Chapter One

Charlie Buckton excused herself from her drinks with Martha and hurried towards the storage closet that the pretty but unhappy looking barmaid had just rushed into. She had only been half concentrating on Martha for the last few minutes as she watched a man she was sure she recognised from an incident the previous week, leaning into the barmaid in a threatening rather than intimate way. Once he'd gone, the girl had fled in panic. Charlie knew she couldn't just sit there and continue enjoying herself knowing that this beautiful stranger was so distraught. It was in her nature to interfere. She quietly pushed the cupboard door open and found the barmaid leaning against a shelf with her back to her, quite obviously crying.

"Hey," Charlie said softly. "Can I help?"

The girl spun round. Even with a tear-stained face and sad eyes, she was beautiful. Why am I thinking of her as beautiful? Charlie wondered. She refocused her attention to the distraught woman in front of her who wasn't meeting her gaze.

"I don't think so," she said.

Her voice cracked and she cried harder, obviously unwillingly. Charlie saw that she was trembling and without thinking, reached out to hold her. She felt the girl jolt in her embrace, as if she was frightened but then she relaxed a little and allowed herself to be comforted.

"What's your name?" Charlie asked.

"Joey," the barmaid said into her shoulder.

Joey felt anxious to be touched by another person. She hadn't had physical contact with anybody since it had happened but there was something safe about this woman, who she recognised as being called to the fight on the boat a few days previously.

"Well, my name's Charlie," the police officer said kindly.

They pulled apart slightly and Joey attempted to gather her senses together.

"I saw you have some kind of altercation with that guy," Charlie ventured. "And then you rushed in here. Are you sure I can't help? If you tell me what's wrong maybe we can resolve it."

Joey shook her head.

"It doesn't matter."

"I beg to differ," Charlie said, keeping her tone gentle.

"It's just..." Joey began.

She felt dangerously close to spilling her secrets. She looked into eyes that she trusted even though they were unfamiliar and began to tremble again. There was no way she could tell anyone what happened. Charlie read the fear in her eyes and then recognised that Joey had shut herself down. She desperately wanted her to talk.

"Why don't we sit?" Charlie suggested, gesturing to the floor.

Joey eyed her uncertainly. In a different life, Joey knew she would have been fawning all over this kind woman. She was stunning to say the least. But this wasn't a different life. This was her life; one she didn't want to live anymore. Charlie sat down cross legged on the floor. Joey hesitated and then joined her.

"Joey, I've seen you a couple of times now and both times you've looked terrified," Charlie told her. "Whatever it is, I can help you."

Joey looked at the floor. She needed help. She knew she couldn't carry on like she was. This half-life was ridiculous, not to mention painful. She didn't want her world to be ruled by a rapist.

"I don't think there's anything anyone can do," she said.

"You could give me a chance to try," Charlie suggested.

Joey was aware that there was nobody behind the bar but she knew she couldn't go back out there into the world of people.

"Martha would have stepped in to serve by now," Charlie told her, reading her mind as she watched her stare at the door in alarm.

"Alf told me not to let her help," Joey said, feeling like a failure.

"Just this once, it'll be okay," Charlie said certainly.

Joey nodded, not feeling quite as certain. Charlie gazed at her compassionately. She didn't want to jump to conclusions but from the way Joey was behaving, she was fairly sure that some kind of violence had occurred in her life. And if that was true, all Charlie wanted to do was put her cop hat on and save her. Joey looked up at Charlie, into her kind eyes and felt her resolve dissolve.

"I was assaulted," she admitted.

She wasn't prepared to reveal any more than that but it was a start. Charlie nodded, not looking surprised.

"By the guy that was in here? The guy from the boat?"

Joey nodded, shaking harder. Charlie reached out to hold her hands.

"Okay, now I know I can help."

"How?"

"If you tell me what happened, I can go and arrest him right now," Charlie told her.

Joey looked panicked. She didn't want any trouble.

"I can't make a statement," she protested.

Charlie sighed.

"It'll keep him away from you."

"He'll find a way to come after me again if..."

Charlie squeezed her hands gently.

"Look, why don't you just tell me what happened?"

Joey looked at Charlie again. Her presence was comforting. She made her feel safe somehow.

"It was after work," Joey ventured. "On the boat. I was getting ready to leave and he came below deck and just attacked me."

"He hit you?"

"And grabbed me by my throat."

"What else happened?"

Charlie knew there was more.

"He..." Joey started.

The door opened and Martha popped her head round.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, observing the two women on the floor.

Joey jumped to her feet.

"Nothing else happened," she told Charlie.

Charlie was on her feet also in seconds, upset to have lost the moment.

"I'm sorry," Joey said, pushing past Martha hurriedly. "Please tell Alf I'm sorry."

Martha felt guilty. Charlie looked stricken.

"Can you hold the fort here till Alf gets back?" she asked, hurrying after Joey. "Tell him she got sick or something!"

There was no way she could leave Joey so distressed. Martha nodded, apologising. Charlie assured her that it was alright and then headed out of the Surf Club.