Chapter Three Hundred and Seventy
"I still can't believe you got Angelo a job working with you," Ruby mused over breakfast on Monday morning.
"I know," Joey replied. "I really didn't think that one through, did I?"
"Just keep focussing on the fact that you're doing a good deed," Charlie suggested. "And that in a matter of mere weeks you'll be out of there and neither of us will ever have to go near him again unless we want to fish."
Joey's eyes lit up.
"We are not going fishing!" Charlie said quickly.
Joey's face fell, mumbling something about having Ross and Morag to stay again so that she could be around people who appreciated such activities.
"We really should invite them round," Charlie mused. "It's been ages."
Breakfast at the caravan park was a less friendly affair. The teenagers, Nicole and Romeo were both fine but Alf, Miles and Marilyn had all fallen out over the presence of Mr Oddly. Marilyn was upset with Alf for repeatedly trying to murder him. Alf was convinced that Marilyn and Miles were playing some kind of joke on him. Miles was offended by the accusation. Subsequently, none of them were talking to each other.
"Ready for your first day?" Joey asked, approaching the bait shop where Angelo was waiting outside.
"As I'll ever be," he replied.
"I brought you a coffee to start the day," Joey said, handing over the paper cup she had acquired from the Diner.
He stared at her a little puzzled.
"Thanks," he said quietly.
Reading his expression, Joey paused in unlocking the door to the business.
"We've long established that we don't like each other," she said. "Although quite frankly, I have a hell of a lot more legitimacy in my argument than you do in yours."
Angelo opened his mouth to object but she breezed past it and continued speaking.
"But for the next few weeks, before I get stuck into the restaurant, we have no choice but to spend time together. So let's just make it as pleasant as we can, okay?"
"Okay," he agreed uncharacteristically meekly.
He followed her into the store.
Penn waited for Colleen to leave her mobile home in order to go to work at the Diner. When she was safely out of the way and the coast looked clear, he stole across to her van and picked the lock. He then dumped several items, including his own wallet and iPod onto her bed. Locking up behind him, Penn escaped to his own caravan. There, he phoned the police to report his belongings stolen.
"So, this is the job the keeps a smile on your face all day?" Angelo remarked. "Really? It's so boring!"
"It might not be as exciting are running around catching bad guys and then letting them go but it's a nice job," Joey replied. "It's good enough for me and you'd better hope that it's good enough for you because the chances of you getting anything else are pretty damn low."
He glared at her.
"Are you just going to spend the whole day insulting me and bossing me around?" he asked.
"No," Joey replied. "I'm also going to lunch and I have a meeting about the restaurant in the afternoon."
He continued to glare at her as she showed him how to restock the shelves.
"How on earth did someone like you end up on top of the world and someone like me end up in the gutter?" he wondered aloud.
"I think it's called karma," she replied without missing a beat.
Having finished lunch with Charlie, Joey tried to psyche herself up for her meeting with the council. Charlie had hoped she might be able to go with her but she had far too much to do at work with the reported spate of robberies to skive off. She was reassured that Alf would always look out for her though.
"Good luck," she said, kissing her.
Joey looked half excited and half terrified but Charlie had every faith in her – and she told her so.
"Are you ready love?" Alf asked.
Joey turned to find him waiting for her with John, ready to go up to the meeting.
"I hope so!" Joey remarked. "I made progress diagrams and everything."
"It's been ever such an interesting weekend," Charlie teased.
Joey pouted. Charlie kissed her and then dashed out of the building and back to work.
Having been left to hold the fort, Angelo was bored and bitter. It infuriated him that Joey was about to leave this life, a life she enjoyed, behind to go on to do bigger things. And he had sunk from being a Senior Constable of the police force, to acquiring Joey's leftovers. He hated that she was essentially his boss and that Alf loved her so much and disliked him. He hated that she had the perfect girlfriend when he may as well become a monk for the lack of action he had been getting since he was released from prison. And he hated but secretly quite enjoyed the way Joey had an answer for everything. Sighing, he looked at the stock Joey had told him to put on the shelves while she was out. Deciding he couldn't be bothered, he ignored it.
Colleen arrived back at her caravan after her shift at the Diner. Standing with the door open, she couldn't make sense of what she saw. A large stash of items sat on her bed. She swore she had never seen them before but she couldn't make head nor tail of where they might have come from. It didn't make sense.
"Well, we look forward to opening night," John said brightly, shaking Joey's hand.
The meeting had gone well and everyone on the Council was pleased with her ideas and progress. Joey couldn't wait to call Charlie and tell her all about it.
"Me too!" she grinned, following Alf out of the building.
Before they parted ways for her to return to the bait shop, Alf touched her arm. She offered him her full attention.
"I really am proud of you, you know," he told her.
She surprised him with a hug.
Charlie and Watson had been at the caravan park for fifteen minutes when they found Colleen wandering around as if she had seen a ghost.
"Colleen, are you okay?" Charlie asked worriedly, touching her arm and startling her.
The older woman stared at Charlie.
"I don't know how they got there, Sergeant Buckton," she said.
"Have you actually got off your arse all afternoon?" Joey demanded when she found Angelo lounging on a chair, reading the paper.
"Have you?" he asked.
"I was officially excused by my boss," she pointed out. "You're just lazy. How did you even manage to catch criminals when you were a cop? Oh yeah, that's right – you didn't."
Angelo leapt to his feet.
"Shut up!" he yelled.
"Make me," she replied.
He glared hatefully at her and sat back down.
"Alf is used to this place being run in a certain way," Joey told him. "It's called 'efficiently'. I don't know if you're familiar with the term but you'd better learn it. Finish stacking the shelves and stop being so damn difficult!"
Angelo reluctantly got to his feet.
"It's a sad day when I have to take orders from some uneducated dyke who's manipulated the boss into thinking the sun shines out of her!"
Charlie felt terrible as she and Watson drove Colleen to the police station. The Diner worker was visibly shaken and genuinely confused. But she had led them to her caravan where all of the reported stolen items were sitting on her bed. Knowing that she would go quietly, Charlie had held off on the handcuffs but she'd had no choice but to arrest her. And she hated herself for it. Colleen might be a gossip but her heart was in the right place and Charlie was certain that there was more to this crime than met the eye.
"So, how long have I got to put up with you?" Angelo asked.
"Until I tell Alf how crap you are at the job and he cancels your trial," Joey replied.
She was surprised to find Angelo looking stricken.
"I need this job," he said honestly.
Joey was equally surprised to find herself feeling compassionate.
"Then think about that tomorrow," she said. "When we forget about your inactivity and start again."
He nodded and thanked her.
"It's okay," Joey replied easily. "I kind of like having you around to make fun of all day."
"And I quite enjoy disliking you so I guess we're even," he replied.
Watson found Charlie in her office and knocked politely on the door.
"How is she?" Charlie asked.
After her interview, Watson had had to put Colleen into a cell while she waited to be charged with theft.
"She's refusing a phone call," Watson said. "And doesn't have a lawyer. I don't really know what we can do to help her."
Charlie sighed.
"She won't even call Alf or someone like that?" she asked.
"Nope," Watson said, perching on a chair opposite the desk. "She's too humiliated."
"I'd like to say she shouldn't have committed the crime then but honestly, I can't see her doing something like that," Charlie admitted. "She really does seem genuine when she says she doesn't know what happened."
"I agree," Watson said. "What do we do?"
"We break confidentiality and get her some help," Charlie decided. "But don't worry, I won't put anyone else's neck on the block. Just mine."
Next time… Nicole gives Xavier a piece of her mind and Alf and Charlie do what they can to support Colleen…
