a/n Here is the next chapter! Hope you enjoy it. :)

(I own nothing. Except the mistakes. All of them are mine.)

One – Eva Lawson

The first thought that hits Eva when she sees Lindsay Denton is that prison has not been kind on her. She looks exhausted and world-weary as she sits down in the chair opposite Eva. It's been three years now since she's spoken to Lindsay and those three years look like they've been tough on her. Her eyes are ringed by tiredness and with her shoulders slumped, she looks overwhelmed and defeated. She is completely different to the confident, alert woman Eva defended in the trial. Maybe it was because then, Lindsay had hope – now the poor soul has nothing.

Eva doesn't make a habit of visiting clients she failed to keep out of prison. It's not good for her self-esteem. She thinks this might only be the third or fourth time – except for those she organises appeals for. Lindsay had wanted to appeal her conviction, but Eva had managed to get her to see that there was no chance that it would be overturned. She had told Lindsay that she was lucky to only get a fifteen year tariff on her life sentence. She hadn't reacted well, not that Eva was expecting her to – the woman had just been sent down for life.

She was never quite sure whether Lindsay was truly guilty of the crime she was convicted of. Eva has been a defence counsel for close on twenty years now and almost all of her clients have protested their innocence at some point or another, Lindsay isn't an exception. Eva almost learnt to tell which were telling the truth and which weren't. It wasn't very useful to know, because no matter if they were guilty or not, Eva still had to defend them.

She couldn't tell with Lindsay, which had come as surprise. The evidence all pointed to her being guilty, and yet, when she met the woman, Eva had been unable to make up her mind. Lindsay had been a serving police officer, she didn't have a criminal record, – not that she would, being a police officer – and therefore it was her first offence and what a charge it had been - conspiracy to murder, which carried a life sentence.

Lindsay was a nice woman, who Eva would never in a million years thought would be capable of something like the ambush that robbed three of her colleagues of their lives at the time, and then a few days later, another, and yet, there was something about her - something dark, something...something wrong that Eva couldn't put her finger on.

She sighs, resigning herself to the fact that she'll never know what goes on in Lindsay's brain, no one will, and therefore, no one will ever know what really happened that fateful night.

"Hello, Lindsay." Eva starts, cheerfully. "I'm sorry it's taken so long for this to be arranged." Lindsay first contacted her six months ago – after discovering that Matthew Cottan had been convicted of conspiracy to murder, just like her, for his part in the ambush. Cottan - who, it was proved, had links to the criminal gang that wanted John Thomas Hunter dead - had received a thirty year tariff on his life sentence. The case had also given Lindsay a renewed sense of hope about a successful appeal. So she'd written to Eva, her defence counsel during the trial against her, and asked if there was anything that could be done now there was a new conviction.

And Eva was here to tell Lindsay that, sadly, there was nothing that could be done. The evidence that had sent Cottan down hadn't disproved any of the charges again Lindsay, so was no help to her.

It's taken Eva so long to get here – just as Lindsay had written to her, she'd had four cases on the eve of their trials, and none of them could be rescheduled so she could visit Lindsay. The trials had gone smoothly, and Eva had managed to get good results in all of them, but it had meant the meeting with Lindsay had gone on the backburner – meaning it was only now, six months after Lindsay's initial contact, she was here.

And she was only here to tell Lindsay there was nothing that could be done.

Lindsay sat forward in her chair, and Eva realised that the alertness hadn't fully left the woman opposite her. It was still there, in Lindsay's eyes, as sharp as ever. "So, can you help me?" Eva could hear the barely contained hope in her tone. She sighs, knowing that she's going have to let Lindsay down, and Eva wants to let her down gently.

"Lindsay, I-" She barely gets past the other woman's name, but Lindsay doesn't let her get any further. The other woman is sharp, and the hesitation in Eva's tone is something Lindsay had obviously picked up on. Eva's reminded that for twenty years, near enough, she was a copper. She learnt to tell when someone was bringing bad news.

"Let me guess," Lindsay says, sarcastically, and Eva can see in her eyes how much this is hurting her. "there's nothing you can do?"

Again, Eva sighs. No, the truthful answer would be – but she wants help Lindsay, but she isn't making things easy for herself. She wanted to fight at trial, wouldn't even consider cutting a deal for a reduced sentence, or think about spilling the beans in return for immunity from prosecution – but then again, that would only come into play if Lindsay actually knew something and Eva isn't sure she does. "No, Lindsay-" Seeing the look on the other woman's face and knowing she's about to cut in, Eva raises her hand, pleading with Lindsay to give her a couple more seconds, before airing her grievances. "I'm sorry, but the evidence presented at Matthew Cottan's trial did not impact you at all and as Cottan has not confessed to anything, there's no way I can get the CPS to consider an appeal." Eva lets the words sink in, and watches as Lindsay lets her shoulders drop, and leans back in her chair. "I'm really sorry, Lindsay." Eva says, apologetically - really meaning it. She is sorry for Lindsay – especially now, seeing how crushed the other woman looks at this blow to her plan.

"I don't know why I got my hopes up." Lindsay says, and Eva knows she's trying to trivialise how much this has affected her, disappointed her. "It was stupid really," She continues, glancing around the room with a sadness in her gaze that unsettles Eva. "but I thought that I'd finally get to say goodbye to this hellhole." Eva smiles sadly at her, wishing there was something she could do. She likes Lindsay – despite the fact that she is a criminal, and there's no way of getting around the fact – likes the way that after everything life had thrown at her, she still manages to hold onto a shred of dignity – and yet, now, it seems that she's falling apart as Eva watches.

A silence descends on the pair of them. Eva doesn't know what to say to make the devastating blow any softer and Lindsay has nothing more to say to her.

Or so Eva thought.

"What if I tell you what happened?" Lindsay is looking at her though the glass, her eyes alive and so very alert.

"If you tell me about what?"

"About what happened on the 5th September." Lindsay's words surprise Eva, and she raises a sceptical eyebrow – Lindsay has never given any inclination of wanting to confess but now, it's looking like she's serious. Eva has to hold back a sigh – why can just one of her clients be innocent of the charges against them? At least this proves once and for all that Lindsay Denton is, in some capacity, guilty.

"Lindsay-"

"If I tell you the truth, can you get me out of here?" Lindsay sounds breathless, desperate, and Eva realises that this isn't all about getting out of prison – she wants to confess, the truth is becoming too much for her – someone needs to know, and it looks like Eva is going to be that person.

"It depends, Lindsay, on what you tell me."

Lindsay nods, sitting back in her chair, and Eva knows she's made her mind up. Knowing what's going to come next, Eva reaches into her bag and slips out a thin blue notebook, flipping it open and setting it on the desk in front of her.

"On the 16th August 2013, I witnessed..." As Lindsay speaks, Eva listens. Lindsay speaks for a good ten minutes, spinning a tale of injustices and wrong decisions, of lapses in judgement and vulnerability - of heartbreak and death.

It is the tale of how Lindsay Denton ended up being sent down for life.

Eva learns things she never knew about Lindsay Denton. She learns that her mother died not long after the ambush, about the abortion she didn't want but had to go through with - about the fact that Lindsay didn't think anyone would die. And even though there isn't a shred of proof, Eva believes her.

But there is no proof and that is the problem. It might be the truth but with no proof it's of no use to Lindsay - at least not now. "Lindsay, I..." Eva splutters, unsure of what to say. She doesn't want to crush the other woman's hopes, and yet that's exactly what she is going to have to do. "There's no proof, either way, Lindsay." Eva manages to say, after a long pause in the conversation. "I'm sorry."

Eva watches as Lindsay's face hardens into a frown and she hurriedly speaks, trying to get in before Lindsay can say a word. "Why didn't you tell me this before? If this is the truth, why didn't you tell me before the trial? I could have helped you." Eva knows that if she'd known this, about Lindsay's involvement, she could have got her a reduced sentence and she wouldn't have got life – because, Lindsay, she's not guilty of conspiracy to murder, Eva now knows. But she could see it in the other woman's face, how hard it was to even frame the words of truth - she has kept it bottled up for too long.

Lindsay stares at her through the glass, her gaze full of disappointment and anger.

"You don't believe me." Lindsay's voice is full of barely concealed rage and Eva knows why, and she curses herself – it was a slip of the tongue that meant she said 'if this is the truth' instead of just simply, 'the truth'.

"People died that night, Eva, and I have to deal with that." She continues, still angry, but her voice a little more controlled now. "Tommy Hunter was a bastard - I don't lose sleep over him. Jayne Akers might have been a corrupt bitch; she might have been a saint who made the wrong choices. I don't know. I didn't know her." Lindsay pauses, gauging Eva's reaction. After a moment, she continues. "What I do know is that Vince Butler, Alex Wallis and Georgia Trotman did not deserve to die." The sentence, spoken with weariness, and more than a hint of anger, hangs between the two of them for a long, painful moment, before Lindsay swallows and takes a deep breath. "And I have had to live with their deaths for three years and I can't take it anymore. I can't live with the guilt." Her voice is strained and strangled and Eva nearly winces at the raw pain in Lindsay's tone. "So I told you. I've never told a soul. But I trust you." Eva can hear reproach in Lindsay's tone and wonders how they've got here, to angry words and recriminations. Eva never thought the visit would end up like this, though, really she should have considered it a viable option. Lindsay is without hope, crushed. All she has left is her anger.

"And you don't even bloody believe me!"

The anger is easy to hear in Lindsay's voice, tangible and real, her voice much clearer and controlled than it was just a mere second ago. They both sit in the shadow of her words for a long moment afterwards.

"I wish I could help you, Lindsay - I really do." And she does, Eva really does. But there really is nothing that can be done. She stands up, bringing her bag with her and sliding it on to her shoulder. "I sorry, Lindsay, I truly am."

"You are bound by law not to repeat what I just told you to anyone else." Lindsay's voice is cold and calculating now, at complete odds to the raw and painful tone of just a few minutes ago.

"Okay, Lindsay." Eva replies, softly, watching the other woman with pitying eyes. "For what it's worth, Lindsay, I really am sorry."

There's a long quiet minute and Eva is about to turn away, when Lindsay's voice rings out into the silence. "You don't care. Nobody gives a damn anymore." Lindsay's feather-light tone unsettles Eva, who can hear the loneliness resounding from the words.

Lindsay looks away, and Eva smiles sadly at the broken woman through the glass.

And then, with a sigh, Eva Lawson leaves the prison.

...