It's the last day of my holiday which has been dedicated to resting, packing and preparing for our flight home. So I thought I would stop by and offer a quick update. I will try and do some other stories too but I'm not sure how much time or energy I have! Normal service will resume by the weekend! Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter Three Hundred and Eighteen

It was Monday morning and Romeo had disappeared to the beach to go surfing and clear his head before school. Having showered and changed in the gym, he sat on the sand in his uniform, staring at the cheque his mother had given him as if it were some sort of alien life form. He fiddled with the edges of the paper, debating whether to just rip the thing up and forget about it or not.


"We've got it!" Charlie announced joyfully, appearing in her former office, now occupied by Angelo and Watson.

With Watson not on duty yet, Angelo was alone. He looked up in surprise.

"We got...?"

"A search warrant for the farm," Charlie said eagerly. "Let's go, go, go!"

Needing no further encouragement, Angelo leapt up and followed his colleague out of the police station.


Having finally dragged himself to school, Romeo was in a dream world as he wandered through the school corridors.

"What's up with you?" Xavier asked, catching up with him.

"Just... stuff," Romeo sighed. "My Mum."

Xavier nodded. He understood family trouble, although he was certain that anything Romeo was going through paled in comparison to hiding a known fugitive.

"She's still causing you hassle, is she?" he asked, trying to be kind.

"Yeah," Romeo said. "She's put me in a really awkward position. Not to mention the fact that she hit on John last night."

Xavier's eyes widened in surprise. Romeo was shocked to see how hopeful he looked.

"She hit on John?"

"Yeah," Romeo said.

"Excellent!"

"What?" Romeo snapped. "How could that be excellent?"

"If your Mum steals John from my Mum then I'll finally be free of him!"

Romeo glared at him.

"Thanks for being so damn selfless," he snapped, storming off towards his first class of the day.


Charlie and Angelo pulled up at the farm and steeled themselves to enter.

"Let me take the lead, okay?" Charlie said. "Martha's still feeling pretty weird around you."

Angelo frowned but nodded. One of these days, he was going to think before he acted and he would stop getting himself into continuous amounts of trouble.

"Whatever you think is best," he said.

Nodding, Charlie led the way to the front door and knocked. When nobody answered, she knocked again and then again. Obviously realising that her visitors were unlikely to give up, Martha finally pulled open the door.

"Charlie," she said. "Sorry. I was in the shower."

Charlie opted not to mention that her hair wasn't wet and that she was fully dressed and not looking like she got ready in a hurry.

"Martha, I'm really sorry about this but we're going to need to search the farm."

Martha blanched and blocked their entry quickly.

"Why?" she demanded.

"Because we think Hugo might be hiding out here," Charlie said honestly.

Martha looked like she was about to throw up. She gripped the door so hard her knuckles turned white.

"He's not here," she lied. "He's on the run. Remember? I haven't seen him since the day you faked his death."

She glared at Angelo as she spoke. He shifted uncomfortably and looked at his shoes.

"Martha, I genuinely am sorry for everything you've been through but I'm going to have to insist."

"Well, you can't!" Martha snapped. "You need..."

She trailed off as Charlie waved a search warrant at her. Sighing heavily, Martha opened the door and permitted them entry to her home.


"I love Monday's!" Ruby said cheerfully as she and Xavier strolled hand in hand off the school grounds.

Her boyfriend laughed, remarking that she must be the only person on the planet who did.

"Well, I get a free period right before lunch," Ruby said. "That's a two hour lunch break! And I get to spend it with my lovely boyfriend."

Xavier chuckled and put his arm around her. Overnight, Ruby had made a firm decision to try and forget what she knew about Hugo. She felt terrible for lying to her parents but she couldn't bear to see Xavier so upset. And she knew that if she were even in part responsible for something happening to his brother, then he would truly never forgive her.

"Ruby," Xavier said seriously. "I think we need to talk."

Ruby froze, looking anxious as he tugged on her hand to sit on the field, just inside the school gate.

"About what?" she asked.

"Hugo," Xavier said.

Ruby shook her head in protest.

"I don't want to talk about him," she said firmly.

"But I need to know..."

"I told you I won't say anything," Ruby snapped. "But that doesn't mean I want to talk or think about the whole situation. Okay? I'll keep the secret but I don't like it. Can we just move on, please?"


Having searched the property as completely as they could, Charlie and Angelo reconvened in the hallway.

"Anything?" Angelo asked.

"Nope," Charlie sighed.

They joined Martha, who looked distinctly unimpressed as she nursed a cup of tea in the kitchen.

"I told you he wasn't here," she said, a little too smugly. "Do you really think I'd lie to you about something like that?"

"I think you're in love with Hugo and you'd do anything for him," Charlie said seriously.

She sighed and came to sit beside her friend at the kitchen table. Angelo hovered uncertainly in the doorway.

"I'm not hiding him here," Martha said. "Yes, I still love him but after everything he did..."

She shook her head.

"He hasn't been here," she continued to lie. "He hasn't made contact. And I hope you can believe me now that you've searched the place."


"Hi, Ruby," Liam greeted warmly when he arrived at work at lunch time to give himself time to prepare for his afternoon classes. "Xavier."

"Hey, Liam," Xavier greeted. "I mean, Mr Murphy."

Liam waved a dismissive hand.

"Liam's fine so long as your Mum's not around," he assured him. "Hey, Ruby, are you busy this lunch time?"

Ruby glanced at Xavier and then said no.

"Why?"

Xavier heart flooded with disappointment. Granted, they hadn't been having the best time together but still, he was unhappy to think he might miss out on an hour with her.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to rehearse some songs with me?"

"Sure!" Ruby said, leaping up, eager to leave Xavier and their currently stressful situation behind.


"Hugo!" Martha yelled, as soon as the police officers were out of the house. "Hugo!"

She screamed when she heard an almighty crashing noise coming from the hallway. For a moment, she feared Charlie and Angelo had come back to surprise them and catch them out.

"Hugo!" she squeaked when she found him on the floor, covered in plasterboard.

He looked like he was in agony.


At lunch time, Romeo headed straight down to see Joey at the bait shop. Without even speaking, he showed her his mother's cheque.

"What's...?" Joey said confused.

"I'm going to cash it and then write you a cheque for the same amount," he told her.

Joey's confusion increased.

"You're going to...? What? You can't do that!"

"This is blood money," Romeo said. "It's guilt for letting her kids down and still not being grown up enough to do something about it. She's just trying to pay me off. I don't want the money. But this could help you start your restaurant, right? Without getting into debt with bank loans and all that?"

He waved the cheque at her again but she refused to take it.

"Please, Joey?" Romeo begged. "This is the solution to everyone's problems."


"I love working with you, Ruby," Liam said earnestly when they had finished his latest song.

"I love working with you too," Ruby said, swooning a little.

Liam was too wrapped up in the music to register how she was looking at him.

"Hey, I have a great idea!" he said suddenly, placing his hand on her arm.

Ruby felt a tingle shoot through her body. She pictured Xavier and felt guilty. Then she thought about the situation with Hugo and the way Xavier was forcing her to lie and felt justified.

"Why don't we cut together a proper demo to send off to a producer?" Liam suggested.


It was the evening of what had turned out to be a long day. Hugo had refused to allow Martha to call anyone for help, even though he was in agony and it looked like he might have broken his arm after falling through the ceiling.

"You need treatment!" Martha begged desperately.

She hated to see him in pain and not be able to do anything about it.

"I'm a wanted man, Martha," Hugo told her. "The minute I show up at a hospital, it's all over for me."

"What about Rachel then?"

"What about her?"

"We could call her..."

"And risk her telling the police that I'm here?" Hugo said. "No way."

"She wouldn't do that," Martha insisted.

"I can't take the risk," Hugo replied.


"So, he just offered you the money?" Charlie asked incredulously. "Just like that?"

She'd arranged to meet Joey for a drink at the Surf Club after work. Angelo was due to meet them there later for a brain storming session over how to find Hugo. He had conceded that perhaps Hugo wasn't at the farm after all but he would only go as far as supposing that he could be hiding out at Gina's. He and Charlie had spent much of the rest of the day trying to obtain a warrant for that property instead.

"Just like that," Joey said.

"What are you going to do?" Charlie asked.

They both looked over at Jill who was draped rather drunkenly over John who didn't look all that comfortable but wasn't pushing her away either.

"I can't take it," Joey said. "Can I?"

She looked hopeful for a moment.

"No, I can't," she sighed. "It's not right. It's not my money. It's Romeo's and... No, I can't."

She sighed again and rubbed her temples. Charlie moved to sit beside her, pulling her into her arms.

"It's very sweet that he thought of us though," Joey mused.

"Yeah," Charlie agreed. "It would set the business up immediately but..."

She trailed off. Both of them were struggling with the idea of turning down $50,000. But it wasn't ethical to take it. Was it?

"Not more bad news?" Angelo asked, appearing as if from nowhere.

Joey shook her head and told him not to worry about it. It was nothing to do with the case. Charlie let go of her but didn't change seats. She held Joey's hand under the table.

"Any luck with the search warrant?" Charlie asked.

Angelo had hung around the station a little longer in the hope of some news.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Nothing."

All three of them looked up as Gina entered the room. She didn't even pause to look at them before she hurried out again. At the bar, Jill was kissing John.


Next time… Tony and Rachel learn that Hugo is back in town, Angelo makes a mistake with Charlie and Joey falls out with Jill…