Chapter Seventy-Five
Angelo was at work before Charlie. He watched her arrive, looking unhappy as usual. She moved immediately into her office and sat down at her desk. Angelo stood and approached her door, knocking gently. She looked up at him and sighed, obviously wondering what he wanted this time around.
"Yes?" she said.
"I was wondering if you wanted a coffee or something," he said.
"No thanks," she told him. "I had one before work with Joey."
He nodded and twisted his fingers together.
"Look, Charlie..."
"I'm not ready to talk to you yet, alright?"
Unhappy, he sighed, nodded and moved away.
***
At lunch time, Joey headed to the Diner to meet up with Aden. It had become their routine over the last few days. Charlie worked through lunch and no amount of argument from Joey dissuaded her. But Joey knew that Aden needed some attention and friendship so she was happy to look out for him if her girlfriend wouldn't let her.
***
Charlie watched Angelo talking on the phone. He had been hovering around her all morning, looking very sorry for himself and desperate for her forgiveness. In the scheme of things, she supposed snooping into her background wasn't so bad but she really didn't have the energy to be friendly towards him. She could barely be friendly towards Joey and her girlfriend had been nothing short of amazing since the whole mess started. She was determined to make more of an effort at home. She picked up her phone.
"Charlie?" Joey greeted in surprise.
"Hey," Charlie said. "Are you free for lunch?"
"Well, I'm meant to be meeting Aden but he hasn't shown up," Joey said. "It'd be good to see you."
"Diner?" Charlie said, standing up ready to leave.
Angelo attempted to wave her back as she walked out of the station but she ignored him and kept going. He turned back to his phone.
"Okay, we'll go and check it out," he promised.
***
Ruby sat in the hotel room she had shared with Geoff. Charlie had continued to call her and leave messages each day but so far, she didn't appear to have made any attempt to find her. Ruby didn't know if she was happy or sad about it, if she was being truly honest with herself. Every day, all she could think about were the people she had run away from. Was Charlie coping? Was Joey being nice to her? How was all of this affecting Ross? And was Xavier alright? He'd called a few times but like with Charlie, she had refused to talk to him and her phone was now constantly on silent so she didn't have to listen to it ring or reject the calls. Geoff had been wonderful to her and she didn't think she could have chosen a nicer or more understanding person to run away with. He was dealing with his own problems and they'd talked a lot about Belle and Claudia. And he'd listened to her fears and pain over the truth about Charlie. Now, they were thinking about visiting Ruby's great aunt, Michelle. She hoped she might find some answers there, as she had been the person that Charlie ran to after she'd abandoned her baby.
***
Joey smiled brightly when Charlie entered the Diner. She looked tired and stressed but to Joey, she was always a vision of beauty. Charlie bent to kiss Joey on the mouth before sitting down opposite her.
"How's your morning been?" Joey asked.
"Fairly excruciating," Charlie admitted. "Angelo won't stop making sorrowful puppy dog eyes at me and Ruby didn't pick up when I tried to call her."
Joey reached out and held her hand across the table. Charlie accepted it gratefully.
"Hello, girls," Colleen greeted when she approached their table.
She had finally stopped getting into a flap when she saw them being affectionate with each other.
"How are you?"
"We're okay, thanks," Joey replied politely.
"Is there any news on young Ruby?"
Charlie shook her head.
"No," she said. "Nothing."
***
Angelo approached the docks by himself. He'd received a phone call to say that some fishermen looked like they were up to no good. The anonymous tip off had come from a man who said they looked shifty and he wasn't sure if something was going on. Having been investigating a regular intake of abalone, on the side of his proper mission, Angelo had headed out to see if he could catch someone in the act. He'd hoped that Charlie might come with him but she'd hurried out and ignored him. Standing at the edge of the wharf, he watched four men scurry about on a trawler. Moving forward, he sighed when he realised that one of the men was none other than Aden Jeffries, a guy he didn't get along with but knew full well could not afford to ruin his good behaviour bond. Inching forward, Angelo waited and hoped he wouldn't be seen. The second Aden was out of the boat, he approached him.
"Get the hell out of here right now," he hissed.
Aden looked horrified.
"What...?"
Angelo looked again at the others on the boat. They hadn't noticed him yet.
"If you don't want me to bust you for an illegal catch, get the hell out of here," Angelo said.
Aden shifted and swallowed. He looked back at his colleagues and then ran. Angelo made his presence known to Gibsy and his crew.
***
"So, you haven't heard from him at all?" Charlie asked as she and Joey tucked into their lunch.
It felt good to spend social time with her girlfriend again. Throwing herself into work was all well and good but Joey was the person who made her happy, even in this time of grief.
"Nope," Joey said worriedly, shaking her head. "I've called him and left messages but he hasn't shown up or called back."
Charlie frowned. She knew Aden was going through a hell of a time lately but it was usually Joey that he turned to. It seemed strange that he wasn't around.
"He's... here," Joey said in surprise.
Charlie turned around to find a breathless looking Aden hurrying into the Diner. He headed over to their table and threw himself into a chair.
"Hey," he greeted.
"Hey?" Joey said incredulously. "You burst in half an hour late and you say 'hey'?"
"Sorry," he managed. "I lost track of time."
***
After lunch, Charlie kissed Joey goodbye and headed back to work. Joey hadn't been easy on Aden and he hadn't been too keen to talk about what had made him late. She certainly didn't want to be in his shoes when Joey was finished with him! Avoiding a phone call from her father, Charlie entered the station and was surprised to find Gibsy, Joey's old boss entering an interview room.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"He's been bringing in abalone on Irene's trawler," Angelo said, obviously less than impressed.
"Then why are you just going for me?" Gibsy snapped.
"I've got your other crew members in other rooms."
"Not all of them!" Gibsy snapped.
"Just go and sit down," Angelo ordered.
Gibsy did as he was told. Charlie eyed Angelo curiously. Aden was a member of Gibsy's crew. He and Joey had worked together with him and Robbo. Adding everything up in her mind and could only conclude that Aden had been with them.
"Aden?" she asked quietly.
"I know nothing about it," Angelo said, blatantly lying.
She stared. He shrugged and entered the interview room, closing the door behind him. Charlie couldn't help but feel glad. He had obviously bailed Joey's best friend out.
