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Guest Character Profiles > Nick Thompson Marty Grimwood

Nick Thompson 2007

Following the unsolved murder of her older brother Gus, it was a long time before Laura Davidson was able to move on, with help from boyfriend Nick. When a man named Paul Robinson then turned up on Laura's doorstep, claiming that he'd killed Gus, old memories were dredged up and Nick was determined to get rid of the man, even after his daughter, Elle explained that, following recent brain surgery, Paul couldn't be sure that any of his memories were genuine. But Laura was determined to find out the truth and possibly get justice for her brother, so she arranged to meet with Paul at Charlie's Bar. When Nick found out about the meeting, he stormed in on them, but Laura sent him away, before phoning him and explaining that she had everything under control. Mistakenly believing that Nick was being violent towards Laura, Paul arranged a room for her at Lassiter's hotel, which Elle co-owned. Nick then secretly met him there and explained that she was determined to get some kind of justice for Gus and, if the police weren't going to do anything, she'd have to find a way of getting revenge herself.

After spending several days at Lassiter's, running up bills with room service and massages on Paul's account, Laura was starting to feel guilty and admitted to Nick that it wasn't going to bring Gus back and was doing nothing to help with her grief. When Paul's girlfriend Rebecca Napier then came to see Laura and told her that she too had been a victim of a violent partner. Laura and Nick suddenly realised why Paul had been so insistent on providing her with somewhere to stay, and decided to play on this, with Laura meeting Paul for coffee and explaining that she needed money to find an apartment of her own, in order to escape from Nick. When Paul told her that he couldn't help her, as he had little money left after Elle became part-owner of the hotel, an incredulous Laura stole his bank card when his back was turned, in order to check out his story. Nick insisted that, if they couldn't bleed him dry, they'd have to find some other way for Paul to pay, but Laura was already feeling awful about stealing from the man, and things got worse when Elle grew more and more suspicious and started snooping in the hotel room, only to be forced to hide in the bathroom when the couple returned unexpectedly.

Elle managed to escape by thinking quickly setting off the fire alam. Nick and Laura evacuated, but Laura was worried when Paul saw her and Nick outside the hotel and promptly explained that they were trying to work things out, and Paul invited them back to his house for a coffee. Whilst there, Nick learnt from Declan that his big brother, Rebecca's older son, Oliver Barnes was the rich heir to the Barnes hotel empire. Nick saw a new way to get to Paul, and get some money out of him, by kidnapping Declan. Laura was disgusted and Nick quickly agreed to drop the silly idea, but when Declan found himself wrongly accused of running down Bridget Parker in a hit-and-run incident, Nick found the teenager hiding out behind Lassiter's. He snuck him back to the hotel room, where Laura soon returned and realised what Nick had in mind. They convinced Declan to stay for a while, at least until the police had completed their search of the area and, once he was asleep, made a video of him on their mobile phone and called Paul, Rebecca and Oliver, demanding money. Though Paul wanted to call the police, Rebecca refused to involve them, worried that her son would be hurt, and Oliver managed to $10,000, though the rest of his money was tied up in legal proceedings. But when Nick called again and mentioned 'what goes around comes around', Paul worked out who had Declan and went to the hotel. Declan, meanwhile, had tried to leave and been pushed to the ground tied up by Nick. When Paul turned up, Nick grabbed Declan hid in the bathroom, but Paul knew what was going on, his thoughts confirmed when Declan called out, and Laura, in a moment of rage, knocked him out with a vase, telling him it was revenge for what he did to Gus, before the three of them escaped.

Hiding out in an old caravan in the bush, Nick and Laura kept Declan tied up, and despite his best efforts, he couldn't convince Laura to help him, but he did manage to get her to allow him to call his mum. Unfortunately, Nick returned and caught them, but Laura managed to calm him down and took him out for a walk. Meanwhile, Declan managed to get hold of a knife and started cutting through his ropes. The next morning, he was left alone again and managed to free himself, only to be caught again. Nick realised that they couldn't wait any longer, and contacted Oliver, giving him details of where they would exchange Declan for the $500,000. But when he went to collect petrol later, Nick overheard a local cop chatting to the garage owner and realised that they were about to be found. He headed back and managed to get Declan and Laura out of the caravan before it was raided. When Nick then left Laura alone in the car with Declan, she finally realised what a huge mistake they were making, and freed the captive. He ran off into the bush and Nick came back to the car. Realising what Laura had done, Nick spotted Declan in the distance and gave chase - Laura then spotted Declan with his leg trapped under a leg and quickly took Nick in another direction. Back at the car, she managed to convince him to give up on the whole thing but the thought of the money led Nick to change his mind. He turned up at the drop-off point with Laura, who, with her hood up, pretended to be Declan. Rebecca and Oliver quickly realised that it was a set-up and, as Nick and Oliver fought over the money, the bag came open and it flew off onto the beach. The police then swooped, arresting both Laura and Nick, and demanding to know what they'd done with Declan. Laura finally relented and showed them where she'd last seen Declan, who was found later that night, while both Nick and Laura were denied bail a few days later.

Biography by Steve

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