Events of the original series may not be portrayed in the same way or in the same order and a lot will be missed out.
Ellie was fuming as she walked into the CID office to find men trying to fit desks into corners and phone wire all over those that were already up and two engineers on ladders pulling wire through. Not only did that annoy her, her new boss had been showing off in public with Rose Tyler and she didn't seem to care that the press would be gathering like vultures. She had been caught on her way in by the desk sergeant who himself wasn't happy after the appeals for information had gone out yesterday.
"Ma'am, you need to get something organised up there," he shouted over to her as two phones were ringing.
"Tell that to Hardy, when he can tear himself away from the café, stuffing his face and flirting with someone." She bit her lip, wishing she'd not said that but at least she'd mentioned no names.
So when she'd seen the mess, she had a good mind to call him and warn him but what did he expect? As she predicted, Alec just shook his head and walked into his office when he finally got there, having been handed a pile of messages and being told to get organised.
Ellie took the chance to find out why he was late.
"Have you got any CCTV from Thursday night yet?" he barked at her.
"Some just came in, where did you get to?" she asked him.
"I went to walk the route Danny took on his paper round, there's a hut up on the cliff, we need to find out who owns it."
"You mean on Briar Cliff? So, did you go on your own then and meet her later?" Ellie wanted to know.
Alec wasn't used to being interrogated about female company.
"Miss Tyler came with me, yes. She has offered her services as a Torchwood agent," he replied, hoping Ellie would believe it.
"I bet that's not all she offered?" Ellie wanted to know. "She was telling me she already knew you."
"Aye, she did but at the time I did not know who she was," Alec tried to explain.
"So when you saw her, you had your memory jogged?" Ellie grinned, knowing he'd been caught out and wondering if he was the only man in the universe who didn't know Rose Tyler when he saw her, she was a woman.
"This is not about me Miller, I will talk to the chief about Miss Tyler helping us, then it's up to her. What are all those desks being put in for?"
"Ready for Monday, we have limited staff over the weekend because of all the events going on in the area. New phone lines are also being put in, the desk sergeant had a go at me on my way in," Ellie told him.
Alec was glad it wasn't just him then as he handed her the messages.
"Find out if there's any camera footage from near that hut, I saw one but it may not be in use. Also, there was a woman walking her dog, she was at the beach yesterday morning."
"So? How am I supposed to know who she is?" Ellie asked him.
"You live here, ask your nephew, I don't care how, just find anyone who owns a dog. She could have been out walking and seen something. How many people are working now?"
"Not enough, like I said. I'll show you the footage we have so far."
She leaned over and brought up the media card she'd slotted into his computer. It showed Danny, or who could have been Danny skateboarding down the High Street.
"So where was he sneaking off to?" Alec mused out loud. "Rose thinks he could have been sneaking out to meet a girl."
"What? Danny's not got a girlfriend, he's twelve," Ellie told him, sounding horrified.
"You never had a boyfriend when you were that age Miller?" he asked, putting his specs on to see what time it had been.
"No, did you have a girlfriend – Sir?" Ellie retaliated. "So it's Rose now is it?"
"She found some tyre tracks behind the hut, they could be recent," Alec replied, not bothering.
"They could have been there the last time someone rented it," Ellie replied, knowing whether she liked it or not, Rose Tyler was going to become part of the investigation but she found the fact those two had at one time had a 'fling' a bit hard to swallow.
"Why are you still here Miller? Find who the hut belongs to and who has the keys and watch those two phone engineers, tell those working to clean their desks when they step away," he warned her.
Ellie saw it was already too late for that as one of the engineers appeared to be looking on someone's desk.
"What are you doing?" she asked as she made him jump.
"Phone installations," he replied, looking to see where his friend was.
"I hope so," she told him as the DS came back. "Frank, clean desk policy," she chastised him.
"Excuse me but that boy, that's Danny Latimer, right?" the engineer dared ask.
"It was on the news and you shouldn't have been looking," Ellie told him, picking up some papers and heading back to Alec's office.
As Ellie was showing Alec some reports, the phone engineer knocked on the door.
"Have you finished?" Ellie asked him.
"Yes, I've not come about that," he replied.
Alec looked at his DS, then at the man, taking his specs off and rubbing his face.
"So, why are you here?" Alec asked him.
"It's about Danny Latimer, I have a message."
"What?" Alec asked, getting up. "Miller, take him to an interview room and he had better not be wasting my time. Who was this message from?"
The man stared at him. "From Danny. He wants you to know, he was put in a boat."
Ellie led him off and Alec decided now was the time to get Rose involved, since she'd wanted to help.
"Rose, are you busy?" he asked when she answered him with a 'What do you want, DI Sexy?'
"Be serious Rose. Someone working in the station putting phone lines in says he knows Danny was put in a boat," he told her, trying to put his jacket on.
"Well I don't know him," Rose replied. "I've not even had the courage to call my stepfather yet. Do ya want me to come to the station?"
"No, not yet, Miller has taken him to an interview room, he may be just a crank and I have not cleared it with my chief yet and you should talk to your stepfather," Alec replied.
"So is he some kind of a psychic then?" Rose wondered as she sorted her clothes into two piles, those she was leaving in her room for now and those she was going to take to Alec's later. "You want me to ask if Torchwood's already involved?"
"Not yet, I don't have his name but I don't want to get Torchwood involved if the man is just a crank," he told her.
"Those are our speciality Alec," Rose smiled to herself. "See what he has to say and call me back. Are you okay?"
Yes, I am fine and Miller is onto you, she does not seem to believe I was capable of having a fling with you."
He could hear Rose giggling on the other end.
"Well, we'll just have to convince her, won't we?" Rose replied. "Keep me posted, I have to face the consequences of not telling anyone where I went but I won't tell them about you just yet."
Alec was relieved for now so he made his way downstairs to find where Miller had taken the phone engineer. Ellie was already asking questions as Alec entered the room.
"State your name and address for the records," Ellie had told him.
"So, what do you have to tell us, about the boy?" Alec asked him. "Miller, see if Mr Connelly here has any prior knowledge of the case," he turned to Ellie.
Ellie thought the best way of doing that was she asked him, Alec rolling his eyes. After several inconsequential questions, Alec had enough and stopped the recording.
"So, other than this message that the boy was put in the boat, you have nothing else?" Ellie asked him. "Do you know the Latimer family?"
"I don't think so, I don't choose to get these messages," Connelly insisted.
"Oh, so you're a reluctant psychic then?" Alec asked him. "You are just the first of all the cranks who come crawling out of the woodwork on a case like this, the groupies and the hangers-on. Miller, get him out of here."
Ellie got up. "So you never met Danny?" she asked again, Connelly shaking his head.
Alec got up and took the man by his arm. "I had better not see you in here again."
"She's not from here," Connelly told him.
"What? Who is not from here?" Alec asked him.
"You already know," the man insisted, shaking free of Alec's grip and Alec letting him.
A uniformed officer was outside and escorted Connelly away, Alec leaning against the door.
"What was that all about?" Ellie asked him.
"I have no idea Miller but you keep him away from the Latimers, they have enough to cope with. This is what Torchwood deals with, now I have his name."
"Sir, you can't just ask Torchwood to chase up someone like him," Ellie objected.
"Why not? We don't have time for this Miller, we have work to do."
While they had been interviewing the psychic, Rose had faced up to calling Pete.
"So, where are you and who is this old friend you were with last night?" he asked her. "I was about to have Jake track down where you are."
"I can't tell ya that yet but I'm fine, I am staying with a very old friend, tell mum I'm okay."
"You should tell her yourself, she was worried sick about you last night. As for a very old friend, you have no very old friends Rose," he reminded her. "Are you down in that seaside town?"
"How did ya guess? Yeah, I'm down in Broadchurch. I had to find out, if it was him," Rose admitted.
"Well, is it?" Pete asked her, knowing she would never learn her lesson the easy way.
Rose was reluctant to answer. Pete asked her again.
"Rose, you can't keep doing this to yourself love. I've not said anything to your mother but she already suspects that's where you are and it won't be long before she realises. Do the right thing and come home love," he pleaded with her.
"I can't Dad, I can't tell ya if I think it's him or not, he's lost his memory."
"What?" Pete asked, hoping Jackie wouldn't hear him. "Rose, come home and we'll discuss this or at least let me send Jake down."
"No, you can't send Jake, promise me? He just needs help remembering, he knows who I am," Rose insisted.
"Yes, so does every man on the planet Rose. Listen to me carefully, you can't mention the Doctor by name, do you understand?" he warned her. "You have to be completely sure it's his twin, do you think it's his twin or the original one?"
"It's his twin Dad, he has a bad heart. Why would the Doctor send him back with a bad heart?" Rose asked him.
"Well maybe he didn't have a bad heart when he was left but how did he get through?" Pete wanted to know.
"Maybe he came back seconds after me and mum left the beach? We wouldn't have known but maybe he'd been away for some time before the Doctor brought him back?"
"Maybe love, there's no other explanation I suppose?"
"Well there's just one and I can't discuss it on the phone but he needs my help, to remember," Rose replied.
"Be very careful Rose, do you understand?" Pete stressed to her. "You have to let him remember on his own."
"I know Dad, I'll be careful but it is him, how can it not be?"
Pete wasn't too sure about that and would have to discuss it with Jake, the only other person except Rose, Jackie and himself who had known the original Doctor, apart from Mickey, who had stayed behind. He finished his call with Rose and called Jake.
"We need to talk, can you come round?" Pete asked when Jake answered.
"Yeah. Did you find Rose?" Jake asked, hoping his boyfriend Jason wouldn't miss him going shopping with him.
"Yes but something's bothering me Jake, I can't talk on the phone but I got a message last night from Rose on an unknown number, I want you to trace it for me but I think I know who it belongs to."
Jake laughed. "Then why trace it Pete?" he asked.
"I want to be sure. The message said she was staying with an old friend, what does that suggest to you?"
"An old friend? She doesn't have any old friends, unless you mean who I think you mean Pete?" Jake replied.
"Exactly and that's who Rose thinks it is, he's now Alec Hardy," Pete answered, hearing Jackie calling him.
"How could it be him Pete? We've had no reports come through," Jake told him.
"Maybe not but Rose herself suggested it was just after she saw him disappear, that somehow there was still time for him to come back. We wouldn't have known at that time, what with everything going on."
"Maybe not but all the same Pete, we have to be sure about this," Jake insisted.
"I know that Jake, maybe this can wait until Monday though, just trace the number I'm sending you."
"Sure Pete but if she's right, we needn't have kept her away from seeing him when he was involved in that other case a while back. That means he has been here since at least then."
Pete let out a laugh. "Jake, you seem to forget what he was."
Jake saw the joke. "Yeah, I get it Pete but even so? I'll see what I can find out about him, if he's got a full history, Rose might be in for another disappointment though."
"It still won't prove anything Jake, it could still be him but losing his memory? More like it's been wiped so he wouldn't remember, to make a clean start?" Pete suggested.
"Either that or as punishment for leaving Rose," Jake wondered. "Still, even having a full history doesn't mean anything I suppose, it could have been planted when he was left."
Pete heard Jackie calling again and told Jake he had to go.
"Best not tell her mother though," Pete mused "Rose on her own is bad enough but if Jackie finds out as well?"
"What will you tell her Pete?" Jake asked him.
"Nothing much, we have to be certain first Jake."
Alec and Ellie had gone off to find the postman who the newsagent had told them he'd seen Danny arguing with a few weeks ago, Alec telling his DS not to reassure people they had nothing to worry about but Alec was more concerned over what Connelly had said to him. What had the man meant by she's not from here?
When they got back to the station, Rose had not contacted him so they had found out who had the keys for the hut him and Rose had seen and he went to collect the keys, handing them to uniformed officers. He was surprised when the woman opened the door to a caravan.
"What you want?" the woman asked him, the police cars out of sight. "You woke my dog."
"You clean at the hut on Briar cliff?" Alec asked. "The owner said he would phone ahead, we need to look around," he told her, holding up his ID.
"My phone's out of order. I saw you up there earlier, with a woman. She a police officer as well?" the woman sneered.
"No. The keys?" he asked back.
The woman closed the door and Alec assumed she'd gone to get them, waiting not so patiently. The door opened again and he stood back.
"Show me that ID again," the woman insisted.
Alec did as she asked, a smile on his face.
"Do you often walk your dog up there early in the morning?" he asked as she held a notebook out for him to sign.
"I don't want any comeback from the owner if you don't return the keys," the woman told him. "Do you always walk up there looking at huts with your girlfriend?"
Alec declined to answer. "Were you up by the hut on Thursday night?"
"What's it to do with you? Is this to do with that boy found on the beach?" she wanted to know.
"It's just routine questioning, you were at the beach yesterday morning," he replied, trying not to give too much away.
"So were a lot of other people, are you asking them stupid questions?" the woman asked sarcastically.
"We'll get the keys back to you when we're done," Alec replied calmly.
"See you do," the woman told him. "Is that it?"
With that she grabbed the handle to close the door and Alec went to hand the keys over.
"Call me if you find anything," he told the officer, getting into another car.
Then his phone rang, it was Rose.
"Whatcha Alec, how are things?" she asked him.
"I can't talk right now, maybe we can meet for dinner?" he asked, trying not to say her name.
"Anything on that psychic from earlier?" she wanted to know.
"I will send you the details," he promised, not wanting just yet to reveal he was getting some help.
"See ya later then? If you're not back for dinner, maybe I'll come and drag you out of your office?"
"That won't be necessary, I will be there. I will call if I am going to be late."
Hoping that would satisfy her, he gave the driver a look that said ask no questions. Ellie had some news for him when he got back.
"Sir, we got CCTV footage from that camera you asked about, not much though."
"Well show it to me then?" he insisted.
Ellie played it, the recording clearly showing the boy's father waiting by a car, then it ran out.
"They said there was a power cut round about that time," Ellie told him.
"Convenient? Mark Latimer lied about where he was though, I'll go see him, you find out how they are getting on up at the hut Miller," he ordered, going for his coat.
"Do you really need that?" Ellie asked him as he put it on.
"Old habits Miller," he replied, as she opened the door. "Call me if there is anything interesting."
As Alec was talking to Mark Latimer, Rose had finally called Jake.
"So, you came out of hiding?" Jake asked her.
"Sorry Jake, I had to come here, to see if I was right," Rose apologised.
"Are you?" Jake asked, trying not to let on Pete had spoken to him.
"Promise not to tell Pete or my mum? I told Pete I was pretty sure but I didn't want him to try to put me off. It's him Jake, I know it is. It's the duplicate Doctor or clone, whatever you want to call him but he's got no memory of what happened, except he knows me."
Jake wanted to say everyone knew who she was and if he was faking memory loss, he would have to keep a very close eye on Alec Hardy.
