Hi everyone. Sorry for the absence of chapters recently. I've been away for my birthday and then I was recovering from being away so I've not been with my computer for a little while. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter Four Hundred and Seventy Eight

Bianca and Vittorio were enjoying lunch together at the restaurant the next day. Or at least, Bianca had been enjoying lunch until she had spotted her fiancé looking at their waitress's butt as she'd walked away.

"You know she's a lesbian, right?" she said. "And about eighteen years old."

Vittorio tried to look innocent and offended.

"I wasn't looking!" he insisted.

"I saw you!"

"Bianca, you have to stop being so suspicious of me," he said. "I'm here to win your heart back. I'm not very well going to be looking at other women in front of you, am I?"

"What about behind my back?"

"That's not what I meant," he said helpless.

She looked annoyed.

"You're being paranoid," he accused.

"I just don't think I am," she said.

He took her hand.

"Please, please can you trust me again?" he begged.

She desperately wanted to.


Behind the bar, Joey was eager to catch up with Alf, who had just started his shift.

"So, what happened with Nicole?" she asked.

"He seems to have her in his sights now and I just feel so guilty," he said. "I feel like I brought that monster to the Bay."

"No, you didn't," she corrected.

"By accident, I did," he said. "And poor Nicole is paying the price. He seduced her to hurt me. He did that awful thing with the needle stick to hurt her because of me. And now they're zoning in on her because of me."

He shook his head, upset.

"It'll all come right," she assured him. "Whoever did this, they'll find them. And we all know it wasn't you or Nicole."


Robertson picked up his usual morning coffee from the Diner.

"Good morning, Detective," Colleen greeted.

She knew he wasn't popular in the Bay but she had actually come to quite like Robert Robertson. He was always friendly and greeted her with a smile no matter what.

"Good morning, Colleen," he said. "How are we today?"

"Not so bad, Detective," she replied. "I mean, we'll all be happier when you've caught this murder and they're off the streets."

"Yes, we will," he agreed. "They're giving me the slip at the moment but we will find them."

"I know you will, Detective," Colleen told him confidently.

"You know lots about this town and its residents' don't you, Colleen?" Robertson said conversationally.

"Oh, yes, Detective," Colleen said. "I know pretty much all there is to know about Summer Bay."

"What about Penn Graham and his relationship with Nicole Franklin?"

"Well, he treated her terribly," she said.

He nodded, pleased that she was always so eager to chat.

"He bullied her and manipulated her," she said. "I mean, at first he was so charming. He swept her off her feet. And I mean, she's had some tough times with men in her short years of life. There was that Liam Murphy and his drug addiction. And that awful man, Elliot, who kidnapped her!"

"Really?" Robertson said, feigning interest and hoping she would get back to the point.

"Then there was that Trey Palmer, he was a wrong 'un if ever there was one. Then there was Aden. I mean, he was a lovely boy but he was grieving and mixed up so it was never going to work out. Really, she should have stayed with Geoff. He was the only normal boy she's ever been out with but I think that's why she dumped him!"

She chuckled and tutted at the same time.

"Interesting… But um… back to Penn Graham…"

"Oh, yes, Penn Graham," Colleen said. "He was a bully. You know he planted a needle on the beach and made her think that she might have that virus?"

"Yes, I'd heard about that," Robertson said.

"It was a terrible business," Colleen said. "She was so upset. I don't think she's even in the clear now. She's been the shadow of herself ever since."

Robertson nodded sympathetically.

"I guess she's not sorry to see the back of him," Colleen mused. "But then I guess nobody really is. He was a bad, bad man. He even set me up for theft!"

"Did he?" Robertson asked.

"Yep! Bold as brass! I mean, why would he do that?"

Alf, Robertson thought to himself.

"There's just no rhyme or reason to any of it," Colleen said. "It's like he just came to town to upset everyone. But I guess he pushed someone too far."

"I guess he did," Robertson said, still thinking of Alf.

He was the common denominator. He was the person that Penn was gunning for and the person that people like Colleen and Nicole were connected to, the people that Penn targeted.

"Well, here's your coffee," Colleen said.

They exchanged money and the beverage.

"Oh, um… have you heard anything from Leah, by the way?"

"Oh, the odd text," Colleen said. "She and VJ seem to having a nice time. Not sure when she'll be home."

"Okay," Robertson said.

He was sad to be here without her.


At school, Bianca was distracted. She had been ever since lunch and she had caught Vittorio looking at Claire. Thankfully, the poor girl had been oblivious. She was ever so shy and would have been really flustered, she knew. But since then, she had been plagued with memories of the time she had caught her fiancé in bed with another woman. More and more, she was scared that she was making a mistake by accepting him back into her life. And then there was Liam. She missed Liam. She had let Vittorio swoop back in and now Liam, lovely Liam, was gone and she couldn't bear it. She picked up the phone and called Joey.


Robertson hadn't returned to the station straight away. He was still frustrated that Nick Parrish had been so easy on Charlie. Granted, she had been removed from the case but she was still in uniform and she was still attending work every day, still in charge of other cases. What was it about this woman that made everyone think she was so wonderful?

But he was interested in Nicole. Their search hadn't brought anything up to match any items connecting her to the sequin they had found in Penn's hotel room, which was disappointing. But she was still the most likely female connected to him in Summer Bay. They had hooked up almost immediately that he had arrived in town and from what Colleen had told him just now, it seemed that she had quite the chequered romantic history. Well, it wasn't a surprise, he supposed. Her father was in jail and her mother was off doing goodness knows what with goodness knows who.

He stopped by the Surf Club and found Miles at a table, his nose in what looked like a mountain of paperwork. He empathised.

"Good afternoon," he greeted in his usual manner.

He didn't know why it seemed to piss people off so much.

"Can I help you?" Miles asked coldly.

"Not teaching today?"

"Free afternoon for marking and lesson planning."

"Nice place to do it."

"I like the smoothies."

"So, have you lived with Alf for a long time?" Robertson asked.

"Long enough."

"For what?"

"To know that he would never harm anyone."

Robertson nodded.

"What do you know about Tulip?"

Miles looked confused.

"They're pretty flowers," he eventually said.

"They are. I imagine the woman named after them was pretty too. Do you know much about her?"

Miles continued to look blank.

"Right," Robertson concluded. "Alf hasn't told you about her. Good thing to note."

Miles glared at him. Robertson turned to leave and then turned back, as had always been his plan.

"Um… could you tell me about this vigilante meeting I heard you'd had shortly before Penn went missing?"

Miles looked stricken. Guilt was painted all over his face.

"Who was there? What you talked about?"

"I-I-I don't know what you're talking about," Miles managed.

Robertson nodded.

"Of course you don't," he said. "I'm sure Alf, Sid and Angelo will all say the same thing."

He left.


That evening, Charlie and Joey had given Ruby some money to go out for the evening with her friends, warning her that they were having a girls night at home with Bianca and that there might be some 'soul searching'. She said that she was just relieved that they weren't fighting anymore as it had made her feel 'unsettled' but that if Bianca was the one having issues then she 'wasn't so bothered'.

Now, with their teenage daughter out of the house, Charlie and Joey were sat in their lounge listening to Bianca fret about Vittorio.

"I just don't know how to get the past out of my head," she said, sipping her wine. "Every time I think it's done, it seems to come up again. All he did was look at Claire today. It might not even have been anything. And it's not exactly like I'm going to find them in bed together later!"

Joey snorted.

"But I just couldn't help being bothered by him looking," Bianca frowned. "Like, after what he did, he should make doubly sure that he doesn't do that sort of thing."

"I get that," Charlie empathised. "I mean, I've been cheated on. It hurts. When I first moved to Summer Bay and I dated Roman, he was completely in love with Martha and was only with me because he couldn't have her. We both knew it. Every time he looked at her, it killed me. And I wasn't even that into him. I just wanted to be with someone. But it still hurts."

Joey squeezed her hand.

"I just hate this person I've turned into. So suspicious and jealous all the time. I hate it. It's not who I am."

"I think you've come to a point where you have to make a choice," Joey said as gently as possible.

"What do you mean?"

"You either have to properly forgive him and push all of this out of your head…"

"What if I can't?"

"Then you have to say goodbye and forget about him," Joey said sadly.

"I think she's right," Charlie chipped in. "So what it really comes down to is, can you live without Vittorio in your life or can you put the past in the past and move into the future with him?"


"Who's Tulip?" Miles asked.

The question caught Alf off guard as the two men ate dinner together at the table. He paused for a moment but he decided not to lie. Miles was his friend and he had been there for him through everything.

"She was Penn's mother," he said. "She and I had a relationship many years ago. She died. I didn't know."

"Is that why Penn came here? To find you?"

"Yes," Alf said.

Miles looked awkward.

"You're… you're not… Penn's…"

Alf laughed. Miles looked startled.

"Sorry," he said.

But he felt relief to be able to laugh at something.

"I'm not his father," he assured him. "He was alive long before I met Tulip."

Miles breathed a sigh of relief.

"But he blames me for his mother's death. She killed herself when… when her husband left her. Because of me."

"I'm sorry." Miles said more solemnly.

"Me too," Alf said. "I didn't know. I didn't know any of it. I wish I could have done something."


Robertson and Graves were sat in Robertson's car drinking coffee, tucking just inside the cemetery.

"How do you know he'll show?" Graves asked.

"He'll show," Robertson said confidently. "If not tonight then tomorrow night or the night after that. But he'll show."

Graves wasn't so sure.

"Someone has been putting fresh flowers on Tulip's grave and it's definitely not Penn Graham," Robertson explained. "There's only one other man left who loved her."


"I just want what you guys have," Bianca said, sighing dramatically. "I mean, why can't I have the perfect relationship? Why do I end up with the cheater or the guy who hot foots it out of town the second a bit of a challenge shows up?"

"We don't have a perfect relationship," Charlie said.

"Of course you do," Bianca said. "You never even frown at each other."

The girls purposely frowned at each other, making Bianca laugh.

"I mean it," Bianca said. "When am I going to find the guy that I fit together perfectly with like you two have?"

"We do fit and I know Charlie is perfect for me," Joey agreed. "But that doesn't mean it's perfect all the time."

She looked at Charlie who nodded.

"We fell out recently," she admitted.

"Wait, what?"

"All this stuff going on with Alf," Joey said. "It hit us really hard. We really struggled. We argued. We couldn't agree."

"Yeah but like, Charlie and Joey disagree, right?" Bianca said. "Wrapped up by breakfast?"

"No, like, days of not speaking," Charlie said.

"No," Bianca said. "No, you guys are the reason I haven't given up on love completely. You're never ever allowed to fall out. My whole reason for existing will come crumbling down!"

Charlie and Joey laughed.

"We worked it out," Charlie assured her. "We're fine now."

"So it should give you more hope."

"How?" Bianca asked, flustered.

"Because we had a fight and we made it up," Charlie said. "And everything is exactly the same as it was before."

"So if you want to make things work with Vittorio, you can. And if you want to let him go and start something new with someone else… maybe, Liam Murphy… you could do that too," Joey added.

Bianca sighed dramatically.

"I just don't think I'm cut out for any of this," she said.


"There he is," Robertson said. "Right on cue."

The two police officers watched as Alf Stewart approached a grave. He stood for a few moments, solemn in the dark. Then he lay some tulips down. He seemed to sigh heavily and rub his face.

Robertson took photographs of the whole thing.


Charlie and Joey lay in bed, having said goodbye to Bianca a short while ago. Joey snuggled up to her girlfriend.

"I really am sorry I was so hard on you about Alf," she said in the dark.

Charlie turned and kissed her.

"It's forgotten," she said.


Next time… Joey plans a date night, Watson worries about becoming boring and Irene discovers the truth…