The room was brown. A light brown, almost orange where the sun lit it. And it was a room. Hardy quickly rolled up, off his side. The ceiling was white, just like the frames of the room. On his right arm, Hardy felt a wire and some straps. He was in a hospital. He was not dead! Unless hell played cruel tricks. He panned his head around seeing calmly active instruments to his right and a window to his left. He gingerly looked up to note his white overalls and small blanket. On a chair across the room, Ms. Werner sat, reading quietly.

"Morning." She said, brightly emerging from her book.

"Is it?"

"What?"

"Is it morning?"

"No, it's three in the afternoon"

"I see." He shuffled. "Date?"

"Monday the ninth of March."

That date struck a chord with Hardy as he shuffled up.

"The court has postponed for you."

"I see." He thought about his state for a short while. "Why are you here?"

"You'd have preferred Alice?"

"No, not now."

"Sorry about that, I…" Werner had her personal reasons for her attendance, but did not want the literally heart-broken man to know. "I found your car and called you in."

"Thank you."

"I'll get a doctor." Werner hoped she was not blushing.

"Thank you."

"I'll be off then."

"Come by for tea or something, my thanks." Now that he did not think that another woman in his life would create awkwardness, befriending Susan seemed to be a great prospect.

The doctor entered the room soon after. "Mr. Hardy," came his grating voice, "it is my misfortune to inform you of your heart arrhythmia."

"Arrhythmia?"

"Your heart beat is irregular and can cause the cardiac arrest you just faced."

"How?"

"Your stress level seems to have caused it."

"I see."

"With that, you are discharged with a prescription you may get at our counter." The doctor left a small yellow sheet of paper on Hardy's temporary bedside table.

Hardy strode out of the hospital, quickly picking up his prescription. Outside, he found Werner about to drive off. "Seeing as you've seen the state of my car, I was wondering if I could have a ride." He asked.

"Sure."

With that, Hardy found himself deeper in Werner's debt. "Sorry about the pendant thing."

"It's not your fault. I wish I found it earlier."

"It would have helped so much." Hardy looked around outside the car as the passing countryside. "I'm touched that you came all the way to see me."

"It's quite alright. The doctor wanted somebody to care for you and I was the only person I knew who could do anything."

"Really?"

"In town, at least." Susan sighed. "You know, they're after your blood for the pendant."

"Stupid shit."

"Really. The papers were all over you – they talked about your past, asked how you came to be here. They wondered about you abusing Alice and Jenna. They think you're some monster."

"You don't?"

"Of course not – you definitely did not abuse Jenna, I've never been married so I can't tell about the divorce and heaven knows the motley crap a cop has to go through."

"Motley crap."

"I tell you. You better find a way to hide."

"I'm needed at court."

"There is no court."

"I thought you said that it was postponed."

"Yes, but the witness vanished with Jamie. He just buggered off and the witness never came up."

"It was a neighbour, he said."

"The new DS's asked everybody. Nobody knows who Jamie was on about."

"Fuck!" Hardy looked around, startled by his own outburst. "Sorry I-"

"It's understandable."

"The case is done for now."

"I guess." Taking advantage of a red light, Susan looked at Alec. "You know who did it right?"

"Can't tell you."

"I'm happy if you're sure."

"Thank you. I wish the court were."

"You'd probably get the wishing the entire town was."

"That too, but it'd come with the court's joy."

"True."

Susan dropped Alec off at his residence – the hotel on the high street. Hardy lounged on his couch for a half hour, wondering what to do with himself. He finally realized that he had little to live for. He provided small alimony for Jenna's support but Alice insisted that it would be a very small sum – she wanted absolute detachment. Other than that, he had no motive to do anything at all. In fact, the sooner he died the less pain there would be in his life.

Next thing Alec was aware of, it was morning. He probably fell asleep and conjectured that it was the next day. The calendar quickly proved him right as he rummaged for a breakfast, scrapping together the bread and butter he took from the divorce – almost everything he got out of the past nine years.

Alec reached the court which was scheduled for the day. He glanced a headline forecasting the dismal state of affairs. The bus ride – since he could not replace his car – was short and bitter. The people gave him a very pointed, disgusted look and nobody approached him. He was contaminated with the hatred of the public and thus everybody he saw hated him from afar.

At the very least, the legal employees – lawyers, judges and similar magistrates – were not unkind (to have reached that level of hell, Hardy presumed, he would have to be the murderer).

The courtroom, the classical pink walled, wooden banister lined, wood floored and pew filled hall of justice, was full of the media and the lucky minorities of the public. Hardy's face was being telecast all around the nation and absences from work were being recorded as people stopped their lives to care about somebody else's. For the first time in two weeks, Cate and Kyle were under the same roof and not at war.

The gabble silenced the quiet hum of chatter as the judge's erudite voice preached the courtroom. "We are assembled today to hear the case of Sandbrook police vs. Robert Cripps. In absentia of the defendant, we have provided Mr. Cripps with a stand in lawyer. The police are represented here in full. We must first decide whether there is enough evidence present to pass the allegation to the defendant. Should that fail, the case shall be laid to rest until sufficient evidence be gathered." This pretty much ended the case for Hardy. "The allegation would present that the following as facts: on the night of Thursday February the sixth of this year, the defendant was seen using Mr. Mason's shaft to break in to the Mortimer household. Upon this forced entry, defendant is alleged to have used a kitchen knife from the Mortimer kitchen to kill Jane and Annie Mortimer." The judge shuffled papers, turning to the next sheet. "Does the allegation concur with this recitation of the facts?" The allegation all nodded. "To prove this story, we have various evidence. Firstly, we have the dead bodies to verify that Jane and Annie were in fact killed. Second, we have the knife that was used in this heinous act. Third we have the CCTV camera footage of the forced entry. Finally, we also have the shaft used in the crime. These are all satisfactorily verified and in the possession of the legal system, for recordings of each we may refer to the brief, page 7 and 8. Does the allegation demand to present further evidence in their possession, verifiably from the scene of the crime?"

"The allegation does not." There were multiple shutter clicks, to the extent that the judge paused to re-focus his eyes.

"Assembled here on the tenth of March, we must rest the case due to the lack of incriminating evidence. It stands to reason that the perpetrator may not be Mr. Cripps as there is no direct evidence of his partaking in the action." The gabble fell as did Cate and Kyle's hearts and the number of people in the courtroom. Shutters clicked again with renewed fury as the judge and magistrates left. Hardy prepared himself and exited as quickly as he could, riding a bus with much of the media. The media threw questions at him, each pushing towards his resignation more than the last. For his safety, he would have to leave Sandbrook.

He locked the press out of his room, pretending to the best of his ability that they did not exist. He packed quickly and exited, followed by the press as he checked out. They clung to him as a shadow as he walked to the office and signed up for a transfer. He planned on becoming a trainer for a short while before seeing what the future could hold. As he ignored the press, the transfer was accepted and Hardy left for London.

The press drifted off as he boarded the train and slept, wondering what would happen.

He reached Euston station with a few messages from his new boss. The new superintendent had texted him two things: his Scotland Yard provided lodging in the city centre and the existence of a report on his failure written by the Sandbrook office.

Karen White left the court ashamed of her country. It was the bad British police which allowed Robert Cripps to slip away. She believed strongly that it was all Hardy's doing: the loss of the pendant, the inefficiency and the dud witness. She did not know what to do about it other than her job: inform the entire nation. Over the week, she had already written on Hardy's broken life and heart. She wrote on how the man was probably unfit for duty and too stubborn to listen to anybody about it. She wrote on his hubris and how that caused everything and then how he desperately covered everything up with the fake witness. It was all she could do to hope that Hardy did not destroy another town's hope.

Her story circulated and she quickly received a call on the drive home. She was informed that the Daily Herald wanted her as a reporter. It was onwards and upwards. As morbid and unfortunate as it was, she was moving up thanks to the murder of Jane and Annie Mortimer.

In London, Hardy sat and reminisced wondering how he would ever recover from his failure. The report was correct – he should have done so much more: talked to the neighbours, helped the Mortimer survivors and asked Simpson about Cripps. Maybe a link would have provided evidence to lock up Robert Cripps.

He sighed and picked up his phone, holding it before dialling the third thing he got from his marriage. The line rang before going to voicemail. "Hey Jenna. Are you there? Did mum tell you not to pick up? I just called to tell you I'm sorry about the last week and that I hope you're fine. How are you? Please call when you can. This is dad, signing off. Goodbye Jenna."

(A/N: Hi! I hope you guys enjoyed this. Writing was an absolute joy!

A few things on this fic and my publication in general.

1) Did you find the fic slow or repetitive? I hope it was neither and the cliffhangers had their intended effect.

2) Was the POV obvious at most (if not all) times in the story? I hope it was as I did not make any of it explicit (and I don't believe in doing so, but it may have gotten confusing).

3) Are there any massive, glaring inaccuracies or flaws? I hope not, but if you spot one, please tell me.

On my publication: I publish everything at once which is why all has been quiet. It is also why this is the only author's note.

I hope you enjoyed this, my first contribution to Broadchurch's fandom.

Have fun!)