"Katy?"

"Ben." She sighed as though his mere presence in her office was a massive imposition. "What can I do for you?"

"I need the cash back." Ben told her bluntly. "From the warehouse… I need it."

"What? Why?"

"They've got me on CCTV and Callum reckons it's only a matter of time before they work out it's me. I need to give them Hardcastle before that happens. I can't go back inside, Katy… I just can't."

Looking at him for a moment, the older Mitchell relented with a sigh. She crossed to the safe and unlocked it quickly, retrieving her share of the money from the warehouse. Hesitating for a moment, she held onto the envelope tightly, sending Ben a hard look.

"You're not playing me, are you?" She demanded. "If I find out–"

"I swear." Ben held up his hands. "You can ask Jay or Callum. I just need to get the police off my back and send them in Hardcastle's direction."

"Fine." She threw the money at him with a huff. "It's all there. I was tempted to dip into it the other day, but decided to leave it for a bit in case; wouldn't surprise me if they were tracking the serial numbers or summit."

"I…"

"How's the hearing?" Katy asked, reading the expression on his face and guessing that he was about to thank her or something equally out of character. Things might be thawing between them, but she wasn't sure she was ready for that just yet. "It was a success, right?"

Ben grinned. "Yeah, I can hear again."

"Good… I'm glad."

"And you had good results from the hospital?"

"Yeah, it's looking positive." As her cousin opened his mouth again, she held up a hand, a smirk on her face, motioning between them. "Don't jinx this progress now. Just take the damn money and do what you've got to do."

Ben nodded sharply, before turning and leaving the office. Katy considered their conversation for a couple of moments, wondering whether he was telling her everything. Then she huffed and shook her head, knowing that even Ben wouldn't be stupid enough to try and take the money off her by telling her some tale about Hardcastle and the police.

Putting her cousin to the back of her mind, Katy returned a few phone calls and sent a few emails, finalising upcoming events for the next couple of weeks. She sighed as a persistent knocking on the door disturbed her and she called out agitatedly, her eyes still fixed on the rota on the screen of her computer.

"Katy? Katy… I need your help."

Looking up and furrowing her eyebrows at the obvious state Callum was in, her attention was focused solely on the young man opposite her immediately. He was shifting agitatedly from one foot to the other, looking almost terrified about something or other. It didn't take a genius to work out that it almost definitely had something to do with his boyfriend.

"What's happened?"

"Ben's been arrested."

"For…?"

"You know what for." Callum told her anxiously. "The warehouse robbery."

"What warehouse?"

"Katy… I know you were there. Ben's been arrested. I need your help."

Letting out a long breath, the young woman shrugged. She was far more concerned than she was letting on, but didn't want to give too much away to her cousin's boyfriend. She liked Callum and Ben seemed to think he was worth keeping around, but he was also a police officer and Katy couldn't quite trust which part of him was stronger.

"I'll phone Ritchie and see what she can do." She told him. "Ben's not stupid; he'll keep his mouth shut. Don't you do anything and put your foot in it. Stay well clear, Callum."

"Aren't you gonna go down there or–"

"And do what?" Katy asked, arching an eyebrow. "If I go down there I could just make everything worse. What are you expecting me to do, eh? Give him an alibi? How can I? I wasn't with him."

"How do you know that? You apparently didn't even know what I was talking about."

She raised her eyebrows and fixed him with a hard look, leaning forward on the desk. "I know that I wasn't with him because I never spend time with Ben. Your mates down the station ask around and they'll soon find that out for themselves; however thick they are. Besides, if I say he was with me and Ben says he was with you and the whole thing's fucked and we're both in the shit."

"Right… fine…" Callum seemed to realise that she was right. "Just… get him some help, yeah?"

He turned and left the office. Katy was sure that he was about to do something stupid like going into the police station and sticking his nose into the situation. She swore as she scrabbled on the surface of the desk for her phone, finally managing to wrap her hand around it and calling Ritchie. The solicitor sighed deeply as she answered the call.

"I think you need to get yourself down to Walford nick." Katy told her quickly, ignoring the question about what she'd got herself into now. "Ben's bloke's just been to tell me he's been taken in… armed robbery, by the sounds."

Ritchie sighed again. "Would you happen to know any details?"

"No. I just know what Callum's told me."

"Why am I not quite buying that?"

"I have no idea." Katy replied evenly. "But it's my story and I'm sticking to it."

"Spoken like a true Mitchell." Ritchie muttered irritably on the other end of the call. "Why am I not hearing this from Phil?"

"I dunno if he knows yet."

"Right, fine… I'll get down to the station. If Ben doesn't want me in on the interview there won't be anything I can do, though. You realise that, don't you?"

"I know. Thank you."

As hard as it was, Katy forced herself to stay in her office rather than going to find out what was happening with her cousin. She couldn't even demand information from Nick about the other matter that was preoccupying her because he had the night off. Grumpily she forced herself to focus on the open emails on her screen until she decided she needed some air.

Leaning on the bar, Katy shot Tina a broad grin and told her that she was popping out for a bit. When her friend arched an eyebrow and asked a bit of what, the blonde shook her head and laughed. She pulled out her phone as she walked towards the café, deciding to get a coffee and knowing that she'd have more peace and quiet there than she would at home or at the R&R.

She had just placed a hand on the handle to the café when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her round. Katy scowled at her father as he took a step towards her, his expression a mixture of anger and concern.

"Please tell me you ain't mixed up with all this?" Jack demanded agitatedly.

"All what?"

"You know full well what I'm talking about." He snapped.

"Nah… you've lost me." His daughter replied innocently, shrugging.

"Your cousin being arrested for armed robbery and then Callum telling me that you might know something about it."

"Eh?" Katy feigned confusion. "What?"

"I know you well enough to know that you're more than capable of being mixed up in whatever Ben's done." Jack snapped at her. "What is wrong with you? Why can't you just keep your head down? Ain't you got enough on your plate?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about, Dad." She retorted angrily. "And I have no idea what Ben's got himself into this time." She scowled at him. "What would Callum know about anything, anyway? I speak to him about once a month… even less than I speak to Ben."

"Yeah, well, see that you steer clear."

Shaking her head slightly, Katy huffed and pushed her way into the café, leaving Jack outside frowning at the door as it slammed behind her. Ordering herself a coffee, the blonde retreated to the table in the corner, slouching down and pulling out her phone. She huffed again as she saw the notifications telling her that she had a dozen new emails, completely ignoring them in favour of the message thread she'd read and re-read countless times.

Calling it a thread was an overstatement. In reality it was a single message confirming the appointment that Katy had made for a couple of days later. She had returned to it more times than she could remember since it had come through, fluctuating between wanting to double check she'd actually made it and fighting the urge to cancel. Despite having bitten the bullet and booking a termination, Katy still didn't think that it was what she wanted. She felt sick even thinking about it, but she didn't know what to do; everything was far too complicated at the moment.

"Penny for them."

"Eh?"

"Your thoughts. Penny for them."

Katy smiled weakly at Whitney as she dropped into the chair opposite hers. "You look cheerful; I wouldn't want to change that."

"Parents, kids or assorted others?"

"Honestly, Whit, you don't wanna know."

"There ain't much you could tell me that would surprise me after ten years of being your best mate." When the only response was a dismissive snort, Whitney furrowed her eyebrows. "Oi! Have I done something?"

"What?"

"Is that why you're being so off with me?" Whitney demanded. "Have I done something?"

Katy shook her head quickly. "Of course not. I'm tired that's all. Ben's got himself into summit and then… I'm just preoccupied."

"You would tell me if there was summit wrong, wouldn't you?"

"Course." The blonde agreed easily, sending her friend a weak smile and changing the subject quickly.