Chapter Twenty Five

Charlie approached Watson and cautiously took her to one side.

"What's up, boss?" the Constable asked.

Charlie led the way into her office and shut the door.

"I've just had a tip off," Charlie told her. "I don't know exactly what it means, if anything, but I need help following it up."

"What do you need me to do?" Watson asked.

She trusted Charlie and she was prepared to do almost anything that was required of her. And she for one had been horrified that Angelo had been granted such a drastic promotion over her friend.

"I need you to come out with me to keep tabs on someone," Charlie said. "On Angelo."

"Angelo?" Watson asked with a raised eyebrow.

Charlie nodded, begging her to keep it all quiet.

"Sure," Watson said. "Sure. Now?"

Charlie nodded and led the way out of her office.

Joey phoned Charlie again when she saw Angelo climb into a boat with Suzy. She and Aden had remained at the docks, unsure of how involved they ought to be getting. They just hoped that Charlie would get there soon and find out what was going on. Whatever the case, it did not look good for Angelo.

Charlie hung up from Joey, wondering what they ought to do next. Angelo was out at sea and fast disappearing. They needed to catch up with him sooner rather than later.

"There's the police boat down at the docks that we could follow in," Watson said.

"Do you know how to sail?" Charlie asked. "Because I sure don't."

Watson shook her head.

"Maybe we need to get a proper team onto this," she suggested.

The two of them hunting Angelo down brought back some painful memories for both of them. Charlie was desperate for Angelo to be innocent. But the evidence was pointing the wrong way.

"What else are going to do?" Watson asked.

"Break the rules," Charlie decided, phoning Joey again.

Angelo felt tense as Suzy took them out towards the island. He was nervous. This time a fortnight ago, he had been making it his mission to bring the human trafficking ring down and now he found himself working with them. He still wasn't entirely sure how it had happened. Just as with the development site, he'd been sucked in and was now out of his depth. He'd come back to Summer Bay to work on the case in order to redeem himself. And for a while there, he'd thought he would really succeed. He'd come so close to laying Jack's ghost to rest and the community had been starting to accept him again. Charlie had been a huge part of that. But it seemed that losing her was the beginning of losing everything. While he'd shot up the ranks at work, he'd lost his girlfriend and he'd killed another man. While Hugo had made him sick to his stomach and he hadn't felt even nearly as guilty about shooting him as he had over shooting Jack, it had cost him a lot. Despite him being labelled as the face of evil, Martha had loved Hugo and now she was grieving for yet another partner. Without either her or Charlie on side, everyone else had turned against him. When he'd seen Suzy hanging around a couple of days ago, he'd charged over in a bid to arrest her. But now he was here, working for her instead of against her. He was letting go of his morals and if the truth came out, he knew he didn't have a hope in hell of regaining any friends. However, what he could gain was enough cash to take off and start again somewhere new.

"What's going on?" Suzy suddenly demanded.

Angelo looked up and realised that they were being tailed by a familiar boat. He swallowed.

"You've set me up!" Suzy accused.

"No," Angelo protested.

Without slowing down, she pulled out a gun, aiming it directly at Angelo's head.