Chapter 82 Then what?

Jackie saw the disappointed look on Rose's face as she put the phone down.

"Wasn't he there again?" she asked Rose.

"No Mum. I think he's gettin' her to answer his phone on purpose," Rose replied.

"Then why does he talk to me and say he still loves ya?" Jackie wanted to know.

"Because he's not having to say it to me, is he?" Rose admitted. "It's okay him saying it to you, tryin' to make me believe it."

"Listen 'ere Rose, why would he just say it for the sake of it, if it ain't true?" Jackie asked her.

"Just leave it mum, I'm not callin' any more if he won't talk to me, I've had enough. Do ya know what that cheeky cow just told me? That it's up to him whether he calls back or not. I bet she's not even tellin' him I called. Did ya tell him I'd tried?"

Jackie tried not to look guilty.

"Mum, ya didn't tell him, did ya?" Rose asked worriedly.

"Well I didn't know, did I?" Jackie replied. "Ya said someone answered his phone, I thought they'd have told him."

"Mum, she works with him, what if she's tryin' to pinch him for herself and she's not told him?" Rose wondered. "Maybe she has told him and he's not bothered anyway?"

"Stop blamin' him," her mother told her. "Don't give up Rose, not after all this time."

"What if he's given up Mum? How long do I wait?" Rose wanted to know.

Alec couldn't understand why Rose wasn't calling him. He'd asked Tess several times if she was sure he'd had no calls and she kept telling him to stop asking and that she'd tell him.

"Why doesn't she call you at home then?" Tess asked him a week later, tired of him asking if Rose had rung even when he'd taken a bathroom break.

"She's not home then, that's why," he snapped at her. "Sorry. I'll try in the morning, when I get home, I might catch her before she leaves for work."

Tess started to panic. This Rose would surely want to know why her messages hadn't been passed on.

"Wouldn't it be better to wait for her to call?" she suggested.

"Tess, I've been waiting," he insisted.

"Exactly. Doesn't that give the impression that maybe she doesn't want to call you?" Tess asked him.

"Don't say that. Why does her mother talk to me then?" he asked her.

"Maybe she doesn't know that Rose doesn't want to talk to you?" she further suggested. "What are you going to do about it then?"

"I don't know Tess. I've told her mother to tell Rose I still care about her," he replied, not wanting to say he'd actually told Jackie to say he still loved Rose.

"Well, maybe she's not passed the message on or Rose doesn't want to know?" Tess wondered, hoping he'd go for it.

Jackie wouldn't do that to him, would she, he wondered. She'd never been against them, even when they were younger but now, he was beginning to wonder, since he and Rose hadn't seen each for so long. What could he do about it though? He could travel all the way down there for her to refuse to see him, then what?

He decided to call John before he set off the next evening instead.

"We've known Rose a long time," John reminded him. "I can't see her not wanting to talk to you but people change Alec. If I was you, I'd take some time off and go see her."

"Jackie suggested that," Alec admitted.

"Then do it," John advised him. "Want me to go with you?"

"I have to do this on my own John, thanks anyway," Alec replied.

"It's a long way, you could do with some company. Why not get next weekend off, the bank holiday?" John suggested.

"It's too late now, I'll not get it off. That's just it John, I can't choose when to take time off," he replied.

"You sound defeated. Don't give up Alec," John warned him. "Go see her, please Alec."

When he went to work, he saw the sergeant before going to his desk, Tess not being there yet.

"I need a few days off Sarge," he told the sergeant as he stood at the desk.

"To go see your girlfriend maybe?" the sergeant smiled. "Leave it with me but I can't promise when it will be."

"Thanks Sarge but don't tell Tess," Alec replied.

"Oh, you think she's jealous?" the sergeant was amused to find Alec had only just realised.

"Maybe? I'm not sure Sarge. I'm not sure what to do about it though," Alec replied. "If she asks where I've gone, just tell her I'm having a few days off."

"She'll maybe guess Alec. You work closely together and she's bound to feel something, though what you do about it is up to you. Just remember, there's no actual policy of officers not seeing each other outside work, just an unwritten one that things stay professional inside the station," the sergeant reminded him.

"There's no need Sarge, Tess and I just work together," Alec insisted.

"Well just in case things change, remember that, though rumour has it that Tess gets very defensive of you in the staff canteen. Just be warned eh?" the sergeant told him.

So Tess was jealous of Rose, Alec mused. Maybe he should tell her he was going down to London or would that make her worse? He had wondered if Rose had rung him back and Tess had chosen not to tell him. Would she do that, he thought for the hundredth time.

The only thing he could do was get it over with, go see Rose and see if she still loved him and to tell her he loved her and see what happened. He was handed a slip of paper before he left the next morning with a date on it – the middle of June but he was in no position to argue as the sergeant just patted him on the back.

"What's that?" Tess asked him as he folded it and put it in his jacket pocket.

"Nothing Tess. Don't forget it's my day off tomorrow," he reminded her.

"I was going to ask if I could start getting a ride home. My friend's started leaving early," Tess told him.

"It's out of my way Tess," he tried to get out of it.

"You never even said where you lived, apart from near that apartment we went to. Did Rose used to live there?" she asked.

"Yes, with her mother and she was very unhappy about it. He made her do everything, the cooking and the cleaning and he wouldn't let her out after school at first. She had to sneak out to go with me to my aunt's for the new year and that was when she was determined he wasn't going to keep her in any more," Alec explained.

"Sounds like he was trying to control her," Tess mused.

"You think?" Alec asked her. "That new year changed her life and mine. We discovered we wanted to be more than friends, when we got older but after that, we spent even more time together. My half-brother had put some mistletoe in the hallway, we had our first kiss under it," he smiled.

Tess didn't want to hear about it and pretended she wasn't interested.

"I thought he was your brother?" she asked as she picked up a folder.

"It's complicated and not something I talk about, sorry Tess," he replied. "It's a family thing."

"Fine, don't tell me then," Tess tried not to sound put out. "So, can I get a ride home, then I'll sort something else out."

Alec knew if he didn't, she'd hold a grudge against him. So he reluctantly agreed and thought he'd call and see his aunt on the way back when Tess wrote her address down. He may even use his old room there, the one Rose was going to have until they got a place of their own but that put him off the idea and thought maybe he'd just go home and call Jackie.

He knew there had to be some reason Rose hadn't called him. When it was time to leave, Tess got in his car and he followed her directions to the west of the town.

"How did you find this place?" Alec was curious as he stopped the car outside the well-kept gardens of an old impressive looking apartment building.

"It was found for me, I get it paid for with being away from home," Tess told him.

"When I was in Aberdeen, I lodged with the sergeant," Alec replied, looking up at the building.

"You were training then," Tess reminded him as she left the car door open for Alec to close it.

She was a bit annoyed he'd not taken the hint to open it and help her out. He'd not even got out, he had no intentions of making her think she was welcome so she'd want a ride home every morning. He didn't care if she thought he had no manners, he had when it came to Rose.

He tried leaning over to reach the other door handle as Tess stood on the pavement.

"See you tomorrow night," he called as she was about to walk off.

He only just heard her saying yes as she opened the gate, Alec wondering if she'd really expected him to get out and escort her to the door. He supposed he could have driven up to the building but he thought if he did, he'd get invited in and he really didn't want that. He drove home and wondered if Rose would be getting ready for work or if she'd still be in bed. He stared at the phone for a good while before picking up the receiver and dialled the number. Unluckily for him, Jackie reached it, since Rose was in the bathroom.

"Rose, that might be Alec calling," she shouted loudly.

Rose pretended she'd not heard her as she finished showering, remaining under the water a few minutes longer. If it was Alec and he wanted to talk, what could she say? Jackie was already talking to Alec.

"She's in the shower," Jackie told him when he got chance to ask if he could talk to Rose.

"Jackie, can you tell her I rang?" he asked, feeling tired. "Tell her I miss her so much. Has she been trying to call me by any chance?"

"Yeah, I think so, I heard her talking to someone," Jackie replied.

"Do you know who she spoke to Jackie?" he wanted to know.

"She never said, sorry. I hope ya not giving up on each other?" she asked him.

"I don't know Jackie? If she won't talk to me. I thought she would have come round by now?"

"Oh Alec, I wish I could do something about it," she told him. "I'll try talking to her again," she offered.

"Thanks Jackie. I was thinking of going down to see her but would she refuse?"

"I don't now Alec? Once she sees ya though?" Jackie wondered.

"I hope so Jackie, I don't know what else to do," he replied sadly.

Jackie had just said goodbye when Rose came out of the bathroom, towelling her now shorter hair dry.

"Was it Alec?" Rose asked her mother.

"Ya know it was Rose, who else would it be at this time?" Jackie replied. "When are ya gonna talk to him?"

"I keep trying to ring him Mum, what's with the woman who keeps answering his phone?" Rose wanted to know. "He must be gettin' her to answer it."

"Maybe not on purpose?" Jackie replied as she heard the paperboy putting the morning edition through the letterbox.

She glanced through the first few pages and stopped when she saw a headline further down the page about a group of Scottish child abusers being arrested. She didn't want to read any further, she was convinced Bob and his friends were too clever to be caught and it didn't give too many details. If she had read further, she'd have seen where they were arrested but it only gave the name of the detective in charge of the enquiry, Alec wasn't mentioned.

Alec was disappointed Rose couldn't answer the phone. He wondered if she'd been avoiding him but he was going to have words with Tess tomorrow night, if Rose had rung him and Tess hadn't told him. He'd be annoyed if she'd kept it from him when she knew how much he missed Rose.

Was that it though, he wondered as he went to get some sleep. Was Tess trying to keep him apart from Rose? Were all the signs there and he hadn't see them? He'd not been interested in Tess, she didn't compare with Rose, who must have changed since he last saw her, up in Aberdeen.

Everyone had been looking forward to her coming up to live in Paisley again but this time free from Bob's clutches. The plan for her to stay at his aunt's hadn't been put into place but he'd found an apartment easily enough and got most of the cost covered and Rose would have gone to live with him right away. It wouldn't have been long before they'd have got married anyway, for anyone to say anything about it.

Rose got to work and met with Donna but was only half listening to her going on about her cousin James.

"Are ya listening Rose?" Donna was asking her, seeing her friend hadn't put her engagement ring back on. "What's going on over Alec?"

"He called this morning, while I was in the shower," Rose admitted.

"Didn't ya ring him back?" Donna asked her.

"I don't know what to say to him," Rose admitted. "What were ya just saying?"

"Never mind about me," Donna replied. "I was just saying that James was going to settle down and get a job, he's tired of all that running around. I was gonna suggest to him that he came to work here. Ya do remember him don't ya?"

"Yeah, I remember him, mum reckons he looks a bit like Alec's brother," Rose recalled.

Donna let out a laugh. "Poor bloke."

"Everyone used to say Alec would look like John when he got older," Rose told her.

"He's twenty five Rose, he's not likely to change that much," Donna replied. "Anyway, if anyone hands their notice in, I'll tell James to apply."

"What, in the travel department?" Rose joked.

"No, in the ladies department, when you come to your senses and go up to marry Alec," Donna replied, stirring her cold coffee.

Rose tried not to blush the colour of her name, wondering if she should take her friend's advice. What if she got all the way up there and he was going out with this woman who kept answering his phone? She didn't say anything to Donna, she already knew her friend meant well but she couldn't get the idea out of her head that it was finally over with Alec.

Why would he keep waiting for her to call?

"Seriously Rose, why are you even still here?" Donna continued her list of complaints, Rose only half listening. "You're the one who says it's over."

Rose knew nothing could convince her otherwise, unless he came down and took her back up there, to show her there was no-one else. He wouldn't come all this way if he had someone waiting for him after all, would he? She knew that thought should have cheered her up but she had this nasty feeling it was only wishful thinking on her part.

When Alec woke up, he thought he'd go visit his aunt anyway, he'd not seen her for a while and John had mentioned she'd not been well. He wished he had some good news for her, that Rose was coming back as she let him in.

"Alec, we'd all love for her to come back," his aunt told him as he offered to make some drinks.

"I know Aunt Mary, I wish she'd just talk to me and I can't get any time off for a few weeks," he replied. "John offered to go with me but I don't want him to, for a few reasons."

"Well you know your uncle is retiring?" she reminded him.

"I thought he already had?" Alec smiled.

"There were a few delays. John's been really good, he cut down his hours to help me when I wasn't feeling well," his aunt told him.

"He told me. Are you sure you're okay now?" Alec asked, somewhat concerned since his mother hadn't told him how ill she'd been.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily," she laughed. "I'm not done until Rose comes back and I see the two of you getting married."

Alec just hoped he could convince Rose when he finally got the time off to go bring her back with him because he was determined he was going to bring her back with him. Little did he know that Tess was already plotting to get him to change his mind about going to get Rose and she asked the sergeant if she could book some time off.

The sergeant knew Alec was going to London to bring his girlfriend back so he saw no harm in requesting the same holiday for her, Alec would be hundreds of miles away. He had no reason to think Tess was going to plot to keep Alec up here instead and that trouble was already brewing, that of Tess keeping Alec as far away from his girlfriend as possible.

The sergeant didn't subscribe to the gossip already going around the station and no-one had told him they'd seen her getting into Alec's car that morning. Her friend had started leaving a bit earlier but had been assured by Tess she could get a bus home at that time, she had no reason to think Tess had made other arrangements.

Alec had waited for John getting home.

"Is there a reason for your visit?" John wondered as Alec was invited to stay for tea.

"I don't know what to do, about Rose," Alec admitted. "You know I told you about Tess, who I work with?"

"You mentioned her. Go on," John encouraged him.

"I think Rose may have been calling and she's not told me."

"Oh. Why, is this Tess jealous of Rose?" John tried to be serious.

"I think she might be but I don't know why John," Alec replied.

John rubbed his hands over his face in thought.

"You have to get her to back off, after she admits she took calls from Rose," John advised him.

"You don't know Tess, that won't be easy," Alec told him. "I spoke to Jackie this morning, she's sure Rose has been trying to call me."

"Maybe she got put through to the wrong desk?" John suggested.

"Maybe then? I can't see it though, from what Jackie said. The thing is though, Rose is either off to work or she's not back when I get the chance to call her," Alec told him.

"Well try now," John suggested, going to get the portable phone. "She knows the hours you work, maybe she thinks you're avoiding her?"

"When her mother tells her I've called?" Alec asked him, taking the phone from him. "Can you call her, she might talk to you?"

John laughed and took the phone back, dialling Rose's number.

"I'll get it," Jackie called out to Rose in the kitchen. "It might be Alec."

She got a surprise when she heard John instead.

"Jackie. How are you?" John sounded cheerful. "Is Rose there?"

"Yeah, she's here. What are you doing calling her?" Jackie wondered.

"Can't I call her now?" John was puzzled.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean ya can't call her but Alec's been tryin' to get her to talk to him for weeks," Jackie told him.

"I know, he's here. Has she been trying to call him and someone else has answered?" John asked her.

"Well yeah, has he told ya?" Jackie replied.

John looked at Alec. "You could say that."

"Well Rose is convinced he's gettin' someone to answer his phone for him," Jackie laughed, not seeing Rose through the hatch.

"Alec thinks she's getting put through to the wrong desk," John laughed back.

"Hold on, I'll get her," Jackie laughed again, wondering where Rose had got to. "Alec will have to sort it out and find out who it was."

"I think he already knows," John replied.

Alec did already know it was Tess who'd not told him. Why was she doing it, he wondered, waiting for John to pass him the phone, hopefully with Rose on the other end, so he could tell her.

"Rose," her mother called. "John wants to talk to ya."

Rose came out of her room and reluctantly took the phone.

"Hi John. Did Alec get ya to call me?" she asked him.

"What makes you think that?" John asked, trying not to go back to his English accent, though it amused his pupils when he let it slip. "He just happens to be here. He's been wanting to talk to you."

"Well I keep calling him but this woman keeps answering," Rose complained.

"He knows now, he knows who it is and it won't happen again," John promised her. "I'll put him on, shall I?"

"I don't know what to say to him," Rose panicked. "Just tell him mum tells me when he's called and that I do still miss him but I can't come back."

"What?" John asked, Alec wanting to know what she'd said.

"Tell her Bob and his friends are going to be put away for what they did," Alec told him.

"Alec says Bob's been caught. Rose he can't go after you again."

Rose sat on the nearest chair.

"Are ya sure?" she managed to ask him.

"Yes, it was in the papers, have you not read it? Alec arrested him and he'll go on trial with his friends," John told her. "You can come back Rose."

"What if he gets off?" Rose replied.

"Stop having all these doubts Rose, please?" her mother asked her. "Did Alec catch Bob, like he promised?"

"John said it was in the papers," Rose pointed to the paper on the coffee table.

"I didn't know it was him as well," Jackie answered as she tried to find the page she'd seen earlier.

"He's clever," Rose was telling John. "He'll get off and he'll blame me for getting arrested."

John covered the phone while he talked to Alec.

"She says he'll get off."

"He won't, we have him," Alec told him, trying to get the phone. "Rose, listen to me, please," he called loudly.

"Tell Alec I'm sorry," Rose was almost in tears. "I still can't come back."

"Alec, she won't talk to you," John concluded as Rose went quiet.

"Then tell her I'm coming down there," Alec tried to get near to the phone again.

Rose had heard him.

"Please tell him not to John. I know who answered his phone, it was Tess. She made a point of telling me," Rose tried to recover. "He's letting her answer his phone for him, he didn't want to talk to me."

"Rose, she works with him," John laughed. "That's all. Isn't that right Alec?"

"Well yes," Alec replied. "I think she's jealous of Rose, that's why she'd not told me."

"She's jealous of you," John told Rose. "It's nothing. Why don't you call him again, maybe before you go to work?" he suggested.

"Well okay, I'll try in the morning, I can set off a bit later," Rose relented.

"Good. Geez Rose, after all this time, you think he doesn't want to talk to you?" John asked her.

"Is that it?" Alec wanted to know when John hung up after saying goodbye to her. "Where did she get that idea?"

"No idea but I'd ask Tess if I were you," John laughed. "She'll call you in the morning so make sure you're up."

"Wait until I see Tess tomorrow night," Alec sounded annoyed. "What is she playing at?"

"Being jealous?" John joked.

"What for? We just work together. She came with me, to confront Bob after we arrested his friends then when I went to arrest him, when they gave him up. I had to let her take the lead in questioning him, with me being involved."

"Well there you are then," John replied, seeing the problem. "She thinks of it as more. Has she been acting differently lately?"

Alec stood up and began pacing the kitchen floor.

"She asked for a ride home this morning."

"Now they'll be trouble. That's just the beginning Alec," John warned him.

"She knows I still love Rose," Alec replied. "She'd never bothered before."

"Maybe she was just waiting for the opportunity?" John wondered. "You have to put a stop to it, if you want Rose to come back."

"How can I? I work with her, she's my partner," Alec sounded defeated.

"Get another transfer?" John offered.

"It's too soon after my last one and transferring to London's not that easy, though how Tess got transferred to here, I've no idea," Alec admitted.

John scratched the back of his head.

"Maybe she's not from London? Where is she from?"

"I don't know, maybe she told me when she arrived but I don't remember. She'd heard about the training programme."

"Well I don't know what you're going to do Alec? If you want Rose back, you'll have to do something," John reminded him.

"I know that but what? I might be able to join the CID, I worked with them on that case of the child abusers," Alec told him.

"Good. Maybe you should give it a try?" John suggested.

"I will, tomorrow night," Alec seemed to brighten up.

"There you go," John laughed. "See, it's not that bad."

"Yes, stop working with Tess and get Rose back," Alec laughed. "What can go wrong?"

Meanwhile, Jackie was reading out the newspaper article to Rose.

"There's no names mentioned but it's them and Bob alright," Jackie declared.

"They'll get off Mum," Rose reminded her. "How were they caught in the first place? Alec's name's not mentioned either."

"Neither are ours Rose, thankfully," Jackie told her. "It says they got arrested on current and historical offences. That means it was before we even went up there."

"Bob came down here and saw his chance to join them," Rose recalled.

"We were just unlucky sweetheart and I'm so sorry for making ya go through that but you'd never have met Alec otherwise," Jackie apologised.

"I know Mum and I wouldn't swap those times with him for anything but I have to face it, we've been apart for too long."

"Don't say that Rose. Maybe he'll transfer down here?" her mother wondered.

"Then what Mum? What if he brings someone with him?" Rose replied sadly.

"Don't forget ya promised to call him in the morning," Jackie reminded her, changing the subject.

Tess had got to work early and had caught the personnel officer before she left.

"Tess, what are you wanting?" she was asked as the woman was putting her coat on.

"I just wanted Alec Hardy's address. He promised to bring me to work tomorrow night but I forget to get it," Tess bluffed.

"Hasn't he got yours?" the woman smiled, having heard the rumours and half believing them.

Now she knew there must be something in it, if they were being coy about giving their addresses to each other. She saw no harm in it and thought it might shake them both up a little as she went to the filing cabinet. Pleased with herself, Tess went to her desk, wondering if Rose would try calling again. She thought if that happened, maybe it would be the last time, if she herself insinuated a few things.

Then she got the idea that she'd get a taxi to Alec's place in the morning and surprise him, one of them had to make the first move and he needed to get over Rose. So the next morning, disappointed Rose hadn't called, she headed for Alec's apartment.

Alec had got up and was watching the time, waiting for Rose's call so he was surprised his door buzzer went and wondered if the postman was early and couldn't get something in the box.

"Who is it?" he asked, still half asleep.

"It's Tess, can you let me in?" she asked him.

"Tess? What are you doing here? How did you get my address?"

"I'm a detective Alec, work it out. Are you going to let me in?" she asked again.

Alec pressed the door release and wondered who had told her where he lived, he'd be having strong words with them. He let Tess in when she pressed the door buzzer.

"Tess, you can't be here," he warned her. "You should call a cab and go home. Why are you here?"

"You avoided telling me where you live when you know where I live," she replied, looking around. "Aren't you going to offer me a drink?"

"Tess, I'm expecting a call," he tried to tell her as she sat at the kitchen table.

"Who from, Rose?" she smiled, seeing a photo on the wall of him and Rose. "So that's her?"

"Stop it Tess," he tried to tell her as she got up for a closer look.