"The Truth Hurts"

Thanks again for your awesome reviews of the last chapter - I love hearing what you're thinking about this murder mystery CJ are caught up in.

All I have to say is AuthorW - I write Angelo so well because HAA have made him into a believable moron and it's just so easy to channel that! Thanks HAA writers - you've done something good for once!

Chapter Thirty-Five

Detective Robert Robertson stared at Charlie for a moment, tilting his head to the side, "Senior Constable are you admitting to a crime of kidnapping Mr. Bledcoe against his will?" Morag sat there equally bewildered, "Charlie tell us this is just some kind of...I mean there's no way that you could have done this." Charlie continued avoiding their gaze, but spoke up when she felt Joey entangle their hands tighter, "I did do this. I know it was wrong and we...I shouldn't have tried to hide it...but it happened and I can't take it back."

Detective Robert Robertson stroked his hand down his chin, "Well then you'd better tell me all the details about this kidnapping of Mr. Bledcoe, 'cause I can tell you right now Ms. Buckton...things are not falling in your favour right now. Dead or not...I'm still required to investigate these allegations and the affect they might have...caused you." Charlie bit her tongue and nodded, then trying to gain her own confidence to admit to her offense she tried to release Joey's hand, smiling quietly when Joey refused to let her disentangle their hands. "We're waiting Ms. Buckton," Detective Robert Robertson pushed, "And if you don't start talking soon, I assume Ms. Collins here will be able to testify against you." "I'm not doing that," Joey refused.

"Joey...you're not gonna have a choice," Morag advised. Joey screwed up her face in disgust. "It's okay Jo," Charlie whispered, "I got myself into this mess...I need to deal with the consequences." Detective Robert Robertson placed his hands on the desk in front of him, "Well then...if you're ready to answer some questions...can you tell me when this kidnapping occurred?" Charlie sighed, "Just over three weeks ago, last Wednesday of last month. It was the day after I...threatened Grant at the Diner."

"So your threats led to your decision to kidnap Mr. Bledcoe?" Detective Robert Robertson asked. "I don't think so, it was...more of a spur of the moment decision," Charlie confessed, "And--". "So no one else knew about your plan before hand...even though Ms. Collins here certainly ended up in Grant's grasp?" Detective Robert Robertson questioned. "I'm getting to that part," Charlie growled angrily for getting interrupted. Detective Robert Robertson held up his hands in defence, "Okay no more interruptions from me, just continue telling us about what happened that day."

Charlie took a deep breath, "I was furious at him when I threatened him at the Diner. I don't know what came over me, but I calmed down enough to realize that I...can't keep letting him control my life. I was angry at him for...trying to turn Ruby against me...spreading lies about what happened. The next day I went over to Noah's bar to visit Joey during our lunch breaks, and I saw Grant at the bar. I know he wasn't drinking alcohol but just seeing him in a bar...reminded me of when he...'cause he'd been drinking when he... So when Joey wasn't looking I went over to him and told him we needed to talk. I was intending to only talk to him about staying away from Ruby...maybe convince him to leave town and asked him to meet me later on to talk as I just wanted him as far away from Joey as possible.

I skipped out on lunch with Joey telling her I wasn't feeling too well and had plenty of work back at the station...sorry 'bout that Jo. When I got back to the station...I noticed Angelo fiddling with a new taser gun, showing one of the other constables how it works before he locked it in his drawer. I went into my office and...I started thinking that if Grant didn't agree to leave us alone...I had to make him...leave. I needed to do this for my family, including Joey. I couldn't just sit back and let him...destroy my life again. And before I knew it...I'd stolen Angelo's taser gun. I met Grant along the beach when I was driving over to meet him and asked him to get in my car so we could...go somewhere private to talk.

He did so and without thinking I didn't even give him a chance to say anything. All I wanted out of him was a confession for his crimes, so I stunned him with the taser until he fell unconscious in the passenger seat. There was nobody around to notice and see what I'd done. I took him to this abandoned cabin Angelo had mentioned searching through recently for his case. Nobody knew we were gone, and nobody was expecting me anywhere for hours since I'd told Watson I was taking the afternoon off. Then..."

Charlie paused to take a sip of water from the glass on the table, and felt Joey squeeze her hand, before continuing, "Then I lost control of everything I knew. I tied him up to a chair and when he woke up I told him all I wanted was for him to tell the truth that he raped me. I had a voice recorder and needed to tape his confession. I wasn't going to press charges...what's the point it'd been nearly seventeen years...not to mention anything he said would be invalidated by my actions. I just needed Ruby to know the truth. Joey never for one second doubted me but Ruby did...and I couldn't cope with that.

But Grant wouldn't give in that easily, he kept taunting me saying that I'll lose everything 'cause of this...Ruby, my job...Joey. He'd come to notice how important Joey was to me and threatened that he would take Joey away from me...so he could do to her what he'd done to me...so I lost it. Kept stunning him with the gun until he was unconscious again, and I sank to the floor sobbing for some time...while I took out this photo I had in my wallet and stared at it for like...hours. It was a photo of Joey, Ruby and me, taken when Joey and I were together the first time before she left. The three of us were so happy. I'd always kept it there...as a reminder of who was important to me...even when I thought Joey would never come back to me and I was with Angelo. I couldn't part with it...it was a memory from an amazing time in my life...didn't matter that it cut me up every time I stared at it after Joey left. I wouldn't let Angelo near it, nearly ripped his bloody head off once when he picked up my wallet to pay for a meal we'd had at the Diner just 'cause I said it was my shout...I didn't want him intruding on that memory..."

Detective Robert Robertson pursed his lips softly, "Back to your kidnapping of Mr. Bledcoe, thanks Senior Constable." Joey looked up at Charlie, "Well if I can interrupt...I guess at that point Ruby and I had realized something was wrong. Ruby had gone to speak to Charlie about...something...at work and when she was told that Charlie had gone home, then couldn't find her there she came to Noah's to see if I'd seen her. Charlie wasn't answering either of our calls, so since I'd just come to the end of my shift we decided to go back to my place. I guess I thought after everything Charlie was going through she needed me and figured maybe she'd be waiting for me to finish work at my place. When she wasn't there we started panicking and went round the entire town practically looking for her. It was getting really late and I...went down to the caravan park to check with Miles.

Grant had been staying there and I told Ruby to go to the station and double check again what time Charlie had left and if she'd said anything to her colleagues. Miles said he hadn't seen Charlie all day...and he hadn't seen Grant since early that morning. I got scared...I had this feeling in my gut that...Grant had done something to Charlie. So I called Ruby to tell her that they were both missing...figuring she could report it to Watson. But Ruby had just left the station after getting no information that might help us...except she overheard Angelo talking about some cabin in the woods up behind Martha's farm they'd investigated earlier that morning and that he wanted to go back the next day to search it again...but apparently as Charlie was leaving the station...she told Angelo not to waste his bloody time. I guess me and Ruby worked it out ourselves somehow that Charlie was there. We didn't know how...I mean at that point we assumed it was Grant that had...and why would Charlie tell him about the place. But it was enough for us to check it out...just not enough for us to call anyone to tell them where we were."

Detective Robert Robertson nodded, "And when you and the other Ms. Buckton came across the scene...what did you find?" Joey felt Charlie avert her gaze, "I found my girlfriend threatening Mr. Bledcoe with a stun gun." "And how did you react to that Ms. Collins? Were you scared? Terrified? Sickened by what your girlfriend was doing?" Detective Robert Robertson asked intently.

Joey waited a minute until Charlie finally looked back at her, "I was...concerned for her. I knew the pressure she'd been under since Ruby tracked down Grant because that was one thing she had opened up to me about completely. I also felt guilty...because I hadn't realized just how much that pressure had built up around her. It wasn't just Ruby questioning if Charlie was telling the truth, her friends were, she phoned her Dad about Grant being in town...he questioned her too, even the giant git of a douche bag Angelo who claims to love her didn't quite believe her and tried to make her see that maybe...she got things wrong and wanted to believe only what she wanted not what actually happened. Not that his opinion matters but I saw it still cut her up all these people accusing her of lying. I just wished that me supporting her completely was enough...guess it wasn't."

"I'm so sorry," Charlie whimpered tearfully. Joey disentangled their hands, long enough to wipe the tears from Charlie's cheek, before placing her hand back on top of Charlie's, "When we got there they were yelling at each other. Grant was threatening to take everything away from Charlie for doing this, and Charlie...struck him across the face ordering him to tell the truth about what happened. It took some effort but Ruby and I managed to drag Charlie away from him and took her outside where we tried to convince her to stop what she was doing.

And she started listening to us, and crying that she never wanted either of us to see that side to her...a side she didn't even knew existed. We calmed Charlie down enough to see what she was doing was wrong and she started to see she'd made a mess of things. But Grant kinda kept yelling at her saying he'd take us away from her and she'd lose everything if he pressed charges. Ruby wasn't coping well with what was happening and Charlie managed to pull us further away from him so he couldn't hear us. And..."

"And I started telling Ruby..." Charlie took over and continued, "I told her in as little detail as possible what he put me through. I was trying to convince Ruby that I was telling the truth about what he was like. He was the monster, not me. I just needed her to trust me...I needed her to stay out of his life. Kidnapping him was never about hurting him or justice...I just needed him to be honest...hoping for him to apologise or feel sorry for what he put me through was too much to ask. Then I dunno somewhere along the lines when I was trying to tell Ruby and Joey what he did to me...I mentioned something Grant had said to me when he was...he said I was 'crying like a sookie little kid.'

I realized then how my actions were affecting the two people that mean everything to me and that I needed to stop what I was doing. So we went back inside and I let him go, untied him and stood back with my girls while he sat there complaining about the pain he'd suffered from the stun gun, and he started crying...'til he said he couldn't believe he was 'crying like a sookie little kid.' We had him...he'd said enough for Ruby to have no doubt in her mind that I was telling the truth about him. And he knew we'd caught him out...so he confessed to everything he did to me. The voice recorder was still playing. But we all knew anything he confessed on there couldn't be used legally due to the way I'd gotten it. That didn't matter to me, I'd got what I needed so that Ruby would stay away from him.

So he left, and I was so relieved it was finally all over. I pulled Ruby into a hug, apologizing for what she'd seen me do. Then when Ruby seemed to be okay and told me she was sorry for ever doubting me, I let her go and embraced Joey, knowing I had...a lot more work to do with Jo to convince her that I'm not like Grant. The feeling of Joey safe in my arms...then the next thing I recall is Ruby screaming and everything went black for me. When slipping away, Grant must have pinched the stun gun because I remember this jolt of pain in my side. Grant had come back and knocked me out. The next thing I remember is Ruby yelling trying to wake me up, and eventually when I started to come 'round Ruby started yelling again...I didn't want to believe what she was saying...while Ruby had struggled to stop me collapsing to the ground as he hit me...Grant had taken off...and when Ruby turned back...Joey was nowhere to be found..."

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Next up as the mystery deepens - What did Grant do to Joey? And what was Charlie's reaction?

Has anyone solved the mystery yet?