I'm on mandatory rest at the moment but I will still try to update if I can. I'm not very with it so I apologise if I have missed any typing errors or anything. And sorry to those who have sent me messages that I haven't responded to. I'm just not coping with communication (or anything else for that matter) right now. I hope you enjoy the chapter. Love, IJKS xxx
Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty Nine
Jill woke up with a blur of memories from the night before. Sitting up, she tried to familiarise herself with her surroundings. But she had no idea where she was or how she had got there.
"Take it easy, okay, sweetheart?" Joey instructed.
Charlie had dropped her down at the bait shop as she prepared to return to work after her sick day.
"I'll do my best," she promised.
"And call me if you need to," Joey added.
"I will," Charlie said.
She leant across and kissed her. Reluctantly parting, Joey climbed out of the car. She stood on the side of the road and waved as Charlie disappeared out of sight. She just hoped she would be okay.
Romeo stopped at the Diner before school. He was worried about his mother, who hadn't even bothered to come home the night before. So far, she was not proving herself to him and he was more than a little frustrated.
"Irene?" he said, when he spotted her waiting tables.
The older woman paused on her way back to the kitchen and greeted him with a warm smile.
"What can I get you, love?" she asked pleasantly.
"I was after some help, actually," he said. "With my Mum."
Jill nursed a cup of coffee at John's kitchen table while he looked more than a little awkward in the seat across from her.
"Jill, we can't see each other anymore," he finally blurted out.
She nodded thoughtfully, still trying to unscramble the events of the night before.
"It's just that Gina came round last night…"
"Gina came round?" Jill exclaimed. "I bet that went well."
"She didn't know you were here," John explained. "You were already passed out in my room and… well, I think she wants to give things a shot. And I have to try. I have to figure out where we stand with each other before I decide whether to take on something new."
"Nice of you to show your face," Angelo remarked from behind the reception desk when Charlie walked through the front door.
"Leave her alone," Watson instructed, appearing from her office.
Charlie shot her friend her grateful look. She was still feeling rather tender.
"How are you this morning?" Watson asked.
"Better," Charlie said. "Not great but…"
"Do you think I was full of joys of spring this morning, Charlie?" Angelo demanded, stepping closer. "Do you think I wasn't tired and feeling ill? Do you think I didn't want to take the day off?"
"To be honest, I didn't think that much about you," Charlie snapped back. "I don't, generally."
Watson failed to conceal a smirk. Even poorly, the Sergeant was on top form.
"Well, I didn't want to come in," Angelo said, not letting her words faze him. "But I came to work because that's my job, because that's what I had to do. And you should have done the same. I had you pegged as a lot of things, but a skiver wasn't one of them."
Without waiting for a response, he marched into his office and slammed the door.
"Don't worry about it," Watson said. "He's just in a strop because he's no further along in the case than he was yesterday. That guy keeps saying 'no comment' and nothing else and his lawyer hasn't shown up."
Charlie sighed.
"Care to catch me up on everything I missed?" she asked, indicating Watson to follow her into her office.
"Sure," Watson readily agreed, following her.
Marilyn looked longingly at the door to the Surf Club, eager to make her escape. Colleen had been fussing around her all day, making plans for a belated wedding reception for her and Alf.
"Help me!" Marilyn begged.
Alf merely shook his head.
"This is your mess," he said sternly. "Not mine."
At the bait shop, with custom quiet, Joey sat at the counter with Charlie's laptop, desperately trying to start her application for a bank loan. She had to fill the form in online and submit it, which was all very well in thought but in deed, it was proving impossible. She could barely fill out her address without thinking she had got it all wrong.
On her break, Irene caught sight of Jill on the beach. Wanting to help Romeo, she plucked up the courage to approach. From one addict to another, she very much hoped she might be able to get through to her.
In her office, Charlie and Watson had got each other up to speed on all the facts of the case.
"So, what's the next plan?" Watson asked. "We storm the farm?"
"We have to wait for the next search warrant to come through," Charlie explained. "I presume it hasn't yet?"
"Well, if it had, I doubt Angelo would have wasted any time in going over there," Watson said. "And I don't think he has."
Charlie nodded. She knew she had to bring Angelo in on their discussion but she really had no desire to do so. The last thing she wanted was to get into yet another argument.
"That Detective Eaves is meant to be here tomorrow, I think," Charlie said thoughtfully. "Maybe he's waiting on him. I gather he has some sort of history with the case."
Watson nodded.
"And in the meantime, we need to get this Killer guy to talk," she said.
"Nobody had any luck at all yesterday?" Charlie asked a little incredulously.
"Well, Angelo didn't," Watson explained. "And he wouldn't let anyone else speak to him so, no, I don't think so."
"Howdy, stranger," Miles greeted when he approached the bait shop at lunch time.
Joey looked up from her laptop and closed it, looking rather bemused.
"Alf hasn't got you doing accounts or something?" he asked. "You look really confused!"
"I am!" Joey admitted with a shy laugh. "I've been trying to apply for a loan from the bank so that we can get going on the restaurant and I've proved myself barley capable of writing my own name!"
"Ah, I'm sure you'll be fine," Miles assured her. "They make these things harder than they need to be, just to scare you."
"Well, they're succeeding!" Joey said. "Now, how can I help you? Out fishing?"
"Nah, I'm just on a break from work so I thought I'd take a walk in the fresh air," he explained.
"Uh oh," Joey commented quietly.
She nodded behind him so he whirled round and saw Jill storming across the beach towards them.
"Uh oh," Miles agreed.
Back at the Diner, Irene was distracted.
"Are you okay?" Leah asked worriedly when she found her in the kitchen.
"Yeah," Irene sighed.
"Well, that wasn't very convincing," Leah remarked.
"Romeo asked me to try and talk to his Mum," Irene explained. "And I think I might have been a bit hard on her."
"I'm sick of you two!" Jill ranted.
She was slurring a little and both Joey and Miles could detect alcohol on her breath.
"I'm sick of all of you!" she continued. "Criticising me and teaching my ungrateful son that he should be ashamed of me! Like I've done anything wrong! I've always done my best for my kids! The worst thing that boy ever did was come here! You're all polluting his mind!"
Joey and Miles merely stared at her, speechless.
"Look, could we just focus, please?" Charlie finally snapped.
Against her better judgement, she had invited Angelo into the conversation and they had immediately pissed each other off.
"I'm not the one who bunks off work because I can't be arsed with the case," Angelo said sourly, folding his arms and glaring at her.
He was starting to wonder what he had ever seen in Charlie now. She had gone from someone he was desperately and almost helplessly attracted to, to someone he couldn't stand. He suddenly felt like he had wasted a lot of time fantasising over being with her over the last year. He didn't think she was that special after all.
"I didn't bunk off!" she yelled angrily.
"What do you call it then?"
"I was sick!"
"Okay, guys!" Watson begged. "We really have to make a plan. Yelling at each other really isn't helping anything."
Marilyn stared uncomprehendingly at Colleen. She had finally taken her aside and confessed that the whole engagement story had been a lie. And Colleen had responded by telling her she already knew.
"You knew?" Marilyn repeated dumbly.
"I'm not as stupid as you think I am," Colleen said sourly. "And I'm just as good at teaching people lessons as you are."
With that, she marched out of the Surf Club triumphantly.
"What was that about?" Romeo asked.
Joey and Miles glanced anxiously at each other, not entirely sure how to respond.
"Nothing," Miles eventually lied. "She was just saying hi."
"You don't wave your arms around like that just to say hello," Romeo pointed out.
He had witnessed his mother charging up to them and he had almost heard her yelling.
"Well, you do if you're very excited…" Joey tried.
Romeo frowned and sank against the counter.
"What happened?" he asked unhappily.
Martha had taken Alf aside at the Surf Club. She was painfully aware that she was running out of time with Hugo and she was terrified of the end. She had never been grateful for someone being injured before but she knew that if he was fighting fit, he would have left her all alone again by now.
"I'm just scared of losing him," she sighed quietly.
Rumours were rife in the Bay that she, Gina and Xavier had got caught up in Hugo's mess. But Martha hadn't yet figured out if people knew he was back or not.
"Well, maybe you should move someone back in when he's gone," Alf suggested. "What about Liam? You two were such good friends. You could…"
"No," Martha said sadly. "I can't do that. To be honest, Granddad, I don't even know if I'm sticking around here much longer."
Alf looked immediately concerned.
"I'm thinking about selling the farm, cutting my losses and skipping town," she admitted gravely.
Joey was finally packing up for the day. She had consoled Romeo and sent him off to go and speak to Liam. If anyone could help him understand addiction then it was him and the boys were already close friends. She had also completed her application to the bank and not neglected her work. All in all, she thought it had been a rather successful day. She was also looking forward to relaxing at home with her girlfriend and her daughter. She just hoped that there would be some conclusion to the Hugo saga sooner rather than later.
Next time… Charlie gives Martha a piece of her mind, Leah overrules Elijah and Joey receives the results of her loan application…
