A/N: If you don't like the character, pairings or plot, then don't read. There is a slight AU to the story and to some of the characters even though I tried and I'm also sorry for the different ways I say/write things. I know things are different in the UK and I'm from Australia, but I'll try to mind it.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Broadchurch.

WORD COUNT: 2, 048 (Not including A/N below)

Chapter 1

Suspecting or Questioning?

Karen Wolfe was a make-up artist, had two children, owned her own store which was a make up store as well as SFX make-up for Halloween. She had done countless latex prosthetic's for her 15-year-old daughter, Robyn and she was also single mother for three years, having left her husband after thirteen years. Her youngest child was Thomas, he was only two, going onto three this year. She had never done anything in Broadchurch to make her a suspect of Danny Latimer's death, Ellie and DI Hardy had arrived at her spacious home, claiming that they had found a match of her fingerprints at the hut where Danny Latimer was before his death.

So now, here she was, trying to tell them the truth.

"Karen Deborah Wolfe, formerly Lee. Married at 19, separated from your ex-husband Zachary Lee at 31 and moved to Broadchurch three years ago with your two children Robyn Ashley Wolfe and Thomas Dylan Wolfe. Owner of the make-up boutique: Moonlight Cosmetics." DI Hardy read out her file and she looked down at it, her photo was clipped to the papers. Her jade green eyes, smiling into the camera, her dark brown hair had been short when that photo was taken, about to her shoulders, it was to her waist now. Karen was a beautiful woman, with a strong, slender nose, defining her face as well as full, shaped lips, high cheekbones and a curvy body, her bust was large, larger now due to her continued maternal practices and she was average height, about 5'5. "Care to tell us why your prints where at the hut where Danny had been the night of his death?" He got straight to the point, not letting her beauty effect him.

Karen's eyes snapped back to him, a dark fire in them. "I was living there for three weeks, Beth let me borrow the place to stay while the plumbing in the kitchen was getting fixed."

"Why was your plumbing getting fixed?" DI Hardy asked, jotting a few notes down.

"Um. ." Karen's brows furrowed, trying to remember the exact cause. "I think it was the kitchen sink. . oh! It was the plumbing underneath, a pipe burst while nobody was home. The entire downstairs had been flooded."

"Why was nobody at your house?"

"Well, I was at work that day, my daughter was at school and Thomas was at the minders. I got called by my neighbor who informed me so I closed early and got Tommy and Robby was staying over at Beth Latimer's for a sleepover, with her daughter Chloe." Karen said, sighing.

"What time did you close?"

"At about 2:30."

"Eh, and what time do you normally close?"

"5:30." Karen answered easily.

"And who was the name of the neighbor that called you?" DI Hardy pressed on.

"Gwen Forelli. A wonderful lady. Bit of a flirt." Karen smiled gently, so did Ellie at the mention of the cheeky Italian elder.

"Back to the hut, so you were there for three weeks, yes?"

"Yeah. My insurance company had to send an assessor over and within the week he came and the claim was approved and the decorator's had come and replaced everything."

"And who fixed the plumbing?"

"Mark and Nige." Karen said, sighing, not knowing where he was going to go with this. "Look, is this a formal interview or you two suspecting me?"

"Alright," DI Hardy said, jotting down a few more notes. "Thank you, Ms Wolfe, that will be all for today." He completely ignored her.

Karen blinked, before she stood. "Alright, I hope it was of assistance. Bye then, Detective Inspector, bye Ellie." Karen stormed out, her only thought was, 'arsehole.'

(..)

"Miller, get Forensics, I want to know how old those prints are, and call that neighbor, see if her story corroborates with Wolfe's and get the name of those decorator's and that insurance company; I want to know when they redecorating and replacing and I want to know exactly when the insurance company was in contact with her, and get Mark Latimer and Nigel Carter. I want to ask them about this. Did you know about this?" Hardy asked in rapid fire mode.

"I'll do what I can; and no, it must have been during the three weeks that Joe, me and the kids were in Florida." Ellie said, flicking through her own notes that she had taken of the interview with Karen. "Why are you getting bent out of shape over this? It's not like Karen is the killer."

Hardy looked at her, "I'm not stopping until I've looked under every stone and pieced together all the evidence until we catch this killer. She may not be the killer, but I'd rather have a lot of evidence and have everyone on their toes. The killer will reveal themselves if we keep the heat on. They'll be pressured and be abnormal about it. Like before, she was eager to give her alibi and was telling us what we wanted to hear."

"She was being a good person." Ellie retorted.

"She was setting up her alibi." Alec stated, not believing a word of it.

Alec walked out without another word as Ellie's jaw clenched and unclenched. One of these days, she was going to beat the shit out of him.

(..)

Karen unlocked the deadbolt and walked through the front door of her home, looking at the baby toys littered all over the large expanse of the foyer, dining room and family room, where Thomas was in his playpen, drinking juice from his sippy cup. "I'm home!" Karen announced and smiled as her son squealed in happiness.

"Mummy!" He screamed, jumping up and down as Karen picked up all the toys and put them away in the family room, picking up her boy.

"Hello, my love. You've been busy today, huh?" She asked and Thomas giggled, knowing his mother would have noticed the mess he made. Karen looked at her little boy, his shaggy blonde hair fell into his deep brown eyes and brushed the collar of his t-shirt, he was absolutely gorgeous; but then again, he looked just like his father, who was too handsome for words; a shame that his personality wasn't as handsome as the rest of him. But not her Tommy; he was just as gorgeous in looks as he was inside and for that, she was glad that he had picked that up from her.

Robyn entered the room, smiling brightly at her mother, "hey, Mum!" Robyn was pleased to see her. Karen turned to look into her daughter's eyes, a genetic twin for her own. Robyn looked exactly like her, despite the fact that she was leaner and more angular than Karen, but she was fifteen, her body was growing. Robyn had inherited Karen's rambunctious streak, she was now at the stage that she thought climbing out windows and sneaking off to parties was acceptable, getting into fights meant that she was tough and having a boyfriend meant that she would validate as a woman and she'd have her 'Bae'. Sadly, all any of those things did was make for good stories, regrets and mistakes. God only knows how many mistakes Karen made during that confusing time.

"Hi, sweetie. How was school?" Karen asked, smiling at her daughter before pulling her into a hug, cuddling her close as her and her two kids group-hugged.

"It was alright, boring as usual. Got more homework than I care to recount, but I've almost finished it anyway, so I'm good. I gave Tommy some juice just to keep him at bay, I didn't know what time you'd be getting home from the interview. How was that anyway?" Robyn asked, looking up at Karen, who sighed and put Tommy back down and he went back to his sippy cup.

"It was horrible. Asking me about the two weeks were at the hut when the house flooded, what time I got off work and shit like that. It was bullshit. I gave as much information I could, I hope I was able to help." Karen concluded, before she set her keys in the bowl before heading to the kitchen and Robyn followed.

"So are the rumors true?" Robyn asked, leaning against the counter.

"What rumors are they, darlin'?" Karen mused, not really paying attention as she opened the fridge and got some bacon, mushrooms, two garlic cloves and spring onions and she pulled out the cream; all the ingredients for Spaghetti Carbonara.

"That DI Hardy is a flippin' arsehole."

"Language, Robyn Ashley." Karen warned, looking at her daughter, the seriousness in her gaze made Robyn quail inside. Her daughter was her best-friend, but she was first and foremost, her mother. It was her duty to be the best mum ever and raise her children right; and the first thing was manners.

"Sorry, Mum." Robyn instantly backed down, one look from Karen was all that was needed to put her in line.

Karen nodded, chopping the vegetables and distributing them in a glass bowl. "But, yes, he is an arsehole. Rude and probably doesn't understand human emotion or just pretends not to have a heart. I wouldn't be surprised if he's some sort of alien." Karen mused, making Robyn laugh.

"Can you imagine, though?" Robyn chortled and the thought of it made Karen giggle.

"But he's thorough. Got to give him his props." Karen added, and Robyn shrugged. "Okay, sweetie, I have to cook. Can you just look after Tommy while I get everything on the stove?" Karen asked.

"Sure, I'll bring my homework in there. Want me to set the table?" Robyn offered.

"What did I do to deserve such a beautiful girl like you?" Karen smiled at Robyn.

"I'd rather not say," Robyn grinned and squealed as Karen playfully whipped her bum with the hand towel.

"Get goin' you!" Karen called after her, laughing gently. Then she sobered as she got to cooking. The little town of Broadchurch had been rocked when Danny's body was found on the beach, Karen had gone to see Beth after the police had visited and she held her as she cried. Robyn had come with her and sat in with Chloe, they were the best of friends.

And now, with the death of Jack and the the townspeople's secrets coming out from behind closed doors. It was becoming harder and harder to trust and live a normal life. Mark's extra-marital activities were out in the open, by none other than Becca herself; now, even she was subjected to the glances and whispers of the townspeople.

Karen sighed, knowing that it wasn't long before she too was subjected to whispers and stares, but she'd do her best, do what's right by Robyn and Thomas.

(..)

As usual, Detective Inspector Alec Hardy had stayed back at the station, pouring over individual files, but he kept looking over Ms Karen Wolfe's. She was quite the troubled youth, had quite a few juvenile offenses, despite cleaning up her act when she had her daughter at 18. There was no real indication that Ms Wolfe was a murderer at all, but they still had to tread lightly. It was the people who never ever seemed like they would be capable of something like this, that were the ones that would murder anyone, given the right circumstances.

He looked at her photo, trying to put himself in her predicament. Single mother of two, owning and managing her own shop, with a mortgage and a dark past; what would Karen Wolfe kill for?

Hi!

If those of you who read the previous version of my Broadchurch fiction, I sort of got excited and my brain pooped out three chapters of events that were going incredibly fast, so I wanted to tone it down, maybe take a different approach when I thought of it even more and I came up with this. Please take the time to read and give me your feedback and constructive criticism.

Favourite/Follow/Review!

~Munsurieya xD