Bob wasn't the only one who was confused.
"Hang on," Ellie interrupted. He'd obviously made a complaint, about Hardy and he wanted to get him out of the way to attempt to kidnap Rose again.
"What?" Lee asked, trying to sound surprised, which he was as this woman had already sassed him out but she'd tried to stop him the other morning.
"Well, you might as well admit it Lee 'cos as you can see, you have no chance now so the game's up. Why were you trying to kidnap me anyway?" Rose wanted to know, not that she didn't already, it all stemmed back to Sandbrook, since she hadn't seen him since that last time he'd tried to assault her.
"Are you going to listen to them?" Lee wanted to know, trying to sound annoyed.
"I'm a bit confused here," Bob admitted, taking his hat off and scratching his head. "You complained DI Hardy was holding your wife against her will, yet you just said he threw her out. So which is it?"
"Yeah Lee, stuffed that one up, didn't ya?" Rose scoffed, getting some of her confidence back.
"Right, everyone back to Broadchurch police station – now!" Alec finally spoke, feeling as bad as he had earlier. "Bob, you take Ashworth, we'll all follow and if his van gets towed away or wheel-clamped, the roads will be a hell of a lot safer."
"I can find my own way Hardy," Lee huffed.
"No, I don't trust you. Rose, you're driving, Miller, we'll see you there," Alec decided, going towards Rose's car.
"This way Mr. Ashworth," Bob indicated, putting his hat back on and gesturing to the patrol car.
"Under protest and I'm not paying any parking fines," Lee protested, going in front of Bob.
Rose stopped Alec. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked, going for the bottle of water.
"I'm fine love, I just don't need all this after earlier."
"Maybe you should go home Hardy and let me and Bob handle this?" Ellie suggested, getting her car keys out.
"No, I intend seeing this through. I'm going to call Tess and have her join us, I'm not going down there and doing it all again, not when I have Ashworth where I want him. Have him taken to an interview room. I take it now we are not following up on those false accusations?" Alec asked Bob.
Bob looked a bit embarrassed, having been given the job of trying to make hard-ass Hardy apologize to someone. "No Sir," Bob managed to reply, barely looking at Alec and thinking the tough detective would now follow through with his threat.
"Good, I should think not," Rose huffed. "I think you both owe Alec an apology, you almost caused him to have another attack, he's been through enough already."
Alec was wishing she wouldn't have dragged that up in front of Lee Ashworth but he'd probably had already gathered there was something seriously wrong after he collapsed the other morning.
"Me, apologize to him?" Lee huffed back. "Why did you hide my wife away from me then Hardy, if you didn't want her for yourself?"
"I never wanted Claire in that way. You really want to know?" Alec asked, hoping there were no press hiding in the bushes.
Lee nodded, Bob getting impatient at the delay.
Alec continued. "To get her to tell the truth of what happened that night but she's too loyal to you, she told me one tale too many and now, well I know you've been seeing each other so don't deny it. She no longer needs my help and Rose does."
"Excuse me Sir, what you and the young lady said earlier, was it true? This man tried to drug her and abduct her?"
"Yeah, its true Bob, trust me," Ellie told him. "I was there and if I'd not got to her in time, I dread to think what he was going to do with her."
Ellie had not been privileged to hear the rest of the story of what Lee had tried to do to Rose before the latest attempt.
Lee just laughed. "What do you think I was going to do to her? I just wanted to talk to her."
"By using drugs?" Alec raised his eyebrows. "I seriously doubt it since you covered her mouth with something and you were trying to drag her into your van. You could have talked to her without going that far. You can take him now, I'm calling DS Henchard over in Sandbrook, this time, he's not getting away with it, there are three assault charges against him now, Miss Tyler here will be filing charges going back to before a young girl was killed and her cousin went missing."
"Hang on," Bob told him. "This is all connected to your old Sandbrook case?"
Rose thought everyone in the police should have known that. "Where have you been? Of course it's all connected, he tried to assault me twice before."
"Rose, you should have told me," Ellie joined in.
"I told Alec Ellie, I would have told you eventually, sorry but I couldn't talk about it again so soon. He tried twice, once when he got me to give the job of looking after Pippa and the second time, the day after her body was found in the river, which proves he's guilty."
"Hey, you can't accuse me of killing that kid," Lee objected.
"Too late Ashworth, we know it as you, otherwise, why would you threaten her a second time?" Alec asked. "If her father hadn't come along, you would have succeeded as well.'
"Lucky her," Lee muttered under his breath. "I want a lawyer, I'm not saying anything else."
Alec knew he had him now. "Then listen Ashworth, because right now, you are better off going with this officer and talking than if Mr. Tyler finds you first, trust me."
Just then, Alec's phone rang, as he had forgotten to call Tess. Luckily, she as calling to see what time they were arriving.
"Alec, where are you? I can't wait all day for you," Tess told him.
"I was about to call you, there has been a major breakthrough in the Gillespie case. I need you to join me at Broadchurch police station. Lee Ashworth is about to confess, well to two sexual assault charges and one attempted kidnapping."
"What?" was all Tess could say. "Against who?"
"Against Rose Tyler, who do you think Tess? I caught him, here at the court building, he tried to get me out of the way on some false charges and attempted to kidnap her again. Luckily, she was with DS Miller and I persuaded the officer that Ashworth was going to try again," Alec told her as Bob grabbed Lee and cautioned him before leading him off with his hands tied behind his back.
Rose thought it was about time.
"Okay, I'm setting off now but I'll have to dig out all those files again," Tess agreed.
"No need, DS Miller has all we need to do with the case, she's been going over it."
"Oh, well that's useful Alec, nothing better to do? I'll see you there, let them know I'm coming and wait for me, we interview Lee Ashworth together. You can't interview him about Rose Tyler's assaults, not if you're involved with her. I'll interview her with DS Miller."
"Have it your way Tess, I'll see you there but I sit in on it."
"If you must Alec. Now I'm going to have to send a message to Daisy to go to my mother's house. I take it you won't be meeting your daughter as arranged tomorrow?"
"We will have to see. What would you rather me do Tess?" Alec asked her, watching Bob drive off with Lee in the back seat. This time, the man was not walking free. He didn't need Claire's testimony – he had a far more reliable witness and despite the fact he was in love with Rose, he had to let Tess take the lead.
He had just hung up, Ellie had gone back to her car after saying she would meet them back in Broadchurch when his phone rang again. This time it was the station.
"Sir," the desk sergeant addressed him. "There's a woman here to see you, says her name is Claire Ripley."
"Good, put her in an interview room until I get there. Did she say what she wanted?"
"No Sir, just she wanted to see you about Sandbrook and her husband."
Alec wondered if she was about to finally turn on her husband or was she there to complain she'd been a victim in all this as much as Pippa, Lisa and now Rose. Lee Ashworth was responsible for a lot of things even if he'd not been the one to actually kill Pippa, he had something to do with it and so did Claire.
Now Alec could finally tie all this up but would he last? He knew he was getting worse, he'd just had one attack a few hours ago and almost had another but he'd somehow fought it off and now, Rose was smiling at him and leading him to the car.
"Come on Alec, let's finally get this over with."
Alec couldn't have agreed more and as long as he got to hear Lee's and Claire's confessions and get justice for all three victims, he'd go a happy man if he didn't make it to hospital in time.
Claire had wandered around for some time after meeting Lee on the beach again but this time, it was all over and she couldn't just let him get away with almost drowning her. No, now was the time to play her ace-in-the-hole and be the innocent victim who had got caught up in events and also reveal what happened to Lisa, well what she knew about it.
There was no point in retrieving her belongings just yet, all she needed was in her rucksack, just one item would put an end to the hiding and her protecting Lee, whom she now knew didn't deserve it. Maybe Alec had given her a push when he threw her out of that dreadful cottage.
So she walked up the steps, strode up to the desk and said, "I want to see Alec Hardy. Tell him it's urgent."
"He's not here Miss. Take a seat and I'll try and locate him, he may be in court though."
"Well get him here, I have some information he wants, about my husband."
As Claire was led to an interview room, Lee was silent in the back of the police car. He knew he shouldn't have listened to Claire, she was devious and had prompted him to make a last-ditched attempt of having his way with that interfering bitch Rose Tyler, who would now be his downfall. Hardy had been crafty, getting her on his side, she would have already told him about the other two attempts and now he regretted failing the other morning and that night when he'd almost had her if her father hadn't come along.
"So, do you believe what was said back there then?" Lee struck up a conversation with Bob.
"That's not up to me to say Sir but you wasted mine and everyone else's time with those false charges," Bob replied, annoyed with himself for being the one to attempt to take Hardy in about it, if they'd not been able to solve it face to face.
"You didn't know they were false," Lee gloated.
Bob just looked at him through the mirror, thinking he'd best not say anything else.
Ellie had sent a quick message to Lucy, saying something had come up and asking her to have Fred a bit longer, to which her sister had replied 'Why am I not surprised?' Ellie had sent one back saying if all went well she wouldn't be going off tomorrow after all, well not overnight anyway. Now she'd have to cancel the hotel booking but hopefully, she'd get to know the whole tale of the Sandbrook case though she felt sorry for poor Rose.
Tess had gathered what she could of the case files and sent a message to Daisy, not having the heart to tell the teenager her dad wasn't going to be meeting with her after all. Had they really got Ashworth where they wanted him – about to finally confess?
Alec was also quiet on the way back, Rose thinking he looked really pale.
"Ellie was right Alec, maybe you should let her and Tess handle it?"
"No, this is it Rose, I never thought I'd see this through love, can't you see that? This is what's kept me alive all this time, seeing justice for Pippa and finding out what happened to Lisa. Now I have to see it for you, for what Ashworth did to you."
"Not if it's gonna cost you your life Alec, where's the justice in that? Let me take you to the emergency room at the local hospital, please. I'm worried about you."
"I'm fine love, don't fuss over me so much. I can handle things, then you can take me, if you insist?"
"I do insist. What would I do without you?"
"Does this mean you'll stay here, when all this is over?" he asked hopefully, well if he survived.
"I have to finish at the academy, I'll have to call Jack and make sure they don't throw me out for not attending," Rose smiled, glancing at him. She thought he looked even paler than he had during his attack.
Alec smiled back at her. "Well I'll say I was giving you on the job training eh?"
Lee was led out of the patrol car and another officer took him to interview room two but someone had left the door open of room one and Lee caught sight of Claire.
"What's she doing here?" Lee demanded to know.
"Sorry Sir, I can't tell you that," the uniformed officer replied, grabbing Lee's arm to get him in the other room.
"Claire, what are you doing here?" Lee shouted, refusing to move another step.