Dryden claims that Lindsay was at the car park when he was photographed in the car with Carly. Steve gets closer to Lindsay but reveals to Kate that he is acting undercover as she had done earlier. Now he believes that Lindsay is behind the ambush. In flashback, Lindsay spied on Dryden with Carley at the reception and was moved to sympathy for Carly after a brief conversation in the ladies cloakroom. She followed the pair to the car park, and saw Tommy Hunter beating her up. She approached Hunter later but is distracted by Akers. Later Akers visits Lindsay at her home asking for help to release the pimped and abused Carly escape Hunter's clutches. With a pay-off, she convinced Lindsay to assist in a handover of Tommy. Cotton was behind the scheme. Her pay-off is found hidden among the possessions taken from Lindsay's mother's room. The buried body is not Carly's; her whereabouts unknown. Dryden is given a suspended sentence and resigns. Lindsay is convicted. Cotton is asked to remain in AC12.