Chapter Eleven
Charlie stared with her mouth hanging open as she watched the patrol car disappear. Joey studied her face as she looked, almost unseeing, as if somehow she wasn't really there. Touching her hand gently, Joey startled Charlie into life. The police woman turned to look at her, tears shining in her eyes and threatening to spill over.
"Watson must have found the evidence she needed," Joey said. "So, it's okay now. They can put him away for what he did to you."
"Or they can make things worse," Charlie said worriedly. "He could come after me again. He could..."
Joey shook her head firmly and pointed out that Watson wouldn't have risked making a move unless she knew she could charge him. Comforted ever so slightly, Charlie wiped her eyes and started the engine, desperate to get home.
Angelo sat in the interview room utterly exasperated.
"Why the hell are you doing this to me?" he demanded. "I didn't rape anyone!"
"Well, I've got evidence to contrary," Watson told him coolly.
He looked startled. He'd got rid of the evidence. How could they have anything on him?
"Oh, that's right," Watson said with a smirk. "You thought you'd taken care of that. But the thing is, all the evidence you left on her, didn't get lost permanently. We found it. We've got it. We know what you did so the best thing you can do is own up."
Angelo glared at her. Watson had never liked him, not since he'd arrived back in the Bay after escaping the murder charge. Over time, she'd learnt to be polite, largely for Charlie's sake but he knew she'd never trusted him.
"I didn't rape Charlie," he insisted.
"Did you have sex with her?" Watson asked.
"Well, yes, I did but..."
"And did you go temporarily deaf when she said no?"
"She didn't say no! Charlie never says no!" he blurted out.
Watson raised her eyebrows.
"Right... so you think she's easy or something, do you?" she asked.
"No! Of course not! All I'm saying is that she and I belong together. We've dated for a year now..."
"On and off," Watson reminded him.
"On and off," he agreed. "We've got history. We love each other. I'd never hurt her. And she'd never tell me no."
"But Angelo, the thing is, you were off at the time," Watson said. "You weren't dating. You hadn't been for a while."
"We were on a date!" Angelo protested.
"But you hadn't got back together, not according to Charlie."
"We got together that night."
"When you raped her?" Watson asked. "That's how to consummate a relationship, is it?"
Angelo glared at her and swallowed, trying not to confuse his answers. The more this got spoken about, the more he started to wonder if Charlie had said no, if he had forced her. But no, the notion was ridiculous. Hardly anybody believed it. He wouldn't do that kind of thing.
"I didn't rape her. We had consensual sex."
"And yet she scratched your face," Watson said. "And she had bruises over her thighs. Every injury she had was consistent with rape."
"I didn't say it wasn't rough sex," Angelo said darkly. "What can I say? That's the kind of girl she is."
"What kind of girl is she?" Watson asked.
"She enjoys rough, exciting, dirty sex," Angelo said. "I just gave her what she wanted."
"Oh, she was asking for it was she?"
"Yes!"
Angelo froze.
"That didn't come out right," he said quickly.
"I think it came out perfectly," Watson said. "She was asking for it. You gave her what she deserved. You raped her."
"I didn't!" Angelo insisted. "I love her! She loves me!"
"She hates you right about now," Watson informed him. "You broke her. You raped her. You damn well nearly destroyed her. And now it's time to pay for what you did."
She looked behind her at the Sergeant she'd brought in for the interview.
"Sergeant Angelo Rosetta, we're formally charging you with raping Leading Senior Constable Charlie Buckton."
Angelo buried his head in his hands, feeling like the world was ending.
The Surf Club was eerily quiet as the staff and patrons attempted to figure out what had happened right there in front of them. Angelo had been arrested and Watson had been adamant that she could prove it.
"Hello!" Marilyn said cheerfully as she breezed into the bar.
Colleen, who had not yet left and returned to work, pulled a face. Immediately noticing the horrified silence around her, Marilyn asked Alf what was wrong. Her friend sighed. Colleen bustled out loudly, ready to head into the Diner to tell the world what she had seen.
"What's happened?" Marilyn repeated.
"It looks like Angelo did attack Charlie after all," Alf said, all the while wondering how he could be such a terrible judge of character.
He had publically backed Angelo up. He'd spent hours with him. He'd tried to look after him. And all the while, he had been guilty as sin. Marilyn turned a little pale. She didn't know Angelo or Charlie terribly well but she liked both of them and it was awful to think that one of them was capable of such an atrocity. Miles approached them, looking heavy hearted. He sat down and shook his head.
"How can it be true?" he asked. "I mean, Angelo's a mate. He's always seemed so..."
"Desperate to make Charlie his?" Alf suggested gravely.
Charlie and Joey arrived back home and Charlie headed straight to bed. Her mind was awash with confusion and distress. She was glad that Angelo had been arrested. To think that she might gain the justice she'd missed out on as a child filled her with hope. But the idea of having to go through the courts terrified her. And the idea of it all being for nothing, terrified her more. Joey followed her into the room and found Charlie face down on the bed in tears. She crept onto the mattress and sat beside her, gently stroking her hair. After a few minutes, Charlie shifted to burry her face in Joey's lap. Right now, Joey was the only comfort she had, the only thing she needed.
Angelo felt helpless as he was led into a temporary holding cell. It was all so horrifically familiar. After he'd confessed to killing Jack, he'd felt like his world had ended but that almost paled into comparison to now. Now he was defiant and certain that he wasn't guilty but it looked like he would be locked up anyway. And there was nothing he could do about it.
"I'll try not to forget you and let you rot away," Watson said bitterly before she left.
"I just can't believe it," Colleen said. "I mean, they do say there's no smoke without fire, don't they? And Constable Watson seems pretty sure that she can prove he's guilty. But..."
She looked sad for a moment.
"I thought he was a nice man."
"We all did, love," Irene said gently.
"I didn't," Leah snapped.
She was not willing to have sympathy for anyone's shock and distress over Angelo's arrest. She just felt happy about it. And she hoped that Charlie would be too.
"Leah, you can't blame us for..." Colleen began.
"For calling Charlie a liar?" Leah asked.
She sighed, exasperated.
"I told you... all of you... so many times what happened," Leah said. "I said that he raped her and none of you believed me. You all thought I was mistaken and Charlie was lying. All of you did."
From the other side of the counter, her boyfriend, Elijah cleared his throat.
"Except you," she added.
They'd talked at length about the whole thing and while Elijah liked Angelo and had wanted to see the best in him, he trusted Leah and her opinions.
"So, maybe now, if Charlie ever feels strong enough to come in here, we'll treat her with a bit of respect," Leah said to all her staff and customers alike. "Maybe then you can make up for how you've treated her."
She marched back into the kitchen. A hubbub of noise soon began in the Diner as everyone began to animatedly discuss what had happened.
Charlie lay in Joey's lap and closed her eyes, feeling comforted by the way Joey continued to stroke her hair. She wondered what was happening at the station now. Was Angelo being interviewed? Had he been charged? What was he saying in order to defend himself? Did he honestly believe he was innocent or did he understand what he'd done to her?
Night was beginning to fall and Angelo was trapped in his cell. He'd been offered a phone call but he had no idea who to call. In a normal circumstance, he would have called Charlie. Even after Jack's death, even when Charlie had been the one leading the investigation to bring him down, he had trusted her and turned to her for comfort. But now she was the victim. She was the one accusing him of a horrific crime. He closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands. He looked up sharply when he heard footsteps. Watson approached and stood close to the bars. He looked at her and the piece of paper she held in her hands.
"Your preliminary hearing is in two days," she said. "You'll stay here until then. I imagine you'll then be refused bail and then after your trial, you'll be going to jail for a very long time."
"This is all a mistake, Watson," he said, although he knew she didn't want to hear it.
Watson lifted the piece of paper, training her eyes on it.
"We went out to dinner but I wasn't having a good time," she read. "I knew then that it wasn't right and that Angelo and I weren't meant to be, no matter how much we tried. I cut the date short but he followed me out of the Diner and walked me home. When we got back to the house, he asked me if I loved him. I said no. Then he told me how he felt about me. He didn't seem right somehow. He said he wanted to show me how much he loved me."
Watson glanced up at Angelo who was hanging on her every word.
"This is the part where she started sobbing. Again," she told him before continuing to read. "He kissed me and forced me against the wall. I struggled but he was too strong for me. I didn't know what he was going to do until it was too late. I didn't think he was capable of something like this. I begged him not to. I tried to get away. I scratched him. He asked if I was playing rough. I wasn't. I didn't want him near me but he just wouldn't stop."
Angelo swallowed. He could picture the scene and it was making him feel awful. Had it really been like that? Had he been so blind and full of his own desire so much that he had so readily disregarded her when she said no? He remembered her scratching him. He was struck now by the memory of the fright in her eyes. But on that night, it hadn't been enough to deter him. Watson looked at him very seriously.
"This was the part where she broke down," Watson said. "We had to stop so that she could get herself together because of how broken she was, because of how you broke her."
Angelo rubbed his temples and listened, although his instinct was to block her words out.
"He said he wanted to show me how much he loved me," Watson read. "That's when I realised. He pulled himself out of his trousers and he was obviously getting off on it all. He lifted my dress, pulled my underwear down and raped me. I kept screaming for him to stop. He told me he loved me again and I knew it was too late. I knew what was happening. So I fell silent and hoped it would be over soon. Struggling just made it worse. He raped me. I thought he was my friend. I thought he was someone I could count on. But he forced sex on me and now I wish I was dead."
Watson finished reading. Angelo stared at her with a lump in his throat and no comprehension of what he should think, feel or say.
"I just thought you might want to get a little insight into exactly what you did to her, seeing as you're so adamant that you're innocent," Watson told him before storming off.
Charlie was back in her pyjamas and feeling very fragile. Leah had told her and Joey everything that Colleen had reported back and seemed sure that everyone was now on Charlie's side at long last. She knew it should, but it didn't really make Charlie feel better. She was glad to be getting to bed.
"Do you want me on the couch or the floor or...?" Joey asked and then blushed as she and Charlie both realised how it had sounded.
They both laughed and Joey came to sit on the edge of the bed that Charlie was firmly tucked into.
"I'd like to keep you near," she said. "And the floor's uncomfortable so..."
She looked at the vacant side of the bed.
"If that's okay?"
She didn't want to presume too much or ask for more than Joey was willing to give. Joey smiled and began to dig around in her bag for a pair of pyjamas. Charlie politely closed her eyes as she changed, although Joey's back was turned anyway. The younger woman came to lie in bed beside her. Sharing a bed with Charlie had all sorts of confusing connotations that Joey couldn't help but be aware of. She was only human after all. But was determined not to think anything like that now. Charlie had been through a horrific trauma that Joey understood only too well. Right now, all she wanted to do was take care of her, keep her safe and be the best friend that it was possible to be.