Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety One
"Are you coming?" Charlie asked, stress evident in her voice.
"Actually," Angelo said. "You and Watson go. I have some stuff to do."
Charlie narrowed her eyes. They were still in the woods, trying to figure out their next move.
"Such as?" she asked.
"It's not really any of your business," Angelo snapped.
"As your Sergeant, it is my business," Charlie argued.
"Just because you rank higher than me, it doesn't mean I have to give you a timesheet of every single thing that I do," Angelo insisted. "So, if you don't mind, I'm going back to the station. Good luck with Aden and Justin."
With that, he took off in his patrol car.
"What is his problem?" Watson wondered, stepping up beside her colleague.
"I don't think there are enough hours in the day to figure that out," Charlie sighed.
Nicole looked morose as she approached Joey at the bait shop. She also worried that her friend was sick of providing a counselling service to the whole Bay.
"Ah, you know I like the company," Joey said brightly. "What's up?"
"Have you heard from Aden at all?" Nicole asked.
Joey paused, feeling rather heavy hearted.
"No," she finally said. "I think he and Justin have been... busy."
"What's up with them?" Nicole asked. "I feel like Aden's forgotten about us. I don't feel like I know him anymore."
"I know," Joey sighed. "Hopefully things will get sorted out soon."
"What things, Joey?" Nicole asked. "Where has he been? What's he been doing all this time?"
"Honestly, I don't know," Joey said. "What I do know is that Charlie's on the case. And with her in charge, everything will be okay."
"Are they in trouble with the law?" Nicole asked worriedly.
"I don't know the details," Joey said. "So let's just be hopeful and see what happens."
"No, it's fine," Leah assured her boyfriend. "I understand."
Elijah had come to find her at the Diner to awkwardly explain that although he was looking forward to introducing her to his colleagues as his girlfriend, one person they did need to keep their relationship a secret from the Bishop. The man was nicknamed the Pittbull due to his tendency to be ferocious and a real stickler for discipline.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "I don't want to upset you or..."
"I know how important this is to you," Leah assured him. "I have no problem with us just being friends around him. I want our relationship to be a happy, good thing – not a point of stress for either of us."
"That was quick!" Charlie remarked.
"Are you complaining?" Watson chuckled.
Having arrived back at the station, they had been awaiting a search warrant for Aden's home and car. Now they had it, they might be able to find the answers they were searching for.
"Not even a little bit," Charlie said, standing up and grabbing her keys. "Let's go."
"But what do you think about this army thing?" Nicole asked.
Having skipped school, she had been following Joey around for most of the day. The former deckhand had opted to make her useful with cleaning while she fixed up an abandoned boat.
"What army thing?" Joey asked, pausing her work and studying her friend's face.
"Justin wants Aden to join the army with him," Nicole explained. "What if he does?"
Silently, Joey thought that joining the army was probably the least of Aden's problems right now.
"He didn't seem very into it," she said aloud. "I wouldn't worry."
Alf saw Angelo walking out of the Diner with a takeaway coffee. He immediately marched up to him.
"What the hell is going on?" he demanded.
Angelo whirled around in surprise.
"What are you talking about?"
"Do you realise how close I am to telling the truth about what really happened to Hugo?"
Angelo blanched and pulled away from anyone that might overhear them.
"You know you can't do that," he said darkly.
"And why exactly not?" Alf asked.
"Because you'll be putting Martha – and Hugo – in danger," Angelo replied.
"I don't give a damn about Hugo Austin," Alf pointed out.
"But you love Martha, don't you?" Angelo challenged. "You want to keep her safe?"
"Of course I do," Alf snapped. "But the thing is, the person who's meant to be keeping her safe is dangerous himself. He took advantage of a vulnerable young woman and he's solely in charge of her ex-boyfriend's future. In what world am I meant to be okay with that?"
"I'm not getting into this with you again," Angelo said tiredly. "I didn't do anything wrong."
"You've spent the last year trying to convince everyone that you've changed and that you're a good man," Alf said. "You even got Martha, the wife of the man you killed to trust you and even sleep with you. But I'm telling you now that I see right through you. If you make one more false move, I'm bringing you down."
"Speak of the devil," Joey remarked.
She nodded towards Aden and Justin who were approaching the bait shop, deep in conversation. Jumping off the boat and wiping her hands on her shorts, Joey gestured for Nicole to stop cleaning and wait for them.
"To what do we owe the pleasure?" Joey asked when they were within earshot.
"Do I need a reason to come and see my two favourite girls?" Aden asked smoothly.
Joey chuckled and shook her head. Nicole hugged him. Both women were pleased to see that he seemed to be back to his old self at last.
"What's been up with you?" Nicole asked. "I've tried to call you about a hundred times today."
"Sorry," Aden apologised.
Justin hung back, oddly quiet as his brother explained that they'd been trying to figure out who had stolen his car.
"Your car got stolen?" Nicole asked in shock.
"Yep," Aden lied. "Someone took it last night. When we woke up this morning, it was gone."
Joey looked puzzled but accepted his statement. Judging by the bags under their eyes, neither boy had slept well, in which case, surely at least one of them would have noticed that they were being robbed. Something just didn't make sense and Joey felt sick with worry about what her best friend had got caught up in.
Charlie and Watson both exchanged worried glances as they spotted Angelo, in a bad mood, driving away from Alf who also looked to be in a bad mood.
"Is everything okay, Alf?" Charlie asked, approaching him.
He looked surprised and then nodded.
"Fine" he said. "I just don't trust that flaming mongrel as far as I could throw him."
Charlie nodded.
"You're not the only one," she admitted.
There was most definitely something going on with Angelo and at risk of turning into the crazy stalker he had proved himself to be, she was determined to figure out what it was.
"Hey, you haven't seen Aden or Justin around have you?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Yeah, they walked past not long ago," he replied. "I think they were heading down to the bait shop. I gather Joey has been babysitting Nicole all day."
Charlie grinned.
"She just can't help looking after people, can she?" she said.
"Nope," Alf agreed. "It's a damn good quality."
"It really is," Charlie agreed with a gentle, thoughtful smile.
"Come on, Swoony," Watson teased. "We've got work to do!"
"So, you know we have my place to ourselves tonight," Leah ventured.
Elijah had continued to hang around the Diner when really, he had plenty of work to be doing.
"Really?" he asked.
"Yes," Leah replied. "Charlie and Joey are babysitting VJ for the night. He's missing the love of his life now that she's moved out."
"The love of his life?" Elijah asked, amused.
"Joey," Leah explained. "He's had a bit of a thing for her for the last year or so. Currently, we all find it cute but I do hope he gets over it at some point."
Elijah chuckled.
"I did wonder," he admitted. "He talks about her ever such a lot."
"Yeah, well they're doing the cool aunt babysitting thing tonight so I wondered if you'd like to come round for dinner?"
The couple eyed each other curiously, both trying to figure out where things might lead.
"I'd love to," Elijah decided.
"You boys are pretty hard to track down," Charlie remarked when she and Watson arrived at the bait shop.
Aden looked concerned, Justin looked panicked, Nicole looked bewildered and Joey looked curious.
"Sorry, we've been busy all day," Aden said stiffly.
Charlie frowned.
"We've got a warrant to search your property and your car," she said.
Justin looked like he might throw up and Nicole looked even more confused.
"Why would you need that?" she asked.
"You can search the house," Aden said, sounding calmer than he felt. "But the car got stolen this morning."
Charlie and Watson exchanged sceptical glances.
"We'll start with the house then," Charlie said. "If you could follow Constable Watson to our patrol car..."
Aden and Justin nodded, following Watson back up the beach.
"Charlie, what's going on?" Nicole asked urgently.
"I can't talk about it," Charlie said anxiously, glancing between Nicole and Joey.
"But..."
"We just need to let Charlie get on with her job," Joey said gently. "We'll know what's going on when it's okay for us to know about it."
Charlie thanked her silently and kissed her cheek as she left, following Watson and the boys back to the car.
The search warrant of the house hadn't come up with anything but Charlie and Watson had dragged the boys to the station for another interview. Separating them, Charlie hoped that one of them would crack and the situation could be sorted out. She also hoped that neither of them had actually done anything wrong and it was all some big misunderstanding. Unfortunately, the more silent they kept, the more unlikely it was that they were innocent.
"You and I will take Justin," Charlie told Watson.
She felt more than a little awkward to be interviewing Aden, a man she and Joey both considered to be a friend. The situation was growing more and more complicated by the second.
"What about Aden?" Watson asked.
Charlie called Avery over and asked him to back Angelo up in the interview. Then she marched into the Senior Constable's office and told him in no uncertain terms that he was to lead Aden's interview.
"I'm busy," he said.
"I don't care," Charlie insisted. "Stop wasting your time getting into arguments with Alf and actually do some work."
"They'll be fine," Joey assured Nicole who hadn't left her side for the whole afternoon.
With the bait shop closed for the day, Joey had begun the walk to VJ's school in order to pick him up for their sleepover. Nicole had chosen to walk with her.
"But why was Charlie being like that?" she asked. "She was so..."
"She was doing her job," Joey said.
"But what has Aden done wrong that...?"
"I don't know," Joey said. "But whatever it is, Charlie will do her best by him. You know that. Don't you?"
Nicole managed a smile and nodded. When she and the police officer had first met, it had taken a long time for them to like each other, especially when Charlie had been dating Nicole's father, Roman. But now, she had genuine respect and affection for her. And she hoped that her trust wasn't unfounded.
"I have nothing to say," Aden said firmly, glaring at Angelo. "I haven't done anything wrong and I don't know why I'm here. Also, I'm pretty offended that someone like you is on hand to treat me like a criminal. What's the deal? You can do whatever the hell you like as long as you're wearing your shiny, little uniform?"
Angelo glared at him. And he hated Charlie for dragging him onto the case. He had much more important things to do than work out Aden Jeffries' riddles and lies.
"Just tell us what happened," he said.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Aden insisted.
"Justin came to this station last night and told us he'd killed his Dad... your Dad."
"That man might have been my father but he was not my Dad," Aden said firmly.
Angelo sat back.
"I guess it wouldn't really matter to you if he had killed him, would it?" he said. "It was only in 2008 that you tried to do the same damn thing."
Aden merely glared at him.
"What has Justin told you about what happened?" Angelo demanded.
"Nothing," Aden replied. "He doesn't even know what happened himself because he has amnesia. Or had you forgotten that?"
"I haven't forgotten anything," Angelo said. "I haven't forgotten what you did to Larry or how you treated me at that time. I know everyone else seems to think you're the hero of the hour but I know different. I know you're up to your neck in this. So why don't you cut the crap and tell us what we need to know?"
"I don't know anything," Aden repeated.
Angelo leant forward, feeling a mix of anger and compassion.
"Believe me, it makes it easier if you confess to what you've done wrong," he said.
"It certainly did for you," Aden replied. "You killed a man and got off scot free. You didn't even so much as get fired from the job where you're meant to protect people and uphold the law. But unlike you, I haven't done anything wrong. And nor has my brother."
Charlie was utterly exhausted by the time she finally arrived home from work. It had been a gruelling day but with Justin unable to remember anything clearly and Aden not talking, they'd had no choice but to let them go. She knew she was running out of time to figure things out. The last thing she wanted to do tonight was babysit VJ but she had promised Leah.
"Hey, sweetheart," Joey greeted warmly when her girlfriend walked through the door.
"Hey," Charlie greeted tiredly.
Joey kissed her, removed her jacket and belt and guided her into the armchair. VJ then presented her with a pre-prepared cup of coffee.
"Now, you just relax and we'll finish making dinner," Joey said, very aware that Charlie was struggling.
"Then we have a DVD to watch," VJ added. "Joey let me choose."
He beamed at her. Charlie chuckled and accepted another kiss from Joey before they headed towards the hob where they had been busy cooking a family meal. Charlie turned and gazed at her girlfriend. She wondered if she would ever stop falling more deeply in love with her.
Next time... Aden admits to dumping Larry's body and Leah and Elijah get caught out...
