Witness Protection

Chapter Three

Claire Ashworth was surprised to see both DI Hardy and Ellie Miller at the doorway of her cottage at eight o'clock that morning.

She blinked wearily, tying her hair into a messy bun. "Do you two have any idea what time it is?"

"Yes." DI Hardy was a little too pleased with himself. "That's why we came. We need to talk to you about something else that has come up."

"Right. Of course, it is." Claire rolled her eyes, leading the way to the kitchen. "Let me get some coffee first before we start talking. Want some?"

DI Hardy declined, whereas Ellie accepted, and the two detectives waited before settling into the comfier seats in the living room.

"What's this all about, then?" Claire asked, sitting in the armchair with her mug of fresh coffee, tucking her feet under her knees.

"How well did you know Pippa Gillespie? On a personal level?" DI Hardy inquired. He wanted to know what Claire would reveal, without giving away what they already knew thanks to Rose.

Without hesitation, Claire started to answer. "I first met Pippa when she was twelve years old, and Cate had brought her to the salon to get her hair cut for the new school year. Naturally when I'm doing someone's hair, we get talking. Same thing happened with Pippa. She told me she was really into sports, played netball at school and was into running. Her favourite colour was purple, but she loved anything with rainbows on. I knew her fairly well."

"You would've known some of her friends, then?" Ellie pressed, wanting to get to the facts of the case. "Did she have any friends that she was seen frequently with?"

Claire frowned, trying to remember. "There was this one girl, she seemed to be at Pippa's house an awful lot. Rose … Tyler I believe her name was."

"How well did you know her?" DI Hardy continued.

"Not as well as Pippa, but we got along and became good friends. Rose was shy at first, but once you got to know her, she showed her feisty side pretty quickly. She was never afraid to say no to something she didn't like and stood up for Pippa a lot who was an easy target at school. Lee and I got along well with both Cate and Jackie, so much so that we picked up the girls and took them to school as a favour several times and dropped them back home. We all got along well." Claire concluded with a shrug.

"Did you ever witness the two girls having a fight?" Ellie wondered, knowing it was a possibility, even though Rose claimed otherwise.

"There was one time …" Claire recalled and began to explain what happened.

Flashback …

Claire pulled up outside the gates of the schools entrance, a little earlier than usual, to pick up Rose and Pippa, who were waiting for her with a teacher. Claire could tell straightaway that something wasn't right between them, both were acting standoffish towards one another, which was unusual for the two best friends.

When the car stopped, Pippa slid into the front and Rose into the back, closing the door with a little more force than necessary.

"Oi don't damage the car! Lee will go mad if there's a single scratch on it." Claire chastised her, noting the furious expression on Rose's face as she pulled on her seatbelt, slouching back in the car, and folding her arms across her chest. "What's happened?"

"Nothin'." Rose grumbled, clearly not in the mood to talk about it, glaring out of the window.

"Alright, I'll ask you." Claire turned to Pippa, who was quieter than normal. "What happened?"

"Rose got suspended." Pippa confessed, unable to lie to grownups.

"Okay …" Claire glanced at Rose in the front mirror, starting the car and began the drive home. "How long for?"

After a few minutes, Rose mumbled under her breath. "The rest of the month."

Claire's eyes widened as they stopped at some traffic lights. "Jesus Christ, Rose! What did you do to get that amount of time?" She was met with silence. "How am I supposed to explain this to your Mum, Rose? What explanation can I give her?"

Pippa hated being caught in the middle, especially when it involved her best friend. But she was never very good at lying or keeping secrets. "Rose was smoking behind the gymnasium; a teacher caught her, and she threw the cigarette on the ground and thought she'd put it out. But it hadn't, and the gym caught fire." She blurted, unable to hold it in.

"Pippa! You swore you'd never tell!" Rose shouted, and in her temper, she brought her knees up to her chest and kicked the back of Pippa's chair. Hard.

"Ow! Rose, that hurt!"

"Good. It was supposed to!"

Pippa cried out when Rose kicked her again. "Ow! Claire, make her stop!"

"Girls, cut it out! Don't make me call Lee." Claire threatened, to her relief, Rose stopped her attack on Pippa. Once the lights changed, Claire continued to drive, heading towards the neighbour where she and Pippa lived, a little further away from where Rose lived. "You can come back to mine for a bit, Rose." She decided, pulling up to their house. "If anything, you need to cool off and calm down. We'll wait until Lee gets home, then we can decide how to tell Jackie what's happened, alright?"

"Fine. Sure, whatever." Rose muttered, climbing out of the car, and slamming the door on her way out.

"I swear, if that girl damages this car, she'll be in trouble." Claire muttered, turning to Pippa with a smile. The poor girl was still fretting over Rose's behaviour towards her. "Don't worry about Rose," she reassured her, giving her knee a squeeze. "Once she's calmed down the two of you will be best friends again. Lee and I fight all the time, but we make up eventually and act like nothing's happened."

"Really?" Pippa wondered, thinking of ways to get back into Rose's good books. "But Rose is so stubborn that she'll hold a grudge against the smallest thing! This isn't something she'll easily forget or forgive." She worried her bottom lip, something Pippa did often when she was anxious.

"Just trust me, alright?" Claire reassured her. "Have I ever let you down before?"

"No."

"Exactly. And if Rose starts bothering you or harassing you, then let me or Lee know and we'll handle it, alright? Why don't you go home? You need to calm down as well as Rose. I'll text you later when we've sorted everything."

"Okay." Pippa leaned across her seat and gave Claire a tight hug, relieved that she didn't have to resolve a difficult issue. "Thank you, Claire."

"You're welcome, sweetheart. I'll see you later, alright?" Claire waited until Pippa had left the car and went inside her home. She then got out of the car herself and approached Rose, who was leaning heavily against the side of the house, practically miserable. "Are you going to apologise to Pippa?"

Rose refused to look at Claire, embarrassed by the whole situation. She shrugged. "I dunno. I haven't decided yet. If it wasn't for her then I wouldn't have been suspended."

"You don't know that." Claire stated. "The school probably have CCTV cameras, and they could have seen it happen as it happened. Pippa didn't mean to get you into trouble, you know how anxious she gets when dealing with authority. You on the other hand, can't stand authority at all, and you'd probably argue with a fence post." She pulled out her keys and pushed open the door. "Right, in you go."

End of flashback …

"Wait a minute, hold up." Ellie held up her hand, slightly puzzled. "How old was Rose at this time?"

"Fourteen, a few months away from being fifteen." Claire recalled, remembering the birthday party.

"You're telling me that a fourteen-year-old had managed to set fire to the gymnasium by smoking a cigarette that hadn't been put out?"

Claire nodded with a shrug. "Check the school records if you don't believe me. From what I can remember, it wasn't a massive fire or anything, but you know what schools are like when they record things. Rose was suspended for the rest of that month, and when she returned to school, she was put on some sort of 'community service' that the school organised. She hated it and hated school altogether. I'm surprised she managed to pass some of her exams, given how against it she was."

"Did Rose ever confide in you?" DI Hardy wondered. "About personal issues?"

"Why are you asking so many questions about Rose?" Claire contemplated, eying DI Hardy suspiciously. "You never bothered before." She sat up straighter, looking between the two detectives. "Have you been talking to her? Do you know where she is?"

"Why are you so concerned?" Ellie countered, remembering how Rose reacted when they discussed Lee and Claire during their conversation. She suddenly felt very protective over the younger woman, who had clearly endured something traumatic in her life.

"There was a time I cared a lot about her, I still do." Claire admitted. "I've thought about her ever since Pippa was found. As a teenager, Rose was never good at handling her emotions, so I was concerned about how she was dealing with everything. I understand about confidentiality and all of that, but can't you tell me something? At least tell me how she's doing?"

Normally, DI Hardy was against giving a potential suspect information about a possible witness, but if it encouraged Claire to open up more, he would do it. "Rose is … better than she was before. She's had her struggles, but she's improving. She's living with her brother right now, and he's taking care of her."

"Good." Claire nodded with relief. "That's good. Thank you for telling me. I always wondered; you know? I would've reached out myself, but it felt inappropriate after what'd happened."

"I'll ask again, did Rose ever confide in you about personal issues?" DI Hardy repeated.

"Yes, she did. We talked a lot about different things that were troubling her."

"Such as?"

Flashback …

Jackie Tyler opened the door, a relieved smile forming on her face as she shifted little Hope on her hips. "Hi Claire, thanks so much for coming, come on in." The young mother stood to the side, closing the door behind Claire.

"Hello, gorgeous." Claire smiled at Hope, tickling her tummy. "What's going on?"

"That's what I'm hoping you can tell me." Jackie said, clearly frustrated as she led the way into the kitchen. "I don't know what's up with her, but Rose has been in a foul mood for the past few days, and she won't tell me why. She's been distracted from her schoolwork – more so than usual – and stays in her room most of the time she's at home. It's not like her to not talk to me. Something's bothering her, but she won't tell me. Could you please try talking to her? She might open up more to you."

Claire wasn't sure what to make of this information and was surprised that Jackie was asking her to help. "I can try, but I can't promise anything. Where is she?"

"In her room, where she always is these days." Jackie muttered with an eyeroll, placing Hope into the highchair.

Claire adjusted her bag on her shoulder and made her way upstairs, knocking on the door to Rose's room. "Rose, it's me, can I come in?" There was no response, so Claire opened the door to a darkened room. She could make out Rose's figure laying on the bed, on her stomach with her hands tucked under her pillow. The teenager appeared to be asleep, but Claire knew her better. She snorted. "Nice try." Claire went to open the curtains, smirking when she heard Rose hissing behind her, groaning.

"Why'd you do tha'?" Rose demanded, shielding her eyes, and sitting up on her elbows, covering her eyes.

"Oh, so she's awake!" Claire joked, turning the chair at the desk around, facing Rose and sitting down. "Your mother's worried about you, why are you being a bitch to her and acting like a vampire?"

"I'm not bein' a bitch!" Rose insisted, rolling onto her back, and glaring at the ceiling. "I'm jus' goin' through some stuff, stuff tha' grownups wouldn't understand."

Claire folded her arms across her chest, leaning forwards. "Rose, I was your age once too. Try me. Tell me what's bothering you."

Rose sighed, kicking the bed slightly in frustration. She'd managed to avoid this conversation for a while, but now that she was confronted with it, she couldn't get out. "I think I have a crush on somebody, but it's confusing, an' it's getting me wound up 'cause I can't speak to anyone about it." She said this all fairly quickly, and when she stopped talking, a blush formed across her cheeks. She groaned, covering her face with her hands. "This is so embarrassin'."

"Hey." Claire said soothingly, moving to sit beside Rose on the bed, placing her hands on Rose's, pulling them down. "Look at me. Rose, look at me." She waited until Rose did as she'd asked, her eyes sparkling with tears. "It's completely normal to have a crush, especially at your age. Why are you so worried about it?"

"'cause …" Rose struggled to string the words into a coherent sentence. "The person I have a crush on is of the same sex."

"Alright …" Claire said slowly, still not catching on to the upset. "So, are you telling me that you might be into girls more than boys?"

"Maybe? I don't even know. I thought I did, but everything became confusing." Rose wanted to tell her, she could trust Claire after all, right? She took a deep breath. "Especially when the person you have a crush on is your best friend."

Claire's mouth formed into an 'O' shape, clearly not expecting that response. "I see … and you're scared that if you tell Pippa, then she won't reciprocate those feelings? If she doesn't, you're worried that the friendship will be over?"

Rose narrowed her eyes at Claire. "Are you a psychic or somethin'?"

"I wish. If I was, I would've won the lottery ages ago." Claire joked, sitting up straighter. "You want my advice?" Rose nodded. "Don't be a bitch to your Mother, she's only trying to help. Maybe just speak to Pippa about it, she loves you to pieces, she'll understand, even if she doesn't respond the way you want her too. Either way, at least you'll know what to do with that information."

Rose nodded in agreement, sitting up and hugging her knees to her chest, wiping the tears away from her eyes. "Thank you, Claire."

"You're welcome. Fancy going out to get some chips?"

"Sure." Rose agreed with a smile. "Let me sort myself out first, I look like a mess."

End of flashback …

"Rose confided in me when she was confused about her sexuality." Claire explained. "She couldn't speak to Jackie about it, afraid of her reaction. I gave her the advice she wanted to hear, whether she took it or not I'm not sure. Pippa never gave me the impression that Rose had told her."

"Thank you for this information, it's been a big help." DI Hardy stood abruptly, eager to get back to Broadchurch. "We need to head back to the village, court stuff to deal with. We'll stay in touch. Remember to stay safe, Claire."

Claire confirmed that she understood with a nod, watching the two detectives leave. When she saw the car leaving the driveway, Claire pulled out her mobile – a burner phone that DI Hardy had given her – and started to type a text to a number that she had memorised.

Keep your mouth shut. The detectives have been asking me questions. Too many questions. If you know what's good for you, you'll say nothing else. Understand? Don't make me call Lee.