Emmerdale has hinted Tom King could be in trouble over Charity Dingle’s suspicions.
Viewers know that Tom has been coercively controlling and physically abusive to Belle throughout their marriage, culminating in her decision to secretly terminate her pregnancy.
When Tom discovered Belle’s claims of having a miscarriage were a lie, he ended up electrocuting himself in a fit of anger by recklessly swinging a pipe around the barn.
In Friday’s (June 28) episode on ITV1 and top streaming service ITVX, Belle and Tom were at the café for breakfast as Charity, Chas, and Lydia were watching them from afar.
Charity was suspicious of Tom using a wheelchair, as she felt he just wanted to be waited on “hand and foot”.
Belle got up to check on their order when Charity approached, leading Charity to question whether her relative was trying to avoid her.
“I know you don’t want any super heavy discussions [about the miscarriage] but you can’t just push it all under the carpet,” Charity told Belle.
“It’s devastating, I know that but trust me, the worst thing you can do is hold it all in.”
Charity asked Belle to bring Piper to the pub for a catch-up, but Tom interrupted to say they already had plans with Jimmy and Nicola for dinner later.
“There’s loads of time before dinner,” Charity reminded Tom.
Charity offered to help push a frustrated Tom in his wheelchair, which only annoyed him further. Back at home, Tom turned nasty again by ordering Belle to brush her hair to his liking.
As Belle prepared to walk Piper, Tom once again staged a situation to make his wife feel guilty by pretending he’d fallen out of his wheelchair.
“I’m definitely not going to leave you now,” Belle vowed, as Tom smiled behind her back.
During their dinner with Jimmy and Nicola, Tom covered for Belle by telling them she’d miscarried rather than had an abortion. He later accused Belle of making him a liar in front of his family.
“You don’t make it half-hard to love you sometimes,” he snapped.
An angry Charity soon turned up at Dale Head after Belle stood her up and clocked the security camera above the front door.
Charity tried to convince Belle it wasn’t healthy for her to be holed up in the house all day, but Belle turned down her offer to talk privately.
“I never get to see you on your own anymore,” Charity pointed out, with an irate Belle shooting back: “Can you just take ‘no’ for an answer, for once?”
Later, Charity called Lydia and Chas together in the back room of the pub to share her concerns about Belle.
“I reckon there’s more to it [than the miscarriage],” Charity insisted. “It just feels like we never see her on her own.”
Charity admitted to her relatives she wasn’t sure what was going on, yet she was worried Belle had “got tangled up in something she can’t get out of”.
She reminded Chas that Tom stalked her years ago, then stressed: “All I’m saying is something is not right here. It’s just not adding up!
“If Belle needs our help, we’re stepping in.”
Chas and Lydia both agreed they would join Charity to figure out the secret. Charity’s suspicions will continue next week when she approaches Belle to share her concerns about Tom.
