Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety Six
Alf was feeling low. Just when he had had hope from Miles that Robertson was going to give up and go back to the city, Penn's body had washed up on the beach and everything has kicked off again. And then to top it off, the one nice thing that was going on in his life – his daughter – really wasn't panning out the way he had hoped it would. They had been spending a lot of time together and it had been very special. The only problem was that everything that came out of her mouth about Summer Bay was always so negative. Judging by the things she said, she hated the Bay, she hated her childhood, she was above this life, these people… him. She was better than everything here. It upset him to hear her talk. It belittled him and everything he loved. It annoyed him. He was starting to wonder why she had bothered to come back.
At work, Charlie pulled Watson into the office.
"I have a project," she said quietly.
"Ooh! Exciting!"
Charlie chuckled as they sat down together.
"What is it?"
"You and I need to go through this Penn Graham case with a fine tooth comb," Charlie said.
Watson pulled a face.
"Less exciting," she said. "Can't we run round the streets playing cops and robbers or something?"
Charlie snorted.
"If we go over it all with fresh eyes, maybe there might be something someone has missed," Charlie said. "Something that might point us in the right direction. A direction away from Alf."
"I'm in," Watson said. "Coffee?"
"What are you doing here?" Joey wondered when Alf arrived, looking ready to start work.
She had given him time off work for as long as he wanted in light of the investigation into Penn's death, wanting him not to have any extra stress.
"I know I'm not on shift but I wondered if needed an extra pair of hands," he said. "I just needed to get out of the house."
"Sure," Joey said. "We always need the help and I always love your company."
"You might not today," Alf said. "I think I probably fit the bill of grumpy old man today."
Joey chuckled.
"What's up? Or is that a stupid question?"
"Oh, it's just Roo," he sighed.
Joey looked surprised. She had assumed it was Robertson and the investigation.
"Roo?" she said.
"She's just so anti-Summer Bay," he said. "I mean, why did she come home if she hates this place so much? If she's so much better than a small town, why is she here? If New York is far superior to this place then why didn't she stay there? I'm sick a tired of her complaining about everything here."
"Yeah, I get that," Joey said. "Have you told her how you feel?"
"I don't want to get into an argument with her," Alf said unhappily. "She's not here for long. I guess I'll just have to grin and bear it."
Nina came to visit Liam at school. She spotted him in the corridor through the throng of students and called him over.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked, walking past Bianca to get to her.
She responded by kissing him passionately. Several students wolf whistled and called out.
"Wow," Liam said. "What did I do to deserve that?"
"I just missed you," Nina said. "Do you want to have dinner tonight? I liked that restaurant we went to the other night."
"Sure," Liam said. "Book a table."
"Cool," Nina replied. "See you later."
Bianca had quietly watched the whole exchange. Liam knew it. She slipped away quietly.
"Mr Murphy," said a stern voice.
Liam's heart sank as he turned around.
"Do you think that's an appropriate display at school?" Gina asked.
"I'm really very sorry," Liam apologised. "I wasn't expecting Nina to show up at school."
"Well, make sure it doesn't happen again," his boss instructed.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Roo, it's Joey."
Joey was sat in her office, having set Alf a few tasks so she could sneak off and make her call. She wasn't sure the call would be terribly well received but she felt like she had to try.
"Hi…" Roo said uncertainly.
"Listen, I'm really sorry to bother you but um… your Dad's here."
"So? He works with you."
There was a pause.
"I mean… is he okay?"
Joey sighed awkwardly, twirling a pen on the desk.
"Yeah, he's okay," she said. "I mean… he's having a rough time at the moment," she ventured.
"I know," Roo said. "He's in the frame for murder."
"Yes," Joey said anxiously. "He really loves having you around though."
"Great."
This conversation just wasn't going very well.
"And I think he'd really love it if you guys had some time to hang out and have a nice time together," Joey said.
"Then maybe he shouldn't dash off to a job he doesn't need every five minutes to be with his preferred daughter," Roo snapped.
The words were out before she could stop them. Joey didn't know what to say.
"He really wants to spend time with you," she eventually said.
"Does he?"
"Yes, he does," Joey said. "He loves you."
"Right."
"But he feels a bit like you don't want to be here," Joey told her. "That you feel very negatively about a town and about people that he loves."
Roo was silent, thoughtful.
"Have I been spewing bile about the place?" she asked.
"A little bit," Joey admitted.
"It's been upsetting him."
"A little bit."
"What do I do?"
"Just… spend time with him," Joey said. "Be happy with him. Laugh with him. Be positive with him. Make the most of your visit with him. That's all he wants. All he needs."
Roo nodded even though Joey couldn't see her.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"Sorry?"
"I don't mean to be jealous of you," she said.
"I didn't know you were," Joey told her.
"Of course you did," Roo said. "You're the daughter he never had. I'm the daughter he never wanted."
"You're the daughter he has. You're the daughter he loves," Joey corrected her.
"He worships the ground you walk on, Joey," Roo said.
"There's room for both of us, isn't there?" Joey asked. "Even if he does love me. And even if I do love him. You're his daughter. And you're his daughter first. That matters."
Roo sighed.
"I hope that's true," she said.
"It is," Joey said. "So why don't you come over to the restaurant and spend time with him today?"
Romeo chased Liam down the corridor as he walked to his next class.
"Hey!" he called.
His teacher stopped and turned.
"Hey, Romeo," he said. "Have you got an exam today?"
"No, I'm just doing some study in the library with Indi," Romeo said. "Listen, don't you think you should cool it a bit in front of Bianca?"
"What's Bianca got to do with anything?"
"All these PDA's you keep having in front of her?" Romeo said. "It's not fair."
"Why would it bother her? She's engaged to Prince Vittorio, isn't she? Why would she care about me anymore?"
"I'd still say it's not fair," Romeo said. "Just be a bit more sensitive."
Liam shrugged.
"Listen, we're going out for dinner tonight," he said. "Do you and Indi want to come? Double date? We haven't really had a chance to catch up since I got back."
"Sure," Romeo said. "If you stop showing off to Bianca."
Liam half smiled.
"I'll do my best," he said.
Alf was surprised and not sure whether he was pleased or not when Roo showed up at the restaurant. Then he twigged, from the way that she and Joey smiled at and greeted each other, that Joey had interfered.
"Hey, Dad," Roo said cheerfully. "I thought I'd come and spend some time with you today."
"Are you sure?" Alf said. "I'm just working. It'll be quite boring for you, love."
"Oh, I don't mind. I can pitch in. Or I can sit at the bar and sip cocktails."
She grinned.
"I'm getting quite good at making cocktails actually," Alf said enthusiastically.
"My Dad, a regular Tom Cruise?" Roo joked.
"We've been learning," Alf said. "I'm getting a bit of a knack for it, aren't I, Joey?"
"Surprisingly so," Joey agreed.
"Well, if you want to make cocktails your thing, you know you can have these fun cocktail making sessions as a training exercise but also a fun team building kind of thing?" Roo said.
"That sounds kind of cool," Joey said.
"And that's just for the staff," Roo said, as Alf went behind the bar to find the cocktail menu for his daughter. "You could hold so many events in a place like this. You could really bring some money in with event hosting."
"Have I mentioned that my daughter is in event management?" Alf joked.
"So surprising…" Joey joked back.
"Well, if you want any assistance," Roo said. "Here's my card."
She slid it across the bar to Joey, who pocketed it, genuinely thinking it could be useful.
Charlie left her office after several hours in order to get more coffee. She pulled out her phone on the way to the machine and called Joey.
"Hey, how's your day going?" she asked.
"Yeah, not bad," Joey said. "The lunch time rush is just about to hit. And I think I might have started making some progress with Roo."
"Oh? That's good."
"Yeah, I'm quite pleased with myself actually. How about you?"
"Watson and I are up to our neck in…"
She looked around to make sure nobody could hear her.
"… a secret project."
"Ooh…"
"That's what Watson said… until I told her what it was!"
"I'm intrigued," Joey said.
"You'll be pleased and bored in equal measure when I tell you about it," Charlie said. "Anyway, I'd better get back to work. Love you."
"Love you. Bye."
As soon as Alf was distracted with customers, Angelo found his moment to swoop in and offer Roo a drink.
"How are your cocktails?" Roo asked.
"Well, I don't know if they're as good as Alf's but I'll do my best," Angelo said. "What would you like?"
"Sex on the Beach?"
He grinned.
"Seriously," Roo said when he carried on grinned. "Can I have that one?"
She pointed to the menu. He blushed, embarrassed to realise that she hadn't actually been flirting with him.
"S-sure," he said. "I can do that."
"So, you're Angelo, right?" Roo said. "You're the one that killed my daughter's husband?"
Angelo swallowed hard but the memories made his sick. He focussed on making the drink.
"Sorry," Roo said. "That was a little harsh."
"No," Angelo said. "It's true. I did. It was an accident."
"I know," Roo said. "I'm sorry."
Angelo plastered a smile on his face and continued to make the drink.
"So, you were a cop?" Roo said. "You were in charge of the Hugo Austin case, weren't you?"
"Don't tell me," he said. "I messed that up too?"
"I was going to say thank you," she said. "My daughter is out there with second love of her life now instead of visiting him in jail."
"Well…"
"I'm not about to debate the morality of what Hugo did but…"
"I did it for her, not him," Angelo said. "I would never have done it for him. What he did made me sick. But I wanted Martha to be happy."
He handed her the drink.
"Well, that's one thing we've got in common."
She lifted up her drink.
"Cheers."
It was early evening and the day had gone well. Charlie and Watson had knuckled down and gone through the Penn Graham murder investigation case notes. It was the beginning of a long project but they were hopeful that they would get somewhere.
"How about I treat you to dinner?" Charlie offered. "A reward for roping you into this project with me?"
"How could I refuse?" Watson grinned, as they walked out of the station together.
Joey was amused. Angelo had been hanging around Roo all day and practically been tripping over his own tongue. It was embarrassing. He just never seemed to pick up signals that a woman wasn't interested.
"Hello there," she greeted when Liam, Nina, Romeo and Indi arrived.
"Hey, Joey," Romeo greeted happily.
They would always be close friends.
"We've got a table booked for four," Nina added.
"Great," Joey said, leading the way.
She glanced across at Angelo again and chuckled. He was leaning across the bar, chatting away. Roo was listening but not exactly hanging on his every word.
On her way back from seating the foursome, she bumped into Alf.
"Does he think he's going to be my next son in law or something?" he asked.
"Or something!" Joey chuckled.
Alf chuckled and shook his head.
"Oh, there's your beloved," he said, nodding towards the door.
Joey skipped forward to greet Charlie and Watson.
"I am very pleased to see you!" she said, kissing Charlie.
Watson cleared her throat.
"And you, of course," Joey said. "But I won't kiss you."
"Probably best," Watson grinned.
"I said I'd treat Watson to dinner," Charlie said. "I bored her to death today."
"For a good cause," Watson said.
"Well, I'm due a break if you don't mind a gate crasher," Joey said.
"When she's as beautiful as you, of course not," Charlie said.
Joey blushed. Even after all this time, compliments caught her off guard. She called to her colleagues and then led her girlfriend and colleague over to a table for dinner.
"Oh, I think she's here for me," Roo said, standing up when she spotted Gina walk through the door.
Partway through the day, she had arranged to have dinner with Hugo's mother to talk some more about their children. Angelo was disappointed. He had been rather enjoying having Roo to himself for the evening.
"See you later, Angelo," she said, giving him a wave.
Alf showed the women to their table and sat them down, pleased that Roo was starting to make more connections in the Bay. This was the second time she had met up with Gina now and she had definitely got along better with Joey today. And then of course, there was Angelo.
"Making friends, I see?" Gina remarked, nodding towards the bar.
"Oh, him?" Roo said, waving a dismissive hand. "He's just being chatty."
"Well, be a little way of him," Gina said. "I don't know him all that well but from what I hear, he has a tendency to get attached."
Roo nodded.
"Well, thank you for meeting me," she said.
"I've been worried about Hugo and Martha," she said. "Since you gave me the letter."
Roo nodded.
"Are you going to do it?" she asked.
Next time… Gina has a dilemma, April is on a mission and Nina steps out of line…
