Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson) accuses Jez Blake (Jeremy Sheffield) of murder in Hollyoaks next week after pet cat Fernando goes missing.

The chef, as fans know, has been looking after stray cat Fernando for a number of weeks, feeding him leftovers from The Hutch.

But upset hits in upcoming scenes when the cat in question goes walkabouts, with Ste determined to figure out what happened.

Jez’s name enters the frame, forcing Ste to do some digging – no, literally! – when he heads down to the allotment and notices some fresh soil in one of the flower beds.

He starts to dig and uncovers Abe Fielding’s (Tyler Conti) watch. Abe, as viewers will recall, was murdered by Jeremy – who is a serial killer – earlier this month.

Cleo McQueen (Nadine Mulkerrin) subsequently discovers Ste in possession of the watch and pleads with him for an explanation.

Ste ultimately admits that he found it buried in Jez’s allotment. Interest piqued, Cleo resolves to speak to Martha (Sherrie Hewson), hoping to get some answers.

Cleo, as viewers know, was already left suspicious of Jez after he snuck into her room a number of weeks ago.

Will she and Ste work out that Jez is a killer? Will they unearth the killer’s crimes?

That remains to be seen but later in the week, Ste is convinced that Jez murdered Fernando and he outright confides such a thing in John Paul McQueen (James Sutton).

Will John Paul relay Ste’s worries to boyfriend Jez? And is Jez’s reign of terror set to come to an end?

Hollyoaks streams Mondays to Wednesdays from 7am on Channel 4’s streaming platform, or catch episodes on TV at 7pm on E4.