A/N

Thank you all for all your wonderful reviews... they really do make me smile when reading them... keep them coming.

Sorry for the lateness in updating, but Uni. Is keeping me busy, have this paper to write about intercultural communication... I know it doesn't sound as thrilling as writing on this story... and let me tell you it is not, but it has to be done, so I don't know how much I'm going to be able to update, before I finish it... I will try, however :)

This chapter is for you PM... I hope you'll return to us quickly :)

Enjoy!

Chapter twelve

Charlie felt like she was floating on cloud number nine, she couldn't stop smiling as she drove back to the station. Her new happy mood causing her to decide to drop by the Diner to pick up some refreshments for her colleagues back at the station.

She walked out of the Diner with her hands full of bags containing numerous coffee's and muffins, all she still could think about was Joey and the kiss they had shared. She didn't notice someone running fast towards her.

Suddenly the bags were flying all over the place, and she got soaked in coffee as it spilled all over her from their confines. She had been knocked over.

"Oi watch it" was all she could manage to say, she was still surprised, and didn't know what had just hit her.

"Oh my god, I'm so clumsy... I'm so sorry" Charlie heard a voice with a funny accent telling her. She looked up and saw a very pretty young girl with long brown hair hanging loose down to her shoulders and brown eyes staring apologetically at her, offering her a hand so she could get up. She took the hand and notices a tattoo on the girl's wrist of two little purple monkeys.

"you should really watch were your going" Charlie frowned as she tore her gaze from the tattoo.

"Yes I know... I'm so sorry... leave it to me to run into a police officer and knock her over. I'm so sorry... hey let me buy you some fresh coffee please" the girl offered pointing towards the door of the Diner.

Charlie looked down to the pavement and saw coffee cups and muffins spread out all over the place.

"well okay and some new muffins too" she added nodding at the girl, while picking up the cups and muffins that laid spread out on the pavement so she could throw them in the bin. After they had cleaned up the mess, they both entered the Diner together.

As they stood in line, waiting to place their order she couldn't help but look at the girl. She was pretty she thought, not much older than Ruby, she wondered where she was from. She reached out her hand to the girl

"I'm Senior Constable Buckton... Charlie Buckton" The girl took her hand, and Charlie noticed the tattoo again

"Oh so sorry how rude of me... I'm Aisling O'Sullivan"

"Nice tattoo" Charlie commented while looking down on Aisling's wrist.

"Oh yeah that... I have a thing for monkeys and purple is my favourite colour" Aisling said continued with a grin, "again I'm really sorry about before"

Charlie shook her head "no worries... just don't make it a habit to go around knocking people over" she said wondering what had gotten into her, normally she would have been so annoyed by someone's carelessness, but for some reason she couldn't get mad. She knew very well why, it was all because of Joey making her feel all happy.

"I won't... I promise" Aisling smiled, relieved that she hadn't gotten into a lot of trouble knocking over at police officer.

"So where are you from...? I haven't seen you around here before" Charlie asked.

"I'm from Ireland... I just moved here for six months on an exchange program from my university... I have always dreamt of going to Australia... so I was so excited when I was offered to do this exchange program."

"Well welcome to Summer Bay then... hope you'll have a great time here." Charlie smiled warmly

"So do I" Aisling grinned back at her, pleased to have made a friend in the new town.

After Charlie had gotten her new bags of coffee and muffins, she had said farewell to the new girl and walked to her car, once again thinking about Joey. She really wished the day would be over soon so she could go back to her, she already missed her, being near her, touching and kissing her. She also needed to go home and make sure that Ruby and Leah were okay with what had happen to Martha.

She sighed by the thought of not seeing her friend again, and could feel the tears well up in her eyes. Turning the key in the ignition, she started the engine and drove back to the station lost in her thoughts.

She walked into the station and sat the bags with the refreshment's down on the counter so everybody could get some. She told Watson smiling that she was back and that the guys should just grab a cup and a muffin if they wanted, before walking into her office with her own muffin and a coffee

After she had changed out of the coffee soaked shirt and into a new one, she sat down at her table sighing when she saw the stacks of case files she had to read through. Just because there was a monster on the loose didn't mean that all other crime had stopped, which meant double amount of workload for her. A silent knock on the door disrupted her.

"Come in" she called as she wondered how at this rate she would ever get home. Watson came through the door with a muffin in her mouth and a coffee in her hand. She sat down in the chair opposite Charlie smiling

"So senior... Tell me about this girl?... did you get it all sorted with her?" Watson watched as Charlie's expression turned to shock.

"Ehh, what girl?" She really didn't want to tell Watson about Joey yet.

"You know what girl Senior... the one who ran from your office... and with you after her, after making a lame excuse so you could find her, and ever since you came back you haven't been able to stop smiling" Watson laughed, she wasn't letting Charlie off the hook that easy.

"Oh, is it that obvious" Charlie replied with a smile from ear to ear, she couldn't contain her happiness any longer.

"Yes it is that obvious... that and you hardly ever bring coffee and cake" Watson grinned biting into her muffin.

"I just met her... It is all new, but she is so beautiful and she is all I can think about... but Watson please don't tell anybody yet... It is still so new" Charlie smiled and took a sip of her coffee.

Watson stood to go back to work taking her coffee and the rest of her muffin

"Sure thing Senior... your secret is safe with me... and by the way thanks for the Charlie's happy refreshments, anytime you want to bring coffee and cake in again, feel free." Charlie grinned back at her and returned to her work, as Watson closed the door behind her.

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Charlie closed the last of the case files. Over the last few hours she had read through a huge pile of cases and she was now feeling really tired. She stood to get herself another cup of coffee, these days it seemed as if she lived off coffee, her thought train was interrupted by her mobile phone rang.

"Senior Constable Buckton speaking...... Yes... you're saying what... what happened... how is that possible... when... okay ...Oh my god... I'll be right over" She hung the phone up and hurried out the door to get Watson.

"Watson... we've got to go now... get your stuff... the coroner just called... two bodies are missing... the last two victims are gone" Watson stood a little shocked at the information she had just received, grabbing her hat and jacket, she ran out the door to meet Charlie who was already standing at the patrol car waiting impatiently for her.

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Charlie and Watson stood outside the coroner's office, in a small dark hallway, waiting for him to meet them. She knew that he was also very busy at the moment with bodies almost piling up in the morgue. The door from the autopsy room opened and she saw him approaching them.

He looked even more tired than he used to do. His grey hair was all messy, he hadn't shaved and he had black lines under his eyes.

"Senior... Constable..." he said nodding towards them while opening the door to his office. Signalling too them to come in."Ben" Charlie said simply walking into the office with Watson right behind her.

Inside the small lit office Charlie and Watson sat down in front of Ben's desk, while he tried to clear some stacks of paper form the desk before he sat down himself.

"Ben, what is this about the last two victims being missing?" Charlie began still not believing the bodies could have just disappeared.

Ben sat rubbing his forehead "Well Senior... it appears that we have lost the bodies of Ms. Amy Smith and Ms. Martha Mackenzie"

"Lost... how... have you misplaced them" Charlie continued still in disbelieve of what she have heard.

"I'm sorry Senior... but I wish that was it... we have looked everywhere... and called every funeral home to see if we have by mistake sent them there.... it just seem that they have disappeared into thin air" Ben said looking at the two officers. He still couldn't believe it. In his 20 years in this profession he had never experienced bodies that just disappeared before.

Charlie was still not able to wrap her head around the concept that two dead bodies could just up and disappear. "Ben is it possible that someone could have stolen the bodies"

Ben shook his head; the thought had crossed his mind, but he trusted his employees and not everybody could get into the morgue." Well senior it is possible, but I don't see how or who could have done it.... I completely trust my employees"

Charlie sighed at the thought of having more work and having to tell the next of kin about the missing bodies. "Ben we have to do a full investigation of this... and talk to every employee and who ever might have access to the morgue... I'm leaving Constable Watson here in charge of the investigation" Charlie nodded towards Watson.

Watson was a bit surprised that Charlie would leave her in charge of the investigation, but she also knew that Charlie had more than enough to focus on with the murder cases.

"Of course Senior... You will have me and my department's full cooperation... so we can solve this matter quickly" Ben stated trying to smile at the two police officers, but he felt utterly embarrassed about the incident. He felt that his own and the departments reputation had been tarnished a little, and he hoped that they could recover the bodies before it became publicly known that they were gone.

Charlie stood from her chair "I need to get back to the station, but do you mind showing Constable Watson here where the bodies were last seen, so she can get started" Ben stood up as well "of course not, I'll show her right away" Charlie nodded and turned towards Watson "as soon as I get back I'll send one of the other guys over to help you"

"Sure thing Senior... I'll get started right away" Watson simply replied, but couldn't help the sigh that escaped her at the thought that her shift had just gotten longer.

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When Charlie returned to the station she had send one of her colleagues to help Watson and taken care of an incident involving some young kids being caught spray painting on the school. It was getting really late and she had to go over the case once more. She stood a long time with her mobile in her hand looking at Joey's number, that Joey had given her at the caravan park before she had drove back to the station.

She felt so sad when she texted Joey that her work was dragging out and she wouldn't be able to come by this evening. She had asked if they could meet up for lunch the next day, but she hadn't gotten any answer from Joey. She hoped that Joey didn't think she was standing her up.

She sighed hoping that she would hear from Joey soon and walked into the small conference room to look at all the crime photos. The lamp was still flickering annoyingly above her head. She was mad at Hugo for not changing the bloody light bulb... she had now asked him to do it three times. She made a mental note to tell their lazy janitor that she wasn't tolerating him not listening to her anymore. She couldn't focus on the crime scene photos with the flickering light, so she decided to take them with her into her own office.

She now stood watching the photos she had temporally hung on the back wall of her own office, when she heard her mobile beep in her pocket. She took it out and looked at the screen and instantly smiled.

'Hi Charlie am so sorry that work is holding you up, was looking forward to seeing you again... miss you too.... love to have lunch tomorrow with you... can't wait… xx Joey'

After she had received the text from Joey, she seemed to have a new energy. She turned with a smile and Joey's image running through her mind, to look at the photos on the wall again. Suddenly her smile dropped as she stood looking in disbelieve at what she had for the first time noticed on the crime scene photos. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it before, she couldn't believe anybody hasn't noticed it.

She checked the photos again and again to make sure her mind wasn't playing tricks on her. Her heart stopped beating; she could feel her stomach turning. She sat down on her desk still looking at the photos, still not believing what she had discovered. She couldn't quite make out what to believe of it.

Confused and hurt she sat with tears running down her cheeks on the desk, with thoughts running wild through her mind. She picked up her jacket, bag and keys and ran out of the office. She needed some answers and she didn't care how late it was.