New Life; Old Baggage
Chapter One
It's been a whole year since the Sandbrook 3 were convicted. I still don't know where Joe went off to or why he left so abruptly . Miller only said it had been taken care of. Doesn't seem to matter much but...but what, Hardy? Joe seems to be out of Ellie...out of Miller's...out of Ellie's life and what do you want to happen now? The image in my mirror looks back and telepathically tells me, Ellie Miller is an extremely generous woman; a kind, giving, caring person. Like I once thought Tess could be, I mouth off back at my image. The Tess I'm so glad I'm no longer married to, because she cheated on me and refuses to let us tell our daughter about the whole lost pendant/affair circumstances. Or the Tess I'm so glad I'm no longer married to, because...(looking into the mirror)...because...(I chicken out and start to hang my head)...I'm in love with someone else...(head slowly rises)...with Ellie Miller.
There I've said it. To my reflection; are you happy now? Alec lets out a slight giggle… Fuck, yes I'm happy now. When did this happen? Let's see. The day I woke up in the hospital, Ellie in my face, angry I didn't tell her I was going to have the pacemaker operation. I wanted to grab her and dance around the hospital. Or, the day Joe Miller plead not guilty! All I wanted to do was pull her onto my lap and hold her. No, the night of the chase and my heart attack. Her leaning over me, smelling of lavender. I just wanted to lean up and kiss her. That far back, fuck! The face in the mirror replied.
Chief Superintendent Elaine Jenkinson has contacted me to offer a permanent position with the Broadchurch department. As Detective Chief Inspector, head of major crimes and Detective training.
Broadchurch still had one of the lowest crime rates in the UK, and they wanted to keep it that way. My success finally with Sandbrook and the hype that the Latimer case was handled properly and the murderer simply got off, gave me Officer of the Year from Scotland Yard. The powers that be, want me to train, in Broadchurch, a new batch of potential DC's, DS's and DI's on the job so to speak. CS Jenkinson decided, we'd simply use the Latimer case as a classroom study guide and the Sandbrook case could be rewritten for Broadchurch and include some field work for procedures scrutiny.
So, here I sit in my car outside the police station, trying to get the nerve to get out, walk inside and reclaim my office. I finally get the guts to leave my car and walk in. Upon reaching the bull pen, I noticed Miller's not at her desk. However, inside my office is CS Jenkinson. "Where's Miller?" "Getting some extra training. You're looking well." "What kind of training?" "Computer software stuff; database creation and eLearning setup; even some ePublishing training." "What the F...?" "The Latimer case will be a tricky one for Miller to be involved in. Having her set up the case studies and the learning studies, lets her stay involved and minimizes any potentially emotional crisis." "Ah!" Smart comeback, Hardy. "What, I'm suppose to let you near a computer?"
"Let Ellie take the lead on Sandbrook training, but I want you and Police Constable Bob Daniels running the Latimer studies. And Sargent Andrew Scott to work with Ellie."