Charlie paced along the bridge. She felt useless, but Robertson had ordered her to stay put if she wasn't going to go to the station, and the other officers had made it known that they'd hold her to his orders if she moved from the bridge. Robertson and Graves were busy alternating between phone calls and assigning duties to the steady stream of police and rescue service personnel that continued to arrive, but with every passing second, Charlie felt her hopes for Joey being found alive slipping. It hurt more than anything to believe she'd lost Joey forever. Joey had always intended to walk away, because she really had had no other choice besides jail, but at least then, Charlie could have taken comfort in Joey being alive and living her life free from the one she'd left behind. It hurt even more that she had to hide these feelings from everyone else. Showing just a certain level of concern wouldn't raise suspicions that there had perhaps been more between her and Joey, than just two women fighting for their lives together and forming a bond. She couldn't break down though, not in public. She had to hold it all together, which was one of the hardest things she'd ever done, especially when she was also grappling with the disappointment at her failure to act quicker to try to save Joey. Even telling herself she'd have taken too big of a risk by diving into the darkened water did little to ease her guilt.
She shook her head. She couldn't dwell on that, not now, not with so much to lose. If she was to survive what was to come, it would require more than just holding to a lie. She needed to find her old self. Her old self wasn't paralysed by indecision, didn't second guess and question everything, because that Charlie just acted on instinct. That person had gone missing during this past fortnight, largely because of the circumstances, but also because Joey had challenged the way Charlie had tended to see the world in black and white, as bad and good. Joey had forced her to think, sometimes far too much, and to her own detriment, but now she needed to get her act together, both for herself and for Joey, whether she was alive or dead. She had to do this, or it would all have been for nothing.
No, not nothing. She'd finally found love. It may now be lost to her forever, but she intended to hold onto those feelings. She just couldn't show them in public.
"Hold it together, Charlie," she told herself. Focus on finding Joey and bringing an end to the tyranny and pain the Braxtons have caused to so many. As she was geeing herself up, she noticed one of the uniformed officers returning. Avery, if she remembered correctly.
"I just want to see if he found anything," Charlie explained to the nearest Constable in case she tried to stop Charlie from walking off the bridge. The woman saw who she was talking about and nodded.
"I found this where the shooter must have been standing," Avery was telling Robertson and Graves when Charlie joined them. He held up a plastic evidence bag containing a spent bullet. "I marked the area off, then tried to follow the shooter's path, but it's far too dense and dark in there now, that I couldn't get far," he said. "We're going to need more lighting if we're going to find anything further tonight."
"See to it," Robertson told him.
"I was also thinking, that I know a couple of guys who have hunting dogs. They're pretty good at picking up scents and they may be able to track where our shooter went," Avery suggested. "It'd only take them 10 or so minutes to get here."
"Make that call right now," said Robertson. "Then get onto those lights you need."
"Will do," Avery said, digging his phone out to arrange things.
Robertson noticed Charlie listening in from behind them. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the Station?"
Charlie shook her head. "I can't, not yet," she said.
"Well, if you change your mind, one the Constables will guide you back to the cars," he said, then walked away.
"There's really not a lot you can do here," Graves told her.
Charlie felt as if the woman was waiting for her to reveal something, either in her words or on her face.
"There's not a lot for me to do at the Station either, since nearly everyone is either here or out there looking for Tegan and Hayley," Charlie said. "Besides, I'd prefer to be here during the search."
"Because you owe, Joey," said Graves and Charlie could see her studying her face again. Damn, she was still suspicious, and Charlie had a feeling there was little she could do to convince her otherwise, so she needed to be careful around this woman.
"Wouldn't you feel the same way about someone who had saved your life a couple of times?" Charlie said.
"Probably," she murmured in reply, and again Charlie knew she was after more.
"Graves, can I ask you about Nick Parish," Charlie said, diverting her attention.
"Sure, what about him?"
"There's nothing to suggest he was involved in the attempt on our lives, is there?" she asked. "I mean, after Watson and Rosetta, I'd really like to know if he was involved or not."
"There's nothing at all to suggest he's corrupt," replied Graves. "Nick wasn't responsible for Watson being assigned as your partner, that came from above and we already have a written statement from that person as to the whys and hows of his actions," she explained. "As for Rosetta, well, that was a lack of judgement on Nick's part, more than anything. Instead of sending a family member, who turned out to be corrupt, which he was completely unaware of, Nick should have contacted either Robertson or myself, rather than deal with it on his own. I understand his reasoning behind it, but it was a mistake, one that nearly proved fatal to you, and ultimately proved fatal to Rosetta," she told her. "That may still come back on Nick, but overall, he's in the clear as far as corruption allegations are concerned."
"That's a relief," said Charlie, and it was. It had felt such a betrayal and had hurt to believe the worst of Nick.
"He really was doing his best to look out for you," Graves told her. "I just wish he'd trusted in Robertson and myself far earlier than he did."
"Well, speaking from personal experience, when two cops involved in this turned out to be corrupt, trust became something very hard to come by, so I guess I can see where Nick was coming from as well," said Charlie. "I mean, who do you trust in a situation like that?"
"You trusted Joey," Graves pointed out.
"Only because we were both in the same boat of trying to stay alive," Charlie said. "If we couldn't trust each other, I doubt we would have made it this far." It wasn't necessarily a lie, more an exaggeration about how much she'd actually trusted Joey, since she'd never entirely trusted her, to her regret. Ok, so Joey wasn't the sweet innocent she'd thought she was, but Joey had never claimed to be that, and in spite of who her employers had turned out to be, Joey had had her back throughout this.
"You also trusted us in the end," said Graves. "You gave that message to Garner, and it could easily have backfired."
"I was out of options," said Charlie. "I couldn't run forever, I couldn't hide forever, and so I eventually had to take the risk and place my trust in the Police Force."
"Did Joey feel the same way?"
There she was, digging again.
"She was the one who suggested I call for police reinforcements at the vet's surgery," Charlie said, choosing the safer option of honesty this time, with the small omission of Joey changing her mind once they were free from there. "Unfortunately, they'd cut the phone lines and we had no mobile, and therefore, no way to make that call."
"So Joey would have turned herself in?"
Charlie held Graves' gaze. "That's something only Joey knew," she lied.
"A shame we may never know," said Graves.
"Yes, it would be a shame if Joey is dead," Charlie said flatly.
"I'm sorry, I'm starting to sound like my boss," she said with a smile that Charlie didn't find comforting. This young Detective was like a dog with a bone and it was going to be tough to shake her loose.
"It's ok, you're only doing your job," Charlie said, hoping that her returning smile appeared a little more genuine.
"But this is not the time to be grilling you about Joey Collins," said Graves.
"Det. Graves!" Robertson called out, thankfully interrupting what had started to feel like an interrogation. Robertson was pointing to another approaching officer, this one not alone.
"Tegan," muttered Charlie. She was filled with a sudden urge toward violence, yet also a little relief at seeing that Joey taking care of Tegan hadn't involved a permanently fatal solution as she'd first feared. Joey had said she wasn't a murderer, yet she'd doubted her, again.
"I stumbled upon this rather foul mouthed, uncooperative little beastie trussed up like a Christmas turkey with her own jacket," Fitzy said with a grin.
Tegan was glaring menacingly at all of them, at least that was her intent, except it fell flat. Charlie felt she looked more like one of those bullies who aren't so tough when the tables are turned.
"I also found these," Fitzy said.
"Those aren't mine," Tegan snarled as Fitzy handed the bottles to Robertson.
"Careful, that'll take hairs off your chest," Fitzy joked when he opened one of the bottles.
"What is it?" he asked.
"A distraction," Charlie answered. "Tegan's right, they aren't hers, they were Joey's and mine. We made them in case we needed to create a distraction in order to get away from the vets. As it was, Tegan and her girlfriend gave us the distraction we needed."
Tegan threw her a withering glare. Charlie responded by sticking out her tongue at her. It was childish, yet also surprisingly satisfying to see how such a small action infuriated the crazy bitch.
Robertson wasted no time on pleasantries. "Who was the man we found abandoned in the bushes outside of town?" he asked. "He bears all the hallmarks of your talents."
"I dunno what you're on about," Tegan replied with the petulance of a child.
"He's alive," he said and they all enjoyed the momentary flash of panic in Tegan's eyes at that news, before it disappeared.
"So what, he's nothing to do with me."
"You'd do well to cooperate, because your mates are going to be too busy dealing with their own problems to worry about you."
"Bullshit," she sneered. "You bunch of losers are going to look like complete dickheads when Brax makes fools of you."
Robertson just smiled at her in response. "We know where the bodies are buried," he confidently told her. "We already have local officers in those areas heading to the scenes," he said. "We have names, we have dates, we have times, we have your boss' nuts firmly grasped in our hands and we'll be squeezing them so hard, he won't give two fucks about anyone else except for those two incredibly shrinking nuts." Robertson stepped right into her face. "He's going down and never getting back up, and you're only hope of ever holding your daughter again, is to cooperate."
"You bastard, you leave her out of this," she screamed, trying to lunge at him, but failing badly with her hands cuffed behind her back.
"Get used to having bars between you and your daughter," he said. "Take her to the Station and charge her," Robertson said to Fitzy.
"I want my fucking phone call," Tegan demanded.
"See to her request at the Station," he said to Fitzy. "Try not to waste your call by warning Braxton, because you're going to need a good lawyer more," Robertson told Tegan. "Now get her out of my sight."
"She won't help," Charlie said.
"Probably not, but it will give her something to think about."
"How is the search going?"
"They're doing everything they can to find Joey, but you need to prepare for the worst."
Even though she'd been expected it, it was a huge kick in the guts to Charlie, and she struggled not to show too much emotion while her heart was breaking.