Hi everybody! I will update the rest of my stories starting tomorrow but for now, here is the first chapter of my new one. It's going to be a fairly emotional journey but I hope you'll stay with it and 'enjoy' it, if that's the right word. There are themes (one in particular) that are upsetting but hopefully you'll still be happy to read. The story is set after Grant is murdered and Charlie is labelled the number one suspect. She has been given the photographs of Angelo from Robertson and Angelo has told her he can't explain himself. IJKS xxx

The Waiting Game

Chapter One

Blood pumped round Joey Collins' body as she urgently selected the phone number from her mobile phonebook. She pressed send with no hesitation. She hung up when she reached the voicemail service. Flicking through her phonebook again, she called another number. It rang and rang and rang.


Ruby Buckton was tense. Every part of her body felt rigid as she waited. Morag, her step-mother, no, her step-grandmother had reluctantly gone to collect her husband from the city. He needed to be here now. She'd left Ruby in the care of Leah Patterson, Ruby's ex-housemate and friend. Leah had offered to call Ruby's boyfriend, Xavier Austin but she'd shaken her head. She didn't want him there. Glancing beside her, she looked at the quiet form of Geoff Campbell. He'd been with her when it happened. He'd been with her through all of this.


Georgie Watson stepped out into the lounge, taking a large gulp of air. The scene was worse than any crime scene she'd been called to before. The room had been filled with nothing but despair. It was suffocating. She could hardly bear it. Closing her eyes, Watson psyched herself up for round two. What was the point of being here anyway? A crime hadn't been committed. But it was one of those things a police officer was called to do and Robert Robertson, the suave new detective in town was convinced that there was more to the story. She jumped out of her skin when the phone rang beside her. Turning, she stared at the receiver as if it were an alien object. Robertson appeared in the doorway.

"Are you going to get that?" he asked.


Angelo Rosetta felt sick. He could barely concentrate on the road as he headed towards the hospital, terrified of what he would find there. How could she do this? Why would she do this? How could things have got so far that he hadn't even noticed? They'd been fighting but they fell out a lot. It was part of their passion. He knew she'd been going through a lot lately but this was too much. To think that he had played a role in such an event broke him. Forcing his tears away, Angelo sped up as much as the law would allow. He just hoped he wouldn't be too late.


Joey was startled when someone picked up the phone. Her heart leapt into her throat. She looked at the sleeping stranger beside her on the bus, exhausted only twenty minutes into their two hour journey. Leaning into the window and tearing her gaze away from the woman's drool forming at the corner of her mouth, she listened to the voice on the other end of the phone.

"Hello, this is the Patterson-Buckton residence," the voice said, sounding completely unsure of how to address the caller.

Joey didn't know what to say back. Her throat felt dry.

"Hello?" Watson repeated. "Is anybody there?"

"Who is this?" Joey asked.

"It's Constable Watson from Yabbie Creek Police Department."

All of Joey's fears came cascading down around her. She clutched the phone so tightly that her hand began to ache.

"What's happened to Charlie?" she asked.