Brax's initial arrest and word of the bag of evidence had already loosened some tongues in the early stages, but it was Heath Braxton's decision to turn on his brother which had proven the ultimate catalyst. Once that news did the rounds, it became dog eat dog, one willing to rat on the other. It had been both amusing and slightly horrifying to see friendships and families torn apart because of self-interest and fear. Heath's decision had stunned everyone. The Braxtons had always been known for their unbreakable bond of loyalty, until his affair with his sister-in-law had become public news. In a fit of rage at everything crumbling around him, Brax had lashed out at the person nearest him, his wife Bianca. He'd shoved her so hard, she'd stumbled off balance and her belly had struck the edge of the table with enough force, she'd nearly lost the baby. Heath's reaction, which had been to beat up his brother, had been unexpected at first, and may have remained so, if Bianca hadn't then blurted out that he was the father of her unborn child. It was just as well that both brothers had breached their bail conditions with their respective assaults and had immediately been re-arrested and placed in separate cellblocks, or things could have gotten even worse. As it was, the corrections officers had to have both men under constant surveillance to prevent further retaliation. A few days of constantly watching his back for one of Brax's goons to get him, had tipped Heath over the edge, and he'd offered himself up for a deal, with some conditions.

Witness protection for he, Bianca and his eldest child, Darcy, and freedom from prosecution for both he and his younger brothers. Casey had surprised everyone by turning himself in the day after hearing that all his brothers had been arrested, including Kyle, who had been captured trying to leave Summer Bay the morning after Joey was lost. There was enough evidence against Kyle to see him lose a few years behind bars with his brothers, including his involvement in Harvey Ryan's murder, but under the deal offered to Heath, he would serve only 12 months in a minimum security prison. Heath had refused to take the deal at first, but Kyle had chosen to accept it, as well as to provide his own well of information to the police. He'd appeared worn down by the whole ordeal, and unlike his two older brothers, he'd actually demonstrated remorse, and so the deal had gone through.

As for Casey, it'd been simple to accommodate Heath's request, since there was no evidence at all against him, and by all accounts, he'd done a runner to avoid being forced to do the wrong thing. Charlie held some admiration for the teenager, who was barely an adult, and not just because he had wanted no part in killing her or Joey, but that he'd had the guts to get out before he was in too deep. Not even Joey had managed to do that. She sighed at that, wondering what Joey would have been like if she'd never been sucked into that life. Charlie shook her head, reminding herself once more, that thinking about Joey at work was never a good idea. Get your mind back on the job, she told herself. Casey Braxton, that's right. He'd escape charges, and on Kyle's advice, had returned to the place he'd felt the most peace, Summer Bay. From what she'd heard through others, he'd come clean to Alf Stewart and Ruby, and they'd accepted him back. Apparently he was also awaiting the birth of his child, and had already hired Alf's sister, a prominent lawyer, to go for custody. With the soon-to-be-mum in jail on drugs charges, and hardly playing the model prisoner, he stood a good chance of getting custody. Charlie just hoped that for his own sake and that of his child's, that Casey could continue to avoid the pitfalls of his family.

Family. Charlie had a little chuckle at that. In the end, it really had been family that had helped completely tear the Braxtons apart, with the help of a single woman who had come between two brothers. While Heath Braxton may have lacked the intelligence and charm of his older brother, he was having the last laugh on him. Charlie had no idea where he now was, but he was living with the woman he loved, and unlikely to ever see the inside of a jail cell again, as long as he continued to abide by the terms of his agreement. That didn't sit too well with Charlie, but she knew from her position in WitSec, that sometimes you had to deal with the worst kind of people, in order to get to the main guy, and from what Robertson had said, Heath had had plenty to say. A large drug deal that had been in the works for some time, had still been planned to go ahead, even with both senior Braxtons in jail. Heath had coughed up the details and they'd netted some lovely criminals in the process, along with the largest ever quantity of drugs confiscated in this country in one bust. And it didn't end there. Heath had also pointed them to where they could get evidence against the Pirovics, including for Angelo's murder. Harmon Pirovic had been charged with Angelo Rosetta's murder, while his brother Jake, had died during a shoot out with Police. Yet it was the information Heath had provided about his older brother that had done the most damage, to both the family and the organisation. Brax's lawyers had no hope of getting him off and were actively encouraging him to take a deal, which he was refusing. While he still dreamt of freedom, Brax hadn't given up, and though he was now without his powerbase on the outside of those prison walls, he'd quickly taken over on the inside, with the help of Pirovic and others who had remained loyal to Brax. Charlie didn't envy the Governor and his security officers having to deal with the constant headache Brax would be giving them. That wasn't her problem though, and she took a good deal of satisfaction from knowing that all Brax now had, was a bunch of prisoners on the inside. He'd lost it all, while his brother remained all but free and shagging his wife.

Part of Charlie still hoped that Heath slipped up and lost his immunity, but if that didn't happen, then she had to be satisfied with him having to leave his three eldest children behind. He'd loved all three, but now he was cut off from them forever. Even Tegan had come out on top there, after Heath had originally intended to take their daughter with him, since Tegan was going to be languishing in jail for a long time. However, Tegan had had other ideas. Realising Robertson had been serious about keeping Tegan from her daughter as much as possible, Tegan had become a little more talkative, especially after Robertson had casually dropped the bombshell that Heath was looking to disappear into witness protection with their daughter, where she'd never see Darcy again. Robertson had promised to stop that from happening and to do what he could to get her greater access to her daughter, in return for her full cooperation. Tegan had railed furiously on Heath and given up information that Heath had neglected to mention. It was all a rather messy affair, but very informative for the police. With the new information, Robertson had had even more sway over Heath, along with the very real threat of losing his deal with the Crown if he continued to leave relevant information out. Heath had also agreed to leave Darcy in the custody of Tegan's mother, rather than take her from Tegan completely. Robertson was nothing, if not true to his word.

Of course, Robertson was absolutely revelling in the chaos. He'd hooked the big fish, his future was set and a promotion already in the offering. Charlie was happy for him. As annoying as he could be at times, he put in a lot of hard work, often more than most, and deserved the recognition he was now achieving. And she really did have to admire the skill Robertson had used to turn these people against each other. He was proving to be the chess master who had checkmated Darryl Braxton. He'd even managed to get Tegan to fess up on their mystery man, since their search had turned up nothing on him. In return for a promise that Hayley would be incarcerated in the same prison wing as her while she awaited her trial, Tegan had told them all they needed to know about their man. Which, unfortunately, wasn't much.

They knew his name at least. Aden Jeffries. As to who he was, Tegan claimed she didn't really know him, other than he was a friend of Joey's, and Robertson had been inclined to believe her. The name at least, had lead to them finding out he had been in foster care around the same time as Joey. There were no records of them having been in the same foster house, but there was clear evidence that his records had been tampered with, just as there had been missing information with Joey's. Robertson had speculated that they had indeed known each other as foster kids, and had either kept in touch or met up at some later stage after they'd left the system, but that was about as far as it went. There was nothing remarkable about this man, much as there had been nothing remarkable about Joey when her background had first been looked into. They now knew differently about Joey, but their hands were somewhat tied when it came to Aden Jeffries. No other person had come forward with any further information about him, nor had his memory returned, and without any direct evidence to Joey other than Tegan's assertion he was a friend of hers, or any link to criminal behaviour, with not even an errant fingerprint at a crime scene, he'd been left largely alone. That may change should his memory return or new evidence comes to light, but for now, he was living in the spare room of Belle Taylor's flat in Summer Bay, where thanks to her stories in the local paper, he'd become quite the local cult figure.

Charlie sat back in her chair as she thought about Jeffries. She'd actually gone to visit him in hospital before she'd left Summer Bay. She hadn't known what to expect. Perhaps some silly idea his memory would come back and he'd tell her something of Joey and who she'd been. None of that had happened. All she'd seen was a frighted, confused man who'd been through hell, so she'd left him alone. He couldn't help her.

"Hey Charlie, you got a moment?" Graves said as she brought over a chair from the desk next to Charlie's and sat down. Charlie's automatic defence barrier had gone up at the sound of her voice.

"Sure," she said.

"Just thought I'd let you know, that our little canary finally gave us something of substance on your mate, Georgie."

"She's hardly my mate," Charlie said with a wry smile, knowing that Graves loved nothing better than to tease her about Watson, especially after she'd made a full, and truthful account of what had happened in that Motel room. It had been embarrassing to reveal she'd been seduced by her ex-partner, even if it had been drug induced. That it had only happened because she'd first let Watson get under her guard with her blatant flirting, still stung.

"Anyway, we now know more about her." Graves handed over a file to Charlie.

"Her father ran with Danny Braxton and his bunch of criminal mates," said Charlie as she read the file. "How was this not picked up when she entered the Academy?" Not that it would have automatically ruled her out, since children couldn't be punished for their parent's actions, but it would have ensured she had never been anywhere near the Braxton investigation in the first place.

"It wasn't known, since Watson's mother was never married to him and had left it as father unknown on her birth certificate. Heath said it was out of spite to get back at him after she'd caught him cheating," Graves explained. "She never changed it, and as it turned out, it worked to Watson's advantage once she joined the Force. We literally had no idea who she really was."

"Did she become a cop with the sole reason of being a Braxton mole?"

"Not at first. I get the impression she was originally following in her stepfather's footsteps. Sgt Michael Watson was a good cop and a good father to her, and those close to the family, claim that his daughter had already decided to become a cop like him, just before he was killed in a car accident with her mother."

"How old was she?"

"She was fourteen when it happened, and according to Heath, it was around that time that her real father popped out of the woodworks and made contact with her," Graves told her.

"A kid grieving for her parents would have made her easy prey to a conman like that," said Charlie.

"Exactly," said Graves. "He basically brought her into the Braxton fold, told her how to hide in plain sight and most of all, he told her to never tell anyone about him. The aunt that took her in after her parents died, had had no idea she'd ever reconnected to her father, not even when the aunt had seen his name in the obits some years ago. Her niece had never made any mention of him at all, and as far as she'd been aware, Watson had always believed her step-dad had been her real dad."

"Well regardless of what her original intent behind becoming a cop had been, she was pretty much always one of the Braxton's cops from the moment she put the uniform on," Charlie murmured.

"At least until near the end," replied Graves. "Something else has come up as well. We've gotten a better idea of the path Watson took when she was after you, and a body turned up in one of the towns we can now place her at."

"Who?"

"Some lowlife rapist who won't be missed by anyone other than family," she said. "We're not even sure if Watson was responsible, but given what we know about her, she's now a suspect."

Charlie took the next file from Graves and glanced at it.

"I remember that place," murmured Charlie. "Whoa, the killer cut off his dick?"

"Yeah, that kind of stood out," said Graves. "Especially when you said Watson had called Wilson a dickless wanker. That alone is a flimsy connection, but the hood of the car found at the scene of the murder had been wiped clean of dirt and fingerprints, and the local coppers investigating it, now believe it was committed by someone who knew how to cover their tracks."

"Like a cop."

"Exactly. Now, the cops hadn't exactly been dragging their feet in investigating the death of a rapist, but they hadn't exactly devoted a lot of resources to it either."

"And now?"

"They're going to have to get off their backsides and do something if Watson is involved," she said. "Another thing, it appears that a local waitress disappeared not long after. Rumours are now flying around that she was there that night, and that she was later seen getting into the car of a woman."

"Watson?"

"Could be," said Graves. "Watson does match the description of a police officer seen chatting this woman up earlier in the day. We're not quite sure whether the waitress was the intended victim of Cruze and Watson came to help, or whether Cruze mistook Watson for an easy target and the waitress was a witness, but it does appear that Watson could have some connection to this woman."

"What about the woman?"

"Mid-thirties, married, but hubby was away a lot, and so maybe she was a little bored, because after her disappearance, a neighbour came forward to say she'd heard sounds of a woman enjoying herself immensely while the husband was still away," Graves told her. "That was the night Cruze met his maker, so if the person making the waitress scream in enjoyment was Watson, it might explain why both completely vanished around the same time, since this woman did disappear only hours after the last sighting of Watson," she said. "Of course, it's all just pure speculation. We don't actually know if Watson and this woman spent the night fucking each other's brains out or if she was doing someone else in her husband's bed."

"But for all we know, Watson could be shacked up with some man's wife, having the time of her life."

"I know how much you want her found, we all do, but Watson knows what she's doing, and it's looking more likely that she may be one of the fish that gets away."

"Bitch," Charlie muttered.

"I'm sorry Charlie."

"I know everyone is doing all they can, I just hate the idea that she's out there, free."

"Not really free," Graves said. "She's going to spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder, wandering when her past will catch up."

"I just hope it does catch up," Charlie said. She noticed the sudden transformation that just came over her colleague's face. She knew that look. It was the look Graves got every time her boyfriend was nearby. Dex Walker, who coincidently, was also Charlie's new partner, was the most unassuming officer she'd ever met, but also surprising effective. She smirked at the even bigger smile on Graves' face when her eyes met her boyfriend's.

They all knew the story, of how Dex and Graves had started dating the moment they had both returned to their usual duties, and were no longer partnered up. Graves had admitted that it had nearly driven her insane to spend so much time with Dex, yet forced to keep her distance, and so she'd taken a chance and asked Dex out the moment their positions were no longer in the way. Ever since then, they'd been inseparable, and though they'd made no official announcement, they were pretty much living together. It was quick, and others had warned them to slow down, but Graves had argued that it felt right and she didn't care what others thought. He'd broken down all her barriers, and for the first time in her life, she was enjoying waking up in her own bed with someone by her side. Her job remained her focus, it was just that she now had other priorities as well. It was a balance she'd been looking for.

Charlie felt a pang of jealousy at the happiness displayed on both their faces, but she wished them well. She smiled and nodded when Dex strode over to them.

"Hey partner," she said.

"Howdy partner," he said in his best cowboy talk that had Charlie smiling even wider. He really was fun to be around. "I picked up the mail on the way in, there's one for you."

Charlie frowned as she looked at the postcard, then she gasped as the implications of it set in. She quickly hid the reaction as a cough and reached for her water. The name on the postcard was that of the old homophobe from the B'n'B. That wasn't all. There was a message.

"Surfing it up in my new one piece swimsuit."

There was more. Could it be? Could it really be?

"You're going to love Summer Bay," Shauna Bradley said to her girlfriend.

"I know I will," said Steph, her face not revealing she'd heard of Summer Bay before or why she had. She'd survived the flushing out of Braxton flunkies, since she had never been one of them. She was an opportunist, nothing more, and when the investigators had come knocking on her door, wanting to know of any phone calls Watson had made to her over the years, she'd done exactly what she'd told Watson she'd do. Claimed she'd only be fulfilling an officer's request for information. She'd always been careful with the favours she had asked for in return, and so they'd had nothing on her. Still, it had nearly cost her her relationship with Shauna though. As a Constable, Shauna was well aware that associating with anyone with a connection or even a perceived connection, to the Braxtons or their flunkies, could be misconstrued, but after an intense night of convincing her, Shauna had finally accepted her story, that she'd known nothing. Thank god. She'd come to care a great deal for Shauna, to the point she may even give her side business away. Almost.

Steph spared a thought for Watson. She hoped the arrangements she'd made had worked out for her as much as the favours Watson had given to her had. Be safe, she silently wished for her former lover, then she pushed her from her thoughts for the last time. Shauna was the only woman she wanted in her thoughts from now on.