A.N. So from here on out I'll be following the line of events of Broadchurch. There will be times that some of the things said will be line for line from the show, and for that I apologize for my lack of creativity. I'm just hoping to keep things as close to character as I can. Anyways, onwards with the story! Geronimo!
It had been a slow week, most of her patients coming in for menial things like cuts and sprains. Danny came in occasionally, simply to talk and have a cup of tea with Faye, as did a small number of her friendlier patients, and even Alec Hardy on occasion. She enjoyed their small visits, particularly with Danny who was such a vibrant boy, and Hardy who proved to be an intellect that could match her own.
The detective would come in and bounce ideas off of her for trivial cases, or simply chat about simple things, small things, things that slowly built an ounce of trust between the two and a respect few would understand.
Danny's visits though, those were fun and made her feel like a kid again.
"Don't you have friends you usually visit?" Faye asked the one day as she came in with cookies and tea. Danny nodded.
"Yeah, I've got a couple, but no one gets me like you do – it's like you know me better than I know me, y'know?" Her eyes glittered amusedly.
"I believe I do, Danny boy." He blushed at the nick name, causing the doctor to chuckle.
"So what brings you today, Danny?" She murmured, dunking her cookie into her tea, much to Danny's disbelief. He shook his head.
"Nothing much. Just need to talk." At her nod and gesture to continue, Danny carried on. "Dad and I had another row… he hit me. Just a cuff upside the head, but…" Faye reached in front of her to grip Danny's hand.
"Sometimes those hurt more than fists and slaps." Danny nodded. "It's okay Danny, well, not okay on his half, but okay on yours to be upset." Those innocent eyes looked up to her.
"Thanks Doctor Marcy." She smiled and nodded. They chatted for a little while longer before he got up to leave.
"I'd best get home before Mum worries. Thankns Doctor Marcy!" He grinning, hugging her tightly around the middle. She squeezed him back before waving him out of the door, smile as bright as a lightbulb. That was the last time she saw him alive.
She was tending the broken wrist of a boy who had tripped over something during the school festivities. She had just sent him out the door with a cast when the call came in. The Super was requesting her help with an autopsy. She agreed instantly, anything to help, and to get the hell out of the clinic for a bit. A decision she will regret to the end of her days.
No one had told her it would be Danny Latimer who she would have to examine. No one had thought to warn her. So when she saw him lying on her table, she couldn't stop the gasp, or the tears.
"Doctor Marcy, should we get another-?"
"No, no I'll be fine. Just give me a moment and I'll get down to work. The officer, Jennings, nodded before walking away, blinking rapidly. He was too young to die, Faye thought to herself, just getting started. She took a shaky breath before wiping her tears away. If she wanted to help her young friend now, she would have to do her best to help catch the monster who did this.
The autopsy, naturally, took a couple of hours, so when she was done, she was drained emotionally and physically. All she'd seen throughout the autopsy was Danny's once shining and brilliant face, now stone cold and dead. She called the chief and told her she had the results.
"Very well, I'll call DI Hardy and let him know." Murmuring her assent, Faye hung up and brewed herself a pot of tea. She was just pouring herself a cup when an officer strode in. "There you are! Hardy and Miller are looking for you." Faye nodded and headed to the room that held Danny, holding the cup like a lifeline.
The two detectives turned when the doctor came in, and Hardy couldn't stop his eyes from widening a touch. Doctor Marcy strode towards him and Miller, her face drawn and tired.
"Sorry about that, detectives, I found myself in the need for a cup of tea." Hardy nodded.
"S'alright, what have you got?" Faye nodded and launched into the details, her lips thin and her tone professional even as her fingers played a tattoo on the ceramic cup.
"I found superficial cuts and bruises to the face, traces of domestic cleaning fluid on his skin. Cause of death is asphyxiation. He was strangled." She clarified, looking into her tea, her eyes hard.
"Bruising on the neck and windpipe, and at the top of the spine. Pattern of bruises suggest large hands… I'd suggest male." She swallowed before taking a sip of tea, her eyes closed semi-tight.
"It took- …it would have been brutal… the angle… he- he would have known." She tilted her head up after another sip of tea and took a deep breath before meeting Hardy in the eye for the first time today. This was hard on her, he could see, but he had a feeling she could handle it and be professional. The woman had courage and a strength that he could see and admired.
"Any sexual violence?"
"Thankfully, no."
"Time of death?" He sounded so monotone , yet his eyes were intense, sharp.
"I'd say between 10pm Thursday and 3am last night." She murmured. Hardy looked down at the report in his hands again before looking up.
"Right, thanks." He was moving away when she spoke from her heart.
"You catch this bastard, you hear?" Hardy turned around with Miller, surprised.
"This isn't right. No child should be killed like this, not when he trusted the attacker." Her voice broke, and she cleared her throat, working to meet Hardy's gaze. Miller's lips parted as her eyes grew watery before she looked up to Hardy's newly icy eyes.
"We will." He answered softly, Faye nodding.
"Thank you."
She had just got back to her clinic when her phone pinged. Pulling it out she paled, having read the twitter update. She knew that the murder part of this was to be kept quiet, so for this sudden tweet… how did they find out? She wasn't sure, but she did know that Hardy would be furious at the officers. As would Beth, for the matter. Faye felt tears of sympathetic pain roll down her cheeks. Nobody deserved this pain, especially not Beth.
After wiping her eyes and taking a deep breath, Faye continued into her clinic. She had just set the kettle on the stove when her door chimed. She closed her eyes and was about to go out when Hardy appeared in the doorway, his expression stormy.
"Miller." He growled, stalking inside.
"No, Marcy." She playfully corrected.
"No, Miller. She made a slip of the tongue to her nephew and he tweeted his discovery." She sighed and turned to pour the water into the kettle.
"Do you know what kind of trust this is going to break with them!?" He barked suddenly, causing the startled Faye to whirl and stare at him.
"Miller fucked this up royally, and now I have to make an official statement. Do you know how much this is going to hurt the family?" She felt as thought he were blaming her, and she was about to defend herself when he looked down and to the left in disgust. Then it clicked in her mind. He was venting, or at least she thought he was. So she grabbed another mug and poured him a cup of tea. She set it on the table and sat down, inwardly surprised when he sat down in front of her, his eyes practically desperate.
"We need them to trust us, Marcy. They won't work with us if they don't trust us." He glared into his tea, caught in a tight grip, his other hand a fist on the table. She was his confident it seemed, and she had no idea what to say. So she said so.
"I wish I could help more, and I don't know what to say," She reached forward and laid her hand on his forearm, "but I can promise I'll help however I can." The action had been self conscious, and she was about to pull her hand away when his hand laid itself over hers. There was a small click in her head as another piece settled in her mind. He needed comfort, a friend. She wasn't just a confident, but the one person he wanted to trust, as opposed to being forced to.
"Don't give out any information on the case. Ever." Faye nodded.
"I thought that would have been obvious. What with Patient Doctor Confidentiality and all." Humor glittered in his eyes; dull, but there.
"Sometimes I find it's safer to reinforce the obvious." She managed a watery smile before a tear slid down her cheek. Pain flickered in Hardy's face before he made as though he meant to wipe the tear away, only to stop.
"So you and Danny were close then?" He asked gruffly, looking away, eyes shifting. She hummed a yes before taking a sip of tea and a deep breath.
"He visited me once in awhile, kept me company. He and I would talk about what was going on with him and Mark, school, and his friends." Hardy's attention instantly snapped to her.
"And how was he feeling about all that?" She looked at him, eyes sad.
"He and Mark were getting distant, mostly due to Mark. The man kept pushing Danny away apparently, getting into fights with the boy over trivial nonsense. School was just a pain for him, he's at that age. And he'd just met a new friend. I don't know who, as he didn't talk about him much, just that he thought that the friend would be able to help him through some things." Hardy listened to her, every ounce of his attention on her. He nodded at her last statement, his eyes softer than when he had walked in.
"That's enough to give me a good lead." She smiled a watery smile.
"You're welcome."