"Don't do this, Charlie," Joey said, backing away from the advancing police officer.
"What, not do my job in arresting criminals," Charlie snidely said, though she halted her advance toward the other woman. "Didn't you just criticise us for not doing our job properly?"
"This isn't the way to deal with this," Joey told her.
"I beg to differ," said Charlie. "I take you in, along with all this information, and then I get to bring everyone down," she said.
"You take me in and I'll be dead within days," Joey said. "We both know that."
"We know no such thing," Charlie said, though she didn't sound confident as she said it.
"Charlie, we've been running for days because they want me dead, do you really think they'll just give up after you take me back in?" she said. "You don't even know who to trust within your own department."
"Actually, I do," Charlie said. "I decided today who I can trust, and I made contact with them."
"You did what!" Joey said in stunned shock.
"I made contact with a member of the local Constabulary and asked her to pass on a message to Robert Robertson," she informed her, now feeling somewhat smug at having done so. "By now, they're on their way to Summer Bay."
Joey looked at her furiously, though she knew she didn't have the right to be angry, given her own private and previously secret rendezvous that day. Still, it felt like a kick to the guts that Charlie had done this without first consulting with her, and she was yet again reminded of just how far apart they truly were. There really was no trust between either of them, that had been proven over and over again, and their recent intimacy had done nothing to change that. It really hit home to Joey, that even had Charlie felt the same for her, there had never been any realistic chance of a future between them. It had always been a no win situation for them, because keeping to the lies and secrets would only cause mistrust, while the truth would destroy it completely, as it had done. Charlie despised her now, and while it hurt her deeply, Joey knew she didn't have the time to wallow in it, not when she had even less time than she'd thought.
"You've led them straight here, you realise that, don't you," Joey asserted. "And I'm not talking about the cops."
"Who's to say your friend hasn't already led them here," Charlie pointed out.
"I trust my friend," she said. "Can you honestly say the same about your colleagues?"
"In this case, yes," Charlie said. "I didn't take this decision lightly, Joey and I made sure to run a background check before I made my next move."
"What, via Google?"
"Well how did you run your background checks on your murder victims?"
"They're not my murder victims."
"So you say," she muttered. "Anyway, didn't you just say before that Robertson should be the guy I approached with this information?"
"I'd just rather you have waited until after I'd gone," Joey mumbled. She wondered how much time she did have. Contact must have been when Charlie was out, so within the last three to four hours. Depending on how long it took for the Constable to get Charlie's message to Robertson, then for Robertson to organise the troops. Fuck, they could be minutes away, she worriedly thought, before she told herself not to panic and to think logically. Even rushing, it'd still take the cops time to get here, so she still had some available, and she needed to make the most of it.
"So you'd have more time to run away and spend your ill gotten gains?" Charlie said, her voice oozing with derision. "Those credit cards with the fake names make even more sense now."
"I'm not going to stand here and defend myself or my lifestyle," Joey said. "I have more important things to worry about."
"Your lifestyle?" said Charlie. "Is that what you call being a murderer? A lifestyle?"
"I'm not a murderer," Joey said, growing tired of having to repeat herself.
"Then who killed Harvey Ryan?"
"If you must know, Heath Braxton pulled the trigger himself."
It was more than Charlie had hoped. An eye-witness who could finally nail a Braxton red-handed. Too bad Joey's credibility as a witness was now shot. Sure, they'd used criminals to testify for the prosecution in the past, but their credibility was too easily countered by a rigorous defence attack. On the other hand, having the information Joey had provided to back up her statements about what she did for the Braxtons, then her testimony could still go a long way to destroying the Braxtons forever, which meant that she really did need to take Joey in.
"When I refused to pull the trigger, Heath grabbed the gun back and shot Ryan," Joey told her, drawing Charlie from her thoughts.
"You have any way to prove this version of events?" asked Charlie. "Such as a file you left out of the bag?"
"No," Joey admitted. "I didn't stick around to see what they'd do to me for not following through, I just got the hell out of there, and that's the real reason why Ryan's photos and file isn't in there with the rest."
"Then for all I know, you could be lying."
"I could be," said Joey. "But I'm not. I didn't kill Ryan, I just can't prove it."
"What about your gear?" said Charlie. "These other photos weren't taken with that crappy camera on the phone we confiscated from you, which meant if you really were there to do your job as usual, then you had to have had a proper camera on you to document the murder, yet nothing of the sort was found on you when you were intercepted by the uniforms fleeing the scene," she said. "And I'm assuming you have other equipment which you use to dispose of and clean up after dead bodies, along with a car to transport it in, but again, nothing like that was found in the vicinity, nor was there any abandoned vehicle in the area."
"I left it all behind," Joey admitted. "But since it wasn't found, I can only assume that Heath removed my gear and car before the rest of the cops go there."
"I thought he was setting you up, so why would he then cover for you?"
"Probably because they had no way to know if the items I left behind, could lead the cops straight back to them, so I daresay they just snatched everything up, not just to protect themselves, but also to make sure the cops found nothing that could be used as leverage to force me to talk," Joey reasoned.
It was plausible, thought Charlie, but her mistrust of Joey was so intense right now, she was loath to believe anything this woman said.
"Ok, so you're saying Heath Braxton murdered Ryan, then my next question is, why in the hell would he even take such a risk when they have others to do their dirty work for them?"
"Usually they wouldn't be anywhere near a hit, but obviously that night was different," Joey told her. "It wasn't just about getting rid of Ryan, it was about testing me, and that's why they sent me into a situation they knew I'd never have agreed to if I'd known who the real target was, and that is also why Heath was there," she said. "Like I said, I was set up."
"And why was that?"
"Why was what?"
"Why were they setting you up?"
"Because they must have figured out I was planning on leaving the business," Joey replied.
"You were leaving?"
Joey nodded. "I'd grown tired of the business, of them, of all of it."
"Oh poor you," came Charlie's sarcastic reply, which Joey chose to ignore. "If you were leaving, why did you go there that night at all?" she asked. "Why not just take off?"
"The Braxtons aren't exactly known for their amicable severance packages, as those files can attest to," Joey replied. "Very few people are allowed to just walk away without consequences, and someone with my knowledge could be particularly dangerous to them in the wrong hands, so I wanted to protect my back," she explained. "And for that, I needed time to organise my retirement, so while I was carrying out my job as usual, I was setting aside money in separate accounts that no one else knew about, and looking for places to disappear to," she said, making no mention of the new identity papers. There were some things Charlie was better off not knowing about.
"And now that everything is in place, you're ready to just disappear forever," Charlie said, and in spite of everything that Joey had revealed today, a part of her ached at the idea of never seeing her again.
"Not quite," replied Joey. "My timeframe copped a bit of whack thanks to them setting me up, so I've had to continue to bide my time, because there are one or two things I still need to deal with first, but I can't do that staying here," she said. "That's why I had the information brought to me. That information was to be my insurance against the Braxtons coming after me once I was gone, but now it's yours."
"This was your insurance?"
"They leave me alone, that stuff never sees the light of day," Joey said.
"And now you're giving it up?"
"If you use that right, I won't have to ever worry about the Braxtons coming after me," Joey told her.
"It almost sounds as if you trust me," Charlie murmured, as she realised the huge risk Joey had taken by handing this information over.
"Well, given my experience with cops on this caper, you are about the only honest cop I know," Joey said with a wry smile, which Charlie didn't return.
"Did you know about Watson?" she suddenly asked. "Or Angelo or any other corrupt cops?"
Joey shook her head. "That's not the sort of information I was ever privy too."
"Do you know who is, besides the Braxtons?"
"Guys like Pee Wee and Brodie who were part of the original River Boys gang, and some of the exes that still hang around," Joey said. "I came after, so was only ever entrusted with my specific area of expertise."
"Getting rid of people," Charlie said, glaring at Joey. "Why didn't you kill Watson in the Motel room?" she said. "She hurts people, so killing her fits right into your code."
"I'm not a killer," Joey said again. "And nor would it have been the smart thing to do, since her involvement with the Braxtons wasn't known to anyone else at the time, and so leaving behind a dead cop would have had your buddies even more hot for our trail."
"Yet if not for his vest, you would have killed Angelo that night, another cop who we also had no way of proving was dirty at the time."
"Because I had no other option," Joey said. "He'd have killed you had I not fired before him," she said. "You already know that Charlie, so why can't you just accept that I saved your life and leave it at that?"
"It's a little hard when you've been involved in so many murders," said Charlie. "And don't give me that shit about only being the cleaner, you were still involved," she said. "I mean look at the number of crosses on this map. All these people you helped to get rid of."
"Actually, they're not all mine," Joey told her.
"That's not what you said before," Charlie said. "I'd said the bodies you put there, and you said, yes."
"I never meant all of them," Joey said. "There are some names and locations which I found from other sources."
"What sources?"
"It's all in there."
"Is there evidence against Penn Graham?" she asked. "You obviously know Penn personally, given the description you provided of him," Charlie said. "You clean up after him?"
"No, Penn never trusted anyone to clean up except himself, but I did manage to find out a couple of his marks," she said. "The names in red on the map are his."
"Do you know where to find him?"
"No idea and I never particularly wanted to know," she said. "He's not a man to mess with."
"That pretty much describes everyone mixed up with Braxtons," Charlie said. "Including that guy who tried to run us off the road. You remember him, don't you, since you called him by name."
"Did I?" Joey nonchalantly said.
"You said shit, it's Mick."
"Does it really matter if I did?"
"You left them to die," said Charlie. "People you knew."
"People who wanted to kill us both," Joey reminded her. "And aside from the fact that neither of us could have done anything to save those men, I absolutely refuse to apologise for defending myself or you, from any of them," she said. "They won't spare our lives Charlie, you'd do well to keep that in mind."
"Oh, I'm well aware of that," she said. "Thanks to you," Charlie bitterly added.
"Hate me if it will make you feel better, but just know Charlie, that I never wanted to see you hurt," Joey told her. "You never asked to be dragged into my mess. I mean, this wasn't exactly the job you expected when you accepted the assignment."
"You got that right," Charlie said with a snort.
"And again, I'm sorry for that," said Joey. "I can't make up for what's already happened, but what I can do, is provide you with the ammunition to fight back."
"Ammunition," drawled Charlie. "Interesting choice of words."
"You know what I meant," Joey said, growing more weary the longer this went on. "Take the bag Charlie, it's enough to set off a chain reaction of events that should destroyed the Braxton empire forever."
"Your insurance," murmured Charlie. "Funny, that's what you called me once. Insurance, that's why you kept me around."
"Jesus, you're really determined to dredge it all up, aren't you?" she said with frustration. "Look, at the time I said that, I figured you'd be a good bargaining chip I could use with the cops if they ever tried to drag me back, assuming there was such a thing as an honest cop to do a deal with," Joey told her. "Sorry if that pisses you off, but I was looking after my own arse at the time."
"A bargaining chip?"
"It was just a survival instinct," she said. "But things changed, and I stayed because I felt I owed you that."
"How noble of you," Charlie sneeringly said.
"That's it, I'm done standing here arguing with you," Joey said, knowing she'd already lost valuable time. She should have just left the moment she had handed the bag over, yet she'd felt compelled to stay in a futile attempt to explain everything to Charlie, but now it was time to be selfish, because her life depended on it. "Everything you need to go forward from here is in that bag, make use of it or not, I don't care, because I'm not going to be around for the aftermath."
"I can't let you go," Charlie said. "You're under arrest, in case you've forgotten."
"I have to get out of here," Joey insisted. "I've already wasted too much time."
"You're not walking out that door, Joey," Charlie told her.
"I don't want to hurt you Charlie, but if you try to stop me…" Joey wasn't able to finish, as Charlie made her move, only Joey was quicker and Charlie found herself face down on the bed, with her hands behind her back, and a gun to her temple. "God Charlie, why couldn't you have just let me go," she murmured.
"I can't," Charlie murmured
"And I can't go back with you," she said. "You'll be signing my death warrant if you make me."
"You can't run forever."
"You might not be able to, but I can," Joey said. She released Charlie's hands, and allowed the woman to turn over. "Take the bag and get out of here," she told her. "Go to the cops, tell them I'll be long gone by the time they can send a car here."
"Please don't go Joey," Charlie said and it wasn't the plea of a police officer. It was the plea of a woman not wanting to see her lover leave. "Trust in me and I'll protect you."
"I want to, Charlie," she said with all honesty. "But trusting you would also mean trusting others, and I can't do that," she told her. "Goodbye Charlie." Joey waved the gun at Charlie, encouraging her to go.
"We will come looking for you," Charlie warned her as she picked up the bag and left.
Charlie had found herself walking, not toward Pippa's house and a phone, but just walking. Her body was shaking, not in fear, because despite Joey holding a gun on her, she hadn't felt threatened, nor was it out of anger, as that had already abandoned her. She was shaking because, she honestly didn't know, all she knew was that her heart and mind was in turmoil, and that she hurt. Joey had hurt her. Hurt her with her lies, with everything. Tears streamed down her face as she walked, oblivious to her surrounds, the bag like a weight holding her down.
"What the fuck!" Pee Wee complained when Brodie started hammering on his arm in excitement.
"It's her!" he said. "It's that bitch cop."