Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy Seven

Charlie and Joey were both utterly exhausted the next morning and neither of them were keen to go to work. Eating breakfast in their new, little kitchen with Ruby, they tried not to react to the way she teased them for being noisy all night.

"Anyway, I'm meeting Xave at the beach and we're walking to school together," the teenager said, finishing the last of her orange juice and waving at her parents as she left the flat.

Alone with Joey, Charlie groaned.

"I do not want to go to work today!" she complained.

"Me neither," Joey said. "Although, at least I get to hang out in a shop instead of solving all the Summer Bay crimes, of which there are a surprising number!"

"Starting with figuring out what happened to Larry Jeffries," Charlie sighed.

"Start by talking to Aden," Joey suggested. "He's a good guy. He won't have done anything wrong."

Charlie nodded, hoping that she was right. On a personal level alone, things were likely to get awkward if she had to investigate her girlfriend's best friend.


Aden was half dressed when Charlie knocked on the door. In jeans and no top, he looked like he hadn't got any more sleep that she and Joey had. In the background, Justin looked particularly anxious.

"I wanted to update you on the news about your father," Charlie said.

Beside her, Angelo let his superior take the lead.

"What's happened?" Aden asked, folding his arms across his broad chest.

"He was released from prison weeks ago," Charlie explained. "And he never showed up for his first parole officer meeting."

She watched Aden absorb the information, trying to read his reaction. But he played his cards close to his chest.

"You said you spoke to him a couple of days ago..." Charlie ventured.

Aden nodded.

"Did he say where he was?"

"No," he replied. "I assumed he was still in jail."

Charlie nodded uncertainly. There was definitely something wrong with this situation.

"What happened to your hand?" Angelo asked, noting the cuts on Aden's knuckles.


"You have to be honest with her," Joey said.

Elijah was anxiously following her around the bait shop as she restocked the shelves. It felt strange to turn to a member of his congregation for help but when it came to Leah, Elijah felt entirely out of his depth.

"But how do I even start?" he asked. "She'll hate me for keeping secrets."

Joey turned to face him, looking him the eye.

"Leah is a very reasonable woman," she said. "She sees the best in everybody and if there's a way for her to understand the situation then she'll try and do it. But the longer you leave the truth, the worse it will be."

Elijah nodded and sighed heavily.

"I'm going round there this afternoon," he said. "I'll talk things through with her then. I just... don't want to lose her."

"If it was me," Joey said. "Even if the truth hurt a lot, I'd want to know it instead of believing in a lie."


Needing official statements, Charlie and Angelo had brought both Aden and Justin to the police station. Worried about a conflict of interest, Charlie had sat down to interview Justin while Angelo dealt with Aden.

"So, what did you say had happened to your hands?" she asked her friend's brother.

"We made a pretty stupid decision last night," Justin ventured, his voice wavering slightly.

"And what stupid decision was that?"

"We got drunk and took a boat out," Justin explained. "We tried to go fishing. And by the time we'd hurt ourselves trying to hook the bait on, several times, we gave up and came home. Like I said, it was pretty dumb."

He shrugged. Charlie eyed him with suspicion. There was still something neither boy was sharing.


Leah sat back in her seat and stared at Elijah in disbelief. She swallowed a few times, suddenly feeling like there was no air in the room.

"Vinnie's dead?" she asked quietly.

Elijah nodded, attempting to explain the circumstances.

"Is that why you came here?" Leah asked. "To tell me?"

"No," Elijah said unhappily. "I came here out of curiosity more than anything. Vinnie spoke so much about Summer Bay and so highly of you before he died. We'd shared so much by the end, got such a close friendship. That's why... that's why I was so anxious when I realised that I was falling in love with you."

Leah looked shocked. Elijah looked horrified. He hadn't quite meant for the depth of his feelings to tumble out of his mouth. And judging by Leah's reaction, he had only succeeded in making everything a hundred times worse.


Having let the boys go, Angelo and Charlie were seated in her office, trying to figure out their next move.

"They have to be lying, don't they?" Angelo said.

Charlie sighed heavily, twisting her hands together. She nodded, although she was desperate for there to be some kind of reasonable explanation.

"Did Justin spin you the yarn about the drunken fishing trip?" Angelo asked.

"Yeah," Charlie said. "I mean, it could be true but... something just doesn't add up."

Angelo nodded his agreement.

"We need to send out another search party at the accidence site," Charlie decided. "And we need to try and figure out exactly what Larry did when he was released from jail."


"Aden!" Joey called when she spotted her best friend trudging along the beach.

The blonde boy hesitated for a fraction of a second but then kept his head down and continued walking, pretending not to have heard her.

"Aden?" she called again.

He ignored her again. Sighing heavily, Joey turned back to the bait shop and bumped straight into a tearful looking Leah.

"Have you spoken to Elijah?" Joey asked anxiously.

"He told me you knew," Leah said. "He said you'd told him to tell me."

Joey nodded a little nervously, taking her friend's hand and sitting them both down outside the shop.

"Did I do the right thing?" Joey asked.

"Yes," Leah replied. "I'm glad I know but... I can't even begin to explain how I feel about it all."


It had been a long and difficult day and both Charlie and Joey were relieved to come home. They were intent on an early night where they might actually get some sleep after being awake for far too long.

"I don't understand why he'd just ignore me like that," Joey frowned. "He's meant to be my best friend."

Charlie sighed and reached for Joey's hand.

"He might not have heard you," she said, although she wasn't sure she believed it.

"He paused before he started walking away from me," Joey said. "I know he heard me."

She shifted to rest her head in Charlie's lap. Charlie reached out tenderly and played with her hair.

"He had a pretty hard day," Charlie ventured. "Maybe he was tired and didn't want to talk about it. I mean, I guess it's pretty awkward with me being the cop in charge of Justin's accident and everything."

"I just wish he'd tell you whatever it is he knows," Joey said. "Then everything would be okay."


With VJ in his room, Leah had invited Elijah round to the house that without Charlie, Joey and Ruby there anymore, felt huge and empty. She didn't like it, although she wasn't about to admit that to anyone.

"Sorry I walked out on you earlier," she said when she and her boyfriend were seated on the sofa together. "I needed to clear my head, figure out how I felt about everything."

"I'm sorry to have sprung it all on you," Elijah said. "I still don't know if I did the right thing."

"You did," Leah said. "I just... I can't believe Vinnie's dead. After so many years of pretending..."

"What do you mean?" asked a young, male voice.

Leah turned in horror to see her son standing in the doorway.


Next time... VJ runs off and Xavier loses Hugo's money...