Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety Five
"Hugo is still alive?" Charlie repeated for the third time.
"Yes," Angelo confirmed.
"He's still alive?"
Her voice was slowly switching from disbelief to anger.
"How the hell could he still be alive?" Charlie demanded, leaping to her feet.
Angelo leapt back in shock.
"Charlie, I know it's a shock but..."
"Why the hell didn't you tell me about this?"
"I was under strict orders," Angelo said.
"Strict orders?" Charlie demanded. "Do you think I give a shit about strict orders?"
"Charlie..."
"That bastard tried to kill me," Charlie said. "I ended up in therapy for months because of him. The single point of peace for me was that I knew he was dead and could never hurt me again."
"Charlie, I know what you've been through..."
"Oh yeah, you know all about the therapy, don't you?" Charlie snapped. "You were fucking stalking me at the time!"
Angelo swallowed.
"I know you were hurt but you have to know that this is deeper than that," he said reasonably. "Hugo was part of a huge criminal investigation. We put him in Witness Protection..."
"Witness protection?" Charlie laughed bitterly. "How was that bastard a witness? He was a fucking perpetrator!"
"I know," Angelo said. "But he was the key person who could roll over on everyone else. We had to look at the bigger picture, Charlie. It was about the greater good."
"What is it with you and lying?" Charlie asked, sitting back down again.
Angelo looked offended.
"Everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie," Charlie continued. "You came back on a lie, you lied about Hugo's death, you slept with his girlfriend knowing exactly what you were doing."
She shook her head.
"It's for the greater good," Angelo insisted.
"Which part, exactly?" Charlie snapped.
"Keeping Hugo safe means that Martha and her family will also be safe," Angelo said. "So I need you to keep this secret."
"I'm sick of keeping your secrets," Charlie said coldly.
"It's important. Things are getting dangerous, Charlie. He's gone missing."
"Hugo Austin not playing by the rules," Charlie snapped. "What a shock."
"You've been accusing me for weeks of not working but I am, Charlie," Angelo said. "I'm working my arse off here trying to find him. He's about to destroy everything."
"Do I look like I care?" Charlie asked bitterly.
"Please keep the secret," Angelo begged. "Pretend you never found out. I'm not asking you to deal with him or help me or anything like that. Just... stay quiet. Please?"
"Fine," Charlie said, standing up. "I won't say a word."
With that, she marched out of the office, grabbed her stuff and walked out of the station without saying goodbye to anyone.
"Are you okay?" Joey asked worriedly.
Over dinner at the Diner, her girlfriend really hadn't been herself. She'd barely said two words to anyone, even Ross and Morag who were just visiting for the day. Her smile had been painted on and didn't even nearly reach her eyes. Now, home alone aside from Ruby singing, reading Shakespearian dialogue and occasionally eliciting combat noises in her bedroom, Joey was desperate to find out what was wrong.
"I'm fine," Charlie lied. "It's just been a really tough day."
"Morag was hopeful about Aden and Justin not having to serve jail time though, wasn't she?" Joey asked, aware of how stressed Charlie had been about it all.
"Yeah," Charlie sighed. "But that doesn't stop other cases being difficult."
She couldn't get the image of Hugo dragging her out to sea and nearly killing her, out of her mind. The whole thing made her feel sick, angry and confused. If she couldn't trust her own employers, people dedicated to serving their community, who could she trust?
"I have some goodies left over if you'd like something?" Joey offered, still worried. "Your Dad convinced me to practice desserts."
She grinned. Charlie looked at her and smiled back, genuinely this time. Joey was the person that she could trust with anything. Joey was the touchstone in her life. She always had been and Charlie hoped that she always would be.
In her bedroom, Ruby re-enacted her fight scene in the play where she was due to die a bloody death, leading Romeo, AKA Annie to avenge her. Sinking onto her bed, she frowned. She had spent so long rehearsing that she genuinely knew every line backwards. For Shakespeare, she thought it was quite a feat. But she was still nervous about messing up, especially on her song. Liam had put so much work into writing it and rehearsing it with her. He had even given her his mobile number so that she could request encouraging texts whenever she liked. Smiling to herself, Ruby wondered why it had taken her so long to realise how amazing her music teacher was.
It had been a long night and Joey couldn't quite seem to settle. There was clearly something wrong with Charlie. Normally, they talked about everything and it was hard to think that there might be something her girlfriend wouldn't trust her with. Closing her eyes, she silently called herself a hypocrite. It wasn't like she hadn't kept a secret. Twice, Charlie had asked her about her history with the River Boys and twice, Joey had denied knowing them. Sighing, she snuggled down beside her partner, who was so asleep she was practically in a coma. Joey moved to lie on her side, just about making Charlie's features out in the dark.
"I love you so much," she whispered.
Angelo couldn't sleep. He'd paced his apartment, muttered to himself, panicked about Charlie and panicked some more about Hugo. In the end, he'd driven down to the old Battery where he had recently seen an abnormal amount of activity. He had a strong feeling that Hugo could be hiding out here and if he was, Angelo was determined to catch him. Perhaps he had made a mistake by agreeing to let him into Witness Protection. Firstly, Hugo had blatantly flouted the terms of his deal. He had put everyone in danger all over again. And secondly, Charlie was absolutely right about him being a monster.
"Charlie!" Joey said desperately.
Sitting up in bed, Charlie just about managed to stop screaming. Her heart was pounding way too fast and sweat dripped off her body. Regardless, Joey held her, stroking her hair and encouraging her to calm down.
"What were you dreaming about?" she asked, her voice full of concern.
"Hugo..." Charlie managed between shallow breaths. "He's alive."
"Sweetheart, it was just a dream," Joey said gently. "He's dead now. He can't hurt you."
It had been weeks since Charlie had stopped having those kinds of nightmares. She'd made so much progress that they had agreed for her to finish therapy. Joey couldn't fathom why the dreams would come back so suddenly.
"No," Charlie said, still breathless. "He's alive."
"It was just a dream," Joey insisted.
Charlie shook her head and managed to control her breathing at last. She looked fearfully into Joey's eyes.
"Angelo told me before I left work," she explained. "Hugo was never killed. They faked his death and put him into Witness Protection. And now he's escaped."
Next time... Joey confronts Angelo, Xavier feels left out of Ruby's friendship with Liam and Miles quits teaching...
