TWO DAYS LATER…
Charlie was a lot happier today. Not only was she in a better emotional space, yesterday, they'd found a camping ground with showers, so she was in a far more comfortable state as well. Ah, she'd never loved a shower more and no doubt Joey also appreciated it, since the car had become a little more unbearable the longer they'd both gone without soap and water. It had certainly helped when it came to sleeping in the car as well, which had become easier now that her mood had lightened ever since she'd had her private little pep talk to herself. Joey had noticed the change in her mood, but hadn't really commented on it, not even with her usual glib teasing, which thankfully had dried up lately. Actually, she and Joey didn't speak much at all, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence that had fallen between them, it was a silence of acceptance that they were in this together, that they were a team and they'd reached that stage where there just wasn't any need to fill the air with meaningless chatter, because it was more relaxed between them and so they didn't bother. Personally, Charlie was just happy to listen to the radio and concentrate on the road whenever she was driving, of which they'd done a hell of a lot of recently.
In the last couple of days, they'd covered a lot of ground, with each day similar to the previous. They'd wake up at the break of dawn, stop at the next town they arrived at, splash some water on their faces and clean up the best they could, before grabbing some food and then leaving as quickly and as quietly as they could, all the while, ensuring that there was nothing remarkable about them to remember. They were just two women driving somewhere, at least that was the only impression they were hoping to leave behind should someone stop and ask about them. Who was behind them? Watson no doubt, perhaps others as well. Had Nick sent more after his brother-in-law had failed? She just had no idea and she hadn't bothered with the personnel's in the papers to see if he had anything to say for himself. There was no point. Nick had revealed his hand, shattering all trust she ever had in him and Charlie had no intension of ever falling for his lies again. It still hurt and Charlie doubted she'd ever get over Nick's betrayal, but she sure as hell wasn't going to wallow in it. He was behind her, any pursuers were behind her and as long as they kept their guard up and trusted in their instincts, then Charlie had a good feeling they'd get through this.
Still, she'd like to find someone else to trust, because in spite of her more positive frame of mind, she had a feeling that she and Joey just weren't going to be enough on their own. They couldn't run forever, so they'd eventually need help, it was just a matter of now figuring out where that help would come from. She needed to find someone she could contact outside of the Force, yet who was in a position to help. If her father had still lived, he'd have been the obvious choice, but he was gone now. He'd been a cop for 20 years before he'd retired and in that time, he'd cultivated a network of contacts he'd kept until the day he died, so perhaps one of his old contacts could prove equally useful to her. Not all could be trusted for obvious reasons, since some of them were informants from a less than honest background or were still tied up with the Force, but there had to be someone who owed her dad a favour that she could reach out to.
"Not long now," Joey said, breaking through Charlie's thoughts.
They'd kept to Joey's plan of taking a few circular routes before heading straight to their destination, which going by Joey's comment just then, they'd arrive at shortly. Charlie was still unsure whether staying in this town for any length of time, even if only a couple of days, was the wisest of moves, but at least it would give them a chance to rest up properly, which could prove to be just as important to their well being as planning their next move was. She definitely couldn't deny that she was looking forward to sleeping in a proper bed, though with her luck, she thought with a wry smile, she'd be sleeping sitting up in bed, since that had become her standard pose in the past few nights.
"Angelo's lawyer is still refusing to let us talk to him," Nick informed Robertson as they debriefed again. "He's citing Angelo's injuries and his psychological well being as he struggles to deal with losing his eye, as the reason for Angelo's unavailability for the foreseeable future."
"Bloody lawyers," muttered Robertson. "Any chance you or your wife could change his mind?"
"Lu has already tried, but Angelo won't budge," replied Nick. "He knows damn well no deal will save him from prison and so his best chance now, is by staying on lover boy's side to ensure he has protection on the inside," he said. "And that means keeping his mouth shut."
"Damn," Robertson murmured, knowing that Nick was most likely right. As with the Braxtons, the Pirovics had a strong presence within the jail system, even from the outside and people learnt very quickly to not mess with their property.
"Angelo's a dead end at the moment," Nick said. "We need to focus on Charlie and your witness."
"Why did you say 'your witness' in that way?"
"The crime scene report just came in," Nick said by way of reply and he produced a photo of the bulletproof vest Angelo had been found in.
"Impressive," said Robertson.
"Quite," Nick agreed. "Your witness is quite the talented markswoman."
"We can't be sure that my witness did this," he replied. "The weapon used wasn't found at the scene, so we have no way to know who pulled the trigger," Robertson argued. "Not even Rosetta's ramblings at the scene made it clear as to which woman was the bitch he was referring to."
"The second crime scene where the fight occurred, points to your witness being the bitch who got into fisticuffs with him," Nick pointed out. "We still had Collins' prints on file from when she was taken into protective custody and they match prints found all over that crime scene," he said. "Her prints, not Charlie's, were also found on both Angelo's handcuffs that were used to secure him and on the pen that took out his eye."
"That doesn't make Miss Collins the shooter," Robertson said. "What does ballistics say?"
"That the bullets recovered at the first scene came from Charlie's service weapon."
"Well there you go," he said. "Charlie could easily have been the shooter."
"Thing is, Charlie has excelled in so many areas during her career, but her weakest skill has always been with a firearm," Nick informed him. "Oh, she'd have no trouble hitting a target, but never with that precision."
"Maybe she got lucky," he argued. "That seems more feasible than my witness being the shooter."
"What about the fact that she went toe-to-toe with a trained police officer and not only bettered him, she severely wounded him in the process," Nick pointed out. "Come on Robert, what do we really know about this woman?" he said. "Even your protégé said there's something funky with her, that things in her past and work history don't add up, so who the fuck is she?"
It wasn't the first time he'd asked, yet it was the first time he saw Robertson look uncertain.
Robertson sighed wearily. "I don't know," he finally admitted and now Nick wasn't sure what worried him more. The unknowns about their witness or the fact that both Charlie's and Angelo's service weapons were still at large, along with a knife that had once belonged in the empty sheaf that had been strapped to Angelo's leg. Was Charlie the one holding them or was Joey Collins?
"Police have today released the name of the man found murdered behind the local diner. His name was Robert Cruze, a door-to-door salesman. Items discovered in the victim's car have since made Cruze a person of interest in a series of rapes. Police have refused to confirm whether his murder was an act of revenge or of self-defence. Cruze's sister, spoke on behalf of the family and has vowed to clear her brother's name and to bring his killer to justice."
Watson shook her head. It never ceased to amaze her how some people buried their head in the sand when it came to their loved one's criminal activities, and she had a feeling that even had the sister witnessed every rape, she'd still find a way to excuse his behaviour, probably by blaming the victim. She shook her head. That was one part of being a cop that she wouldn't miss, yet as she thought that, she realised there were parts of the job she'd miss. Sure, her loyalties had been divided during her entire police career, but there were times when she'd genuinely loved the job, yet now with her cover blown, that was all gone and she'd now have to do everything possible to avoid going to jail. Brax's lawyers could work wonders and had kept many an employee out of jail, but even if Brax was inclined to help her out, which she had some doubts about, she knew that the most likely outcome was incarceration. She should probably just up and disappear, she knew how to and she had plenty of money stashed away to support herself, but Watson also knew if she ran now, then she'd have both the cops and the Braxtons coming after. No, her best chance was to complete this job, thereby proving her loyalty once and for all, which should be enough to get the Braxtons off her back, and allow her to then disappear with only the cops to worry about.
Walking out on her life didn't exactly fill her with joy, but the alternative was far worse and she'd rather die than go to jail. Just do the job, then disappear to some far off place where she could build a happy life, maybe even find a woman to finally settle down with. Her thoughts drifted to a familiar face and she allowed herself a smile. A woman like Leah, who didn't ask too many questions and loved giving as much as receiving. That tingle returned between her legs, as it nearly always did whenever her memories drifted back to that night. She seriously needed a good fuck so she could move on.
"What the fuck is that little bastard thinking," Brax raged. Both Heath and Kyle stayed silent. Their brother had been like this ever since Stu had relayed Casey's letter to them, and his already foul mood had only gotten worse when Pee Wee and Brodie had been forced to abandon the chase when their car had broken down. Everything they had worked so hard for, seemed to be going wrong. First with the cops swooping on Collins so quickly, to then losing her and that cop, to Mick losing those drugs, Casey running, all of it was just piling up on top of each other, and in this kind of mood, Brax was even more volatile than usual, as his wife had found out last night. Bianca was sporting a black eye after trying to reason with her husband over his reaction to Casey leaving, and now Kyle was forced to keep an eye on Heath to make sure he didn't do anything dumb, such as call Brax out. Like Casey, he was well aware of what was going on between Heath and Bianca and the last thing they needed right now, was for Brax to find out that her baby was more than likely Heath's and not his. So soon after Casey's betrayal, Kyle just wasn't sure if Brax would be able to hold back and he could very well kill Heath in a fit of rage.
"I want that little fucker found," Brax screamed.
"Casey probably just needs some time alone and then he'll come home when he's ready," Kyle said, even though he knew there was no chance of that ever happening. He hadn't told either of his brothers that Casey had called him last night to explain why he had to leave, and Kyle didn't feel the least bit guilty in transferring money to Casey. He was as much his brother as Brax and Heath were and he wouldn't abandon him, nor would he ever betray his confidence.
"The little coward is running," Brax snarled. "He's betraying our family."
"I warned you he wasn't up for this," Heath finally spoke up. "No matter how much we both pushed him, Casey has never been." He never got a chance to finish as Brax's fist slammed into his face. Heath didn't go down, he just stood and glared at his brother, his nose streaming blood as he seethed with anger on the inside. He'd never raised a hand to Brax, but he was oh so close to wiping that insufferable smugness from his face.
"Casey is a Braxton and it's about fucking time he started acting like one," Brax yelled. "Kyle, get onto Stu, tell him to get after Casey and bring him back, even if he has to beat some sense into him first."
"Yeah, that'll work," murmured Kyle.
"Just do it!" Brax shouted.
"What about the women?" Heath asked. "As long as they're still out there, they're a threat to us."
"Leave them to Tegan and Hayley," replied Brax. "At least they're not incompetent fuckwits or cowards like the rest of you."
"No, they're just psycho bitches who'd eat babies for breakfast if given the chance," Kyle muttered under his breath as he went to do as Brax had bidden him to do.
"Ready girlfriend," Joey said and in doing so, reminded Charlie of the part she was meant to play. That of Joey's girlfriend. Against her wishes, Charlie's mind brought up the memory of that kiss. She'd completely lost herself in that kiss which had felt like it had gone on forever. She couldn't afford to do that again. As much as she was placing trust in Joey these days and was even willing to publically pose as her girlfriend, it would be too risky for them to be too physical with their role playing, if for no other reason than she didn't trust her hormones. She hadn't had sex for some time now and Joey was a beautiful woman, with soft, warm lips and Charlie stopped herself there. That was exactly why she needed to keep a physical distance from Joey.
"We're here at last," said Joey.
"So this is the place?" Charlie said.
"Yep, welcome to Summer Bay."