"Katy… is everything alright with Jack?"
The blonde frowned at Honey as she crossed the street to speak to her. "Yeah? Why?"
"He's selling the flats. He said something about needing to free up some capital?"
"Right, I… I didn't know." She admitted, glancing towards her father's house in confusion. "Thanks for letting me know."
"Yeah, I mean, it's just… well, we've only just moved in."
"I'm sorry, Hon, that's shit timing. But, you know Dad wouldn't sell if he didn't have to." She glanced at her watch. "Look, can I catch you later? I need to get back to the R&R and check how they're getting on."
Not waiting to hear the answer, Katy smiled and strode away. The rainbow balloon arch in front of the bar was obvious from the other end of the road and the blonde smiled, shaking her head at the massive grins on the faces of the two women ordering everyone around. Tina and Kathy's smiles were almost as visible as the balloons.
Laughing as she assured them she trusted that they had everything under control, Katy shook her head and made her way quickly up to the office.
"Come and dance, Katy!" Tina encouraged, grasping the blonde's hands and attempting to tug her out from behind the bar. "It's your place, if you can't take a break to dance, who can?"
Katy laughed, shaking her head. "Leave it out, T! You don't want me cramping your style, do you? I thought you were hoping to get lucky, anyway?"
"Well yeah, but if they see me dancing with such a fit woman they'll be all over me, won't they?"
Laughing again at the strange logic that her friend was applying, the blonde allowed herself to be dragged outside. She accepted a piña colada from Leon as he passed with a tray of the cocktails, rolling her eyes as he winked cheekily at her. Tina grinned broadly, grasping her hand and pulling her into the centre of the make shift dance floor in the street, twirling Katy around before wrapping an arm around her waist.
"This is great, Katy." She almost shouted in the younger woman's ear. "You've done an amazing job organising today."
"Me? You and Kathy did almost all the work, love."
"Just take the compliment, Mitchell."
"Fine. Thank you, Carter."
Katy allowed herself to relax and enjoy the event for a little while. After a little while, she smiled and squeezed Bernadette's shoulder, leaving the teenager with Tina while she went to check how things were going inside. Katy nodded towards the door, encouraging Callum to head outside where she knew Whitney had just arrived. He looked at her in bemusement for a moment, before mumbling something about going to collect glasses.
Shaking her head, the Mitchell opened the till and cast a cursory glance over the takings, smiling as she realised they were well up on their normal amount. She smiled with relief that perhaps things were starting to look up after all.
"Uhhh… Kath?" Katy frowned, looking up from the August rota that the older woman had not long handed her. "This rota…?"
"What about it?" Kathy furrowed her eyebrows, scanning the paper in her hand for an obvious mistake.
"Why have you put me down for a split week off the second week of August?"
"Tyler's wedding?" Kathy frowned even more. "Glenda said you'd need time off to go over to Spain with the kids for the wedding."
"No." Katy shook her head vehemently. "No, I'm not going to Spain. Not a chance. Tyler's dad, Eddie, is coming over to pick up the kids."
"But Glenda said–"
"Gran's wrong." The young woman assured her bluntly. "I have absolutely no intention of getting involved with that at all." She wrinkled her nose. "You can change the rota. I want you to put me down to work all that week, while the kids are away. I'll take the week of the 19th off."
Kathy didn't look convinced, but shrugged and headed away to do what her boss had demanded. Katy watched her go before sighing heavily and leaning against the bar. She rubbed her temples tiredly; thinking about the upcoming wedding that she was so determined not to be involved in.
Matthew and the girls were incredibly excited about the wedding, refusing to stop talking about it at every opportunity. Now that the school holidays had started, they were even more eager to discuss their trip to Spain, demanding that Katy put a countdown on the 'fridge until the date that they were due to leave. Glenda had attempted to get her granddaughter to agree to join them, but Katy had resisted all attempts to even be drawn into the conversation.
She was also refusing to answer any of Tyler's phone calls. She had, reluctantly, deigned to answer when Eddie or her ex's brother or sister called, but wasn't particularly forthcoming in her conversations with any of them, either. In the end she had requested that any further questions were directed to Glenda, much to her grandmother's frustration.
In reality, Katy had too much to think about to worry about what was going on with her ex-boyfriend. Ben was still acting much too shiftily for her liking, drawing attention to himself and seemingly going off the rails. She had attempted to warn him to stop what he was doing, but the conversation had just descended into yet another argument.
"Katy!" The blonde jumped as her name was shouted from the downstairs bar. She barely had time to stride over to the stairs before Tiffany appeared, looking around wildly. "Katy!"
"What's wrong? What's happened?"
"Uncle Jack… he's in trouble." The teenager blurted.
Holding up a hand to stop her saying anything else, Katy led her over to the office and opened the door. She sent Kathy an apologetic, meaningful smile and the older woman stood. She nodded in understanding as she left the room, pushing the door closed behind her.
"Right, tell me everything."
Tiffany launched into a very confused, very emotional explanation of what had happened between Jack and Fraser. Katy frowned as she listened, her mind casting back to the evening when her father had turned up at her flat needing help. Groaning and putting her head in her hands, she let her eyes slip closed as she considered what might happen next. At Tiffany's mention of the police, her heart sank.
"Right… thanks for telling me, Tiff." She said suddenly, cutting the teenager off and sending her a bright smile that didn't meet her eyes. "Don't worry about it, OK? I'll sort it."
"Katy, what–?"
"Seriously, Tiff, try and forget about it, yeah? You don't need the hassle at the moment, do you? I can deal with this much better than you. You need to concentrate on school and getting through, right?"
The teenager frowned, but knew better than to argue with her older cousin. She nodded slowly, turning and heading out of the office. Katy waited a couple of moments, thinking hard, before grabbing her jacket and following in her footsteps.
She banged on the front door of Jack's house until he opened it. At the sight of his daughter on the doorstep, he rolled his eyes, but stood back to let her in anyway.
"Dad? Tiff's told me so there's no point in trying to lie to me." Katy pre-empted what he would attempt, shaking her head and striding into the living room. "You need an alibi, right, so let's get one sorted."
"I've already asked Denise."
Katy gaped at him. "You what? Are you insane?"
"No. I trust her, alright?"
"And you don't trust me?"
"It ain't that and you know it." Jack snapped, scowling at her. "You don't need the hassle. You've got enough on your plate and, if anything happens to me, you need to look after Amy and Ricky."
"It's that bad, then?"
"I'm not sure yet."
"Dad…"
"And I'm gonna need you to keep an eye out for Denise, as well."
"You what?" Katy frowned at him. "What the hell have you done?"
"Nothing, nothing, alright…" He told her hastily. "But I like her, OK?"
"I don't understand." His daughter admitted bluntly, shrugging and folding her arms across her chest. "What the fuck is actually going on here? Tiff told me that you attacked Fraser, which I already knew after the other night, but you're acting as though you're gonna go down for years."
"Who knows what's gonna happen."
"Well I do know that I need you around." Katy pointed out. "So do the kids. You sound like you're giving up."
"Since when have you needed me?"
"Dad, come on…"
"I don't want you getting involved in my problems, alright?"
"You're planning on doing something stupid, ain't ya?"
"No, of course I ain't."
"Dad, I know you. You're acting weird."
"Seriously, Katy, just keep your head down, alright? I'll sort this without you getting involved. You've got too much to worry about."
Shaking her head, the blonde sent him one final disbelieving look, before turning and striding out of the house. She let the door bang behind her, her eyes slipping closed for a moment, before she glanced at the time and realised that she needed to go and pick the kids up from holiday club.
The next few hours passed in a blur of children's television and over excitement. Glenda arrived home in time for Katy to head to the bar and take over from Tina. She was just leaving the house when she caught sight of blue flashing lights outside her dad's house.
Running through the gardens, she caught Jack's eye as he was led from the house and towards the car. Following his gaze, she spotted Tiffany standing in the shadows, tears falling down her cheeks as she watched what was happening.
"Tiff, hey, come on, sweetie." Katy pulled her into a tight hug, cradling her head against her shoulder. "It'll be alright, OK? I promise, it'll be alright."
"How is it gonna be alright? Uncle Jack's been arrested. This is all my fault."
"No, darlin'… this is my stupid father's fault, alright? He shouldn't have waded in and done what he did without thinking, yeah?" Katy told her, still rubbing soothing circles on her back. "But it'll all work out alright. We'll sort it."
As Tiffany continued to cling to her, crying her eyes out over the situation, Katy stared after the police car as it carried her father away from the Square. Exhaling sharply, she wondered whether Jack would be able to talk himself out of trouble or whether things would get blown out of all proportion and lead to countless other problems for the family.
"You're out, then?" Katy smiled as she leant against one of the gateposts in the gardens with a takeaway coffee cup in each hand.
Jack smiled and nodded, gratefully accepting the drink she held in his direction. "For now. They're still checking if they've got enough evidence to press charges."
"And will they?"
"I really don't know, Katy."
"Right…" She smiled weakly. "Just let me know if you need anything, right? I mean… Uncle Max ain't exactly in the right frame of mind to be looking after the kids, is he?"
"Thanks, darlin'."
Reaching out and squeezing his arm, Katy turned and strode across the Square. She took a long gulp of coffee, before throwing it in the bin and heading towards the R&R. She smiled at Tina as she immediately started chattering about the latest gossip that she'd missed after her day off from the bar. Laughing in disbelief at Tina's over exaggerated recount of Karen Taylor's date, Katy shook her head and said that she'd be looking over the accounts, but wanted to be alerted immediately if anything similar occurred.
The accounts were as boring as ever and Katy found her mind wandering after less than ten minutes of sitting behind her desk attempting to work. She rested her chin on her palm, distracting herself by googling last minute holidays to Ibiza for her week off. She had the overwhelming urge to visit the island to reconnect with her memories of her mother and aunt, wanting to show the girls and Matthew some of the places they'd visited now that they were old enough to make some memories of their own.
Making her mind up to speak to Glenda about taking a holiday, Katy gave up on working and left the desk. She wandered out into the top bar, smiling at the staff behind the bar and descending to the lower bar. Furrowing her eyebrows as she watched Karen Taylor leaving with her phone clutched to her ear, she nudged the brunette behind the bar and motioned towards the door.
"You have just missed Karen arranging a second date with Caren." Tina announced as Katy joined her behind the bar.
"What?" The blonde looked at her in bemusement. "I missed it?"
Tina laughed. "I'm sorry; it was too good to miss out on by coming to get ya."
"What do I even pay you for, Carter?" Katy joked, nudging her with her hip as she passed.
"Oh, I almost forgot. You had a call earlier."
"From…?"
"The bank, I think?" Tina shrugged. "They obviously wouldn't tell me what it was about, but they want you to phone them as soon as possible."
"Right… thanks."
Immediately distracted, Katy discarded the empty gin bottle on the bar and headed up the stairs to her office. As soon as she was inside, she reached for the phone. Instead of calling the bank back, she dialled her accountant's number and started drumming her fingernails on the surface of her desk as she waited for Jeff to answer.
"Jeff, Katy Mitchell. The bank has called. Is there anything I need to know before I call them back?" She demanded the second the call was answered.
"Another lump sum has been deposited into your account."
"What the hell is going on?" Katy snapped, knowing that her accountant was just as much in the dark as she was. "Who's doing this… and why?"
"I can't answer that one, but I can tell you that they've deposited another fifteen grand–"
"Fifteen grand?" The blonde flopped back in her chair, rubbing her forehead agitatedly. "So that's… fifty grand? Fucking hell…"
"I would imagine the bank are calling to talk to you about the account type… unless something's raised their suspicions." Jeff told her seriously. "Miss Mitchell is there anything–?"
"I promise you, I don't know where this money is coming from or why." She replied firmly. "Ritchie Scott is looking into it and I've been advised not to touch a penny until we've figured this out."
"That's good advice. Keep me updated and I'll do the same this end."
Hanging up, Katy leant back in her seat, squeezing her eyes closed. She didn't understand where the money was coming from. Who did she know in Spain who would be able to afford to transfer fifty thousand pounds into her bank account? Katy fully believed that Carlos had no idea about any of it, but that didn't help her in the slightest.
Deciding to get it over and done with, Katy called the bank. Relief flooded through her when she realised that Jeff had been correct in his assumption; the young woman on the other end of the call simply wanted to run her through her options to get the most out of her money.
Katy glanced at the time as her call ended, making up her mind to take the rest of the day off to spend with the children. They had, much to Ruby's disgust, been signed in to the holiday club at the community centre again, but she guessed that they wouldn't mind her picking them up early and spending the afternoon with them.
A/N: I'm so sorry there's been such a long delay - real life got in the way!
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