"Do you hear that?" Joey said when she and Charlie walked into their house after their visit to the Station had concluded.
Charlie cocked her head to listen. "I don't hear anything?"
"Exactly." Joey smirked at her. "You know what that means don't you."
"It means Ruby is out and we have a couple of hours to fill in before I go on duty."
"Oh god, I'm close Charlie," Joey moaned as she bounced up and down on her girlfriend's lap. Charlie was sitting on the edge of the bed, Joey straddling her, the fake cock buried deep inside her. Then Joey would rise till only the tip remained inside her, before dropping down, burying it deep inside her once more. Over and over it went. Charlie lay back so she could watch. Joey's face was a picture of rapture as she rode her. She reached up and cupped her breasts.
"Oh yes," panted Joey when Charlie started to squeeze in time with the thrusts. Joey's movements were becoming frantic and the faster she moved, the more erratic she became.
Charlie's own clit, which was rubbing against the other end of the cock buried deep inside her girlfriend, started to twitch. "Oh god, Joey," she moaned.
"Together," Joey gasped.
"Yes," hissed Charlie. She sat up once more and held onto Joey. Charlie cried out her climax at the same time she felt Joey's body go rigid in her arms, then they both collapsed onto the bed. "Think I'm going to need a few Red Bulls to get me going for work," murmured Charlie as Joey rolled off her.
"We're not done here yet," Joey told her.
Charlie turned her head. Joey was lying there grinning at her. Her legs were opened invitingly. With a burst of sudden energy that came from desire more than anything, Charlie was quickly lying over her and between her legs.
"I guess this means your performance anxiety is over," Joey teased as Charlie pushed back inside her.
"No such thing as performance anxiety," Charlie assured her girlfriend, her hips moving slowly at first. Joey's hips rose up to meet her with the same rhythm. Their eyes met and they didn't turn away as the gentle thrusting continued.
A few minutes later, Joey threw her legs around Charlie, her feet against her buttocks and she pulled her hard against her. "Enough with the slow," she said.
Faster and harder Charlie's hips moved, the sound of flesh hitting flesh joined with their pants of desire. Charlie changed her angle slightly and Joey's eyes flew open and she gasped loudly.
"Yes! That's the spot," she yelled. Over and over, Charlie hit that spot, Joey's breath coming quicker and her voice becoming louder and louder. "Yes, yes," she chanted. Charlie knew Joey was close and within moments, Joey's legs had tightened around her and her entire body rose toward her as she came hard.
"Charlie!" shouted Joey, her body bucking and grinding against her girlfriend's. Charlie maintained her thrusting throughout Joey's orgasm, seeking her own climax. She didn't have to wait for long. When Joey bucked into her second climax, Charlie was right there with her.
She collapsed on top of Joey, neither woman capable of moving for the time being. It was a good few minutes later before Charlie had summoned the strength to roll to the side.
Joey gasped when she felt the fake cock leave her. It was like losing a part of Charlie. No one, neither man nor woman, had ever made her so wanton during sex or fulfilled her in the way Charlie did. And they had their whole lives ahead of them to enjoy this.
"Definitely going to need a few Red Bulls," murmured Charlie.
"Think I'm going to need more than that to just get off this bed," Joey happily told her.
"Gypsy Nash talked?" Charlie said in surprise. She'd been on duty for a few hours by the time the two detectives had returned and they'd wasted little time in coming to her with their very welcome, yet surprising news. "I mean, she actually talked about the case?"
"Yes," Robertson said. "Once a few details were sorted, she became very talkative."
"What sort of details?"
"Arrangements for protective custody for her family and for herself," said Graves. "Once that was done, she was willing to answer pretty much anything."
"Including why she confessed?"
"It was out of loyalty to Hugo," said Graves. "She had a pretty rough childhood and ended up on the streets as a prostitute at the age of 15," she explained. "Hugo literally found her in a gutter, pulled her out and brought her into his world. He trained her in the business and coached her into becoming a very effective tool for him," she said. "He gave her everything she'd missed out on growing up and in the process, gained a very loyal servant."
"If she is so loyal, then why is she now blabbing on him?"
"Fear," Graves simply stated. "As long as Hugo was on the outside, he would see that her daughter was protected and would have everything she'd missed out on during her own childhood, but the moment he was arrested, her daughter's safety was at risk," she said. "And that fear for her daughter has overridden her loyalty to Hugo."
"Besides, Hugo was already going to be in jail for a hell of a long time, which helped to persuade her to talk," added Robertson.
"She's also discovered she has another responsibility," Graves said. "Her first morning in jail, she realised she was pregnant."
"Is it Angelo's?"
"No, her husband's, the man she's very much in love with."
"I thought they'd separated?"
"A lie to cover her real reason for being here," said Graves. "Turns out that hubby also worked for Hugo and in order to protect his family, he's agreed to provide information, though his knowledge isn't as extensive as his wife's, since he was more of a paid enforcer type."
Charlie sat back in her seat. "I'm still getting over the fact that she even agreed to talk," she murmured.
"So are we," admitted Graves. "Even more so with the level of detail she's been able to reveal. Of course, there are certain areas where she has little to no knowledge of the operation, but in the areas where she does, it's been quite informative."
"What has she said so far?"
"Well for a start, Miss Nash has confirmed that Hugo Austin was indeed a part of CBJ Industries and that he was one of the quartet of leaders," Robertson said.
"Can she actually prove that?"
"There's no documentation to support her statement, no," he admitted. "It will become a case of her word and any further evidence that comes to light."
"And unfortunately, the identity of these key people is one of those areas where Gypsy had no knowledge," said Graves. "She has no idea who these other people are and I get the feeling that only Hugo and the other three know of each other."
Smart, thought Charlie. If one part of the organisation fell, then the other three were protected for as long as the head person remained silent. No wonder Hugo was willing to die, rather than go to jail. The target on his back will be huge.
"Discovering the identity of these other members will be a top priority," said Robertson. "Especially given how dangerous these people are."
"Yeah, Hugo killed two men, one in cold blood for the sheer enjoyment of it," Graves said. "And if any of the other members are anything like him or worse, then it would explain his willingness to die, rather than be captured," she said, repeating Charlie's own thoughts.
"How do you reckon Hugo will go in prison?" asked Charlie.
"A close eye will be kept on him and I believe solitary confinement for his own safety is on the cards," Robertson replied. "We'll also inform his family. Threats against them are all but guaranteed as a way to keep his silence."
"Hugo won't endanger them," Charlie confidently said. "The one thing I can say about Hugo, is he loves his mum and brother and so he'll do whatever is necessary to protect them."
"That's the consensus we've come to," said Robertson.
"It's also why Braxton was so willing to confess and then keep his mouth shut," said Graves. "Threats were made toward his family and he won't speak, not as long as those threats remain, especially against Heath in jail."
"Did Gypsy say anything about Brax's connection to Hugo?" asked Charlie.
"Braxton was Hugo's right hand man for this area," he said.
"This area?"
"Their business is quite expansive and mostly along the smaller coastal areas, where smuggling is a little easier to achieve with access to boats, night time rendezvous out on the water and a much smaller police force within those areas to deal with," he explained. "Summer Bay itself was only a very small part of a much larger drug and people smuggling ring. Hugo's section was mostly responsible for smuggling drugs, amongst other interests, like standover tactics and money laundering."
"That shop where Shannon saw Gypsy go into," said Graves. "Was used as a temporary storage centre for supplies and for the drugs coming in. That's why everything was moved out the moment Shannon got away."
"I just can't believe this was all going on right under our noses," Charlie murmured.
"They were very good at keeping a low profile," Robertson said. "That's why they've been so successful in getting away with this for so long."
"Yeah and if Hugo hadn't let his jealousy toward Watson get the better of him, then we may never have found out," added Graves.
Charlie just shook her head as she absorbed it all. "So what was Gypsy's real purpose for being here?" she eventually asked.
"Miss Nash was initially brought to the Bay to gauge what sort of damage Brax's arrest had done to the operation," Robertson said. "She was meant to assess if things needed to be shut down completely or whether their interests here could be salvaged, which apparently they were," he said. "She was actually due to leave town when the accident happened and given Hugo's obsession with Martha, he instructed Miss Nash to find out what had happened."
"She was to get as close to the investigation as she could," said Graves. "It was meant to be me she cosied up to, but a chance run in with Angelo gave her the opening she needed. He really had mistaken her for Shannon and she used it to her advantage."
"What light could she shed on the murders?"
"Jack's death truly was accidental, in that no one was meant to be at the development site that night, except for Hugo and Brax," Robertson replied. "It seems as if the development was being used to launder money for CBJ Industries and they were meeting there in secret to discuss how to get rid of the protestors, only a passerby noticed something, thought they were trespassers and called it in."
"We know what happened next," said Graves.
"Yeah, they killed Jack and very nearly my cousin," she muttered angrily. Knowing it hadn't been intentional didn't really help, since it had still happened when it didn't need to have.
"As for Angelo's murder, well that was definitely planned, though not from the beginning," Robertson said. "At first, Hugo was happy to see Angelo go to jail, because he liked the idea of a cop who was used to life's luxuries, rotting in jail."
"And he had ways to ensure that Angelo's stay inside would become his worst nightmare," added Graves.
"However, jail was never a certainty and when it became clear that Angelo was likely to get away with it, Hugo's intentions toward him changed," Robertson said. "The night of the murder, Miss Nash had arranged to get Angelo to that nightclub, then she staged their argument knowing that Angelo would be looking to work out his frustrations."
"And she knew exactly how he worked out his frustrations," said Graves. "Since she'd spent days watching his movements and knew how he liked to visit prostitutes in dark alleys whenever he was pissed off at someone or something."
"Hugo was there watching the whole night unfold," Robertson told Charlie.
"His name was never mentioned by any of the witnesses there that night," Charlie said.
"He disguised himself and kept to the darkened corners," Robertson said. "The rest of the night went down pretty much as how Miss Nash described it in her confession, only it was Hugo who had pulled the trigger. He later filled her in on all the necessary details needed for her confession."
"Like why he'd dragged Angelo's body when he was strong enough to have carried him," said Graves. "He wanted to make it appear as if the killer had struggled to move Angelo," she said. "That way, a woman could be more reasonably considered as a suspect."
"In other words, he wanted Georgie as a suspect," Charlie muttered.
Graves nodded. "When that didn't work and the investigation started to get a little too close to his other interests in the Bay, that was when Gypsy stepped up," she said. "Turns out her original alibi was the real one. She had been in the hotel bar at the time of Angelo's murder, only when she was ordered to confess, the bartender was paid to recant his statement and say he hadn't seen her. She also wasn't lying about the gun being in the vent at the shop. Hugo had apparently wiped all his prints off it and left it there for her to pick up and dispose of when safe to do so. It was why only her prints were on it when she brought it into the station with her."
"Has Hugo said anything about this?"
"We went to challenge Hugo on everything Miss Nash had told us and were told in no uncertain terms, that it was no longer our business," Robertson said. "The Drugs Squad, along with a task force which has been looking into organised crime, has now officially taken over the case."
"And since Hugo has signed a confession for his crimes, our boss has ordered us to tie up any loose ends here, hand it over to the relevant people and return to the city within the next couple of days," Graves informed Charlie. "Any further access to Gypsy Nash is also off the cards since she's going into witness protection, along with her daughter and husband."
"Damn," muttered Charlie. "What about Bianca? Did Gypsy pick up anything about her from Angelo?"
"No and I think we all have to accept that we may never find out the whole truth where Miss Scott is concerned," Robertson said.
"And the cover up Angelo and McQueen undertook?"
"Angelo's dead and there is just not enough evidence to bring charges against Sean McQueen," Robertson told her.
"Then Bianca stays as a missing person and April is never given closure," murmured Charlie.
"Unfortunately, that is the nature of the job at times," said Robertson. "We can't always get the answers we want and with the current investigation into her disappearance and activities likely to end soon, then maybe a future coronial inquest into her disappearance will have better luck."
"That likely won't be called for years," said Charlie. "And do really think an inquest will prove McQueen disposed of Bianca's body at his family Crematorium?"
"Anything is possible," he said. "But it won't be for us to find out."
"It really is over Charlie," Graves told her. "The murderer is behind bars where he belongs and other departments with the right resources, will be carrying on the investigations from here."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it is over," she said. "It just feels somewhat anti climatic and I hate not seeing a case through to the absolute end."
"I feel the same," said Graves.
"As long as the right result is had, we should be happy," Robertson said. He got to his feet. "It's been a pleasure working with you Charlie and when it comes time to leave in a couple of days, I might actually miss this place." He nodded to her. "I'll leave you to your work."
The moment she was alone, Charlie reached for her phone. "Hey Joey."
"Hey, how is work going?"
"Fine," she said. "Robertson and Graves just got back."
"And?"
"It's over Joey," she said. "It's really over."
"Does that mean we can go on our weekend away now?"
"It does indeed."
"I can't wait."
"Neither can I," Charlie said. "I'll be home in a few hours and we can talk some more on it."
"We can talk tomorrow," Joey told her. "We still have some more time to make up for in the bedroom tonight."
"Now I really can't wait," murmured Charlie, her face heating in anticipation.
"I'll be ready and waiting for you."
"Tease," Charlie said, but Joey had already hung up.