Taken from Claire Ripley's comment to Ellie about there being no witness protection when she had to rely on Alec helping her.
Rose was on the train to a town called Sandbrook, looking forward to seeing her old friend Shareen again after all this time. Shareen Costello's mother had found herself a rich bloke and gone to live with him in the town Rose had never heard of before her friend had gone off to stay with her and decided it was much nicer than living on the council estate they'd both grown up on.
Rose recalled the telephone conversation she'd had with her old friend a few days before, letting herself be talked into taking a day off from the department store, since she was still owed some holidays and going on the Friday morning, leaving Sunday afternoon and Shareen promising a party across the road at a couple's house where they were spontaneous and always inviting her to barbecues with their next door neighbours.
As Rose was travelling down to see her friend, Cate and Ricky Gillespie were going over with their niece Lisa that she was staying overnight with her cousin Pippa and that they'd be leaving early the next morning to attend their friend's wedding.
"I know what to do Aunt Cate," Lisa had insisted, smiling at the thought of being able to slip the two of them next door and spend some time with Lee, if Claire was off visiting her friend again.
Lisa had taken Pippa to school, she was off college on a study break and thought about going off to see where Lee was working. She had just left as Shareen was leaving to go meet Rose at the railway station.
"Hi Lisa, no college today?" Shareen asked her.
Lisa shook her head. "How's the job hunting?" she asked Shareen as they walked up the road to the bus stop.
"Still waiting to hear from a few places. My friend's coming down from London for the weekend. I mentioned her, Rose," Shareen told her as the bus was already at the terminus and she hoped the driver wouldn't be stupid and leave early. "How's your hairdressing course doing?"
"Great and Claire's really good, she lets me practice on Saturday normally, gives students a discount but I'm looking after Pippa tomorrow, my aunt and uncle are off to a wedding. They're staying overnight so I think me and Pippa might nip next door and spend some time with Claire, if Lee's working late."
Shareen looked disappointed there would be no party, after she'd promised Rose. Lisa noticed.
"Hey, why don't you bring your friend over, to meet Claire?" Lisa suggested as the driver opened the door for them and asked where they were going.
They paid their bus fare, Shareen thinking it was obvious where two women were going, to the shops and went to sit upstairs, mainly so Lisa may see Lee working somewhere on the route into town.
Shareen agreed she'd bring Rose across to meet Claire and Lee and they started talking about a bloke who'd taken Lisa out just once and she'd found him a bit creepy.
"I mean Shareen, he's been hanging around when I've been looking after Pippa, I daren't tell my uncle, he'll knock the bloke into the middle of next week," Lisa explained, gazing out of the window but now they were getting to the town, she had less chance of seeing Lee.
Shareen tried to be sympathetic. "Is it that Gary?" she asked her friend. Lisa nodded without turning away from the window, just in case. "You should tell Lee then, he'll sort him out."
"Yeah, I might do, he'll knock some sense into the bloke, Ricky will probably just give him a warning. So, bring your friend over then, have you known her long?" Lisa asked her.
"Only forever, we grew up together. Right, this is my stop, I hope her train's not late, she might have some money and we can go look around the shops. When we were kids, we used to skip school and go watch the boys in the mall," Shareen laughed.
"I know what you mean," Lisa smiled, having done the same with Lee Ashworth since her uncle had rented the house next door to the couple.
As Shareen got off the bus and waved at her friend upstairs, little did she know it was going to be the last time they really spoke. Rose was just getting off the train as Shareen was waving through the crowd, Shareen grabbing hold of her.
"Hey, glad you could make it," Shareen laughed as they got outside the station building.
"So, how've ya been then?" Rose laughed as Shareen headed to the nearest coffee shop, knowing her friend hadn't much money and wanted to spend as little of it as possible.
"Oh, you know, still looking for a job, unlike someone," she nudged Rose as they sat down outside.
"Hey, I was lucky to get my old job back," Rose protested as Shareen messed with the menu.
Taking pity on her friend, Rose went off to order, coming back with two cartons after saying they were for out, which technically, they were. She'd laughed at her mother saying the cups were more suitable to put soup in. They spent the rest of the day catching up and Shareen's mother getting all the gossip from the estate, including who Rose's mother was currently seeing, to Rose's embarrassment.
Rose was getting up the next morning, having slept in Shareen's room on a put-up bed since she didn't facing sleeping in the attic with a pile of junk, waiting for the bathroom to be free and glancing out of the window. She saw a man and a woman getting into a waiting taxi, them looking like they were arguing. They were.
Cate was complaining Ricky had put his hip-flask in the small case, knowing what was in it and what he would be up to.
"It's a wedding Ricky, have some respect," Cate was goading him as he went to get in the front of the cab.
Rose smiled as she saw the man ignore his wife and preferred to sit on his own. After going into town again and Rose buying a new top in the sale and treating her friend to one, they headed back to Shareen's new home, her saying they should call over and see Claire later, since Lisa had mentioned it. Rose wasn't so keen.
"I thought ya said she was looking after her cousin?" Rose asked, having seen Lisa out in the street with whom she presumed was Pippa riding a bike and Lisa watching her.
Shareen had just waved as they gone back into the house, having just got back from town.
"They often go round, Claire, the woman lets Lisa work at her hair salon sometimes, to get the practice. Come on, we'll have a laugh, Lee's really funny," Shareen tried to encourage her.
Rose was about to give in a few hours later but they heard a noise out in the street and Shareen's mother's boyfriend, Ken, went to see what was going on, seeing it was the young man Lisa had gone out with.
"It's just that Gary," he told everyone as he came back in. "You two should stay inside until he's gone, he'll be watching Lisa again and someone will have had a go at him for standing on their lawn."
Shareen wasn't so desperate to seek company, she knew the bloke was a creep.
"We'll give it a miss then?" Shareen suggested as Rose didn't seem that bothered.
"Yeah, you can introduce them to me tomorrow," Rose suggested.
Just then her phone rang, it was her mother.
"Rose, are you coming back tomorrow sweetheart?" Jackie asked her.
"Yeah, why?" Rose had to ask.
"Well Jimbo hears there's gonna be massive engineering works, it could take ya hours to get home Rose. You'd best get an earlier train, some might even be cancelled."
Rose thought it was just her luck her visit would get cut short.
"Bad news?" Shareen asked as her mother tried to fill her glass, since they'd decided not to go out.
"Mum's friend said the trains are gonna be disrupted tomorrow, I'll have to call in the morning and see if mine's been affected."
"Aw, that's bad luck Rose," Shareen tried to console her friend. "I was gonna introduce you to Lee and Claire, Lee's a bit of a dish, he loves to flirt."
Rose thought that was just her luck as well. She pretended to take her time over the drink, only her second and just after ten, Shareen had decided she'd had enough and since Rose had to probably leave early, they went to her room. After giggling about what had happened earlier and Shareen telling her about what Lisa had said, saying to Rose it had been the blonde she'd waved and shouted a 'Hi' to earlier, Rose asked about the younger girl.
"They're cousins, I've known Lisa since I arrived here, Pippa likes to stay in her back yard. Lisa said she likes to play on her trampoline and with her tennis set. She also said Lee and Claire sometimes take her to school," Shareen explained, getting into bed and yawning. "Sorry, must be the drink. You didn't drink much Rose."
"Gotta have a clear head in the morning, if I've got to contend with engineering works, goodness knows how long it'll take me to get home. I'll be lucky to get back in time to go back to work on Monday," Rose complained.
Shareen let out a giggle. "That's being a bit dramatic Rose. I'm off to sleep, are ya gonna stay at the window all night? If I didn't know any better, I'd think you want to get a glimpse of Lee."
"Well I wouldn't know if it was him or not since I've not met him yet, would I?" Rose laughed, staying behind the long curtain, it being parted just enough to get a view of the two adjoining houses opposite. "So, what's with the neighbours then? I saw two of them arguing as they got into a taxi this morning."
Shareen yawned again, Rose turning away and not seeing a taxi dropping off Ricky Gillespie and him going around the back of the Ashworth's house.
"That'll be Cate and Ricky, they're always arguing. Lisa says she flirts with Lee more than Lisa herself does. That's when she's not got a glass in her hand."
"She likes a drink then?" Rose asked, not that she was really interested. "What's that Claire like then? I just saw a woman go in."
"She's got long dark hair. She's probably been to her mate's house, Lisa said something yesterday. Lisa said her aunt and uncle were going to a wedding today, they're probably staying over and Lisa said her and Pippa would probably go next door. Don't worry about it."
Rose wasn't going to, she stayed at the window as she turned to see Shareen had turned her back to go to sleep. In fact, Rose was about to give up, not used to looking out on anything other than the estate she lived on and it was a change from rowdies going home from either a party or a pub on a Saturday night, her mother usually amongst them.
She was about to let the curtain fall back into place when the man she'd seen that morning came out of the Ashworth's house, Rose wondering how he'd got there since his wife seemed to be arguing with him getting into the cab and she also wondered why he hadn't gone to his own house, unless he'd been checking on the two girls. She'd not seen any cabs or cars but she'd been looking away at Shareen, he could have been there a while.
Not being able to stop looking now, she waited to see if the two girls did indeed follow the man, whom she assumed was called Ricky but the door remained closed as he'd turned not to go home but down the street. There was no sign of who Shareen had called a creep so she assumed he'd got tired and gone home or someone had forcibly removed him from their front garden and was once again ready to give up when a van pulled up.
She was unable to tell what colour it was under the street lamp but she saw a figure dressed in overalls go back into what she knew was the Ashworth's house. Wondering if it was the same man coming back or if it was someone else, she waited to see if the man came back out.
Five minutes later, the door opened and the man she knew was Lee let the other man out first but when she looked again, they appeared to be holding something between them, though the view was partly blocked by the back door of the van but she clearly saw the two men carrying something wrapped in a white dustsheet.
Rose had to admire their nerve, they were probably using the cover of night to get rid of an old carpet or some lino and going to dump it somewhere up near the main road, since she'd seen some spare land that looked like they were preparing to fence off to build on it. What better way then to let the workmen get rid of unwanted rubbish?
She still couldn't see the face of the other man as the back door of the van was opened awkwardly by who she could see was Lee though. She gathered if the two girls had been there earlier, Lisa would have already taken her young cousin home, probably before she herself had gone upstairs. The van doors closed, the figure in the overalls still had his back to her but his hair looked light, maybe blonde but it could have been a trick of the light she supposed.
Shareen couldn't be woken by anything other than fireworks under her, Rose remembered all the sleepovers they'd had as kids and she'd had more to drink than Rose herself had so there wasn't much point in trying to wake her. It was probably nothing interesting anyway and if they were dumping anything, she had no idea where since she didn't know the area.
She saw Lee going back to the still open house door, thinking she saw someone moving inside, which was probably the woman she'd seen go in not long ago, the door closing behind him. She had to smile, him getting the other man to dispose of his rubbish. She yawned, she should try to get some sleep if she was facing a long journey tomorrow which would be even longer now some idiot had decided to hold the trains up just because they could.
She heard a noise from Shareen and smiled, not turning to see her friend as something caught her eye. The door opposite opened again, light coming from inside and the woman came out, followed by Lee. Rose almost gasped as the woman had hurried around the corner and backed out a car, then she rushed back inside for a moment. Rose thought maybe they were getting rid of other junk and couldn't manage what had looked like a carpet or lino and had got a friend to dispose of it but she couldn't tear herself away as Lee appeared in the doorway, carrying a young girl, who looked like it was Pippa, dressed in pyjamas and her arm dangling.
The woman rushed to open the back door, never looking up towards where Rose was now standing at the side of the curtain but the woman was looking up and down the street while Lee was putting the girl on the back seat. Rose wondered if the girl had been sick and instead of waiting for an ambulance, were taking her to the hospital but why had she still been there at this time?
There was no sign of the girl's cousin as the woman tossed the car keys to Lee and he got in the driver's seat but she was surprised Claire watched him drive off, going back inside and closing the door. Rose supposed Lisa could still be in there and they were going to wait for a cab to follow but why? She heard Shareen call her name.
"Rose? Whatcha still doing at the window?" she slurred, the drink having taken hold.
"Nothing Shareen. It's just so quiet around here, not like home," Rose bluffed.
She assumed her friend had gone back to sleep since she got no answer and turned back to the window.
While all that had been going on, Rose not being able to tear herself away just for her curiosity's sake, on the other side of town, Alec Hardy had just come from the bathroom, hoping his wife had gone to sleep so she wouldn't pick any more faults with him. They'd argued after their twelve, almost thirteen year old daughter had gone to bed about anything and nothing, although Tess had been going on about a holiday, which he didn't want to go on because it would be a disaster and before he'd gone to seek sanctuary in the bathroom, about him having the makings of a beard so he'd kept it, just to annoy her since he wasn't back at work until Monday morning, barring any emergencies.
Little did he know that Rose was across town witnessing one as she couldn't stop watching despite yawning herself as the van came back and the woman, whom Shareen had said was called Claire, came out of the house, grabbed the man in the overalls and made him get back in the van.