The children were overly excited for their holiday and so Katy had escaped to the R&R on Friday night after dinner at Jack's. Glenda was more than happy to get the children to bed and do the final bits of packing before their flight in the morning, although she was concerned that her granddaughter would overdo things before they went away. Katy, though, promised that she would be fine and would rather keep busy.
Tina had the night off and Katy found that she missed her friend. There was far less reason to leave her office with the brunette not being at work, so she used the time to make sure that the accounts and orders were up to date before she went away for a week. At about midnight, Kathy called to ask if she could help behind the bar. Grateful for the distraction from paperwork, the younger blonde agreed and prepared to spend the rest of the night serving punters.
"I wanna word with you."
Katy let out a long, weary sigh and turned to fix Ben with a half-irritated, half-exasperated scowl. He was leaning on the bar, glaring at her in a way that was clearly supposed to intimidate her. The young woman simply snorted and folded her arms, arching an eyebrow as she waited for him to speak.
"You been mouthing off to my dad?"
"Clearly you know I've spoken to Phil or you wouldn't be here." She pointed out. "I don't know why you think I'm remotely bothered, though?"
"Don't you remember what I've got on you?"
"What, exactly, do you think that is?" Katy asked, the ghost of a smirk playing about her lips.
"Office. Now."
Catching Leon's eye as her cousin stalked towards her office, Katy shook her head sharply and indicated that he should keep serving at the bar. Judging from the expression on his face, he wasn't too happy about the order. It was common knowledge that the two Mitchells didn't get on and Leon was clearly wondering whether he should intervene on Katy's behalf.
As soon as the door was closed behind them, Ben rounded on her. "I bet you couldn't wait to get in there and twist the knife, could you? I bet you loved telling him that it was all down to big, bad Ben."
"More like little, insecure Ben." Katy snorted, moving to sit in her desk chair. "Honestly, I don't know what you think I said, but I can assure you that I barely spare you a second thought."
"You said something, though, didn't ya?"
"I just said that I don't trust you and Phil was probably right not to either." Katy told him with a shrug. "Which is true, isn't it?"
"He's my dad!"
"Yeah, the dad you were planning on destroying and taking everything from. Don't play that one with me, Ben; it ain't gonna wash."
"You know absolutely nothing about anything, Katy. You didn't even grow up with yours, so what would you know?" Ben yelled, clenching his fists at his sides.
Standing up abruptly, she rounded the desk and moved to stand in front of him. As they stood toe-to-toe, the height difference between them was more pronounced. Rather than being intimidated by it, however, Katy merely glared up at her cousin furiously.
"Don't you dare say I don't understand parental issues." She snapped, jabbing her finger into his chest. "I understand, Ben, but I also have no desire to destroy my family from the inside out. You talk the talk about family and loyalty, but you have no fucking clue what that actually means, do you? You're just out for yourself and what you can get out of anything you do. And you know what? We're all fucking sick of it and we're all fucking sick of you!"
He surged forward into her personal space, grasping her upper arms roughly. "You're pushing your luck, Katy. Don't forget I could drop you in it over that Dean business."
"Really? What are you gonna do?" She asked, arching an eyebrow at him. "Because from where I'm standing you ain't got nothing on me."
"I'm sure the cops would be interested in what I know about that night."
"Yeah? And what is that, exactly?"
"You killed him and got me to help you get rid of the body in the crusher."
Katy nodded slowly. "And where's your evidence?"
"Them blokes at the yard would recognise you."
"You honestly believe that? It was months ago and I used a fake name." She pushed him back, her mouth twisting into a hard line. "Let's look at it objectively, shall we? Me; 5 foot 2, bringing up four kids, running a business, ain't been in trouble since I was a kid, battling cancer. You; pushing six foot, been in prison a couple of times, notorious temper, dodgy as fuck." Arching an eyebrow at him, she smiled darkly. "Go on, tell them. Let's see who the cops believe."
Ben didn't speak for a couple of minutes. He rubbed his jaw, clearly thinking about his next move, his tongue flicking over his lips nervously. Katy stood her ground, unable to keep the smug expression off her face as she realised he was floundering.
"Look… I don't wanna make trouble, Ben." She said finally. "And I really couldn't care less what you get up to. But Phil asked me directly and I weren't gonna lie. I don't trust you and it's pretty obvious I'm right not to." Katy glanced at the clock on the wall. "Look, I ain't got time for your melodrama, Ben. Whatever's happened is down to something you've done. I know it'll probably make you feel better to blame me, but we both know this ain't my fault."
Ben took a step backwards, looking her up and down before snorting derisively. "You can pretend to be whiter than white all you want, but we both know who you really are. One of these days you're gonna fall and I'm gonna be there to watch it happen."
"Whatever."
He turned and slammed his way out of the office, leaving Katy to slump back against her desk and exhale sharply. She knew that she probably shouldn't be riling Ben up as much as she was, that there was no way he was just going to leave her alone because she told him to, but she couldn't seem to help herself.
Maybe it was just because she had too much to think about at the moment, but she genuinely couldn't see how Ben would be able to convince anyone that she was responsible for Dean's death. The police obviously hadn't realised there was any link between her and the dead man, because they hadn't heard any more about it since the newspaper article. Katy dared to believe that it was all over.
A knock on the door drew her from her thoughts and she painted a less stressed expression on her face before crossing the room and throwing it open. Leon stood outside, glancing over his shoulder. When he realised that his boss was in front of him, he rubbed the back of his neck nervously and motioned towards the stairs.
"I saw Ben leaving. He looked furious. Everything OK?"
"Fine." She assured him quickly, sending him a tight smile. "Everything OK out here?"
"Yeah, no problems."
"Good. Give me ten minutes and I'll be back out, alright?"
"You sure you–"
"I said I'm fine." Katy snapped. Then she took a breath and forced herself to smile weakly again. "Sorry, Leon. I just… family, you know how it is."
"Yeah…" He laughed uneasily. "Let me know if you need any help."
She nodded, furrowing her eyebrows as he headed back to the bar. Closing the office door for a moment, she crossed to the desk and opened the bottom drawer, pulling out a vodka bottle and glass. Pouring herself a generous measure, Katy knocked it back quickly, before refilling the glass. As she cradled it in her hands, she leant back in her chair and thought for a moment.
Finishing it, she replaced the bottle and glass in the drawer and pulled herself together. Rolling her head to work out the kinks in her neck, Katy strode over to the door and went out into the room beyond. She smiled as she was immediately thrust into the noise and crowd over the upper bar.
"Hey, I'm swamped downstairs." Kathy shouted into her ear, catching her by the elbow and making her jump. "Any chance of another pair of hands?"
Spotting Leon eyeing her warily, Katy nodded and told Kathy that she could ask him to help her. She didn't need anyone looking at her as though she needed protecting and she wasn't about to stand for it from one of her staff. Leon looked at her in slight confusion as Kathy passed on the message, but Katy merely held her head up and threw herself into serving the punters at the bar.
The rest of the night passed with very little happening, much to Katy's relief. Sending Kathy and the rest of the staff home when the last of the stragglers had left, Katy made sure that everything was set for her week off, before locking the takings in the safe. On the way back down, she sighed at the mess that had been left downstairs, deciding to at least clear the bar before heading home.
For the first time, Katy felt uneasy about locking up and walking home alone. Normally it didn't bother her at all, but something was niggling at the back of her mind as she double-checked the door was locked and pocketed her keys. Pulling her jacket around her more tightly, she started in the direction of home, keeping her head up and striding out confidently.
"Taking a risk, ain't ya?" Ben suddenly appeared from the shadows, making her jump and whirl around to glare at him. "Bit dangerous out here for a woman at night."
"It's only dangerous because of creeps like you jumping out at us." She retorted irritably, starting to walk again.
As the young man fell into step beside her, Katy rolled her eyes. The moment she'd realised that it was Ben who was causing her feeling of unease she had relaxed considerably. Now she was just tired and annoyed and wanted to get home to bed. They were on an early flight in the morning and she was hoping to get at least a couple of hours sleep before they had to head to the airport.
"Besides, which one of us got their head kicked in going home from the bar? Oh yeah, it was you."
Ben glared at her as she paused on the steps, hunting in her bag for her keys. "You're a dick."
"Whatever."
"Have fun in Ibiza. Mind you don't catch something."
Katy laughed, shaking her head. "I didn't think you cared."
"I don't."
"Well, try not to ruin this family any more than you already have while I'm away." She ordered lightly, reaching out and patting him on the cheek, harder than she'd intended. "See ya in a week, cuz."