"And state your address for the tape." Ellie requested from where she sat beside Alec, across from the man who'd introduced himself as Steve Connelly in one of the interview rooms.
"Uh, 57 Whitney Road, Lewiston."
"Where's that?" Alec asked.
"Um, it's about 30 miles from here. I cover the full region for the company."
Alec barely let the man finish before he asked skeptically, "And you're saying Danny Latimer wants us to know that he was put in a boat before he died?"
"Yes." The man spoke quietly.
For once, Ellie seemed as irritated and impatient as Alec as she kept fiddling with her hands beside him while Alec informed Connelly sternly, "And I want you to know that nothing offends me more than cranks wasting police time."
The man frowned, apparently feeling insulted, but he repeated in a quiet and neutral voice, "I receive messages. I don't, I don't… ask for them, I don't question them."
"Did the message happen before or after you were allocated by your company to install extra phone lines here?" Ellie asked curtly, keeping her tone professional.
"After."
"Amazing." Alec said sarcastically without missing a breath after Connelly had answered. "I love this, the phone engineer who hears voices from the dead."
"I don't want this." Connelly protested softly. "It comes to me. Look," he raised his hands as though in surrender, "you don't want to listen, that's fine."
"Oh, you're a reluctant psychic?" Alec exploded. "A child has died. And you come in with this self-indulgent horseshit."
Ellie glanced at Alec before looking back at Connelly, who appeared to have wilted slightly. She asked neutrally, "Did you ever meet Danny Latimer?"
"No, never." Connelly shook his head.
"Do you know the family?"
"No, I don't think so." Connelly answered. Alec exhaled deeply, barely reigning in his temper as Ellie paused before asking her last question.
"Do you have any concrete evidence relating to the death of Danny Latimer?"
Connelly shifted uneasily before answering quietly, "No."
Ellie glanced sideways at Alec, who shook his head at her darkly. She agreed with his assessment.
"Interview terminated at 6:17pm." Ellie shut off the interview tape and Alec addressed Connelly.
"You know what happens around a murder, Mr. Connelly?" He didn't give Connelly a chance to guess. "A whole industry grows up, of groupies and rubberneckers and people who want to touch the case. You're just the first."
He got up while delivering his warning.
"Don't let me see you around here again." He jerked his head at Ellie. "Get him out."
Alec was at the door of the interview room when Connelly spoke again.
"She says she forgives you."
Alec glanced back at the man and Connelly explained, "About the pendant."
Alec froze and he stared at the other man for a long time before he wrenched open the door and Ellie ushered Connelly out.
"Hi, Paul."
"Emma." Paul greeted as he stepped out of his office at the parish, his robes from the morning service discarded.
"How was the service today?" Emma asked as she and Paul fell into step, walking down through the graves and headed toward the town as they usually did after Sunday mass.
"Oh, you know. Nineteen people out of a town of fifteen thousand, it was great." Paul answered sarcastically.
Emma grimaced sympathetically but Paul pointed out, "You don't come."
"You know I don't really believe in God." Emma sighed.
They'd had the debate - both refused to ever call it an argument, just a difference of opinion - many times since Paul's arrival at Broadchurch approximately four years ago. Emma was the only person in Broadchurch that Paul actively tried to convince to come by the parish, given their close friendship and it was therefore only Paul who knew the extent of Emma's lack of faith.
"I'm sorry, Paul, I don't think you're wrong to believe in Him and I truly believe He might exist like you believe. I also think it's good if people are able to find peace of mind and support because of their faith. But I personally just can't believe it and I'm pretty sure it's wrong to go to church just because you asked."
"Yeah, okay, fine." Paul sighed. They walked a little further before he finally admitted, "What I don't understand is why you're so against religion. I know we've talked about it but every time you just say you don't believe in God."
"That's all there is to it really, and when you think about it, it's kind of the most fundamental thing about religion." Emma pointed out dryly. "If I can't believe he's real, kind of makes it hard to accept anything else."
"Yeah, okay, but why don't you believe in Him?" Paul pressed. "You said there was an incident when you were younger, but if it's trauma… Emma, if I can just understand-"
"I don't believe in God because if He exists then I just have someone else to blame." Emma said at last, surprising Paul with her bluntness. She'd evaded answering that question for as long as he'd known her and he wondered what had changed as he looked over Emma's tired expression.
"I don't believe He can exist if people like Danny can get taken away from the people who loved him and his loved ones are forced to live on in pain."
"You know it's not that simple-" Paul began but Emma nodded.
"Oh, I know. My mum was Christian, she taught me some stuff when I was a kid. Like that God gives people the choice, that He takes people He loves most first, etc." She paused and looked at Paul apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude."
"That's fine." He sighed and Emma grimaced in apology.
"No, I mean it. I think faith does help some people immensely. Like you, like Liz. But for me… if I think He exists, I just find someone else to blame. And I'm tired of hating, you know? I'd rather just believe in the people around me, flawed as we are."
Paul nodded but there was something he didn't understand.
"Is this because you lost your parents young, Emma? It's not just Danny; you've not believed in God even for years before."
Emma just averted her gaze and nodded. A memory flashed in her mind's eye of her mother grasping a rosary as she prayed.
'Fat lot of good that did her.' Emma thought bitterly before she could stop herself; and then she immediately shoved the thought into a box and sealed it in the darkest recesses of her mind. That was in the past; and she'd walked away from that a very long time ago.
"Every big case, these people come crawling out the woodwork." Alec growled as he strode back into the station with Ellie behind him after she'd seen Connelly out.
"What did he mean about the pendant?" Ellie asked curiously. "Do you know?"
"He has the bloody nerve to come in our office!" Alec continued to rant, ignoring Ellie's questions, and he ordered, "Check his details, find out who he is, rule him out, just to be sure."
Ellie let the subject drop as he clearly wanted, instead getting on to adding the new action items to her list while asking, "What are you going to do now?"
"Mark Latimer lied to us about where he was that night." Alec pointed out meaningfully as he shrugged on his coat.
Ellie meanwhile picked up a file that had been left for her on her desk and she reported, "Danny's social network profiles from his hard drive. They've just come through, all his posts."
She flipped through the pages, reading aloud for Alec, "3rd of May, 'Going to get a lock on my door. Keep all this crap out.' 7th of May, 'She's totally having sex with Dean.' 12th of May, 'Dear Dad, remember me? I'm the one you used to play with?' 12th of May, 'I know what he's doing.'."
Ellie looked up, aghast, while Alec just clicked his tongue at her pointedly.
"See you later." He said before he was off and Ellie looked morosely back down at the papers in front of her, unable to believe what she was seeing… but slowly starting to doubt herself as the evidence stared back at her.
"Hey, Beth. Liz."
Emma kissed their cheeks as she arrived at the Latimer house with a tupperware of food.
"I, uh, made lasagna. You can put it in the fridge or freezer, just so you have something easy to reheat if anyone needs."
"Thanks, Emma." Liz murmured, taking the food from her. "You're very kind."
"It was nothing." Emma turned to Beth as Liz disappeared into the kitchen. "How're you feeling?"
"Like I'm not really in my body." Beth admitted. Emma glanced at Beth's stomach in silent question and Beth groaned. "I don't know. It doesn't matter."
Emma didn't agree with that but she let the subject drop for the moment as Mark walked down the stairs.
"Oh, hey Em." He greeted dully and Emma nodded back at him.
"Hi Mark." He hugged her briefly in greeting, seeming distracted. She let him wander off toward the kitchen while she followed Beth into the living room. "Where's Chloe?"
"Out for a walk; she didn't like staying cooped up inside." Beth muttered as she also paced about while Emma gazed at her sympathetically. A head poked out from the kitchen, a man Emma had never seen before.
"Oh, hello." The man greeted and Emma stared at him.
"Uh, hi."
"Oh, Em, this is, uh, Pete, he's… police." Beth muttered distractedly. "Pete, Emma."
"Hi, Emma. I'm the family liaison officer for the Latimers." Pete explained and Emma nodded in understanding.
"Oh, right. Uh, nice to meet you."
Pete smiled awkwardly before ducking back into the kitchen while Emma turned back to Beth.
"He seems… nice." She tried but she let it go immediately at Beth's face; clearly, Beth would rather throw Pete out if she could. "I'm not here to stay long, just wanted to pop round in case you needed anything. Anything at all."
"No." Beth shook her head tiredly. "I mean, thanks, Em, but, there's nothing..."
She trailed off meaningfully and Emma nodded.
"Well, you know you can call me at any time. Okay? Even if it's just because you need someone to hear you scream at the world." Emma promised and Beth nodded as she sank into the sofa.
"Thanks."
There was a knock at the door, the stern triple knock that told Emma it was probably police.
"I can get that for you?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind." Beth sighed. Emma made the short trip to the front door and opened it to find Alec Hardy.
"Oh. Hi." He seemed a bit surprised to see her but he recovered. "I'm here to see Mark."
"Of course." Emma stepped aside to let Alec in and she called over her shoulder, "DI Hardy to speak with you, Mark."
Mark appeared out of the kitchen while Beth stood from the sofa as Alec walked in, Emma right behind him.
"Maybe somewhere private?" Alec suggested. Emma frowned at that, as did Beth, but Mark seemed less surprised as he nodded.
"Uh, sure. Outside?" He suggested, gesturing to the back garden. Alec nodded and Mark stepped outside while Emma watched with a curious frown. She knew it wasn't normal to be questioned alone and it was never a good sign for the family.
Beth had stood up but Alec shut the door behind him as he followed Mark out. Emma tried to get Beth to sit and let them be but Beth refused, staying where she was standing near the door, pacing as she watched Alec question Mark too quietly for her to hear.
"Um, Thursday night, the night Danny went missing, where were you?" Alec asked as he made sure he and Mark were far from the backdoor and Mark's back was to the house.
"On a callout." Mark answered promptly. "Call came through…" He thought about it. "I don't know, early evening, about half six, old family's system had packed in, you know?"
"How long did that take?" Alec asked, not looking at Mark as he pulled out his notebook and a pen.
"Most of the night." Mark replied. "It was a nightmare boiler. So I was there pretty late."
"No." Alec said bluntly as he looked up at Mark at last and skewered the man with a stern look. "There was no callout."
Mark's facial muscles tensed slightly but he didn't say anything so Alec explained, "We have CCTV footage of the car park at the top of Briar Cliff. You were there at 7:30."
Mark glanced back toward the house before he looked back toward Alec although not directly at him. "Uh…"
He scoffed slightly and scuffed his shoe. "So you're snooping on me now?"
"Well, checking CCTV in the area." Alec answered calmly. "Now, what did you do that night?"
"What am I, a suspect?" Mark asked, frowning heavily as he glanced at the empty page in Alec's notebook where he had his pen poised.
Alec was very tempted to say yes; he didn't really have time for games with any of the possible suspects in a murder. But he had to be professional and he wanted clear answers anyway.
"The first thing we do is eliminate people from the investigation. You tell me where you were, who you were with, how long for. I can eliminate you from suspicion. It's entirely methodical."
But still Mark hedged. Alec glanced up at Mark and he pointed out a little more sternly, "You don't give me those facts, I can't eliminate you. And if I can't eliminate you, you're a person of interest."
"In the murder of my own son?" Mark asked, still avoiding the question and not looking directly at Alec.
Alec noted this but didn't say anything as he looked back at his paper and said casually, 'I'm sure this is all very straightforward."
He waited patiently as Mark folded his lips together tightly before he finally answered.
"I uh… I met a mate. You know, we drove off together, and then he dropped me back at the car park and, uh… I came home."
"What time?" Alec asked and Mark answered immediately, "Three or four in the morning. Maybe."
"What's your mate's name?"
"I… can't remember."
"Sorry?" Alec looked up sharply from his paper. "You can't remember the name of your friend?"
Mark shook his head, or maybe it was a shrug. Alec stared at the other man intently as he asked, "Where did you go?"
"I think we just had a drive around. Bite to eat. Bit of a drink, you know."
Alec stared harder at Mark as he repeated with heavy skepticism, "You think? This was three days ago."
"Yeah, and a lot's happened since then." Mark shot back.
Alec noted the way Mark kept shifting unconsciously away from the house and where Beth was watching by the backdoor, and he asked pointedly in a low voice, "And is there any reason you wouldn't want to tell me the name of your mate?"
Mark shook his head but Alec would be a fool to believe him. He tried again, "This is only about who killed Danny. Nothing else."
"Um… It'll come back to me." Mark deflected. "I'm just knackered. I… I haven't been sleeping, you know, all the stuff on the news. Head's not straight."
Alec continued to pin Mark with his stare and he checked, "When you came in, you went straight to bed?"
"Yeah." Mark nodded.
"Can your wife confirm what time you came back?"
"Uh, no." Mark admitted. "She was asleep."
Mark gave an awkward half-smile that seemed like he was trying to say 'what can you do?' Alec continued to examine the man intently and he pointed out in a low voice, "Mark, who you met…. That's a big gap in your recollection."
Mark shifted again, when Alec spotted a flash of blonde from inside the house. He glanced over to see Emma joining Beth at the window, watching him warily before clearly trying to convince Beth to move away or sit down. A different thought occurred to him then but Alec was interrupted as his phone rang.
"Sorry." Alec muttered before he turned away to answer the call. "What?"
"I'm at the hut." Ellie explained. "SOCO think it's where Danny was killed. We found his prints and some blood."
"Right. Anything else?" Alec asked, as he stopped at the far end of the garden although he didn't turn his back on Mark.
"Yeah, the whole place has been cleaned. But we also found another set of prints by the sink. I messaged them through to run a match against elimination prints. They belong to Mark Latimer."
Alec's eyes instantly flew over to the man who was standing with his hands in his pockets, waiting for Alec to get off his phone. It seemed he had been sending his wife a reassuring smile through the glass door as the smile was still on his face when he turned back from the door and glanced toward Alec.
"Okay. I'll be there." Alec hung up and walked back to Mark.
"Are we done?" Mark asked casually and Alec stared at the other man.
"I'm going to have to ask you to come in for formal questioning and to make a formal statement." Alec answered and he saw the way Mark's muscles tensed again. "Doesn't have to be today, it can be tomorrow morning. But I'd suggest you come today."
"I, uh, need sleep. I'll come tomorrow." Mark replied, keeping his tone casual but his body language was still a bit defensive.
Alec observed the man for another long moment before he nodded and he re-entered the house. Beth watched him as Alec nodded at the women before leaving. He heard Beth move to question Mark but Emma joined him and showed him politely to the door. He paused in the doorway.
"Emma, can I ask you a few questions?" He asked as he looked down at her.
"Of course." She answered, looking up at him although she had to crane her head a bit as he was over a head taller than her.
"Ellie said you weren't born here - what brought you to Broadchurch?"
She looked a bit confused by the question but answered readily, "My godfather, the one I told you about before. His name was Michael Butler, he was from Broadchurch. Left as a young adult, which is how he met my dad in London, and then he came back here later in life. He was ill so I came here intending just to be with him until he got better or passed on. I loved it so much I stayed."
"You like it here?" Alec asked a bit skeptically. She heard it and seemed faintly amused although the general sombre mood never disappeared.
"I like the quiet and I like the people here." She seemed to hesitate before she went on quietly. "This incident, it's not normal. Crime rates are low here and everyone knows everyone here, which can be a pain but it's also what I like about being here."
She stopped herself and apologised, "Sorry, didn't mean to ramble. You must be busy-"
"Have you ever been questioned by police before? Specifically for an investigation?"
Emma stared at him, again surprised. Alec read her face carefully and he noticed the way she had tensed unconsciously as she answered carefully, "Yes. When I was younger."
"When?"
"When I was fourteen." She replied reluctantly but promptly. "There was a criminal case in my neighbourhood."
"We don't normally question minors." Alec noted.
"I know that."
He stared at her and she stared back, refusing to elaborate unless he asked.
"So why did they question you?"
Her brown eyes, which looked darker than normal under the gloomy clouds, narrowed slightly and Emma asked, "Are you asking because you're curious or as the DI on Danny's case?"
Alec had to take a moment to think about his answer before he admitted, "Curious."
"Then I choose not to answer." Emma said blandly before she nodded at him in farewell. "Goodbye, Inspector."
*A/N Just want to give a huge thanks to scripturient3201 for reading and reviewing every chapter, and showing the original show as well as Emma so much love! Your detailed and thoughtful reviews really inspire and motivate me, so thank you so much and hope you continue to enjoy the story!