No-one in the courtroom could believe what they had just heard the defendant say, least of all Ellie and Alec. He moved his arm from Ellie's shoulder as Rose reached out to grab Ellie's hand. He had the sense to move since now, there would be a trial and he couldn't afford to look too friendly with the guilty party's wife, especially now he had one of his own.
The courtroom was being cleared after the judge had asked one final time and she ordered him to appoint a Barrister since he had changed his plea without informing his solicitor. All parties involved had been told they would be informed of the trial date. Outside, the Latimer's were distraught, Beth was heavily pregnant and not far of her due date, Olly Stevens was on the newspaper's social media account and getting told off by his editor for being too keen to tell the world that after months of tension and trying to get back to some normality in Broadchurch, everything had be shaken up again by those two words the confessed child killer at muttered.
Ellie was being comforted by her sister Lucy and Rose, Alec was at the concession stand buying drinks, Paul Coates was talking to Becca, Alec thought they were pretty obvious, Ellie had suspected it months ago, before they had left the country. He got back just in time to see Beth Latimer lose it and storm towards Ellie.
"You, it's all your fault. What have you said to him?"
Ellie leapt to her own defence. "Nothing, I haven't seen him since he was arrested. I want him locked up as much as you do."
"Leave her alone, she's not done anything," Rose interrupted, looking at Alec who had put a drink in front of her and Ellie.
"Oh, well if it isn't little Miss Vitex, come to gloat have you?"
"Hang on Beth, don't talk to my wife like that," Alec said, putting his hand on Rose's shoulder.
"Oh, that's just priceless, I might have known. So you were shagging her when that monster was still on the loose and look where that got us, he's still going to walk. Now we have to hire a Barrister because her (pointing to Ellie) pathetic child-killer of a husband won't man up to what he did. Why don't you go back to your little empire, Rose Tyler?"
"She's not Rose Tyler any more, she's my wife and no-one wants Joe Miller locked up more than we do, so we can go home."
"Yeah, go home and leave us to mop up all the mess, you don't live there any more, non of you, you all scarpered as soon as it was over. Well don't think I've forgotten."
"Beth, come on, leave it, this isn't doing anybody any good." Mark was trying to get her away, pulling her away by her shoulders. "Sorry detective, she's just upset, we all are."
Beth got loose from his grip and stormed off.
Lucy sat next to Ellie leaving Alec to stand, his hands resting on Rose's shoulders. This was all they needed, after Rose recently loosing the baby. Now they were going to be stuck in Exeter until the trial, there was no point in going back home, it could be a few days before they got an actual date.
"Rose, come on, let's go back to the hotel, this has been a nightmare."
"You're not kidding. Will I have to give evidence?" Lucy asked.
"Why would you have to give evidence?" Alec asked.
Ellie looked daggers at her sister, willing her to keep her mouth shut and hoping Hardy didn't ask any more questions since she had virtually bribed Lucy for a vital piece of information leading to Joe's arrest.
Rose could see Ellie was tense. "Ellie, can we go so Fred? He must have grown."
"Yeah, ok, if you don't mind crowding into my tiny flat."
Alec knew when he was being rail-roaded.
"You promised to show me your wedding videos don't forget," Ellie reminded her.
"Oh, you two really did get married then?" Lucy piped up.
Ellie shook her head. "It was in the paper, Luce, your son works for The Echo."
"Well how did I know, it's not like I actually read it, just because he works there. I'm getting a job in the new office, did I tell you?"
"Great, right next to the amusement arcade."
Rose smiled. Alec held out his hand to help her up, still very aware of how vulnerable she was right now. He was amazed how she had bounced back, outwardly, not inwardly and had showed no signs to Ellie what she had just gone through. The only time she had broken down after being released from the hospital was when they had gone to bed that night and she had cried herself to sleep while he had just held her tightly in his arms. He just hoped she wasn't holding it all back.
They followed Ellie to her tiny flat, she let the child minder go early since she had the day off and Rose showed her their wedding videos Jake had taken as Rose made a fuss over Fred.
"Aw, I missed you little guy," she said as she sat him on her lap.
Alec was giving her a warning look not to pick the boy up, she was still feeling a bit weak and wasn't supposed to exert herself.
Ellie found the videos very entertaining and she knew the two of them were totally lost in each other so as they never noticed they had been observed.
"Oh just look at the two of you, I'm surprised you lasted until you got to your room."
Alec raised his eyebrows. "Who said we did?"
"Oh don't tell me you did it in the lift?"
"No we didn't Ellie, we had a bit of restraint. Not much mind you, we did snog all the way up in the lift and all the way down the corridor," Rose giggled.
"Don't tell her everything Rose," Alec joked.
"So, no little Hardy's on the way yet?" Ellie innocently asked.
Rose put the boy down. "Oh, have I asked the wrong question?" Ellie picked Fred up.
"Rose doesn't want to talk about it."
"It's ok Alec. I was two months but I lost it."
"Oh Rose, I'm so sorry. When was that?"
"Just over a week ago."
"Then what the hell are you doing here then? Both of you, you should be at home."
"It's ok, I couldn't let Alec come over here on his own and now I'm glad I didn't. How could he have changed his plea?"
Alec took her hand. "I don't know and he obviously doesn't care how many lives he's just turned upside down again. Even his solicitor didn't know about it, he must have decided on the spot as he stood up."
"Yeah, well I know what I'd like to do with him. Just leave him in a room with me an Beth, you won't need a trial."
"If only it was that simple, justice carried out by the victims, it's all cut and dried then two words, just two words, everything comes crashing down destroying two months of hard work. Come on Rose, let's leave Ellie to get on with what she has to do. Are you going to have to take time off now?"
"I'll go back to work until we get a date, best thing. They should give me paid leave."
"What about your house Ellie?"
"I can't go back there Rose, not now. I might put it up for sale, I really don't know. What about you two?"
"We'll stay here for a few days, have a look around Devon though don't go stopping me for violating any traffic laws Miller."
They said goodbye and went back to their hotel. They were just relaxing, having another snogging session when Alec's phone rang. Rose went into the bathroom.
"Alec, it's Claire."
"Yes, I know, I can't talk to you about what happened, Tess is running the investigation, talk to her."
"But you're the only one who can help me. He's back, I know he is, you've got to protect me. I did it because you said you'd look after me and you left me, alone in that cottage in the middle of nowhere, for almost eighteen months and then you leave Broadchurch and swan off and get married. Didn't you even think about me?"
"Why would I? I did what I promised. Lee left the country, you got a job at the local shop, you were getting on with it."
"I thought you cared what happened to me Alec, does your new wife know about us?"
"There is no 'Us' Claire, there never has been, only in your head."
"What about that time when you comforted me, when Lee was arrested?"
Alec was stunned she was bringing all this up now, of all times. Rose had just lost their baby and Claire was making a mountain out of a molehill. He had to stop this now and tell Rose everything, Tess would back him up. Tess knew Claire was a pathological liar and had changed her story three times before the case had been abandoned when the evidence was stolen.
"I'm hanging up Claire, now call Tess, she'll send someone to check up on you."
"I gave my job up Alec, I don't feel safe working there. I can't stay here any more, he'll find me."
"He won't, he's not in the country, I would have known if he was back here. Now stop this and get help from Tess."
Alec thought she had hung up when she went quiet.
"She's not like you Alec, she wasn't kind to me and helped me, you did. I'll tell your wife if you don't help me, tell her how you laid with me when I needed you."
"Stop that Claire, there was nothing to it and you know it."
The line went dead and he slung his phone onto the bed. This was all they needed, a witness and provider of an alibi for a murder suspect was threatening him, to tell Rose he had felt sorry for her, found her a cottage to rent and acted as guarantor if the rent wasn't paid, which had been a few times now, according to his bank statements.
Rose never bothered him about money, she didn't need to. Alec could end the contract on the cottage any time he wanted. Rose was standing in the doorway in her vest top and knickers.
"Come here sex kitten, I have something you need to know."
"I can guess. Who exactly is Claire? Did you have a girlfriend you didn't tell me about before I arrived in Broadchurch?"
"No, she was a witness I was unofficially protecting from a murder suspect, her husband."
"Oh, you mean like Ellie?"
"Well not exactly. Sandbrook, the main suspect's wife, Claire, provided him an alibi and I persuaded her to turn against him in return for taking her somewhere safe. I put her in a cottage about ten miles from Broadchurch, got her a job and then when I got a transfer to the town, I made sure she was still ok from time to time but the day after I met you, I never went near her place again, I swear Rose, there was never anything between us."
"It's ok babe, I know you. We were hardly apart all the time we were there. What's she trying to say?"
"She thinks her husband's looking for her, she wants me to protect her but I told her to go to Tess."
"So, what's the problem?"
"She's threatening to tell you there was something going on between us. She's sick Rose, she's a compulsive liar, she can't help it, it's a game to her, she changed her story three times."
Rose put her arms under his open shirt and pressed up close to him.
"It's ok Alec, don't worry about it. Let her say something to me. The mood I'm in now, I'll slap her silly and nothing will help her if my mother finds out. I heard you say something else."
"Ok, this is the truth Rose. Something happened and I took her to the hospital, she was upset because she was still providing her husband with an alibi but he'd just been arrested and she turned to me for help. I tried to calm her down and she might have taken it the wrong way. She found out just after that Tess had left me. She's just playing on it, making it out to be something it wasn't."
Rose reached up and pressed her lips to his.
"It's ok. Look, I do believe you, that it's all in her mind. Can't someone do an evaluation on her?"
"She's clever Rose, she uses her feminine ways to get around things, playing the innocent wife of an alleged child killer. She's not strong like Ellie. She'll play on the fact she was lonely and vulnerable and use it against me if I don't play her game."
"Well it's not going to work, not on me. Let her do her worst, she's just bluffing. You don't even work here any more so, what can she do?"
"Plenty Rose, it could get back to my new bosses, tampering with a witness in a murder investigation, getting her to change her story and testifying against her husband."
"Pete will get you a good lawyer, you know that and if it's all false claims, she won't stand a chance. I'm with you Alec, there's nothing she can do to us. We'll get a specialist to prove she's a compulsive liar. You watch. Let Tess get her in to give a statement against you, see how far she'll go. You have to tell Tess about it."
He leaned down to kiss her, putting his hand down the back of her knickers.
"I will cupcake, tomorrow. Come back to bed Rose, we've ages before dinner. Show me how much you believe me."
Rose still wasn't fully recovered from her loss but did her best. She knew the first time they had been together, all those months ago he would never go looking elsewhere for sex, he never complained all that time when they hadn't fully been together and now, there was just no way ever they couldn't keep each other satisfied in that area that either of them would even think to look elsewhere.
"When you're feeling better Rose, if you can't go back on the pill yet, I'll be the one to take the precautions but until then, you have to get better, ok?"
Rose nodded and just lay in his arms until it was time to go down to dinner. The next morning, Alec was half expecting another call from Claire but his phone stayed silent. He called Tess, with Rose's approval and asked if he could set up a meeting with her on Friday, meaning to stay over the weekend and see Daisy. Tess agreed and said if Claire contacted her with any allegations against him, she would hold off making it formal until he could get there and they could take Daisy out for the day on Saturday.
Alec almost said he really no longer needed her approval to take his daughter out but wanted to stay on her good side until he could get out of the country and away from Claire Ripley.
So for two days, Alec and Rose tried to relax, going to Sidmouth one day and down to Lyme Regis the next, staying there overnight to make the journey over to Sandbrook on Friday morning. Just before they set off, Ellie called to say she'd had a court date, next Tuesday at 10am. Alec assumed he'd get a similar call later.
Tess was waiting for him at the station he used to work in and was shown into her office. Rose had opted to stay behind and was meeting them for lunch, then they would take Daisy out for a meal later in the evening.
"So, you got my old office then?" Alec observed.
"Don't miss much do you Alec? Right, you'd better tell me everything she said to you and the threats she made. I don't suppose you recorded the conversation did you? You were never one for using the latest technology."
"So I've been told but Rose is the technical one in our house, ask Daisy. No, I didn't record it because I didn't know how far she was going to go but if she calls again, I will. Have you even interviewed her yet?"
Tess got a folder out of the pile and passed it over to him. "These are the allegations she gave against you when I asked her why she thought Lee Ashworth was back in the country. Is he Alec?"
"How do I know? I've been living on a Spanish island for the last six months. Look, I'd be informed if he set foot inside the country, I have a contact who's watching out for his return. If he comes to Majorca, I'll be the first to know, I'll have an alert set up if he steps foot in my jurisdiction."
"Yes, how is your new job? Feet planted firmly under your desk? I supposed that's what you get for screwing the ex-chairman of Vitexs' stepdaughter since you got the job before you actually married her. Anyway, Daisy told me about Rose, I'm sorry about that, for what it's worth, no woman deserves that, even if she is married to my ex."
Alec was stunned. "Thanks, I'll tell her. Now can we get back to this sordid business because right now, we don't need this load of crap, Rose is just getting over it, we've a trial to go to, which is next Tuesday because another child killer won't face up to his punishment and now, I have that stupid cow to deal with. Why did I even bother trying to help her?"
"You were an easy touch Alec, you were more vulnerable than she was, or maybe just as much but you're not a compulsive liar. I took your advice, I had a police psychiatrist observe her when I brought her in yesterday, I told her he was just another police officer but I don't know if she believed that. I've just got his report. He said she is a pathological liar and a sociopath and if she brings charges against you, they would never stick but it still may ruin your already rather tarnished reputation, especially since you thought Broadchurch was all sewn up and he was just going to be sentenced. Sorry about that by the way, even you didn't deserve that."
"Well I'm glad to hear the crazy bitch might actually find herself in a nice padded cell. Just don't let Rose get anywhere near her because the way she feels right now is about on a level with what Ellie Miller and Beth Latimer combined feel about Joe Miller. She has the money and the power behind her and Pete Tyler won't sit by and let his stepdaughter get caught up in the middle of this. If she makes accusations against me, Claire makes them against Rose and her family and believe me, she doesn't know what she's messing with."
"I can well believe it. You tell me what she said to you and I'll compare it against her version but it will never come to anything, I'll just submit her mental evaluation. There will be no formal charges brought, I might even charge her with wasting police time. Look Alec, I'm sorry you've had to come down here to sort all this out. Claire is still out there, I had to let her go. Just watch out for her, both of you. Where is your new wife anyway?"
"Doing a bit of shopping for us both. We only brought enough with us for a few days, now we don't know how long the trial will take so she's getting some extra clothes. The hotel back in Exeter had a laundry service so it's not too bad. It beats me why Joe Miller confesses to me, then confesses in the station, on tape then stands up in the dock and says he didn't do it. I think he needs a mental evaluation as well because if he gets off, I wouldn't like to think what the victim's family and Ellie will do to him if he tries to go back to Broadchurch, they'll lynch him."
"Probably. He maybe got scared of what they do in real prison to child killers and whatever else he did to that poor boy. He was around Pippa's age wasn't he?"
Alec nodded, not wanted to be reminded of the fact. He was writing down what Claire had said.
"Don't you think it was strange Alec? You stumbling in on another child killing?"
"Are you trying to rub it in Tess?"
"No, I'm just stating facts."
Alec handed over the piece of paper he had been writing Claire's threats down on.
"That's about it, you know most of it anyway. All except the last one and yes, I've told Rose everything."
Tess looked at the piece of paper. "Everything Alec?"
"Yes, I wasn't the one having the affair Tess, you were, remember?"
"Well that's old news now Alec, you got your divorce, you found yourself a young blonde, very rich wife and have a fancy villa on a Spanish island. I'd say that wasn't so bad, considering Dave has never once managed to bring up the word 'Marriage' in our conversations and I still live with our daughter in a three bedroom council house."
"Well you never wanted to buy one, did you? Good thing too, you'd have probably taken it and left me with nothing."
Tess thought about it. They were straying from the point as all their arguments used to do.
"I heard things didn't go too well on your wedding day, according to Daisy."
"We had some issues, which were all sorted and we got married, on time."
Tess smiled, pleased her daughter had given her that piece of information to keep him in his place.
"I've asked Claire to come in and have a face to face, out in the open discussion, I hope you don't object?" Tess threw in for good measure.
"No, go ahead, I can't wait. I'll call Rose, have her drop by. I thought you didn't believe her?"
"I don't but I think it would be interesting, I may even get her to admit the truth. Don't you want the case solving Alec? Don't you want us to find Lisa?"
"Of course I do, what do you take me for? Bring her in then."
Alec went outside to call Rose and told her what had happened and she agreed to meet him there in an hour and took her purchases back to the hotel then made her way to the police station, Alec telling her to ask for DS Henchard.
Rose was waiting in the reception area when a woman with long brown hair walked in and up to the desk.
"DS Henchard told me to come in, I'm Claire Ripley."
She was told to take a seat and came to sit next to Rose. Rose knew enough to keep quiet.
"What you here for?"
"Nothing much, you?"
"Interview over some stupid copper that said he'd protect me then he leaves me on my own, to fend for myself while my husband is trying to hunt me down and hurt me. I'm going to make him pay."
Rose kept her cool, this was 'That' Claire, the one who had threatened her husband, her Alec.
"I told him but he wouldn't listen, tried to palm me off to his DS, his ex wife, can you believe it?"
Rose knew the woman didn't realise who she was sitting next to.
"Not much for talking are you?" Claire continued the one-sided conversation.
Rose was biding her time.
"Anyway, I made a complaint about him, he shouldn't have left me to go marry some rich bitch and swan off to Spain with her."
Rose knew the woman was either digging herself into a hole or she knew exactly who was sitting next to her.