I just wanted to say, thank you to everyone for your support at this time. I hope you enjoy the chapter. Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter Three Hundred and Forty

"How do I look?" Joey asked nervously, giving a twirl.

Charlie leered a little and nodded.

"You look hot," she said, leaning forward a kiss.

She pouted when Joey merely tapped her nose and backed away from her embrace.

"I'm serious!" she complained. "I need to look smart for this meeting, not like I've had a quickie before I left the house!"

"You don't normally mind," Ruby remarked, appearing from her bedroom.

Charlie laughed and Joey pouted.

"Today is different," she stated.

And indeed, today was different. Today, she had a meeting with the bank manager and she was desperate to get her business loan approved. Then, she and Charlie could really get started with their restaurant idea.

"Stop panicking, okay?" Charlie said, taking her hand and guiding Joey into a chair. "You look good, you've practiced perfectly and everything is going to go great. I'm just sorry I couldn't get out of work to come with you."

"Well, I only applied yesterday," Joey said. "I wasn't quite expecting them to respond so quickly."

"Hey, if business is slow, maybe they'll have more to loan you!" Ruby said hopefully.

Joey grinned.

"Fingers crossed," she said.


Jill approached Romeo before he went to school. She was sober and not even hungover. He still eyed her with scepticism.

"Can we start over?" she asked, getting right to the point.

Romeo continued to look unsure. He was scared of getting hurt again.

"Please?" she begged.

"Yes," he said. "Yes, we can."


"Got it!" Angelo bellowed, bursting into Charlie's office at work.

The Sergeant jump in fright and quickly tried to regulate her heart rate again.

"What?" she squeaked.

He thrust two search warrants in her face – one of the farm and one for Gina's house.

"What are we waiting for?" Charlie said, jumping to her feet.


Elijah appeared in the Diner looking stressed out.

"What's wrong?" Leah asked worriedly, stepping out from behind the counter.

"The rectory has a leak," he revealed. "It's where my parents were going to stay. I'm going to have to postpone the visit."

He pulled out his phone to contact his parents but Leah stopped him.

"No!" she protested. "You can't do that. We're getting married. We need to meet each other's families at the very least, Elijah."

He sighed and put his phone on the counter top.

"I know," he replied. "But what can I do?"

Leah chewed her lip thoughtfully.

"Well, why don't they come and stay at my place?"


Convinced that Hugo was more likely to be at the farm than at Gina's, Charlie, Angelo, Watson and several other police officers charged over. Charlie rapped firmly on the door.

"Police!" she yelled. "Open up!"

She heard some scuffling and scurrying on the other side of the wood. Eventually, Martha opened the door in her dressing gown.

"What's this about?"

"Martha Holden, we have reason to believe you're harbouring a fugitive on your property," Charlie said, hating to have to be all business. "We have a search warrant for the property."

Martha paled. She glanced back into the house, hoping that they wouldn't find the person they were looking for. Without any other choice, she stepped back and let the officers inside.


In pain and out of breath, Hugo ran out of the back door as fast as his legs could carry him. He ran across the farmland that Martha had been cultivating since Jack died, grateful to reach the edge of the property quickly. Without dignity, he launched himself into a bush and hid there, hoping that the police would be inept enough not to find him.


"Ms Collins?" the bank manager said, appearing in the way waiting room where Joey had been waiting patiently for her appointment.

She stood up and smiled. The young man, dressed in a smart suit and sporting thick, dark hair, reached out and extended his hand.

"Pleased to meet you," he said. "My name is Greg Davis."

Joey shook his hand.

"Pleased to meet you," she said politely. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me."

"Shall we?" he said, gesturing for her to enter his office.


"No," Elijah said, shaking his head. "No, that won't work."

"Why not?" Leah asked, pouting a little.

"Leah, you haven't met my mother," her fiancé replied firmly. "Trust me, you do not want her living in your house."

"Why not?" Leah asked again.

"For starters, she'll rearrange the whole place and tell you everything you've been doing the same way for years, you've been doing wrong," Elijah said.

"Such as?"

"Laundry, cleaning, cooking…"

"Cooking?" Leah asked in alarm, considering her day job.

"I wouldn't put it past her," Elijah said. "No, really. We'll rearrange the visit to another time. It's fine."


"What's going on?" Xavier asked worriedly, stepping up beside Martha as the police raided the house.

"The idiots think Hugo's here," Martha said, glaring at Charlie.

The Sergeant sighed heavily and approached.

"We know he's been staying here," she said. "And it would be a hell of a lot easier if you just told us where he is now."

"Even if he had been here, do you really think he would have stuck around after what happened the other night?" Martha asked.

Charlie chewed her lip. It was a thought that had crossed her mind before but something was telling her that this wasn't over. Hugo Austin was still in Summer Bay. They just had to find him.

"So why don't you just leave me and my family in peace?" Martha added nastily.

The police officer studied her friend's face.

"What has happened to you?" she asked.

She hadn't actually meant to say the words out loud but it was too late now.

"What do you mean?" Martha asked sharply.

"I mean, I look at you and you seem like a stranger to me," Charlie admitted sadly. "One minute Joey and I are coming over here with takeaway and we're friends and the next… the next you're happy to harbour a fugitive – a fugitive that murdered countless people, that nearly got me killed. I know you love him but no matter how much I loved someone – even Joey – I couldn't sacrifice all my morals and be with a person capable of the kind of evil Hugo is."

Martha stared at her, faltering a little. She watched mutely as Charlie turned away and continued the search of the property.


"Thank you for your time," Joey said, shaking Greg's hand on her way out.

"Thank you," he replied, showing her to the door. "We'll be in touch later today with a decision but… well, regardless of the answer, the restaurant's a really good idea. I'm sure it will be a great success."

Joey smiled warmly at him, trying not to hope too hard that his words meant she would get the loan. It hadn't been an easy meeting and he had raised a lot of concern over how many jobs she'd had and left over the last year. But she still hoped that this might be the jump start she needed.


The police had very reluctantly left the farm and not found Hugo. They had, however, found several items belonging to him and they'd taken them as evidence. Martha and Xavier had both insisted that it was pointless and that the items were things that he had left behind before the events of New Year. Ignoring them, Charlie, Watson, Angelo and the rest of the team had gone over to ransack Gina's place instead.

"Hugo?" Martha called out worriedly, wondering where on earth he boyfriend was hiding.

Charlie and Watson had both even gone to trouble of checking out the loft but he hadn't been up there. They had been very quick to query the recently patched up ceiling though.

"Hugo?" she yelled again.

She and Xavier were both flooded with relief when he appeared anxiously at the back door. Forcing herself to forget Charlie's harsh words, Martha flung herself into Hugo's arms.


"Look, don't be mad at me," Leah begged when Elijah returned to the Diner to collect his phone, which he had misplaced on the counter during their earlier conversation.

The Reverend froze.

"What have you done?" he asked cautiously.

"I've arranged for your parents to come and stay at my place," Leah admitted.

"Leah!"

"I know!" the Diner owner said, taking both his hands and squeezing them. "I know you said it was a bad idea but I really want to meet them and get on with them. I want them to like me and I thought if I went to the effort of hosting them then it might score me some brownie points."

To her relief, Elijah chuckled and pulled her into a hug. He kissed the top of her head and told her that he loved her.


Martha was making coffee in the kitchen while Hugo and Xavier sat in the other room.

"I'm scared of you going to prison," the younger Austin admitted unhappily.

Hugo nodded and patted him on the back.

"I'm leaving first thing tomorrow," he said. "I can't keep putting you all through this."

"What about Martha?" Xavier asked.

"I'm not taking her with me," he said. "I've lived a very bad life and made a lot of bad choices. But that stops now. Handing myself in isn't going to help. It'll just make my associates want to punish me more. I've just got to get away and start again."

Xavier nodded, sighing heavily. Charlie's words echoed in his brain and he felt torn over loyalty to his brother and horror at the 'bad choices' he had made in his life. They both looked up when Martha appeared in the doorway looking stern.

"Martha…" Hugo began.

She put their drinks down and left the farm.


Joey kept checking her phone. With Alf's permission, she had arrived late to work and taken over from the guy that covered the weekend shifts. She'd spent much of the day serving customers and keeping a smile on her face but she couldn't stop thinking about the bank loan. She just hoped that Greg would be nice enough to grant her the chance to get her business off the ground.


"Granddad, I need to talk to you," Martha said, arriving at the Surf Club and getting right to the point.

Immediately concerned, he abandoned the bar and asked Marilyn, his ever present companion to keep an eye on things for him. If he had the money, he would have given her a job by now but she seemed happy enough to volunteer for the time being.

"What's wrong?" Alf asked, guiding Martha to a quiet, corner table.

"I've signed the farm over to you," Martha told him.

"What?" Alf asked in sheer alarm.

"I've signed it over to you," Martha said. "With or without you know who, I'm leaving Summer Bay tomorrow."


The searches of both the farm and Gina's house had come up with nothing but some shirts and a toothbrush. Angelo had gone for a walk in a bid not to lose his temper with everyone who came near him while Watson and Charlie trawled through evidence together.

"Coffee break?" Charlie suggested with a yawn.

It had been a particularly long day and it was barely three o'clock.

"Perfect," Watson agreed.

"I'll nip down to the Diner," Charlie decided. "But don't work on this while I'm gone. You need as much of a break as I do."

"Yes, boss," Watson grinned.

Charlie smiled back and headed out of the police station, hoping to have the time to pop in on Joey at the bait shop on her way.


Martha arrived back at the farm and immediately confronted Hugo.

"I don't know why I love you," she said seriously. "Everything you've done utterly disgusts me and Charlie's right, I shouldn't be harbouring a fugitive capable of the crimes you are."

Xavier quietly left the room, opting to give the lovers some privacy.

"But the sad fact is that I do love you," Martha continued. "I never thought I'd love again after what happened to Jack and you're certainly not the man he was."

Hugo nodded and rubbed his face. He always wanted to be as good as Jack and he had never measured up.

"I don't know what it says about me that I can put everything you did to one side and love you all the same," Martha said. "But I do love you and I do want to be with you. I've signed the farm over to Granddad and I'm planning on leaving the Bay for good tomorrow – with or without you."

"Martha…" Hugo said, standing up worriedly.

"I'm serious," she insisted. "Aden had the right idea when he left for the city. I have the same terrible associations with this place that he did. Jack's death, breast cancer, losing my baby, everything that happened with you… I want out. I want to leave with you. But if you're not prepared to take me then I'm going on my own. You've got twenty four hours to decide."

Without another word, she left the room.


Charlie held Joey's close. She kissed to top of her head and stroked her hair.

"It'll be okay," she whispered.

"How?" Joey asked, bordering on becoming tearful. "They turned me down, Charlie. And unless you're sitting on a gold mine you haven't told me about, I have no other way to get the capital I need to set up this restaurant. Everything we've done, all the plans we made… they were for nothing."


Next time… someone else offers Joey a loan but she and Charlie come up with a new idea, Detective Eaves arrives and Angelo misses an important call…