Abi sat at the kitchen table, a notepad and pen in front of her. She'd been staying at Jay's for two days now and so far she had heard nothing from Ben. She was hoping that it was because he knew that she needed space but deep down she knew that wasn't really true.
Abi stared down at the paper. She'd started a list of all of the people that were in the frame for Lucy's murder. It was a Beale, she was certain of that now, but deciding which one was proving to be more difficult. Ian, Jane, Peter and Cindy. That was what she had written down but she couldn't think of a plausible reason for Phil covering for any of them.
Jay came in and sat in the chair opposite. "You've been staring at that list for hours now, Abs."
"I just don't understand," Abi spoke softly. "Why would Phil be covering for anybody?"
Jay shrugged. "Maybe Sharon asked him to. I mean, her and Ian are pretty close, right?"
"I guess." Abi began tapping the pen against the notebook. "Lauren," she said suddenly.
"What?"
"Lauren knows. She knows who killed Lucy."
"Abi, what are you on about?"
"That's why she was so certain that it wasn't dad. And it would make sense that she'd cover for one of them."
"How do you know that? All of your family thought Max was innocent."
"The night of Ian and Jane's wedding," Abi remembered, nodding to herself more than Jay. "Dad told me she was going to the police because she knew. She knew who killed Lucy, and he thought she was going to tell them it was me. She knows who killed her and she's helping them cover it up."
"Abi, I'm not too sure."
"I am. I need to speak to her."
The doorbell rang sharply, interrupting their conversation.
"I'll get it." Jay said, making his way to the door.
As soon as he opened it Ben pushed past him.
"I knew it!" he shouted going into the kitchen. "I knew that you'd be here."
"What?" Abi asked nervously, quickly covering the notebook.
"Of course you would come here."
"Ben, calm down, will you?" Jay told him.
"Shut up! I wasn't talking to you. "
"Well if you're going to speak to me like that then you can leave now," Abi spoke firmly. "What the hell is your problem?"
"Space, that's what you said. You needed space, and here you are sleeping with him."
"What? I'm not sleeping with him."
"Of course you'd say that."
"Because it's the truth! Ben, I'm six months pregnant," she reminded him putting her hands on her growing bump protectively. "You should know better than anybody that I would never cheat."
"Then why the hell are you here?"
"Where else was I supposed to go?"
"You could have stayed with Dot or Sonia. You didn't need to come here."
"Listen mate, I told her to come here if she ever needed anything. I'm just helping it. Nothing else is going on."
"I thought I told you to shut up, and I'm not your mate."
"You need to remember who's house you're in." Jay took a step towards him.
"Come on then!"
"Stop it, both of you. This is ridiculous! Ben, nothing is going on."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I expect you to trust that I would never do that. I expect you to trust me."
"No! This is the final straw, Abi."
"What are you talking about?"
"This is it. We're over."
"You're breaking up with me?"
"You've got it."
Jay watched the conversation unfold, astounded at what was happening in front of him. He'd been waiting for this moment to come for the last six months but now it had actually happened he couldn't quite work out whether he was happy about it or not.
"But what about the baby?"
Ben laughed. "The baby? Do you really think I care about the baby?"
"But you said-"
"I lied! I don't care about the baby, just like I didn't care about Lexi."
"Why would you say the things that you did? Ben, I don't understand."
Jay could see the hurt on Abi's face as she shrunk further and further into herself.
"Because you were my cover up. That's all you've ever been. You distracted my dad from the fact that I'm gay."
"You're evil, that's what you are," Abi shouted, holding her ground. "I don't care what you do to me, but how could you do this to my child? Our child? If you think that I'm ever going to let you see this baby when it's born now then you can forget it."
"What makes you think that I want to see it? Have you not been listening to anything I have just said to you?"
"Because any normal person would feel something. That's your child, Ben. Don't you care?"
"I think it's time for you to go," Jay interrupted. He was starting to worry for Abi, getting this rattled while six months pregnant couldn't be good for her. "You've said what you came to say."
"That's right, Jay. Be the big man, just like always."
"I've asked you nicely to leave. Don't start something you're not going to be able to finish, Ben."
"You're pathetic, you know that?"
"Me?"
"Yeah, you. You're clearly in love with her."
"What?" Abi looked from Ben to Jay confused.
"Why do you think he's being so 'helpful'? He's still in love with you, he just wants to try and get into your knickers."
"Abi, don't listen to him. That's not true," Jay told her quickly. "Come on ,you're leaving."
Ben laughed as Jay pushed him towards the front door. "And you call yourself a Mitchell? By the way, Abi," he shouted down the corridor. "I've been cheating on you. I've been sleeping with Paul Coker for the past year."
"Get out!" Jay gave him a final push and closed the door behind him.
Abi sat still, not moving as a single tear fell down her cheek. She'd stayed strong until then but it looked like Ben's last comment had been the final blow.
"Abi," Jay said softy pulling out the chair next to her. "Don't listen to anything he says."
"Did you know? About him and Paul?"
Jay nodded, ashamed of himself. "Yeah, I knew. I told him to tell you the truth, Abs. I promise you, I did. It wasn't my place to say anything."
Abi shook her head. "It's ok. I'm not blaming you." She quickly wiped away her tears. "I need to speak to Lauren."

Abi tried her best to wipe away her smeared mascara as she waited for Lauren to answer her Skype call. It had been a couple of weeks now since she'd last spoken to her and she was sure Lauren would have loads to tell her. She always did. A couple of minutes later her face popped up on the screen, little Louis sitting on her lap.
"Abi," she smiled. "Hi!"
"Hi," Abi laughed.
"Look, Louis. It's auntie Abi, say hello."
"He's got so big already," Abi cooed.
"I know," Lauren agreed. "You wait, when your one is here you won't believe how quickly they grow."
Abi looked down at her bump. "I can't wait."
"Abs, are you at dads?" Lauren questioned. "Only it looks like you're in the kitchen."
"It's kind of a long story."
"We've got time, haven't we?"
"Jay bought this place, he lives here now. And me and Ben have been on the rocks recently so I've been staying here."
"On the rocks? What does that mean?"
"He broke up with me."
"What? Why?"
Abi shook her head. "I'd rather not talk about it."
"Right, of course."
"Actually, Lauren. There's something else I wanted to talk to you about."
"Shoot."
"Are you alone?"
"Well, unless we're including Louis, it's just me here. Peter is at work. Why?"
"I need to ask you something and I need you to tell me the truth."
"Of course."
"Did Peter kill Lucy?"
"What?" Lauren asked, the shock registering on her face.
"You heard me."
"No, of course not. Why would you think that?"
Abi sighed, half relieved and half frustrated at Lauren's answer. She hadn't wanted it to be her brother-in-law but she also wanted to get her dad out of prison.
"Phil paid off the jury."
"What do you mean?"
"The jury at dad's trial, Phil paid them off. That's why he got sent down for a murder he didn't commit."
"Why would he do that?"
"Because he's covering for somebody, just like you are. Lauren, I know that you know."
Lauren sighed on the other side of the screen.
"I'm right, aren't I?"
Her sister nodded. "Abi, you have to understand how hard I tried to get dad out of there. I told the police but they didn't believe me. They didn't even open an investigation."
"What? Surely they can't do that."
"It was the guy who Emma was engaged to. He thought I was just lying to save dad, you know how much he hated him. He blamed dad for Emma's death."
Abi ran a hand through her hair. "I can't believe this."
Lauren shrugged. "Neither could I, but I tried and there's nothing else I can do."
"But if I give a statement too then they'd have to believe us. I mean, if two of us have said-"
"But you don't know who it is."
"You're going to tell me, right?"
"Abi, I can't."
"Are you being serious?"
"I promised, Peter."
"It's one of them, isn't it? It's a Beale."
Lauren nodded decisively. "That's all I'm telling you."
"Lauren, please."
"Abs, I'm sorry."
"This is our dad, don't you care?"
"You didn't seem to care when you were testifying against him to save your boyfriends arse."
Abi leaned backwards like the comment had physically put a dagger in her heart.
"Sorry, that was unfair. I've already tried everything, Abs. I know it's frustrating, but there's nothing else we can do."
"But don't you want dad out of there? To see Louis and my baby grow up?"
"Of course I do, Abs. I want that more than anything."
"Then help me do something about it. I can get evidence, a confession. I'll hand it in to the police, they'll have to believe me then."
"Right, I'll make a deal with you... I'm not going to tell you who killed Lucy-"
"Lauren!"
"Just let me finish, okay? I'm not going to tell you, but if you think about it and you come back to me with a name, only when you're absolutely certain that is was them, I won't lie to you. I won't deny that it was them. Deal?"
"Deal."