Chapter Thirty-Eight

Four days later, Charlie was finally allowed to come home, albeit in a wheelchair because neither leg would hold her up and her arm couldn't take crutches. She suddenly felt very grateful that her room was on the ground floor. She was deeply unimpressed with the wheelchair, even though her father had gone out and purchased a funky electric one. She was grateful for his support but being confined made her feel horrible. All she could do was hold onto the fact that at least she was lucky enough for it to be temporary. In six weeks she'd be able to hobble about although that didn't help her now. With support from Joey, Charlie settled herself on the sofa and she planned to stay there for as long as possible. Joey had bought DVD's, chocolate and ice-cream to cheer her up and Charlie decided that if she was stuck this way, she was going to take full advantage of being pampered.

"Do you want a coffee?" Ruby asked.

"I've been stuck drinking the weakest, most foul tasting coffee in the world for five whole days," Charlie complained. "Yes please!"

Ruby giggled and headed into the kitchen. Joey sat beside Charlie who put her uninjured arm around her. Charlie sighed.

"This is going to be hell," she said.

"Only if you let it be," Joey said. "You need to just relax, okay? Ruby and I will take care of you for as long as you need."

"Five whole months?" Charlie questioned.

She already felt like a burden. It was her job to look after other people, not the other way around.

"For as long as it takes," Joey confirmed.

Charlie smiled and leant over to kiss her, not thinking about the pain that still existed in her lip. Pressing their mouths together, she was thrilled to discover there was no pain anymore. Pulling back she smiled widely. Joey looked confused.

"No pain!" Charlie declared. "My lips are back in action!"

Joey grinned, relieved, coming back for another kiss. For the first time in days, they were able to develop it into more than a lingering peck. Charlie felt Joey's tongue caress hers, eliciting a satisfied moan and choosing to ignore the fact that her cheek was still damaged. Losing herself, she attempted to raise her other arm but its brokenness made it too difficult so she focussed on the beauty of the kiss instead, savouring the way Joey felt and tasted. They reluctantly broke apart when Ruby entered, clearing her throat awkwardly. Charlie blushed and Joey laughed.

"Your mouth's feeling better, I take it," Ruby said.

Charlie had complained more about her split lip than her broken leg since she'd woken up. Ruby had received far too many explicit accounts of how much Charlie missed Joey's mouth.

"Okay, I'm going back to school," Ruby announced.

She hugged Charlie and Joey both and left the house.

"So, what do you want to do?" Joey asked.

"Make out," Charlie said immediately.

Joey laughed.

"I was thinking more about watching a movie or something."

"I want to make out," Charlie repeated.

It didn't take any more persuading than that.

***

An hour and a half later, Joey's lips were swollen from constantly kissing Charlie. Her fingers tingled from tracing them over Charlie's breasts, under her loose t-shirt and inside her bra. Charlie was frustrated that she couldn't get the angle right to explore Joey's body also so she settled for kissing her as passionately as her cheekbone would allow.

"Knock knock!" called a male voice.

They broke apart and Joey welcomed Angelo into the house. He had come to interview them both about what had happened that night with Skip, who appeared to have vanished into oblivion. Leading him into the room, Joey offered him a drink but he refused. He just wanted to get the interview over and done with. It was hard to see Charlie injured. She was always the strong, brave, capable cop. Witnessing her so vulnerable made his head spin.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

Charlie nodded.

"I'm much better," she assured him.

Joey had already told her how worried he'd been and how he'd spent almost every moment of the day since the incident trying to find the perpetrator.

"Do you guys want to do your interviews separately or together?"

"Can Joey stay with me for mine?" Charlie asked, looking between both people.

"That's fine," Angelo said.

Joey nodded, touched that she wanted that level of support. Angelo set the tape recorder and opened his notepad.

"So, can you tell me how you ended up with Jennifer Tudor in the first place?" he asked.

Charlie sighed.

"It was my own fault really," she admitted. "I finally convinced Joey to make a statement about Skip… Jennifer Tudor, stalking her. I was really keen to go and talk to her and bring her in but there wasn't anyone to go with me."

Joey bit her lip, recalling that she had told Charlie to go with a female colleague. Maybe if she hadn't limited her, this wouldn't have happened.

"Eventually, I got so restless that I went alone to go and see her. I know it was stupid. I knew it was stupid at the time. She let me in and seemed reasonable enough but as soon as I was through the door, she locked it and attacked me."

"And where was this?"

"At the caravan park."

"Then what happened?"

"I woke up handcuffed to the sink," Charlie said. "I tried to convince her to let me go but she wasn't having any of it. She kept saying that I'd taken Joey away from her. I think she knew she'd made a mistake but it was too late for her to backtrack so I guess she decided to get rid of me. She seemed to believe that everything in her life would be fixed if I was gone. I suppose she thought that she could win Joey back if I was out of the picture."

She reached for Joey's hand.

"To be honest, things get kind of sketchy after that. She attacked me again and dragged me to the car. I remember drifting in and out of consciousness in the back of the car. She dragged me through the woods and beat me even more."

She felt Joey tense and felt a little guilty for making her hear it.

"I passed out from the pain and came to handcuffed to a post or something. I've never been in so much pain in my life and I could barely breathe, let along move. She told me that I was going to die and I believed her. She was planning on leaving me to bleed to death or get attacked by an animal or something."

Joey physically jolted.

"Are you okay?" Charlie asked tenderly.

Joey nodded, fighting tears. How could Charlie have remained so cheerful since all of this? How could she be talking about this so calmly? She was obviously even braver than Joey had first realised, which was quite a feat.

"I tried to get her to..." Charlie faltered.

"To what?" Angelo asked.

Charlie shook her head. Bringing Joey into the interview hadn't been such a good idea.

"Charlie, this is important."

"I tried to get her to shoot me."

Joey tried not to react but a few tears spilled out. She took a breath. Charlie apologised.

"I didn't see any way out," she explained. "I just wanted it to be over quickly, you know? Not slowly. Not like that."

"What did you do?" Angelo asked.

"I provoked her. I rubbed my relationship with Joey in her face. I nearly succeeded."

Joey's hand went slack suddenly. Charlie gazed at her apologetically.

"But then she left me. I don't really remember much after that."
"Nothing at all?"

"I remember crying. I remember losing all sense of time. I remember her coming back. And I remember Joey being there briefly but at the time I thought I was hallucinating. Then I woke up at the hospital."

They went through details of what Skip had been wearing and if Charlie could provide any ideas as to where she might have gone. Charlie suggested the city she'd arrived from but couldn't help any other way.

"Okay, Charlie, I think that's enough for now. Joey, are you ready for your turn?"

Joey wiped her eyes. She wasn't ready at all.

"Do you want me to go?" Charlie asked.

Joey shook her head. She could do this. And she could admit to agreeing to be with Skip as well. She took a breath and began.