Sorry I didn't update yesterday and updating might be a bit sporadic over the next few weeks but I'll update each story as soon as I can.

Graves still hadn't been able to shake the feeling she'd felt at the crash site but she put it out of her mind as Charlie joined them in Robertson's office.

"Everything all right Charlie?" Robertson asked her when she sat opposite him.

"Just a nuisance who turned up." She felt much better after talking to Joey, but she was still worried about Hugo's return and the potential for trouble that could bring. "Do you have anything new about the accident?"

"There is something of interest," replied Robertson. "First off though, as you know, different car manufacturers use different types of paint for their cars, so the Accident Team is confident they can narrow down the model of the car involved when they analyse the paint taken from the scratches on Martha's car and identifying the broken headlight casing will also help in that."

"That's great. Have you had a chance to review the list of cars Hogan provided?"

Robertson nodded. "It was very interesting reading."

"I'm guessing you mean Angelo's name being on it."

"Exactly."

"It's hardly a secret I'm no fan of Angelo's, but I'm finding it hard to believe that he or anyone on that list is responsible for Martha's accident, I mean, I know most of those people."

"I'm assuming those people would also know Martha?"

"Martha is a Stewart, they're like one of the original families of the town and all are very active in the community, so anyone who has lived here pretty much knows and respects them."

"It's possible then, that when they realised who'd they'd run off the road, it caused them to panic and act out of character," he explained. "People do react to stress in different ways."

"Yeah I know."

"Rosetta's possible involvement is somewhat problematic though," he stated. "Despite what we may think of him as a police officer, he is still a colleague and one with a family name that carries some weight."

"You're not going to let that sway you in any way, are you?"

"Of course not. If he's guilty, then I'll go after him as I would anyone else, but we all need to be prepared for the shit that is going to hit the fan if we arrest him, including your cousin's reaction to his involvement."

"I've thought of that last part, but as much as Georgie despises him, her family comes first and she won't do anything to jeopardise justice in this case or risk her job or freedom for an act of revenge."

"I hope you're right."

"So do I," she muttered to herself. Georgie had held herself back with Hugo, but with his return on top of the accident, she was under a lot of stress, so Charlie had to hope that her cousin would continue to think first of her family and not about revenge, whether it was Angelo or someone else.

"There's another matter we should discuss. For the moment, let's just assume that Rosetta is guilty and what that would mean," Robertson said. "With the family money and connections, he's going to have the best lawyers money can buy and they'll use whatever means necessary to get their client off, even if it means smearing another police officer's name and who do you think the most likely target will be?" Charlie nearly squirmed under his intense gaze. "Charlie, you're living with his estranged wife, you now have his job and then there's your connection to the victim through your cousin," he was saying. "Now, I don't doubt your professionalism, but it's going to be ammunition for the defence and if they can bring even the slightest hint of impropriety into the case," he shrugged. "We've all seen how even the most air tight of cases can become unstuck by the smallest thing, especially when the accused can come across looking like a poster boy."

"You're the one in charge of the investigation, not me," Charlie pointed out.

"Yes I am the one in charge, but on the off chance that Rosetta is indeed involved, then I need for you to not be involved at all, at least not officially. You know the people on this list Charlie and you know the area, so I'm not going to be foolish enough to ignore the local knowledge you can bring to the case, but it can't be anymore than me asking you a question and you answering me."

"Look, I don't care if I'm involved or not, as long as you get the person who did this."

"Which brings us to this." He pushed a folder across the desk toward her. "It's a preliminary report on the blood found at the scene."

Angelo downed another beer, trying to drown out the memories that had been plaguing him.

…Yesterday

Angelo groaned as Bianca worked her mouth over him. After he'd left the diner, he'd met up with Bianca, only he'd been so desperate to work off his anger, he couldn't wait for them to get to a room, so he'd done another line of coke in the car and didn't even stop the car as she started to pleasure him. Between the drugs and her mouth, his worries had temporarily left him and he was close to flying. Swerving as he nearly lost control of the car, he righted it and held her head down when she tried to move, making her almost choke as she was forced to deep throat him. "Finish me bitch," he demanded and she resumed. She really was quite the expert, he thought, as his drug hazed mind started to close his eyes as his climax neared. The car swerved from side to side as he shot his load into her mouth. When another car horn blared, his eyes widened in terror when he saw it coming straight for them.

"Angelo!" screamed Bianca as their car swiped the side of the other car and she watched in horror as it went over the embankment. "Stop the fucking car!" she yelled at him and she was out of the car and racing back to the other car before he'd even come to a complete stop.

"It will still take time to do DNA on the blood and we'll need a suspect to compare it to unless they're already in the system, but forensics was able to tell us that the blood found on the rock belongs to a woman and they also found traces of hair with the blood. Analysis of the photos also indicates that the blood didn't get there by dripping from an existing wound." That really got Charlie's attention and she leant forward, eager to hear more. Maybe it wasn't Angelo after all. "The blood pattern and hair left behind is consistent with someone hitting their head on the rock with some force."

"They may have been dazed in the accident and fell, hitting their head when they got out to look at what they'd done," Charlie suggested. "Or in their panic, just tumbled over and hit their head." She remembered her cousin nearly taking a fall in her panic to reach them, though that could have been more to do with her limp than the embankment.

"We won't know why they hit their head until we can ask them that ourselves, but if they weren't dazed from the car accident, they most certainly were after their head hit that rock. Forensics suggests that with the likely force involved when their head struck the rock, it seems unlikely they just got up and drove away on their own, at least not without a lot of difficulty and there were no other signs of the driver losing control as they drove away."

Charlie considered the implications of that. "There might have been someone else there," she murmured.

"That's the conclusion we're coming to. We now know that a woman with blonde hair was involved in some way and possibly another person was with her in a red car," said Robertson.

Charlie already suspected he was on the same track she was, which was back to Angelo and now she knew why he had made such a big deal about the shit hitting the fan. Charlie studied the photo of the blood and hair found more carefully. "Most of the owners on that list, along with their families have darker hair than what's in this photo and the three owners who are blonde are all male," she said. "But I do know that one of those cars does come with a blonde accessory that has hair very much like that."

"Rosetta's." He'd thought as much but had wanted Charlie's confirmation about the other cars.

"Yep, Rosetta's," muttered Charlie. Damn, she was really hoping it wasn't him, if for no other reason than to spare themselves the shit that was going to be coming their way if they had to arrest him. "If Bianca was with him, then that could be her hair and blood that was found." She sighed and shook her head. "Bianca is a lot of things and maybe I could see her leaving Martha behind in a panic, but not a child who was crying." It was the same with all their potential suspects, she thought once again and it was times like this when she hated being a cop in a small town, where she was forced to see people she knew at their worst.

"We don't know for certain that it was her, but maybe Graves and I should go and ask her where she was at the time of the accident," Robertson said.

With a lull at work, Romeo had all but ordered Joey to take a break from the Club, so she'd taken the opportunity to visit Aden and after five minutes of him mumbling answers, she'd had enough.

"Ok, Aden, what is wrong?"

He held up his bandaged hands for her to see. "What do you think?"

"That your mood has nothing to do with your injuries," she stated firmly. "Aden, you're my best friend and you've always been there for me when I needed to talk, so talk to me."

"I haven't seen or heard from Belle since she rushed away from the fire scene to get her scoop," he said miserably. "And now I'm starting to think she was only with me so she could get the heads up on the arson investigation."

"I don't believe that. I know I don't know her that well, but she doesn't seem the type to use someone like that," she said. "Aden, I'm sure she's just been preoccupied with Martha's accident. She and her sister are extremely close and I know she's been by Georgie's side a lot of the time."

"Yeah maybe," he murmured, unconvinced. He was just down the corridor from Martha's room, easy enough for Belle to stop by if she really wanted to. "Or maybe she thinks we weren't anything more than just fuck buddies, having a good time together while I was in town. We never really did discuss if we were in a relationship or anything."

"Aden, do you want a relationship with her?"

"I don't know."

"But Belle is why you're staying in town, isn't she?" she asked.

He shrugged again. "It's not like I have anything to go home to, except for my job, which I'm not going to be able to do for some time, so I don't see the point in going home to an empty house, especially when my best friend is here."

Joey had never seen her friend like this and she was sure him staying was all about Belle. It might be time to have a word with her and she'd better not find out that Belle was using him, because no one hurt or used her friend like that. "Where do you intend to stay when you get out of here, because you're going to need help while your hands recover."

"I don't know," he said. "I haven't really thought about it, but don't you even think of asking me to stay with you and Charlie."

"You're my best friend Aden and I'm sure Charlie wouldn't mind."

"It doesn't matter, because it ain't going to happen. You and Charlie are just starting out and I'm not going to intrude on that, especially when there's so much else going on in your lives at the moment."

"Well, if you're not going to stay with us, at least let me help out when I can."

He nodded. "You could start by getting me something decent to eat."

"Done."