Alec knew Rose wasn't happy though but what could he do? He just needed to get through this, find Pippa's killer and hopefully find Lisa alive somewhere and then he could go back to them. Rose and Grace were his life and they would go somewhere nice for a family holiday, take Grace to Scotland, a holiday park up there and show her where he came from.

He thought back to how they had met, Rose had caught his eye soon after her arrival and it had taken him a few weeks to get up the courage to actually talk to her then once he had, it had all happened so fast, their wild passionate nights and sometimes afternoons on their days off then them getting drunk and Rose ending up pregnant, he couldn't have been happier.

Was it all too much though, all this working overtime when he could have handed it to someone else but no, he didn't work like that, he did things his own way, he always had and Rose would understand, even though they had done nothing but argue for the last few weeks.

Rose was at home, with her daughter who was wanting to know why her dad wasn't at home any more. Rose tried to explain to the four year old that her dad had something very important to do at work.

''But Mummy, why isn't he home early? He used to play with me and now he only comes to take me to bed.''

The girl was very observant, something inside Rose told her she was going to follow them into the same line of work.

''I know honey but he can't help it, another girl is missing, daddy has to help to find her. Tell you what, how would you like to go away somewhere, until daddy has finished with his work?''

The girl thought about it. Rose continued. ''Let's not say anything to daddy though, he has enough, it'll just be me and you, yeah?''

''But will daddy still come and put me to bed?''

''We'll see him, of course we will, maybe more than we see him now so don't worry. We could go up and see nanna if you want?''

''Can we? When I break up from school?''

''Yeah, we'll drive over and see her, you like nanna's flat don't you?''

The girl laughed, she had to share a room when they went there, Grace sleeping on a make-up bed in her nanna's room and always hearing her parents laughing from what used to be Rose's old room, Alec playing the fool in Rose's old single bed and saying they should get one as it made things more interesting.

So Rose quietly made her plans, never letting on to anyone what she was planning after going back and seeing her boss, asking him to keep it quiet until a transfer could be arranged and she went to the legal department to see what her options were about divorcing or separating, then she would just spring it on him because it was doing none of them any good as things were.

They continued to argue most days, he would go home, see his daughter then go back out and Rose knew she was doing the right thing, as much as she loved him. It pained her to see him like this, this was not the same man she had married, he wasn't looking after himself and he was getting thinner and paler, not that you could see much since he hardly bothered to shave any more.

Then one Monday morning, a few weeks later, Rose walked into his office since he had crept out while Grace was having her breakfast after kissing her then Rose on the cheek, one of the few habits he had actually stuck to and mostly the only physical contact the two had recently and handed an envelope to him.

''What's this Rose?'' he asked, seeing the court stamp on the envelope. ''Are you being serious? What the hell Rose, you can't be serious?''

''You won't do anything Alec, you're letting this case consume you. It's almost the six week school holidays, Grace misses you, what am I supposed to do? I'm transferring, it's all been arranged and they've found somewhere for me and Grace to stay while we get something permanent. I'm not getting a solicitor unless I need to, I'm giving you visiting rights, I'll bring Grace to see you, every other weekend, you keep the apartment. All I ask is you pay towards her upbringing and don't try and find out where we've gone, the chief has given instructions, he's not happy about me moving but he backs me on this.''

''Quite a speech Rose, do I even get a say in this?''

''There's only one thing I want you to say Alec, that's you're gonna stop being totally unreasonable and come home every night at five, spend time with your daughter and come to bed with me. If you can't do that small thing for your wife and daughter Alec, what do you expect? I've made my reasons for divorce clear to the court, they accepted it was reasonable grounds so if you sign, it will be through in six weeks and in the meantime, before it's finalised, it can still be stopped and you can put Grace to bed every night until we leave, after she gets out of school on Friday.''

Alec was totally stunned, opening the envelope to see everything had been filled in, including a form to say he had visiting rights, to see Grace every other weekend and she was to be taken to see him for six hours on Saturday and the same on Sunday, with a view to letting her stay overnight when she was old enough to decide for herself.

Rose got up but he stopped her as she was leaving. ''This is not fair Rose, I'm not saying this can't be fixed but you have to give me time to finish this case. Please love, don't do this.''

''I'm sorry Alec but you left me no choice, I have to think of Grace. I talked to her about it, told her we're gonna go live some place else and she'll still see you.''

''Can you make it every weekend Rose?''

''Alec, it will be more time than you even see her now, half an hour every night and a kiss on the cheek every morning. You're never awake when I get up, I hate to think what time you crawl in to bed and we'll have a fair way to travel because I couldn't get a transfer any nearer, we're gonna be a few hours travel away so we'll stay overnight in a cheap hotel when we come up. I hope you'll make the time to see her when we do.''

''Are you kidding Rose, don't be so stupid as to think I wouldn't make time. You know how it is, I can't leave this case, you know I've had the main suspect in again and I'm getting somewhere with him, I know I am.''

''You've been saying that for weeks now, you're having no such luck and honestly, you spend more time with the Ashworth's than you do with your family Alec, I've had enough. There's no-one else Alec, I still love you as much as I did when we first met but I can't do this, so give up the case and hand it to someone else or sign the papers.''

He looked across his desk at the beautiful blonde whom he had fallen head over heels for and he couldn't tell her what he had just found out, that the CMO had called him back to his office with the follow-up results from his medical and he'd broken the news that he had the beginnings of a serious heart problem, probably brought on by his brush with death after being fished out of the river a few weeks ago. Luckily, the CMO was a friend and he had told Alec that if he promised he would get some treatment and take it easy, he wouldn't report Alec to the chief, well not just yet.

Alec had promised as soon as the case was solved, he would make it his top priority but Alistair doubted it. He had asked how he and Rose were getting on but Alec had declined to admit things weren't so good between them these days. Rose got up, a tear in her eye. She had hoped spending money on the divorce papers may shock him into admitting his family were more important but it didn't seem like it was working.

When he finally got home that night, Grace was getting ready for bed and had been crying because he was late.

She heard him coming up the stairs and ran out to him, Alec picking her up. ''Daddy, where have you been?''

Alec also had a tear in his eye and couldn't explain to a four year old his work was more important than his family because he couldn't explain it to himself or his wife and now, he had a potential death sentence hanging over him and he couldn't even tell Rose, not now she was leaving him. He was a wreck and he knew it and he needed Rose more than ever but she was right, it was doing none of them any good and maybe, if he was lucky, the case would be cracked wide open before the six weeks were up and he would stop the divorce.

What made it worse though was she wouldn't say where she was going but maybe it was for the best so he wouldn't keep travelling for hours to plead with her to go back to him. She would go back though once the case was over, however long it took because neither of them could love anyone else.

So Rose took the rest of the week off to get packed, just their clothes and belongings, leaving the rest of the things as either they had been Alec's before they got married or they had bought them together. She had seen the head teacher at the school and applied for a place at the local school where she had got the transfer to, over seventy miles away in a small seaside town by the name of Broadchurch. It had been offered to her on the provision she took her DS exams, her career being held back as she was only part time and she now had to work more hours and locate a child minder for after school and the holidays but would get help with the costs and Alec finally signed the papers, not happily and they had agreed he would pay money into Rose's bank every month, no action was to be taken by the court on that score.

Rose was ready to go on Saturday morning, Grace was having her breakfast before they left and Alec had decided it was best he left as normal, giving Grace a hug and saying he'd see her later, then he had taken Rose out of the kitchen to say goodbye, the only time they'd been apart except when Rose was in hospital giving birth to their daughter.

''Don't make this difficult Alec, please. I'll bring Grace to visit in two weeks, I'll call you and we'll meet somewhere and you can take her off from twelve until six, both days.''

''What about you Rose? What will you do?''

''It's not about me Alec, I don't want a part time husband who will spend every other weekend with me, this is about you seeing your daughter and I won't stop you. Let's just be civilised about it and just do what we agreed and when the case is over, we'll talk.''

''I still love you Rose, you know that.''

''I know but saying it isn't enough and you have six weeks to solve the murder, find Lisa and stop the divorce.''

So while Alec went off to work, never giving himself a day off, Rose packed everything into her car, made sure Grace was secured in her car seat and she headed down the motorway towards Broadchurch and the caravan park right on the harbour that was going to be their temporary home and a short walk from the police station. She had taken a week's leave to get settled, locate a child minder who could collect Grace from school and have her until just after five once the girl started school but until then, she had no choice but to leave her from nine until five and she wasn't happy about it.

Rose was replacing DS Ellie Miller who had decided not to return after she'd just had another baby and she thought that could have been her, they had talked about adding to their family but then two cousins had gone missing and broken them apart. The families of the two girls were not the only ones who were suffering and whoever had killed Pippa and kidnapped Lisa had done more damage.

Alec slammed his office door and threw folders around his desk, then not caring, took two heart pills the CMO had given him, passing them off as headache pills if anyone were to dare to ask him but they knew better because the word had already got around that Rose was gone, getting herself a transfer and she had left the now irritable DI who was going to be even worse now and Tess Henchard was only going to add to his already long list of pet hates, the topmost being Rose and their daughter leaving town for whereabouts unknown and he had promised he wouldn't try and find out where they had gone because she was right, he would have gone after her.

Now he was faced with being on his own and having no-one to help him though his illness because his friend had told him it was only going to get better if he faced an operation for a pacemaker and then he had been hit with the punch line – he only had a very slim chance of surviving it and that was one of the main reasons he had signed the divorce papers with regret so Rose wouldn't feel as bad over the fact she left him because of him being unreasonable as she would leaving him after finding out he needed a life-saving operation and he had sworn the CMO not to tell her.

TBC