"Well why didn't you just say so earlier?" Robertson said.

"Are you kidding me?" Graves nearly yelled at him. "Do you know how embarrassing it is to tell my superior officer that my girlfriend's alibi is, that she was making love to me? Besides, I was so angry at you for thinking I could be so gullible in the first place and then it just kind of came out."

"Details please," he requested and she glared at him. "Not those particularly details, the other details."

"Oh," she said with a blush, suddenly realising what he was asking for. "Shannon joined me in my room for tea at around 6 pm and we barely left my bed before the call came in, except to go to the bathroom or answer the door for room service."

"And you were awake that whole time?"

Her face was flaming even more as she nodded. This whole conversation was so embarrassing and uncomfortable for her and now she realised how some of their witnesses, victims and suspects must feel like when their privacy was similarly invaded. "We were watching TV in between making love and we were right in the middle of it when I got the call and if you still don't believe me about Shannon, then I have a photo of her on my phone that we can show to Candy and co if you need further proof that she's not Angelo's redhead."

"Oh, I do believe you," he said. "But with all the attention this case is going to be receiving, then we need to make sure every move we make is beyond reproach and every avenue is followed up on, so I do think it prudent for you to show your picture to those here," he told her.

"Robert, I was joking about showing the photo."

"I'm not," he said. "It would just be to avoid any erroneous allegations that we may have been neglectful in our duties by not doing so."

She stared at him for a moment. "Seriously, you actually want me to show pictures of my girlfriend to these guys?"

"Your girlfriend?" he said with a raised brow.

She blushed once more. She hadn't meant to refer to her like that, but it was true and that made her smile. Since they'd decided to see if what they had between them was real, Shannon really had become her girlfriend.

"Graves, the photo," he said, interrupting her musings.

"Oh, right." Thank god she had deleted the other selfies that Shannon had taken of them, she thought as she dug out her phone. All except for the one she'd captured of Shannon. She'd been lying in the bed, smiling at her and there had been such a look in Shannon's eyes, it had threatened to melt her heart. Which was partly why she'd been so pissed at Robertson for thinking her a fool to have been taken in so easily by Shannon. Whether it was love or not reflected in her eyes, she knew that Shannon felt something for her.

"There can't be too many other redheads, besides yours, in the area called Shannon," Robertson said after the picture had been shown around. None of them had recognised Shannon as the woman with Angelo, for which Graves was relieved. She hadn't for one second doubted Shannon, but at least now, her girlfriend wouldn't have Robertson on her back.

"Well, there's a redhead staying right next door to me at the hotel," Graves said. "I never got her name and I haven't talked to her since I tried to help her with her key card, but I have seen her around a bit lately."

"Could she be your watcher?"

"If she is, then she's doing so in plain sight," she replied. "Yet whenever I get that feeling, there never seems to be anyone else about, though I guess we can't discount this woman being more discrete at other times. Assuming of course, that she is Angelo's redhead," she said. "It could be nothing more than a coincidence that she's staying right next to me and she may have no involvement at all."

"Very true." Robertson glanced at his watch. "We should be done here by 6 or 7 and by the time we stop for some brekkie, it shouldn't be too early to lob onto her doorstep."

"Since when have you been concerned about the inconvenience of our visits?"

"Since it might be a completely uninvolved woman we are about to harass." He smiled at her then. "By the way Graves, I'm happy for you and your girlfriend."

"Oh shut up," she snapped, still somewhat pissed at him.

"Good morning," whispered Charlie when those gorgeous eyes of her girlfriend finally opened. After talking a little more, they'd both managed to get some sleep, but she was still tired and she had a feeling that was going to be a familiar feeling. With all that lay ahead of them with the investigation, neither of them were going to be having much in the way of restful sleep any time soon.

"Morning," murmured Joey. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. Charlie reached over and caressed her cheek while she gave Joey some time to get her bearings from her sleep.

"It wasn't a dream, was it?" Joey said softly.

"No."

"He really is dead, isn't he?"

"Yes."

Joey sighed, rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling. "I was kind of hoping I'd wake up and find out it had all been some horrible nightmare," she said. "Because I really don't want to have to deal with any of this."

"I know baby."

Joey rolled back onto her side and snuggled to the front of her girlfriend. Charlie's arm went around her waist. "I wanted Angelo out of our lives, but not like this," she mumbled against Charlie's neck. "I didn't want him to die, Charlie."

Charlie kissed her forehead and held her closer as she felt Joey's tears fall against her.

"Const. Hogan, did anything turn up at Angelo's house?" Robertson asked him over the phone as Graves pulled the car up out front of the Hotel.

"You could say that," he muttered. "We found a stash of drugs and a few videos on his computer. They're all kind of explicit," he told him. "And they're all with a redhead."

"Send them to my phone immediately."

As soon as the email had downloaded, Robertson opened one of the files.

"That's it Shannon, take all of me," Angelo's voice growled over the speakers.

Graves' brow rose. She didn't need to see the video to know what was taking place on it, since the audio was more than enough to know that some extremely vigorous sex was going on.

"Oh Angelo, you're so deep inside me I can taste you," a woman moaned. "Fuck me harder with your wonderful cock, oh yes, oh harder. Fill me up more baby."

Graves shuddered at the soundtrack. "Please Robert, turn it off before I have nightmares."

Robertson paused it and showed the screen image to her. The woman's face was staring directly at the camera, a look of pleasure on her features as Angelo knelt behind her. The woman was also very familiar. "Well that's certainly not my Shannon," she murmured.

"And I'm beginning to wonder if this woman's name is even Shannon," he replied.

Ruby jumped up from the table when her sister and Joey walked into the kitchen. "I just heard on the radio about Angelo," she said as she rushed over to hug Joey. "Can't say I ever liked the guy," Ruby said gently to her. "But I know you cared about him and so I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you Ruby," murmured Joey. "Ah Ruby."

"Yeah?"

"It's ok to let go of me now," she said.

"Oh right." Ruby released her and stepped back. "How do you feel?"

"Relieved, yet a little sad at how things ended up," she replied.

"Are there any clues as to who did this to him?" Ruby asked them. "They never said much on the radio other than a body had been found and was identified as Angelo."

"I'm not sure where they are with the investigation," said Charlie. "I'm not part of it, since I'm considered a suspect."

"A suspect?" Ruby said incredulously. "That's just fucking stupid."

"Not just her either," Joey said. "We're both suspects and for very good reason. Angelo was my husband and I left him for another woman."

"Me," Charlie said, pointing to herself. "The woman who also took his job."

"You deserved that promotion," said Ruby. "And it's hardly a crime to fall in love."

"No it's not," agreed Charlie. "Yet when it comes to murder, those closest to the victim are nearly always considered suspects to begin with and given all that has happened since Angelo came to the Bay, it's obvious why Joey and I will be looked at as suspects," she explained to her sister.

"How much trouble is this going to cause you?" Ruby asked in concern.

"We're both innocent of the crime, but neither of us have alibis, so unless the Detectives have turned up evidence that points elsewhere, then I suspect that Joey and I are going to be in the frame for some time and that isn't going to be a pleasant place to be," Charlie said. She was glad though, that it was Robertson and Graves on the case. Oh how things had changed. Once she had wanted to see the back of him, yet now, she wouldn't want anyone else in charge, because as annoying as Robertson could be, he'd shown himself to be extremely competent, while also being fair and surprisingly compassionate at certain times.

"I guess I can see why you'd be suspects," Ruby said. "I hate it though."

"So do we and I'm sure Georgie is going to hate it just as much," Charlie said. Probably a whole lot more since her cousin hated being the centre of attention.

"Oh shit, this is the last thing Georgie needs," muttered Ruby. "Especially with Martha still in hospital."

"Unfortunately for Georgie, she could find herself in a good deal more trouble," she said. "With her record and a clear motive to hate Angelo, she's right at the top of the suspect list, especially after yesterday."

"Why after yesterday?"

"Georgie punched him in the locker room at the Station."

"Good for her," Ruby said, then winced. "Shit. That really isn't good."

"Definitely not good," replied Charlie. "Personally, I don't blame Georgie for hitting him either, but the timing of it couldn't have come at a more shitty time for her."

"It's not like she could have foreseen Angelo getting murdered at the time she hit him," Ruby pointed out.

"Of course not, but now it becomes more about how it will look to others if it gets out she struck the victim hours before he was then murdered." She liked the way Ruby hadn't even considered for even the briefest of moments, that their fiery and unpredictable cousin could have snapped and killed a man she hated. Not that long ago, she herself might have expressed a moment of doubt, yet for the first time, she felt like she was beginning to understand her cousin. There was still a long way to go, but it was a start at least.

"God, this really is fucked up," Ruby said. "And not to be too blunt, but Angelo wasn't a nice person, so there must have been heaps of people who hated him."

"Joey, Georgie and I certainly won't be the only suspects on the list," Charlie said. "But we still need to be prepared for the storm that will be heading our way. Angelo was a cop from a wealthy family, throw in talk of drugs, affairs, lesbians, demotions, friction at work, crash investigations, a missing woman and it has all the makings of a drama that will have the media clambering for all the titillating details."

"They better not come anywhere near me," Ruby said.

"If anyone from the media approaches you, I think the best response is no response at all. Just walk away."

"Ok."

"It's not just the media we might need to worry about," Joey said. "Angelo's parents aren't the sort of people to just sit by and let others do the work. They'll be at the police and probably at us and anyone else who had dealings with their precious son, because I doubt they'll ever accept anything bad said about Angelo." She frowned. "Well, maybe not so much his father, but definitely where his mother is concerned. She will either be completely dismissive of any talk about unreasonable behaviour or wrongdoing on Angelo's part or she'll just make up excuses for him. It wasn't his fault, he was forced into it, blah, blah." She sighed heavily then. "I just wish Angelo had taken time to look at himself and realise what sort of person he'd let himself become over the years, and then things might have ended up so differently for him." She shrugged. "I guess that's the danger when your every whim was catered to from the moment you were born and you were raised to believe you were better than everyone else, purely because of the size of your bank balance. You can develop a sense of entitlement and lose the ability to accept any sort of responsibility for your own actions and mistakes."

"You came from a wealthy family and turned out all right," Charlie said.

"Because my mum wasn't afraid to keep me in line," replied Joey. "She always made sure I accepted responsibility for my actions and learnt from my mistakes."

"Well, if they come at us, we'll handle them, just as we'll deal with the media," Charlie said.

Right at that moment, there was a loud knocking on the door.

"Surely it wouldn't be them already," muttered Joey.

"This isn't the movies Joey," Charlie said. "Where the person you were just speaking about, suddenly turns up on your doorstep."
"Are you sure?"

Charlie frowned, then shrugged. "Only one way to find out." The knocking was becoming more insistent and louder.