Shocking scenes have paved the way for Zoe Slater’s (Michelle Ryan) stint later in the year.

The legendary character returned after a whopping 20 year absence earlier this week, and it became immediately clear that she’s in a bad way.

She’d reached out to her estranged cousin Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) under the pretence that Spanish loansharks were trying to track her down, a guise she continued when stepfather Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) arrived.

He was desperate to help her – but was conflicted by the fact he would have to keep it secret from new wife Kat (Jessie Wallace), Zoe’s mum.

She pleaded with him not to say anything, and suddenly her situation seemed to worsen.

The loansharks upped the ante with their communications to her, with a horrified Stace’ and Alfie trying to find a resolution. Just as he offered her the cash, Stacey made a shocking realisation.

Zoe was sending the messages to herself.

And, in an even bigger twist, Kat began to slam on the door of the flat, desperate to know why Alfie was in there.

In tonight’s episode, with Zoe squirrelled away in the bedroom, Alfie made a complex lie about being contacted by an emotional Stacey, who didn’t want to trouble her wider family with her grief for late husband Martin Fowler (James Bye).

Stacey edged around the claims, trying her best to seem convincing, but Kat could clearly see straight through the lie.

She and Jean (Gillian Wright) could see that Stacey’s flat was a mess, and offered to begin cleaning it, while a nervous Zoe listened into the conversation and jumped under the bed to avoid being caught.

Luckily for her, it wasn’t long before Kat announced that she had to head home to care for her young sons Tommy (Sonny Kendall), Bert and Ernie.

She didn’t leave without suspicions though, and after heading downstairs, she told Jean that she had ‘left her keys’ in the flat and would have to go back.

Alfie quickly covered once again, but Kat was adamant that they were hiding someone away in the bedroom and implied that he had another woman.

He and Stacey begged her not to go in the room, but she wasn’t taking no for an answer. She burst in – and it was empty. The window was open, and Zoe was gone.

Kat then left again, and Stacey frantically called her wayward cousin to find out where she’d gone.

Zoe explained that it wasn’t easy hearing Kat’s voice after so many years, and that it would be impossible for her to ever make amends.

‘I done something, something so bad, you’d never forgive me’, she explained, ‘I can’t tell you. You’d hate me. You’d all hate me.’

‘Kat would hate me, just like she used to.’

She then said goodbye to Stacey, before leaving through a fire exit.