The race is on to find Ruby... Enjoy! IJKS xxx
Chapter Seventy
"Breakfast's ready," Martha said brightly. "Ruby likes bacon sandwiches right?"
"If she doesn't, I'll have her share," Hugo volunteered, putting his newspaper down and looking expectantly at his girlfriend.
Looking miserable, Xavier slumped down opposite his brother and stared aimlessly at the orange juice on the table.
"Xave, what's wrong?" Hugo asked.
He hadn't seen him look this miserable in a long time.
"Is Ruby not coming to breakfast?" Martha wanted to know.
"No," he said flatly. "She left."
"Gone for a run or something?" Martha asked.
Hugo cast her an exasperated look.
"She's gone for good, has she mate?" he asked the blonde boy.
Xavier nodded.
"We argued yesterday and she walked out. She said she won't come back. I can't believe I stuffed this up so badly!"
He hit the table with his fist, making Hugo and Martha jump.
"What happened?" Martha asked.
"Walk us through it," Hugo suggested.
***
Ruby remained on Annie's bedroom floor until she heard the hustle and bustle of breakfast begin to die down. It was Sunday but Annie had told her that Irene had arranged to go shopping with a friend so she would be gone all day. She'd invited her to come and eat with them but Ruby didn't want Charlie to know where she was. The longer she could remain hidden, the more likely it was that she could carry out her plan to get as far away from the liars in Summer Bay as she could.
***
Charlie woke in Joey's arms. She felt guilty to have a few moments of sheer joy each morning before she painfully remembered the mess she was in. The brief seconds when she woke in Joey's arms and had incoherent thoughts, all she could feel were love and warmth. Then reality hit her and shook her awake. Part of her was desperate to cling to what Joey offered but she couldn't. Guilt washed over her as she fretted over what Ruby was thinking and feeling now. She wondered if she and Xavier were sleeping together. If they were having sex, were they being safe? She missed her daughter so much and she hated herself for getting everything so wrong.
***
"Okay, that's me gone," Irene announced, waving goodbye to Geoff and Aden.
As soon as she was safely out of the house, Annie scampered upstairs to call Ruby down. The unhappy teenager followed, her heart heavy and her body tired. She spotted Geoff on the couch looking just as miserable and wasn't sure if she was comforted more by his sadness or Annie's joviality. Perhaps it was a mix of both.
"So, what happened yesterday?" Annie asked when Ruby was settled with a bowl of cereal.
"Xavier and I had a fight," she said simply. "He has no idea what's going on for me right now."
"Well, it is kind of hard to get your head around..." Annie ventured nervously.
"Tell me about it!" Ruby sighed.
***
Charlie jumped when the phone rang, nearly sending Joey flying. She answered her mobile without even looking at the caller ID.
"Ruby?" she said desperately.
Beside her in bed, Joey's heart broke to see her girlfriend like that. She had never seen her so emotionally raw and fragile before. Charlie sighed when she heard Martha's voice.
"Is Ruby okay?" she asked.
"No."
"What?" Charlie exploded.
"Well, I don't know. It... it turns out that she and Xavier argued last night and she didn't sleep here."
"You mean she's out there all alone?" Charlie asked worriedly.
Joey held onto Charlie's arm, also concerned.
"I'm sorry, Charlie," Martha said on the other end of the line. "I didn't know until this morning."
"Thanks... thanks for telling me," Charlie managed.
She put the phone down and sank against Joey, desperately needing her support.
***
"Ruby, I know it's not really your thing but would you like to come to church with us today?" Annie offered.
"I just want to hide away here until I leave," Ruby said.
"Leave?" Geoff asked, snapping to attention.
"Yeah," Ruby said awkwardly. "I've decided that I need to get away. I can't stay in Summer Bay with all this going on. Everywhere I go, I'm just going to be reminded of Charlie and Ross and their lies. I can't see them again, at least not for a while. I need some space and time away from her so I can attempt to get my head around this."
Annie was sad but she understood. Geoff cast her a sympathetic eye.
"Will you still be here when we get back?" Annie asked.
"Probably," Ruby said. "I'm going to book my ticket online later."
"Okay, well, you can stay here for as long as you want. You can use the shower and everything," said Annie.
She looked at her brother.
"Geoff, you've better get ready if we're not going to be late."
"I'm not going," he told her.
"But..."
"I'm not in the mood."
"Don't you think it might help to come?" Annie asked.
"No," he said firmly. "You go. I'll be there next week, okay?"
Annie nodded uncertainly and went to get her shoes.
***
Angelo got up and went to work early. Watson shot him evil glances every moment she could and his other colleagues had given him a wide berth. Yet again, he was the pariah of the station. It made his heart hurt. All he had wanted was to fit back in again. That and make Charlie happy. She'd been so nice to him when he'd arrived back in town – eventually anyway. And then she had saved his life that day with Tony. And now he had betrayed her, potentially irreparably. Gulping his coffee, he set to work. The quicker his solved his secret case, the quicker he could get out of town and start a new life somewhere else. That was all he wanted right now.
***
Charlie and Joey were up and dressed quickly. Charlie sat on the edge of couch and systematically went through all the numbers in her phone of people who might have seen Ruby. Colleen hadn't seen her at the Diner, she hadn't got back in touch with Xavier, neither Geoff nor Annie had picked up, Jai hadn't heard from her and neither had Nicole. Frustrated, she threw her phone across the room. It was just about to smash on the floor when Joey, entering from the kitchen, caught it awkwardly in one hand.
"Good catch," Charlie said impressed, despite her misery.
"Bad throw," Joey said sternly.
She placed the mobile on the dining table and came to sit beside her girlfriend.
"Breaking your mobile isn't going to make it easy for her to call you, is it?" she reminded her.
Charlie shook her head and was comforted by Joey's arm around her.
"Do you want to go out looking?" she asked.
Charlie nodded. Joey stood and pulled her to her feet.
"Well, let's get going then," she said brightly.
***
As the morning continued, Ruby steeled herself to book her bus ticket out of town. After dressing and packing, she sat down with Geoff to watch mindless television. She had four hours to kill before she could set off on her journey and leave Summer Bay, Charlie and her pain behind. She could hardly wait.
"What are you going to do in the city?" Geoff asked.
Ruby shrugged. She had no idea. All she knew was that she needed to get away.
"I'll find out when I get there, I guess."
Geoff nodded. Getting away from life sounded like a great idea as far as he was concerned. He had half a mind to go with her.
***
Charlie and Joey headed to the beach, then the Diner and then the Surf Club. With Charlie set to panic and run off the rails at any moment, Joey was working hard to keep her calm. So far, they hadn't had any luck but Joey was determined to remain positive. They had continued trying to call Ruby and her friends and made everyone they'd got in touch with, promise to ring if they heard anything from her.
"Where to next?" Charlie asked, suddenly needing Joey to take charge and lead the way.
"I guess we try people's houses," Joey said. "She might have gone to anyone and they could be hiding her."
Charlie nodded. The got back into the car and headed towards the caravan park.
***
Watson asked everyone but Angelo if they wanted anything from the Diner before she headed out. She knew it was petty and childish but she couldn't help it. First he had killed Jack and then during his apparent time of redemption, he had hurt the one person who had been determined to give him a second chance. He'd betrayed Charlie by nosing into her personal life and who knew how much better things might have gone if he hadn't interfered and blurted out to Ruby about the apparent rape that had occurred in Charlie's history. That was something private. Nobody should know about it unless she told them. Now the whole town knew without her control and that was horrible. Entering the Diner, she approached the counter to make an order of coffees. Colleen came out looking rather flustered.
"Are you okay, Mrs Smart?" Watson asked politely.
"I'm terribly worried about young Ruby Buckton," Colleen said. "And her sister... I mean, her mother, Senior Constable Buckton."
"What's happened now?" Watson asked worriedly.
"The Senior Constable and her friend, have been running all over town searching for her. Apparently, she left Martha's last night and hasn't been seen since."
Watson nodded unhappily and ordered her food and drinks. As she waited, she pulled out her mobile. It rang no less than once before Charlie picked up.
"Hello?" her Senior said urgently.
"Hey, Charlie, it's Watson. I heard that you're trying to find Ruby. Do you need any help? I'm sure we could spare a patrol car or something. Would that be useful?"
"Yeah!" Charlie said gratefully. "Yeah, that would be wonderful if you could."
"Sure, no worries," Watson said. "I'll go out myself as soon as I get back to the station."
Colleen appeared with six coffees and a wrapped baguette. Watson smiled and nodded her gratitude, handing her money over with one hand and retaining the phone with the other.
"Okay, Charlie. I'll get it sorted and let you know what we come up with."
She hung up and put her phone back in her pocket, gathering change and her purchases.
"Thanks for the heads up, Mrs Smart," she said politely.
"Are you going to help look for Ruby?"
"Yes. I'm going to patrol and look around for her."
***
"So, you're just going to jump on a bus and wander round the city with nowhere to go?" Geoff asked, in awe of her audacity.
"Pretty much," Ruby said. "I might go and see my aunt. My great aunt, I should say. She looked after Charlie when she abandoned me."
Geoff sighed. He couldn't imagine what his friend must be going through – or what Charlie must be going through for that matter.
"Rubes, have you talked to Charlie at all about any of this?"
She glared at him.
"Don't get all pissed with me," he said, holding his hands up in defence.
The last thing he wanted was for her to run out on him and leave on a bad note.
"I'm not," she lied.
"All I'm saying is, maybe you don't have to go. Maybe you and Charlie could talk it through."
"Talk through the fact that she wishes I was never born?"
"If she wished that, you would have been adopted out to another family," Geoff pointed out. "And she wouldn't have shown you all the love and support she's offered you all this time."
"But..."
"She sounds like she was a broken kid who was trying to do right by you."
"She was doing right by herself."
"Okay, maybe she was. But can you blame her?" Geoff asked. "Can you imagine being raped and abused like that? And being a scared child, younger than you are now? What would you have done, Rubes?"
"I wouldn't have done this," she said firmly.
She was surprised not to be running out the door. Geoff was only saying what Xavier had attempted to say the night before but somehow, Geoff hadn't angered her. She hadn't taken his words as criticism. Taking a breath, she closed her eyes.
"I know she was in pain," she said more reasonably. "I know she was hurting. And I know she was young and scared. But the pain I'm feeling right now, the level of betrayal I'm going through... I just... right now I can't see past that. Perhaps when I've had some time away from her, some time to clear my head... perhaps then we can try to work through it. But right now..."
She shook her head and brushed away her tears. Instinctively, Geoff moved to put a strong arm around her and hold her close. Relaxing into his embrace, she allowed herself to weep.
***
"Okay, so we've been to Miles's place, the Diner, the Surf Club, the beach and down at the docks," Charlie said once she and Joey had climbed back into the car on the beach front. "Watson's doing a patrol and she's called it in at the station, we've phoned all her friends and tried calling her. Is there anywhere else she might go?"
"I mean, I doubt it but we could start trying at Aden's and places like that," Joey suggested. "It's unlikely but it's possible that she'd go somewhere we wouldn't necessarily think of looking."
Charlie nodded.
"Call Aden?" she asked.
"I'm on it," Joey said, already pulling her phone out.
"Let's try Xavier's place again and then go up to Irene's. Geoff and Annie are the only people who aren't picking up their phones."
***
Watson entered the police station and handed out the coffees her colleagues had ordered. Angelo got up and purposely approached the coffee machine in the corner, making a noise about making his own beverage. She pointedly ignored him.
"Listen guys, I need someone to patrol with me," she told the other.
One of her colleagues stepped up.
"What's happened?" he asked.
Aware that Angelo was watching and listening, she explained that Charlie's daughter had gone missing ever since someone blurted out the truth about her conception and made a bad situation worse. Angelo stepped up to argue with her.
"So we need to jump in the car and help the search for her. She's very distressed... Ruby and Charlie both so we need to do everything we can to help resolve the situation."
Her colleague nodded and they moved towards the exit. Angelo stepped into her way.
"Let me help," he pleaded.
"I think you've done enough," she replied coldly.
"You're on your lunch break," he pointed out.
"I'll eat while I work."
She and her colleague departed. Angelo forgot about his coffee and threw himself angrily down into a chair.
***
Annie had been and gone. She and Ruby had said their goodbyes and Ruby had promised to let her know that she was safe. Not wanting to be involved in her departure, Annie had gone off to make a nuisance of herself at the Diner.
"Right, well, I'd better head to the bus stop then," Ruby said, picking up her bags.
"I can drive you there if you like," Geoff offered.
"That'd be great. Thanks."
"I could drive you to the city if you wanted me to," he said suddenly.
She stared him, open mouthed and startled.
"What?" she managed.
"Ruby, I'm in hell here with everything," he burst out. "If you didn't mind company, I'd love to tag along. What do you think?"
"What about Annie?"
"She'll cope. We'll call her like you said to let her know we're safe. So, can I come?" he asked hopefully.
"Of course you can!" Ruby said. "I'd love the company. I'm a little nervous about doing it alone."
"Well, give me a few minutes to pack and we can get going."
They smiled at each other and then he surprised her with a hug.
"Thanks, Ruby," he said. "I really need this."
***
Watson ate her baguette as her partner drove her around Summer Bay looking for Ruby. Scanning through the windows she looked for any sign of Ruby but it was like she had vanished. There was no mass of wayward hair attached to a pretty teenager anywhere in sight.
***
"Okay, let's head up to Irene's and then you need to get some food," Joey said.
Charlie look set to protest but Joey interrupted.
"You look pale and weak and you're struggling every which way," the younger girl said firmly. "We'll check Irene's and then we'll get some sustenance. No arguments."
"After that, I think maybe we should check places like the abandoned building with all the silly ghost stories. And there's a shack out in the woods. In case she's hiding."
Joey nodded. She placed her hand on Charlie's leg.
"We'll find her," she said, wishing she knew it to be true.
***
Xavier sat at home feeling miserable. Like Charlie and Joey, he had attempted to call Ruby several times but she had ignored his calls. It felt like she hated him and that made it feel like the end of the world. Charlie and Joey had come by to double check whether Ruby had reappeared but he had sadly reported that he'd heard nothing from her. Lounging in front of the television in an empty house, he wished that he could undo the night before.
***
Charlie and Joey climbed out of the car and knocked on Irene's front door. Nobody answered. Charlie peered desperately through the window but she couldn't see anything but empty space. She rested her forehead against the glass and sighed heavily, steaming it up. Joey continued to knock and rested her free hand on the small of her partner's back. Where the hell had Ruby got to?
***
Ruby had jumped with fright, when, just as she and Geoff were leaving through the back door, someone had started knocking on the front. The moment she'd heard Charlie's voice, she'd fled and dragged Geoff with her. He had just about managed to lock up and they'd jumped in the car. Running on Ruby's nervous energy, Geoff started the engine and sped away.
***
On the other side of the house, Charlie and Joey continued to knock to no avail.
