I hope you enjoy the chapter. S&L – when I am planning chapters, I read recaps of the chapters in order to figure out what storylines I ought to be covering. Not sure how I am going to do it when I get to the stuff I have refused to watch though! I might watch the episodes on you tube and just skip Charlie and the Idiot! But for all the horror that H&A have made Charlie and Angelo do together, I can promise you that Charlie and Joey will do it better! Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Nine

"What the hell are you doing here?" Angelo hissed, knowing full well he had been caught with his fingers in the biscuit tin – so to speak.

"I might ask you the same question," Detective Robertson replied. "Is Senior Constable Buckton aware that her ex-boyfriend is spying on her having sex with her girlfriend through the window?"

"I wasn't spying," Angelo said.

It sounds stupid and false as he said it. That was exactly what he had been doing. It's what he'd done the night before too. And if he was being really honest with himself, it's what he'd been planning on doing on many more nights.

"You could have fooled me," Robertson said.

Angelo led them quickly away from the house, not wanting Charlie or Joey to hear their conversation, although he doubted the girls would be noticing anything but each other for a while to come.

"You know, I don't think it's going to matter how much you try to lie and cheat your way out of this," Robertson said confidently. "Even if that does appear to be your forte. I practically caught you with your pants down!"

Angelo looked disgusted, although it wasn't far from the truth.

"It wasn't like that," he said. "And what do you mean about lying being my forte?"

Robertson turned and headed to his car. After a few indecisive moments, Angelo followed. Robertson turned back to him, holding Angelo's personal file in his hands.

"You're not allowed to take that out of the station," Angelo accused.

"Somehow, I don't think you've got much to bargain with right now," Robertson countered.

Angelo shoved his hands in his pockets, his mind reeling over what to do. Now that Robertson had caught him out, it was entirely likely that he would go to Charlie with the information he had. It was something Angelo had no idea how to get out of.

"There are a lot of pages missing in your file," Robertson explained. "I'd be very interested to know where they've wandered off to. You know, the more I read about you, Rosetta... the more I observe you... the more I think you're the dirtiest cop I have ever met."

"I'm not!" Angelo snapped.

"Then why don't you explain to me how you managed to get off a murder charge and end up back on the force, let alone back at the station the man you shot and left for dead, worked at?" Robertson challenged. "How can you even live with yourself when you're sharing a town with his friends, his family, his colleagues... his widow?"

The Detective seemed genuinely incredulous.

"I did what I had to do," Angelo said resolutely.

"By killing Constable Holden?"

"No!" Angelo yelled.

His voiced echoed through the sleepy street.

"Killing Jack was a mistake," he said in a lower tone. "It was an accident. And I hate myself for it. If you think I got off scot free..."

"Which you did," Robertson interjected.

"Then you're wrong," Angelo continued, ignoring him. "I will never forgive myself for what happened but all I'm trying to do here is make things right again."

"And how do you propose to do that?" Robertson asked.

"By accepting the offer that was made to me," Angelo said. "By completing the task I was set. By doing something good."

"And that involves spying on Charlie in a state of undress?"

"That's not what I was doing," Angelo insisted, although it sounded hollow even to him.

Robertson put the file back onto the passenger seat and folded his arms. He looked Angelo up and down.

"You know, having an unknown murderer and a compulsive liar on the loose in the same town..." he said. "It makes me wonder if they're one and the same."

He turned abruptly and climbed into his car, quickly driving away. Angelo watched him leave, glanced briefly back at the house and then headed back into his own vehicle.


Oblivious to anything going on outside and, finally sated, Charlie and Joey curled up in each other's arms. It was nice to seek solace in each other when the days seemed so full of stress and anxiety. Although they were encouraged by Morag's news, it was still a very real possibility that one or both of them would be charged and tried for Grant's murder. It was terrifying. With Joey's warm body resting against her, Charlie stroked her arm and kissed the top of her head. Joey smiled and traced ticklish patterns on Charlie's toned tummy, making her giggle.


The following morning, Hugo was sitting down to breakfast with Xavier and Martha when the post arrived. Picking it up, he sorted through the names and began to open his own. He paused when he opened the first letter.

"What is it?" Xavier asked, peering over at his brother.

"Um..."

Hugo turned the paper round. It was a death threat cut out in newspaper letters.

"This is getting ridiculous!" Xavier said.

Martha looked stricken.

"You should go to the police about it again," she said, trying not to show how worried she was.

She had already lost her husband. She did not want her boyfriend to die too.

"And what do you think they're going to do about it?" Hugo asked sourly. "That Angelo guy hates me."

"What about Charlie?" Martha asked.

The boys both stared at her. She sighed as she remembered that her friend was suspended. It just seemed so weird that such a good cop was in such a mess.

"There's got to be someone there besides Charlie and Angelo who can check this out for you," Xavier said more optimistically.

"To be honest, I don't think they care," Hugo sighed. "They checked out the shed when we got attacked but..."

He trailed off and shrugged, picking up a slice of toast.

"I think it's all coming from John Palmer and his objection to my plans for the marina," he said. "I'm just going to sell the boat and forget it."


Angelo had barely slept all night and from the state of his eyes, it was clear to everyone. Restless, he got out of bed and headed to the gym. Things still weren't great between him and Tony and Angelo doubted they ever would be but at least the guy hadn't barred him from working out. He wondered, when his mission was complete, if he might actually be able to redeem himself. Perhaps his life would unfold again the way he'd hoped it would. After his work out, he headed home to shower and changed and arrived, as usual, early to work. Robertson glided in a few minutes after him. The Detective immediately approached.

"I finished your file," he said. "It made interesting reading."

Angelo swallowed uncertainly. He didn't like the idea of this man knowing all sorts of things about him.

"Well, then you should know that I'm a good guy," Angelo said.

"For a pervert," Robertson snapped.

Angelo glared at him, ready to argue if necessary.

"I am not a pervert," he said darkly.

"You broke the nose of a protestor when you were fresh out of the academy," Robertson said. "Then you were under serious suspicion for getting involved in this development site disaster or whatever it was. You shot and killed a fellow police officer and left him for dead. Then you weaselled your way out of the charges and get to carry on like nothing happened. Now you're a suspect in another murder, I've seen you spy on your ex twice and in all likelihood, visited a prostitute the night before last..."

Angelo blanched.

"And to be honest, I have no idea what you're really doing here," Robertson finished.

Angelo stood up.

"It's not your business to know what I'm doing here," Angelo warned. "But I can assure you that your little vendettas against me aren't going to do you any good. I've got support from so far above you that you can't even see them."

"Well, good luck with that when I tell Charlie exactly the kind of man you are."

Robertson walked swiftly away from him.


Charlie and Joey walked side by side along the beach. They'd worn themselves out running and now they were strolled together, hand in hand, in the direction of the Diner. Neither was sure if they were comforted or upset by the fact that people were staring at them – not because they were lesbians but now because they were suspected killers. Still, they knew they had the support of most of the town. And they were grateful that Colleen was a big influence on the gossip ripping through the town. Charlie never thought she'd be glad of it but, faced with a murder charge, her community's perception of her hung in the balance. Colleen had made it clear from the off that she did not believe Charlie or 'that lovely Joey girl' could be guilty of murder and so most of the other locals seemed to believe in them as well.

"What's going on up there?" Joey wondered.

Charlie looked up too and saw Hugo Austin and John Palmer arguing very animatedly a little further up ahead. As they got closer, the men got more heated until it looked like a fight was going to break out. Letting go of Joey's hand, Charlie jogged up to them.

"Hey, guys, do you want to cool it?" she said.

It was a demand, not a question. John glared at her.

"Not really," John snapped.

"Can I remind you that you're talking to a police officer?" Charlie snapped.

Hugo looked smug.

"Not for long from what I've heard," John said.

Charlie glared at him.

"Look, whatever's going on, keep it private," she ordered. "Any threats of violence will get you arrested."

John held up his hands in defence.

"I wasn't threatening anyone," he said. "It was this moron who was yelling at me."

"He's been making death threats!" Hugo said bitterly.

He pulled a folded note out of his pocket and waved it at Charlie just as Joey approached, looking a little nervous.

"I didn't make any threats," John insisted. "I've never seen that before."

"Have you taken this to the police station?" Charlie asked Hugo, ignoring John.

She didn't particularly like either of them but death threats were a serious business.

"Your colleagues aren't very interested," Hugo said. "Even when this whole thing nearly killed my brother."

John took the moment to slip away. Only Joey noticed him leave.

"I really wish you were still working there, Charlie," Hugo said, offering a smile that made Joey's skin crawl and her hand snake possessively around Charlie's waist.

"You would have fixed this by now," he added.

Charlie handed the note back to him.

"Take it to Watson," she said. "I'm sure she'll help."


Angelo was in the Diner getting a sandwich for lunch when he saw Charlie and Joey enter together. He studied them. They looked like they had a lot on their minds, although in recent days, that was nothing new. He searched their faces for signs that they were aware of him looking in on them for the last couple of nights but to his relief, they spotted him and didn't glare. Well, Joey did but that was normal. Charlie offered her usual tight smile, as if she couldn't quite decide if she liked him or not. He supposed she couldn't really. He'd killed her friend and while it seemed she'd forgiven him for that, he was aware that he'd made a lot of mistakes. He'd come onto her too many times and he knew that if she found out what he had been up to, any hope he had of them even being good friends, was over. He sighed, wondering what that would mean. Charlie wasn't exactly backwards in coming forwards. She'd be unlikely to keep it a secret and drawing attention to himself could only hurt his mission. He was already in trouble for not coming up with enough evidence against Hugo Austin and the human trafficking ring he believed he was involved with. He did not need to make it worse.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at?"

He looked up in surprise to find Martha standing over him. If looks could kill, he knew he would be six feet under by now. He swallowed.

"What do you mean?"

"Hugo is having his life threatened and you're not doing anything about it!" Martha yelled.

Everyone in the Diner, including Charlie and Joey turned to look at them.

"Martha, it's not my job to handle his case," Angelo said. "We investigated but..."

"Half heartedly!" Martha accused. "Isn't it enough that you killed my husband? Do you have to let something happen to my boyfriend too?"

"That's not fair!" Angelo yelled, getting to his feet.

He'd had just about enough of people dragging up his past mistakes for one day.

"You should never have come back here," Martha said. "You should be rotting in jail for what you've done, not swanning around town a free man, failing to do your damn job!"

Martha turned and stormed out of the restaurant. All eyes turned him but nobody came to support him at all, not even Charlie. Sighing, Angelo sat back down. He only glanced back up when he heard Robertson's voice. The Detective approached Charlie with intent.

"Charlie?" he said. "Joey?"

"Yes?" Charlie said uncertainly.

No interaction between them and Robertson had been good so far. Angelo studied them, feeling anxious. Robertson glanced briefly but firmly back at him before turning back to the couple.

"There's something I need to talk to you both about."