"Uh oh," Joey murmured.

"What are you uh ohing about?" asked Charlie as she poured their morning coffees.

In reply, Joey turned the newspaper she was reading around so that her girlfriend could see what had gotten her attention.

"Shit," muttered Charlie. "What the hell kind of headline is that?"

"Inflammatory, I'd say," said Joey. "And the article that goes with it isn't much better."

Charlie all but snatched it from her hands and skimmed through the article. She didn't need to read it word for word to get the general gist of it. The article was an all out attack on Georgie, with Joey and herself also featuring, a little less prominently, but still in a very bad light.

"You think we should shred it before Georgie sees it?" Joey suggested.

"Even if she didn't read this, she'd be sure to hear all about it from someone in town," murmured Charlie. "Bloody hell, this is the last thing we needed."

"We always expected there to be some negative media toward us."

"This isn't just negative media, it's a damn attack. The journo has dredged up everything he could from Georgie's past, to her association with the Braxtons, to her being a suspect in her own mother's murder and with the way he's portrayed her as an angry woman with a chequered past, you could be mistaken for thinking that Georgie was the devil incarnate," she angrily said. "He's basically accused her having a clear motive to murder Angelo in cold blood and also of having a reason to engineer Jack's death, because she was in love with his wife and wanted him gone so they could be together." It almost read like one of Robertson's lame scenarios he'd been throwing around, the only difference being that this journo actually seemed to believe their own bullshit. Charlie was also surprised at the speed in which this person had pieced everything together. While the ballistics report hadn't exactly been kept a well-guarded secret, it had only been yesterday that it had been released to the police. Someone had definitely been busy putting it all together and then getting it into print as fast as they had.

"Except he didn't come right out and say that in those words," said Joey, drawing Charlie from her internal thoughts.

"Well no, he hasn't so much as come right out and said she pulled the trigger herself both times, but the implication that she did is right there for anyone to see, just like the less than subtle hint he dropped that Georgie and Martha were likely having an affair before Jack died," she argued. "He's just worded it so that he can later claim he didn't make any wrongful allegations that could see the paper sued and people were free to make up their own minds from the facts presented to them." Charlie shook her head angrily. "People making up their own minds where Georgie is concerned has always been part of the problem, because most of the time they've drawn the wrong one, myself included."

"The people who really matter, know the truth about all of us," said Joey.

"I realise that, but none of them should have to see that shit in the paper."

"I know," she said. "I can't say I find it all that enjoyable to read about my love life in the paper or how my girlfriend supposedly undermined Angelo, both professionally and personally."

"That hack tries to make it sound as if Angelo was some kind of misunderstood saint who had been unfairly victimised by jealous rivals," Charlie scoffed. The contrast between how Angelo was portrayed in comparison to them was staggering. Even the paper printing that Angelo had a drug problem was somehow their fault, as was his fall from grace within the Force. "And according to this guy, Angelo should bear no fault or responsibility for anything that befell him, it's all us nasty women who are to blame," she said disgustedly. "Even Bianca cops a serving." It still angered and disappointed Charlie that they'd been unable to give April any definitive information on her sister's whereabouts or status and now with Angelo's death, they may never be able to prove Bianca's fate.

"Local woman, Bianca Scott, is the lead suspect in the recent hit-and-run which saw the hospitalisation of Martha Holden," Joey read out. "Mrs Holden had been run off the road and left for dead by Miss Scott. Mrs Holden's young son had been in the car with her at the time of the accident, but escaped serious injury. Mr Rosetta." She stopped here. "I like how they're calling him Mr and not Snr Constable," she pointed out.

"I guess reminding people that even the Brass felt that former Sgt Rosetta deserved his demotion didn't fit in with this hack's agenda," said Charlie. And she was certain that this person had an agenda. Whether it was just to create controversy for the attention or something else, she wasn't sure, but she did know that you don't write a totally biased piece as this one was unless you were trying to achieve something.

"Mr Rosetta was a passenger in the car Miss Scott was driving and was assisting the police in their enquiries at the time of his death. Miss Scott is presumed to be in hiding after fleeing the scene." Joey shook her head. "This journo lives in fantasy land."

"It's an absolute load of shit," said Charlie. "He completely ignores that it was Angelo's car that was involved or that Robertson and Graves were focussing on Angelo as the driver," she said. "There is also zero mention of Angelo's attempts to cover it all up."

"None of that has really been made public knowledge yet."

"No, but I get a strong feeling that this journo seems to have the inside goss, so you'd think he'd be aware of that." The absence of other information just reinforced her belief this person had an agenda.

"He goes on to describe the heartache and fear that Georgie must have gone through when she found out about Martha and Jay's accident and the trauma of her long wait for Martha to regain consciousness," Joey said. "He really did go all out in how Georgie must have been feeling, including the anger she must have felt toward the driver that caused the accident."

"Yeah, he really hyped up her reason for wanting revenge," Charlie murmured. "And I especially love the bit where he states that since Bianca wasn't around to take the blame for her erratic driving, Georgie had instead misplaced her anger and redirected it toward poor innocent Angelo, all because she had resented him from the moment he had arrived and had been purposely trying to have him run out of town in dishonour ever since," she sarcastically paraphrased. "I just hate the way this prick was so willing to talk about Georgie's fears and anger during this latest period, yet barely made any mention to how life threatening her shooting had been or the long-term effect it had on her."

"Of course he'd ignore that," said Joey. "When you're trying to paint someone as the top suspect, you don't want to include anything that might elicit too much sympathy for them. On the other hand, highlighting her fear and anger over Martha's near death is something people can relate to, same goes for wanting revenge and that's what he did with his description of the car accident," she said. "Once you've taken that path, you can hardly then point out that your head bad guy was nearly murdered right alongside another man you've been subtly trying to convince the readers she wanted out of the way. It might undo the overall effect of the story he was telling."

"Bloody hell," she said with a shake of her head. "I know most people in town know the details of Jack's shooting already and would have formed their own opinions long ago, but this really does add fuel to the fire, not to mention it brings up some painful memories for others. Martha especially doesn't need this during her recovery and she's going to be absolutely furious at the ridiculous claims about an affair."

"This isn't the local rag, it's a national one," Joey said. "And so I wouldn't be surprised if the Rosetta's are behind this."

"Why would you think that?"

"I remember Angelo mentioning something about them acquiring shares in media. I never really paid too much attention to their business, so I wasn't sure which newspaper it was, but now that I think of it, that article reads like the handiwork of Carla Rosetta," she explained. "It has that subtle vindictiveness in the wording that she's renowned for."

That would certainly fit in with her theory of there being an agenda behind that piece of shit writing and also explain at how quickly all this information had been put together, since Angelo's father still had access to contacts within the Force to keep him updated on all areas of the investigation, thought Charlie. And if the Rosetta's really were behind this, then it was no wonder the article was so biased in what information it reported, while leaving other important stuff out of it.

"Fuck," Charlie muttered as the implications of a constant media barrage from Angelo's parents hit her. It was never going to be a pleasant experience, but now it could be 100x worse, because if the Rosetta's were intent on using the media to fight their battles, then it wasn't about reporting the truth, it was about the smear and how much they could put onto them.

As she continued to read, Joey was going through her own thoughts. She was still surprised that Angelo's mother hadn't come storming into their house throwing around accusations and now with this article, she was beginning to wonder if the Rosetta's had purposely held off on confronting her, preferring instead to attack them more stealthily. It worried her. A face-to-face confrontation she could handle, but a day-to-day attack in the media was going to be hard to fight back against.

Shandi walked into the kitchen just as the morning paper went flying across the room.

"That isn't even fit to wipe my arse on," muttered her father.

Shandi bent and picked it up. She wasn't surprised to see that her sister was the main headline act. It made her angry, especially after last night. For the first time, she'd felt a real sisterly connection, one she hoped would grow stronger the more they got to know each other. She'd even gotten a hug from her. Well, she'd hugged Georgie, yet her sister had surprised her by returning her hug. It didn't matter to her that Georgie's had been brief and stiff, it'd still been a hug, nonetheless.

"You shouldn't even be reading this shit, dad," she told him as she tossed the paper into the bin. "It's never been very good."

"Yeah, I know," he murmured. "How was dinner last night?"

"It was nice," replied Shandi. "It was a little awkward to begin with, but once both of us started to focus on Jay, the tension eased and it was so much easier to relax around each other," she said. "Jay really is just the most adorable little boy."

"I hope I don't miss his whole childhood as I did with his mother's," John unhappily said.

"Give her a little more time dad," she told him. "She's already reached out to me, hell, she's even on speaking terms with Roo now, so anything is possible."

"Why are you still reading that garbage?" Charlie asked her girlfriend.

"I'm just reading this bit about our two favourite Detectives," she said. "Is Graves' first name really Persephone?"

"She never really said," replied Charlie. "I can imagine why she prefers Graves though."

"Wasn't Persephone something to do with the dead?"

"Persephone became the queen of the underworld after she was abducted by Hades and then tricked into tasting the food of the underworld, which meant she was then forced to spend a third of each year living there," Ruby answered as she walked into the kitchen.

Both Charlie and Joey stared at her in surprise. Ruby just shrugged. "We just studied some Greek myths at school," she said in explanation. "Why are you even talking about Persephone any way?"

"Because apparently it's Graves' first name," said Joey.

"You're kidding," chuckled Ruby. "I guess I can kinda see why her parents named her that though. Graves are the burying place of the dead and so sort of goes with the queen of the dead and such. Joey, are you done with the paper?"

"Yeah."

"Can you pass it over, I want to check the times for the cinema this afternoon."

Joey handed it over. "Just ignore the front page."

"Fuck me," murmured Ruby, ignoring Joey's suggestion. "What the hell is this shit about Georgie and you guys?"

"Just that, shit."

"Keep it down," Charlie told them when she heard their houseguests heading toward the kitchen.

"Mama, can I see Aunty DiDi today?"

"We'll see," Watson gently told him as they reached the others. One look at their faces and she knew something was wrong. "Ok, what's hit the fan now?"

"You might as well let her see the paper, Ruby," Charlie said to her sister.

Walking out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel on her head, Graves found Shannon standing in the middle of the hotel room, wearing an amused smile.

"Sorry Persephone," Shannon said, holding up the paper. "Your secret is out."

"Oh wonderful," she muttered.

"For what it's worth, the name has kind of grown on me since you told it to me."

"Which is why you still call me Graves."

"Ok, you got me there," said Shannon. "In fairness though, Graves is less of a mouthful to get out, unless you'd prefer an abbreviated form. How about Percy or Seffy?"

"How about we just have breakfast instead?"

"Ok Percy."

"Shannon," she growled.

"Seffy?"

Sighing, Graves rolled her eyes in defeat as Shannon ran off a few more variations, each as horrid as the last one.