Trouble is brewing in the Dales as the secrets surrounding Nate Robinson’s mysterious death begin to unravel — and John Sugden is at the very heart of it. For months, John believed he had pulled off the perfect cover-up after murdering Nate and dumping his body in the lake. With no witnesses, and Nate’s disappearance chalked up to another village mystery, John was free to reinvent himself and carry on life as if nothing happened.

But in true Emmerdale fashion, buried bodies don’t stay hidden forever.

After authorities resume dredging the lake, Nate’s decomposed body is finally discovered, throwing the village into turmoil. Though the condition of the body makes gathering forensic evidence difficult, the discovery kicks off a full-scale murder investigation. And while John maintains a calm facade, his worst nightmare becomes reality — the police arrive to question him.

To John’s twisted relief, the authorities don’t immediately suspect him. Instead, they shift their focus to Cain Dingle, whose violent altercation with Nate the day he vanished makes him a prime suspect. John plays along, doing his best to protect himself while subtly steering the investigation away from his own guilt.

But keeping Cain out of prison is another matter. With Tracy Metcalfe, Nate’s ex and the mother of his child, slinging accusations at Cain, tensions explode. As Tracy walks past, Sam Dingle confronts her in a public outburst, and the family begins to splinter under pressure. Cain, rattled, begins to wonder whether Tracy herself had something to do with Nate’s death.

In the background, John is orchestrating a dark plan. Knowing the police are circling and desperate to keep the attention off himself, he takes a calculated risk: shifting more suspicion toward Tracy. Soon after, the police arrive at Tug Ghyll with a warrant and make a damning discovery — Nate’s phone, hidden in Frankie’s playhouse. It’s a bombshell revelation that paints Tracy in a deeply incriminating light.

To make matters worse for Tracy, the police uncover another inconsistency — there’s no record of the removal company she claimed handled Nate’s belongings. The men she said took his things to Shetland never existed. Every lie begins to stack against her.

Faced with a rapidly tightening noose, Tracy panics and spins a desperate lie — claiming she was with her sister Vanessa Woodfield the day Nate was supposedly killed. This false alibi seems to offer her a lifeline, but it quickly threatens to drag Vanessa down too. When the police come knocking, Vanessa is completely blindsided. Her shock is visible — she has no idea what’s going on, and now she must decide whether to lie to protect her sister or come clean and potentially destroy Tracy’s last hope of freedom.

Meanwhile, John stands back and watches the chaos he’s helped engineer. By throwing suspicion in every direction but his own, he keeps himself out of the spotlight — at least for now. But his calm is fragile, and the truth has a way of surfacing in Emmerdale. With forensic teams working around the clock, it’s only a matter of time before John’s carefully woven web begins to unravel.

And let’s not forget Aidan Moore, John’s comatose ex-fiancé. The only person alive who knows the full truth about John’s violent tendencies, Aidan’s silence is John’s greatest weapon — and biggest liability. If Aidan wakes up and talks, everything could come crashing down.

As the villagers speculate and the police dig deeper, the big question looms: how long can John keep the truth buried? With Tracy’s life hanging in the balance and Vanessa unknowingly caught in a dangerous lie, John may have sealed their fates just to save himself.

But Emmerdale has a way of exposing its darkest secrets. And when the truth about who really killed Nate finally comes to light, the fallout could destroy more than one life.