The following morning, Tess informed her daughter she wanted some nice photos of her if she was determined to go back to Broadchurch with him.
"Mum, I'm not even sure I'm going yet," Daisy insisted.
"Well he seems confident you will, have you discussed it?" Tess asked her.
"Not properly, he thinks I'll do better at school if I leave it all behind but I won't know anyone at all Mum," Daisy told her.
"Well if you ask me, that's a good thing, really Daisy, why do you want to be friends with them again? Why did you insist I kept most of it back from him?"
"He'd just got here Mum, I wasn't sure about him then," Daisy admitted.
"Yes, well, I suppose he's only got himself to blame for that but he wanted to make his peace with you, I suppose he made an effort? Think very carefully Daisy, leaving town may not be the right thing to do."
"What do you want me to do Mum? I can't just find a new set of friends here, can I? I have to go to college, they won't forget easily," Daisy reminded her.
"I don't know what else I can do Daisy, I tried my best to keep you from getting a juvenile record," Tess replied.
"That's the problem Mum, why they won't talk to me," Daisy tried to tell her.
"I give up, let your father sort it out for a change," Tess gave in. "I still want photos, he'll call when he gets an appointment, a new studio opened near where he lives."
"Great, so he won't have far to drag me then?" Daisy asked.
Alec had some time to himself when he got to his office and brought out the card Tess had given him. Why did she suddenly want photos? There were a few school ones around the house even before he'd left and he'd spotted a few new ones on his recent visits, not that he went inside much. He supposed some done properly wouldn't go amiss but why did he have to take her? He dialed the number on the card, hoping miraculously they were fully booked.
Rose had been doing well with bookings, wishing she could afford someone part-time just to keep up with them but since most were using the online booking system she'd subscribed to, she hadn't had that many actual calls apart from enquiries as to if she did baby portraits. She swore she had already mentioned that on the website she'd proudly made herself. The calls for bookings she had taken on Friday, she'd easily logged in and made them while they waited.
She was just setting up for the day, Mickey had persuaded her to invest in some professional background images and between them, they'd figured out how to take the images she took and once downloaded, put them onto the backgrounds. She also had an arrangement with a specialist printers who would print them and set them in cardboard frames or onto canvas, for a price but when she'd worked out her prices, she'd made allowances.
Mickey had tried to persuade her to buy an expensive printer but she'd argued before he left she wouldn't have time to do it herself, the print shop had sent someone round with samples, which she'd displayed. Before Mickey had left, he'd promised to come back and bring her mother.
"Mickey, I'm not sure I'm ready for a visit from my mother just yet," she'd told him as he was leaving.
"Well if she insists, I'm hardly likely to stop her, am I?" Mickey had asked.
"Where's she gonna stay? You were uncomfortable on that sofa bed," she argued.
"Well you have a double bed, you can share," Mickey suggested, not keen on telling Jackie Tyler she couldn't come with him next time.
"Great Mickey, thanks for that. Don't you dare go suggesting that to her. Well maybe you can get a cheap hotel and I'll sleep on the sofa?" Rose wondered.
"Sure you can manage?" he'd asked as he zipped up his holdall.
So now, she'd just made a cup of coffee and had logged in to see what appointments had been made over the weekend when the phone rang, a withheld number, which to Rose suggested it was someone trying to sell her something or to make a claim. Either that or they didn't want anyone ringing back. She answered and was surprised to hear a male Scottish voice.
"Red rose studio," Rose had answered cheerfully that Alec thought sounded a bit bright for five past nine in the morning.
"Yes, I want to make an appointment, preferably late Friday afternoon or Saturday?" he asked, without trying to hint the woman on the other end of the phone sounded too cheerful.
"Hold on, I'll just check," Rose replied. "Is it for yourself?" she asked, hoping he wasn't a male model or anything.
"No, for my teenage daughter, I don't like having my photo taken," he replied, having enough the last time the local newspaper editor had taken it on the beach after an interview.
"Oh, sorry, it's usually mother's that make appointments for their daughters and the dad's have to pay," Rose replied.
Alec was now wishing Tess had kept the card and called herself. The chance would be a fine thing, now he had to book the appointment and pay.
"So have you any appointments for either of those days?" he asked again, hoping she'd say no.
"How about Friday at four thirty?" Rose asked him, thinking maybe she could fit another one in.
Well it would be a rush and he'd have to leave early but he didn't want to mess around. He wouldn't mind Tess being in a rush to collect their daughter and get her there in half an hour or so.
"Fine, she will have to come from school, is there somewhere she can get changed?" he asked, thinking Tess wouldn't want her in her school uniform, such as it was.
He swore young girl's skirts had got shorter than when he was at school but Daisy would tell him that was in the dark ages – the 70's and 80's. His teachers had despaired at him because he was unsociable but he wasn't one for getting into fights or joining in after-school clubs, he preferred to go home and write his comic-book stories. He'd shown his teachers when he'd qualified to be a police detective, skipping being on the beat.
He snapped out of it as Rose was asking his daughter's name after saying there was somewhere to change.
"Her name is Daisy Hardy, she's almost seventeen and she is sure to object to posing," Alec answered.
"Oh, it's okay Mr Hardy, six month old babies don't want to oblige either, trust me. I got plenty of them at my old studio," Rose told him, booking the extra appointment before someone else saw it had become vacant.
"You've had plenty of experience then?" Alec asked her, thinking maybe she wasn't new at this after all.
"Yeah, I worked for a studio in London, I've just branched out on my own but I don't normally tell people that," she admitted, wondering why she was telling a complete stranger but the name Hardy and Sandbrook rang a bell.
She thought she'd best not admit she knew the name and wondering if she was right – he was the detective that had finally brought an old case to rest and more recently let another killer walk free but she didn't expect he'd want to be reminded of that and he may cancel and choose another studio.
"Then I promise not to spread the word Miss Tyler. It is 'Miss' is it not?" he asked, seeing people stare in his direction because he was on the phone and not staring at the computer screen.
Why was he even asking?
"Yeah, it's Rose," Rose felt herself blushing, not that he could see her. "So, see you both on Friday or will her mother be bringing her?" she asked, remembering something about he was divorced and had been ill.
She thought it not so surprising since he'd been accused of losing evidence then it had all come out he was covering for an unnamed detective, probably his ex wife if she were to take a wild guess.
"No, her mother is the one who wants the portraits, I'm the one who will be paying for them," Alec admitted but surely it made no difference?
"Well just press the buzzer when you arrive, there's parking outside, hopefully all the spaces won't be taken at that time. I thought having parking would be an advantage but it gets full of shoppers until around four. Thanks for your call."
"Thank you for fitting her in that late, until Friday then?" Alec asked, hoping it hadn't sounded like he'd just made a date with her, not that he had any idea how she looked but she had sounded young and bright and not annoyed someone had rung instead of making an online booking.
He'd just found her website while pretending to do some work to stop the others wondering what he was doing, since the card had the website in small print and he'd not had his specs on but anyone could have missed it. Well he had but Daisy was forever telling him it was trendy to wear rimless glasses.
"Yeah see you both Friday and you can either pay upfront or a deposit but I only take card payments," Rose replied.
"Very sensible in these times," Alec had to admit, even though it was in one of the better parts of town, young women working alone had to be careful.
He thought maybe he could give her a few pointers to improve her security but that would mean he'd have to admit what he did for a living but even in London, she must have read about his infamous cases. Still, she probably had security cameras and a monitoring service and he really shouldn't go barging in and telling her where she could improve, Daisy would only complain.
Rose hung up, wondering why he'd not booked online but there again, not everyone liked doing so. She got ready for her first appointment, twins who were just nine months and she was glad she'd been to the market and picked up a few cheap toys to amuse her younger portrait sitters, as she liked to call them.
Alec hung up and sent a message to Tess, saying he'd meet her there since she'd implied she knew where it was. He was surprised when she rung him instead of just texting back.
"So you took notice then?" Tess asked him, smiling at Dave as he passed by her office and motioning him inside.
"Yes, meet me there at four twenty and bring her a change of clothes unless you want her wearing her uniform?" Alec replied.
"Well it's a bit of a rush but if she leaves her things in the car I can just make it. You'll have to finish early as well."
"I'm aware of that, I will say I'm following a lead," he snapped back, the chance being a fine thing since there were no urgent cases that required his attention.
He thought this place was worse than Broadchurch but it was marginally better than being stationed with Tess, who made him feel sick at the thought of her leering at he still married boyfriend all day. Why his old chief had not split them up was beyond him. He thought now was a good time to remind his current boss he was serious about a transfer back to Broadchurch.
He never thought he'd see the day he preferred the seaside town to where he'd made a home with Tess and Daisy but she needed a change of scenery and coming here had not been one of his better ideas. Daisy was still shy of him though the last two weekends had gone reasonably well but suggesting she moved with him an hour or two away from her mother was a big step for both of them.
He got up and made his way upstairs to the chief's office and knocked on the door, still not being used to waiting when he'd just barged his way into Elaine Jenkinson's office but she was gone, probably for letting him get away with working while not declaring an illness and conducting an investigation from another police force in her town. Well he wasn't apologizing for either.
CS Barton looked up from his monitor.
"Alec, have a seat. Bored again?" Alec was asked.
"Better than being in the middle of another murder investigation. I want to follow up on that transfer, did you look into it for me?" Alec replied, thinking he'd best be civil if he wanted out of here.
"Yes, I called the new chief in Broadchurch, though it seems she's been there a while. Did you drive the other one out?" Chief Superintendent Barton asked.
The chief knew Alec hated being addressed by his first name, something he'd insisted on many a time while he'd been here.
"Since she left after me, I can hardly be blamed," Alec replied dryly. "So, what did she have to say?"
"Well DS Miller is already back there, she got her old job back and a new DI took over, riding out his last few years before retirement it seems and he's due to leave within 4 to 6 weeks. CS Clark was at a bit of a loss whether to put DS Miller back in for a promotion in view of what happened but when I suggested you wanted to go back, well she wasn't sure about that being a good idea either."
"For what reason?" Alec asked.
Since there were several good ones he could tick off, he shouldn't be that surprised she'd be reluctant.