Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety Three
As usual, Joey and Charlie stopped by the Diner on their way to work. With Charlie trying to solve Larry's death and Joey having to regularly take care of Nicole, they both needed a big breakfast to start them off for the day.
"You don't look quite as perky as you did yesterday," Joey remarked.
"Are you having withdrawal?" Charlie teased.
"Worse than that," Leah frowned, joining them at their table.
"What's up?" Joey asked.
"The Bishop caught Elijah and I making out in my car!" the Diner owner announced.
If she was expecting shock or sympathy, she was disappointed. Charlie and Joey both burst out laughing until tears rolled down their cheeks.
At school, Gina frowned. Just as had been the case yesterday, Miles was arguing with himself in his classroom. And it was becoming more and more animated by the second. She had heard on the rumour mill, usually led by Colleen Smart, that Miles was having some issues but she'd so far paid them no mind. However, if a teacher at her school was having psychological problems then she had to know about it. Bracing herself, she entered the room.
Charlie had left for work, ready to try and process Justin's accident and hopefully get to the bottom of it. Leah had complained for a long while that the Bishop catching her with Elijah was not even nearly as funny as Charlie and Joey believed it was. She was most horrified to be attending lunch with Elijah and the Bishop that day in a bid to try and sort the confusion out.
"You'll be fine," Joey assured her, walking back out of the Diner and towards work.
She halted when she saw Aden walking by.
"Aden!" she called out.
Her best friend paused and looked to be considering just walking past when he let her approach.
"What is going on with you at the moment?" Joey asked urgently.
"I would have thought Charlie would have kept you up to speed," Aden replied.
"She's told me a handful of things but nothing that makes sense," Joey said.
"Look, I don't really know what to say," he admitted.
"The truth?" Joey replied.
Aden sighed heavily.
"I don't even know what that is," he said.
Feeling compassionate, Joey reached out and held him for a long time. He buried his face against her shoulder, greedily accepting the comfort she offered.
"I don't know what to do," he admitted.
"Tell the truth exactly as you know it," Joey told him. "Nobody at that police station wants anything bad to happen to you, Aden. Charlie's tearing her hair out trying to figure out what's going on. Make it easy for her and you know she'll do her very best for you."
Aden nodded, looking grave.
"You're right," he ventured. "I will."
Gina felt like her mind was going to explode. Sitting down with Miles, he had explained that he could see the ghost of his dead daughter and that she had been guiding him since the start of the year. He then explained that people thought he was crazy and so they were trying to make him take pills and send her away.
"Miles... it sounds like you've got a lot on your plate right now," Gina ventured. "Why don't you take some time off work in order to sort it all out?"
Miles shook his head definitely.
"No," he said. "I need to keep focussed until everything fixes itself."
"Miles, you need a break," Gina said firmly. "I want you to take some time off."
"No," Miles insisted. "I don't want to."
"You have to," Gina said. "I can't have you teaching at this school in this state."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm suspending you," Gina said, although she felt terribly guilty.
She felt desperately sorry for her employee, her friend – but she had to put her students first.
In her office, with the door shut, Charlie dialled Morag's number.
"Charlie?" her stepmother said by way of greeting.
"Hi, Morag," Charlie said. "I was after a favour."
"What kind of favour?"
"Aden and his brother, Justin have got themselves into serious trouble," Charlie said. "I might have no choice but to charge them with... well, I don't know what. At best, it would be manslaughter or deliberately withholding evidence in a criminal investigation."
She heard Morag sigh on the other end of the line. It hadn't been all that long ago since she had had to represent Aden in court for trying to kill his Dad.
"What do you need me to do?" she asked.
"If I have to charge them," Charlie said. "Could you be their defence lawyer?"
Everyone felt awkward over lunch. The conversation was stilted between the Bishop, Elijah and Leah. The Diner owner had tried several times to make conversation but Bishop Pitt Bull was constantly abrupt and cold.
"So, how long have you been a Bishop?" she tried.
"Why are you interrogating me?" he replied.
"I'm trying to make conversation!" Leah snapped.
"Well, perhaps I'm not interested in making conversation with some woman one of my pastor's has hooked up with," the Bishop said.
"It's really not like that," Elijah interjected.
"Tell someone who cares," his boss replied.
"Excuse me but I think you're being completely out of order," Leah said angrily.
The Bishop and Elijah both looked startled.
"Elijah and I are not 'hooking up'. We care very deeply for each other and we're at the beginning of a very serious relationship. Yes, last night was unfortunate but you have a very good man working for the church here. He's only been in town for a few months and he has already done so much good for our community. In fact, one of my old housemates was so broken and felt so negative about church because of past experiences and Elijah has gone out of his way to heal help her from that. Perhaps instead of criticising us both, you should be focussing on all the good that Elijah's doing and how much he's doing to change people's lives."
Leah was a little out of breath but she could tell from the Bishop's eyes that she'd hit her target.
"Are you ready?" Aden asked.
He and Justin were stood outside the police station, preparing to go inside and tell the cops everything they knew about what had happened to Larry.
"As I'll ever be," Justin said.
Aden nodded and stepped forward, pausing when Justin gripped his arm.
"I'm sorry for dragging you into this," he said earnestly.
Aden managed a smile and patted his hand.
"We're brothers," he said. "We're meant to look out for each other."
Joey had fixed the boat up for Alf's client and was now scrubbing it thoroughly. Nicole hadn't shown up so Joey supposed she was actually attending school for a change. Joey missed her. She'd got quite used to her company and through telling her that everything would be alright, she'd also been telling herself. Now, with nobody to distract her, she was fretting about Aden more and more. And she was taking out her anxiety on the boat.
"You're right," the Bishop said, nodding in Leah's direction. "Elijah is a good man and he's a good Pastor. And you also seem very nice."
Leah and Elijah exchanged startled glances.
"And I'm sorry for reacting badly to your relationship," he continued. "Last time I encountered a Reverend in a compromising position with someone, it was with a minor. It was illegal and immoral and that member of clergy was sent to jail for his actions. That's how I earned the Pitt Bull nickname, as it happens. Because I had to come down so hard on him for what he'd done."
He took a breath before continuing.
"That's why I reacted the way I did. But I do know that it was an overreaction and for that, I'm sorry. And if it means anything, you have my blessing."
He smiled.
"It means a lot," Elijah said.
"Thank you," Leah added.
She'd never got so many good results from losing her temper before.
Aden and Justin sat side by side in the interview room. Charlie and Angelo sat in front of them, listening intently to their story.
"So, you still don't remember what happened?" Charlie clarified.
"No," Justin said. "I remember picking Dad up from jail and driving towards Summer Bay. And then I remember a lot of pain and confusion but I don't know exactly how that happened."
"But you knew your father had died?" Angelo asked.
"Not immediately," Justin told him. "But yes, I realised a few days ago that he'd been there and that he hadn't survived what I can only assume was an accident."
"If it was an accident then why did you bury him?" Angelo asked. "Didn't you realise how guilty it would make you look?"
Charlie regretted the tone in her colleague's voice but knew it was a valid and necessary question.
"That was my fault," Aden said. "I panicked. Justin was terrified that he'd killed him. And we thought that's what you would think too. So we buried him and hoped it would go away."
Charlie nodded thoughtfully.
"Why did you dig the body back up?" she asked.
"I'd come forward about what I remembered and you said you were going to search the area," Justin explained. "We knew how it would look so we tried to hide the evidence."
"You dug him up, put him in the car and dumped it, is that right?" Angelo said. "And then yesterday, you directed us to where you'd hidden the car?"
Aden and Justin both nodded.
"What... what happens now?" Justin asked.
Charlie glanced at Angelo.
"We're going to have to charge you," she said gravely.
"For murder?" Justin asked fearfully.
"For trying to hide the body of your father," Charlie said. "Right now, we don't have evidence for or against murder but that may come during the investigation. If you hadn't tampered with the body and lied to us, you might have been okay but..."
She trailed off and sighed.
"We didn't mean to do anything wrong," Aden said.
"We know," Charlie replied. "We know."
She clicked the tape recorder off.
"I've asked Morag to step in as your legal representative. We'll do whatever we can to resolve this as painlessly as we can. But unfortunately, my hands are tied and right now, I don't have any option other than to charge you both."
Aden nodded.
"I understand," he said.
Charlie nodded sadly.
That evening, having fortunately not been taken into custody, Aden had invited Nicole round. Both were anxious as Aden explained everything, right from the start.
"Will you go to jail?" Nicole asked fretfully.
"I don't know," Aden admitted. "Morag is coming down tomorrow to help us figure it all out. Charlie was actually the one who arranged that. I really think she's trying to help us."
Nicole nodded. Once upon a time she hadn't thought much of Charlie but these days, she knew with absolutely clarity that she was a good person who always tried her best.
"I just can't believe any of this," she said.
Aden apologised and held her close.
"Will they go to jail?" Joey asked worriedly.
As usual, Ruby was rehearsing in her bedroom, singing rather nicely but at the top of her voice. It was distracting although it did give them space to talk seriously and privately.
"I hope not," Charlie said. "Morag is going to represent them and hopefully we'll be able to do things as quickly and painlessly as possible."
"I just don't understand how they could be so stupid," Joey sighed. "I mean, in what world is it the right thing to do to bury your Dad in the woods? I know he was a bastard but..."
She trailed off in sheer disbelief. Charlie reached out and held her.
Next time... Martha nearly catches Alf and Angelo out, Joey spends the day with Joey and Charlie discovers the truth about Hugo's 'death'...
