Well, I promised I'd start this in September. I've changed the format slightly since I felt the previous story was a bit stretched: It'll still be divided into ten episodes but they'll only be two chapters long. I haven't managed to write as much as I hoped so I'm not sure how regular the updates will be.

EPISODE ONE: Lying Again

CHAPTER ONE

Doctor Hughes of the Dowinger Clinic looked across the reception desk at the young woman standing there. She recognised her, of course, recognised her from her previous visit to the clinic in circumstances where Hughes had been far more in control of the situation. But now, she might be a lot more difficult to deal with. "Emma Becker,"she mused, pretending to have to search through her records. "Oh yes, I remember you. You only had a brief stay with us, about three years ago. You thought one of our other patients was your mother."

The woman nodded. "I gather she left the clinic not long after."

Hughes had the uncomfortable feeling the woman knew more than she was letting on. "Yes but I'm afraid we don't have any contact details for her…"

"Oh, it's not her I'm looking for. It's someone else. A young man. He was sent to a specialist hospital near here around the same time."

"What makes you think he'd come here?"

"Oh, no reason. But the hospital has no record of him ever having been there. I wondered if he was maybe sent to the wrong place."

Hughes adopted her most professional look. "I'm sorry, Miss Becker, I can't give out that sort of information except to next of kin."

The woman gave a thin smile. "Well, I'll just have to make sure her next of kin get in touch with you, won't I?"

The woman who called herself Emma Becker exited the clinic and headed towards a car. Two people were sat there waiting for her: Mads in the driver's seat and Lexi in the back. Lexi leaned forward. "You know, Sutton, I think you're enjoying this cloak and dagger bit far too much."

Even though the car park was empty apart from them, Sutton Mercer looked around anxiously. "Don't call me that when we're in public, okay? As far as anyone around here is concerned, I'm Emma."

"What did Doctor Hughes tell you?"Mads asked.

"That she can only give out information to next of kin."

"I could get Alicia to call her…"

Sutton shook her head. "Don't bother. I know Doctor Hughes and she's as slippery as a snake."

"So why go in there?"Lexi asked.

"Well, she was bound to know that I was back in town – or rather that Emma was back in town – sooner or later. Best to get in first, catch her on the back foot. She might think we know more than we can do."

Lexi sighed. "Okay, can you cut with the cyptic? I mean, I agreed to help you for Emma's sake but I'd kinda like to know what's going on."

Sutton turned to Mads. "Take us back to the motel. We can explain there."

At that moment, Emma Whitehorse, someone else who had once called herself Emma Becker, was around three hundred miles away, in the flat in Scottsdale that she shared with her husband Ethan. The couple were sitting on the sofa, his arm draped around her shoulder. Slowly he began stroking her forearm. When she didn't object, he leaned in and kissed her. Just as the kiss was getting more intense, the flat door opened and Dan entered. The pair sprang apart with a collective "Woah!"

Dan glared at them. "While I'm staying here, can you please tone that down?"

"We, er, weren't expecting you back so soon,"Ethan attempted.

Dan wasn't in the mood to be mollified. "Look, I was against this plan of Sutton's. But we all agreed that if we were going to go ahead with it, this was the only way to play it."

"I know,"Emma confirmed. "Sutton's in Vegas pretending to be me and we don't know if anyone there is keeping an eye on things here. If they did, they'd know I was in two places at once, so while she's pretending to be me, I have to pretend to be her."

"And Sutton living with Ethan would have aroused suspicion and you didn't want to move out,"Dan continued,"so the best option was for me to move in so everyone would think that both Sutton and I had moved in with you and Ethan."

"We'll tone things down,"Ethan offered.

Dan gave a nod of acceptance. "Have you heard from Sutton?"

"Not since she and Mads arrived there,"Emma replied. "What about you? How have you got on with our side of the plan?"

Dan sighed. "Still no word on the whereabouts of Annie Hobbes."