and gets back in his car.

By the time Tane’s heading home, Jo still hasn’t moved, and he once again makes an offer of help.

Frustrated by his persistence, Jo asks whether playing the hero for damsels in distress is a tactic that usually works for him.

Tane assures her that he’d do the same for anyone, male or female. But when Jo firmly tells him that all she needs is a new fan belt and that she can call a mechanic herself, Tane takes the cue and drives away.

The joke’s on Jo however, when she retrieves her phone from her car and finds the battery is flat. She now has no option but to start the long walk into Summer Bay.

Later that evening, Jo and David finally head into the diner, where David introduces Leah to his daughter. When Leah expresses her surprise at hearing that Lacey has a sister, Jo is curious as to how she knows Lacey.

With the topic brought up, Jo casually suggests to David that they could head over to Reefton Lakes Backpackers, where Lacey is staying. David comments that it wouldn’t be wise, whilst Jo admits that Lacey would likely snap her head off anyway.

As the pair chat, Irene quietly notes to Leah that David seems like a decent bloke. Leah agrees, but something doesn’t quite sit right—it’s starting to seem like Lacey hasn’t been telling her the whole story.

Upstairs at the apartment, Lacey is spending time with Theo (Matt Evans) when Leah drops by and asks for a quiet word.

Lacey is instantly on edge when Leah reveals she just ran into her dad and sister downstairs. Her first concern—did Leah give away where she is?

Leah reassures her that she didn’t say a word, and Lacey is relieved.

“The only person I want to see less than my dad… is my sister,” she mutters.

The next morning, with a new belt in tow, David gives Jo a lift back to her car, only to find Tane is there with his head under the bonnet. Jo immediately confronts him, as he explains that he’s already fixed the car.

Having already crossed paths with Tane once, when he came to the police station attempting to defend Cash, David is quick to leap to his daughter’s defence, asking whether he interfered with her car despite Jo’s explicit instructions not to.

David comments that Tane seems to have a habit of overstepping and warns him that he’ll be keeping an eye on him, before sending him on his way.

Once Tane has driven off, David admits to Jo that he’s actually done a good job with the car.

Not long after, Jo tracks down Lacey at the surf club and attempts to talk, but Lacey shuts her down immediately—she’s not interested in anything her sister has to say.

The tension quickly boils over as Jo follows Lacey outside, reminding her that they’re family.

But Lacey snaps. She accuses Jo of twisting things to make her feel guilty, when in reality, Jo’s the one who should be carrying the guilt—for the rest of her life.

As Lacey tells Jo that she should own up to what she did, Jo points out that she has no idea what she has to go through each day, what she sees every time she closes her eyes. “Good!” Lacey snaps back. “You should suffer for taking her away from us!”

Lacey turns her back on her sister, but when Jo tries to grab her, Lacey fights back, punching her in the face. Things soon develop into a full-on brawl, which a nearby Cash storms in to break it up.

Keen to work to rule following David’s pointed comments towards him, and unaware of Jo’s identity, Cash decides to place both under arrest.

But it doesn’t do much to improve Cash’s working relationship with his boss, when David sees who he’s just dragged into the station.

“I didn’t want to bring Lacey in, but like you said, it’s best I start doing things by the book,” Cash comments.

“So you’re saying it’s my fault you’ve arrested BOTH my daughters…?” David angrily replies.

Cash’s face falls.

As David relents and reassures Cash that he understands he was only doing his job, he then tries to calm things down between Lacey and Jo, but neither daughter is willing to give an inch.

When Cash later drops Lacey back in the bay, he offers a few words of support, telling her that he lost his own mum to cancer when he was young. Lacey replies that their situations are clearly different—you can’t blame someone for cancer.

Lacey goes on to explain that the circumstances of the accident don’t make sense to her, and she believes her father has used his power as a police officer to deliberately cover things up

“I just want the truth,” Lacey states. “I just want a reason for why my mum died.”

Meanwhile, back at the station, Jo sits alone in David’s office, struggling to hold it together. The memories start creeping in of the accident—coming to with her head on the steering wheel, the blood on her hands, and the moment she looked over to find her mother lifeless in the passenger seat.

Was Jo truly to blame for the accident?

“There’s a lot of drama to come as the storyline evolves and I’m excited for fans to get to know Jo and her backstory,” Maddison Brown told The West Australian when her debut aired on Aussie screens.

“It’s Home and Away, and Summer Bay wouldn’t be Summer Bay without high drama and conflict, so it’s going to be super exciting.”