Asking a lot

When Rose got home, she hoped Alec had remembered the video call.

"Hey, you did remember," Rose was pleased.

"Yes love. So, you never said how you got on with Jamie's head teacher," he suddenly remembered.

"Oh, sorry. It went okay, I said we were probably going to be moving away once we got married but Jamie wouldn't be changing his name just yet. Well not unless ya don't want to wait?"

"We'll talk to Jamie about it at the weekend, it's all a lot for him to take in though," Alec reminded her.

"So, how's the investigation going?" Rose changed the subject.

"Slowly. Sorry love, that doesn't help us. Maybe I will have better luck once you join me eh?" he smiled.

It had only been a few days but she was already missing him.

"I just hope I don't put ya off," Rose smiled back.

"Rose, you coming down here to be with me is the best thing that could happen," he assured her. "We need to talk to Jamie though and assure him we are not just leaving him behind."

"Alec, he wouldn't think that," Rose replied. "He knows what happened down there. We're talking about our son, not your almost ex wife."

"I know love, sorry. I miss you, that's all. I know you and James would have raised him properly. So, you still have a lot to tell me about him?"

"Yeah, we have plenty of time Alec. I'm off to see what my options are about the house tomorrow, Donna's thinking about what I suggested, that of maybe renting it and leaving it at some point for Jamie."

"Rose, things would have been different when James was left the house," Alec pointed out. "Maybe Donna will get married at some point, she could keep the house in the family that way? They may not just want to rent?"

"Well, I hadn't really thought about it I suppose?" Rose began to wonder. "I never thought I'd be leaving here."

"Why not wait until you hear from Donna?" Alec then suggested. "Cancel your appointment for now?"

"Yeah, maybe I should?" Rose had to agree with him. "I'll call Donna tomorrow and tell her to take her time and if they'd rather buy the house, we can agree on something? When you get transferred out of Sandbrook, if you're able to go to Broadchurch, we can look to buy a house there."

"Rose, I am going to do my best to get a transfer out of here but I may have to wait for a vacancy to arise in Broadchurch. We never could find the police station there," he laughed as he recalled the last time they had been there. "Tell you what sweetheart, why don't you look up that caravan park we used to go to and book us a long weekend, things should start dying down here soon."

"You mean it? What if the investigation goes on?" Rose wanted to know.

"Forget it going on Rose, my being here won't solve it any faster, the way things are going. Sorry, I can't talk about it love," he apologised.

"It's okay Alec, forget it," Rose assured him. "I love you Alec but you had better call Jamie before he thinks you've forgotten him."

"Yes, I should," Alec had to agree. "Send me the details for the caravan park and I will pay then book the time off. We could wait until that long weekend that's coming up at the end of May, or don't you want to wait that long?"

"Ya might have caught the killer by then?" Rose suggested. "Yeah, okay then, I'll do it later. I'll talk to ya tomorrow, bye Alec."

"Bye love, see you soon eh?" he agreed.

Rose went off to join her mother, who was watching the end of a programme.

"How's Alec?" Jackie asked her.

"Anxious," Rose admitted. "Mum, am I doing the right thing? I mean joining Alec and leaving Jamie?"

Jackie hit the mute button on the TV remote, which was quite something for her.

"Listen here Rose. You stayed at home and brought that boy up, James insisted on it. He had a better life than being shoved off to nursery when he was a baby. Well his real father's back and he'll get to know Alec but do that, you and Alec have to spend some time with each other," she told Rose.

"Yeah. I was just a bit worried, that's all. If Jamie wasn't at such an important stage in his education, I'd take him with me. Anyway, Alec thinks I'd be better offering to sell the house to Donna and we'll move to Broadchurch when Alec can get a transfer. We can look for a house to buy. What will you do though Mum?"

"Rose, don't go worrying about me, you, Jamie and Alec can be a real family. That's more than I ever got chance of having until you and James got married," Jackie reminded her.

"Well, I can talk to Alec about setting ya up in a small apartment around here, then ya can still see Donna and John," Rose suggested.

"Yeah, I missed John and Sarah-Jane's nice, isn't she?" Jackie agreed. "I think I'd like to stay around here, I won't know anyone on the old estate now, if it's still there."

"Alec wants to book us a long weekend in Broadchurch. Why don't I book two caravan's, one for you and Jamie?" Rose smiled.

"If ya sure? Yeah, I can see what all the fuss is about that place," Jackie laughed.

"It's no Blackpool or Southend Mum," Rose laughed back. "We just liked to walk on the beach."

"Well you were only young back then," Jackie laughed some more.

Just then Jamie came in.

"How's things with your dad?" Rose wanted to check.

"Fine Mum, I didn't think it would be that easy. We have a lot to talk about. Oh, uncle John's here," Jamie beamed as John came in behind the boy.

"Sorry, I was just bringing him back when his dad called," John told them. "See you later, kiddo," he went for Jamie's hair as Jamie gave Rose a hug then Jackie and went off.

"Thanks for bring me back," he told John.

"Why don't I bring Luke around here tomorrow night?" John suggested. "If that's okay?" he looked at Rose.

"Yeah, it's fine. I'm going to be away for a while after this week though but Luke's always welcome, isn't he Mum?" Rose asked Jackie.

That sorted, they all talked a while about when John and Alec used to visit and the days out they all used to have.

"They were good times," John looked over at Rose. "Rose, when I moved here, I had no idea if it would be okay for me to contact you or not. Sarah said maybe it would be best if I left it but it was always in the back of my mind to try to contact you, after Alec couldn't find you."

"I think I would have liked to have seen ya," Rose smiled. "Especially after I lost James. It was a bad time, I could have done with another friendly face. I mean mum and Donna and her family were all amazing, especially with Jamie but I was really lost."

"You never said Rose," her mother told her.

"I didn't want to say anything, Jamie needed ya both more than I did," Rose replied, still feeling it was all her fault about James's accident.

"I'm sure if we'd known who it was, we would have found you anyway," John told her. "I should have maybe known though, you were always talking about James being Donna's cousin, it just didn't click," he admitted.

"Alec offered to look into it more," Rose admitted. "I'm not so sure I want him to though. I mean no-one else was involved."

"That ya know of," Jackie reminded her.

"Mum, I can't go through it again," Rose told her. "Sorry."

"Well, that's down to you but knowing Alec," John replied as he got up. "Best be off then."

"See ya tomorrow, come over any time," Rose offered as she got up as well.

"I think your Jamie's rather taken with the computer," John then laughed, giving Rose a hug.

Jackie thought she could have told him that. Early the next morning, Rose put the visit to James's solicitor off, saying she might eventually be selling her house and want them to handle it, then she found the caravan park they'd been to all that time ago and started looking to see if she could find two caravans. She doubted Alec would want to share with her mother though he might do with Jamie so she sent him a message.

"Rose, it's fine, just look at larger models then," he suggested when he called back. "I reminded personnel earlier of my need to move but something is going on."

"What makes ya think that?" Rose wondered.

"They suggested I stayed where I was for now but I told them someone was joining me and it wasn't acceptable. I was told they would get back to me," he replied.

"It could be they don't want to move ya twice?" Rose suggested.

"Exactly my point," Alec agreed. "Well we are still all taking that short break," he insisted.

"Yeah, mum wanted to see what the fuss was all about," Rose laughed, since Jackie was doing the ironing in the kitchen. "I told her it wasn't Southend."

"She will find something to do," Alec tried to assure her. "I have to go love, talk to you later eh?"

She sent him the link in an email so he could look at the caravans, there were still some free for that long weekend and now, she was looking forward to going there again after all that time. She had never talked to James about the place, though when Jamie had been younger, they had gone to places with plenty to keep him entertained with the likes of rides and swimming pools.

James had known about Rose's hesitance to return to Scotland so that had always been off the agenda when making a decision where to go. She thought it a shame that Alec had missed out. She also thought about what he'd just said, about staying in the hotel. It wasn't going to be ideal but she really wanted to be with him. Maybe he'd be able to convince them he wasn't bothered about moving more than once.

The next morning, he was handed some mail as he headed into the station and spotted what looked like a legal document, hopefully that he'd got a date for a divorce hearing and he wouldn't have long to wait. If Tess had any sense, she would have put down the same as he had, that they'd had a breakdown of their marriage and neither of them were contesting it.

Tess had nothing to gain by it but she'd kept quiet about it so far, not taking the bait when it had been mentioned she couldn't use Rose in the proceedings. He was sure she was disappointed though. Any attempt by Tess to even try would get her nowhere, he could prove she had left him before Rose had gone to find him.

Rose had nowhere to go now so she decided to sort out what she needed to take with her for the next few weeks, they would be coming back before they went on their break, though it would have to be early on the Friday morning or the night before.

Jackie was cleaning the bathroom and stopped by what had now become Rose and Alec's bedroom, for now anyway.

"How was Jamie when he went off?" Rose asked her as she noticed.

"Fine, he's taking it better than ya thought he would. He's not said if he's told anyone yet," Jackie told her.

"He might be waiting?" Rose suggested, her clothes in two piles as she decided. "He might have told Matthew."

"I wonder if John's explained it to Luke?" Jackie asked her.

"Luke's coming round later, he seems a bright boy," Rose replied.

Tess hadn't been happy when the postman had handed her an official looking envelope as she'd tried to get Daisy off to school so she was sat at her desk, debating if she should save it for later. Dave was passing, as usual and saw her with the envelope.

"Is that what I think it is?" he nodded towards it. "That was fast."

"Shut up Dave," Tess warned him. "It wouldn't surprise me if he's gone for some kind of 'quickie' divorce, as tacky as they are. I lowered myself to marry him."

"How do you mean?" Dave wanted to know. "Oh, you mean you married beneath you Tess," he laughed.

"Shush, don't tell the whole office," she warned him further.

"Don't think Alec didn't give me some hints about you Tess," he started to retaliate. "About how you left here and went to Scotland?"

"What?" Tess looked up. "He had no right to say anything. What did he tell you?"

"Nothing – yet. I can easily find out Tess," he reminded her. "Just remember if you try dragging me into your divorce in any way. He already said you can't use his girlfriend."

"Worse luck," Tess huffed.

"Have some respect Tess, her husband died. Geez, what's with you lately?" he asked as he got up off the corner of her desk.

"Nothing. Haven't you got work to do?" she replied. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to warn you, we've been told Ashworth may be getting picked up again, Alec's just got a call to see the chief, he nodded to where Alec had just come out of his office. "Gloria told me."

"Your other girlfriend," Tess started being sarcastic.

"Jealous?" Dave grinned at her.

Alec wasn't happy the chief wanted to see him just as he'd opened his letter, after being delayed calling the personnel department.

"Alec, I want more pressure putting on Lee Ashworth," the chief greeted him. "I don't care how you do it, anything it takes. Tell Tess to get friendly with Ashworth's wife, see if she really was with him that night."

"She has already sworn she was with him but I never believed her," Alec admitted. "I have an idea though. Why don't I get my girlfriend to make friends with Claire, see if she will admit anything to her?"

"Are you out of your mind Alec?" the chief wanted to know. "Hasn't she just come back to you? Want to lose her again?"

"Think about it? Claire does not know about her, does she? Yes, she knows Tess, she probably knows something is going on, if Tess said something to Cate Gillespie."

"I would imagine those two aren't talking," the chief mused. "How are you going to introduce your girlfriend to Claire?"

"Claire is a hairdresser, what do women like to do while having their hair done?" Alec replied dryly. "If Rose says she's new in town and asks Claire where the best places are to go at night, Claire might offer to show her around."

"Tread very carefully Alec, Claire could be dangerous, if she's covering something up," he was reminded.

"Why would Claire suspect anything? She will have no idea who Rose is. I'll ask her tonight. I want something in return though," Alec told the chief.

"Don't you always?" the chief asked. "Go on, providing it leads to a conviction or at the very least we can hold Ashworth on suspicion and put him on remand."

"Fine. First, I want out of that hotel by the time I come back from London on Monday, I'm bringing Rose back with me. I am deadly serious, I should have married her years ago, if Tess had not got in the way but Rose has already agreed. Secondly, when the investigation is over, I want you to guarantee me that transfer to Broadchurch."

"That's asking a lot," the chief told him. "Very well, leave it with me, I'll put a rocket under personnel, to make it a priority to get you an apartment but it may only be a small one on a short lease. As for the transfer, that will take some delicate negotiations."

"Well if a killer or killers get locked up, what will be the problem?" Alec wanted to know.

"You have to get your girlfriend to agree first and I have to speak to higher up to authorise it, she may need protection if Claire turns on her," the chief reminded him.

"I can take care of her," Alec insisted.

"There will be other officers involved but they won't have a say about it, if it's approved," the chief promised. "I would have thought you would want to keep Tess well away from her?" he laughed.

"I just don't want to have to arrest Rose if she gets her hands on Tess," Alec replied. "That woman ruined our life together, my son has only just got to know me. I can't forgive her for that. I'll take care of Daisy, obviously but that's it, I'm done with Tess."

"Yes, Tess is a real piece of work," the chief had to agree. "Just out of curiosity, I looked into her past file and saw the reason she applied to go up to Scotland for training. I've put a block on it, in case anyone else gets interested."

"Leave it," Alec suggested. "Why should she be spared after what she did? I told Harris to look her up last night."

"Really Alec, you shouldn't have done that," the chief had to smile. "Well, I might just forget to put that block on, if I'm too busy arranging your living arrangements, your transfer and trapping Claire Ripley."

"I can imagine all that will keep you busy," Alec agreed.

"Tess will be livid," the chief was still amused that Alec was suddenly being very devious. "This girlfriend of yours, Rose is it? She must be doing you a lot of good then?"

"Aye, that she is, I missed her so much, she did not have to come and find me. She did get married but her husband was killed in a car accident. I wanted to see if I could find out any more for her but she wants me to leave it."

"Some things are best left Alec, she may come round at some point though," the chief replied. "Maybe when you've been back together a bit longer? Anyway, see Gloria, the warrant for searching the Ashworth house arrived. If no-one's there, find out where he is and have him escorted back. Don't let him mess you around."

"No more messing around, I want out of here even more now," Alec replied as he got up.

The chief was now seeing a whole new side to Alec, if he was prepared to use his girlfriend, this Rose must be really something. He called the personnel office and told them they had better re-house Alec quickly because he was getting tired of all the complaints he was getting from the DI that they were doing nothing. At least it was a start.

Alec thought he wasn't going to mention anything to Rose until he'd tried everything else to get Claire Ripley to talk. He hoped he would be able to at least give her some good news about moving by the time he called her later. He called Tess and Dave into his office, reluctantly but they knew the case and he didn't want to get anyone else in on it just yet.

"You want what?" Tess laughed. "Claire won't talk to Cate, are you joking?"

"Then you try," he suggested, wanting to keep Rose out of it for now. "Harris, organize some uniforms to follow us, they can find Ashworth if he's not at home."

"He won't be at home Alec, he was complaining about losing work last week," Tess reminded him.

"Tess, go collect the warrant and we'll meet outside in ten minutes and don't go phoning the Gillespies, understand?" he asked her.

He could see Harris was disappointed he'd not been sent to collect the warrant. He was surprised the man hadn't chosen the other woman instead of chasing after Tess.

Dave went off but Tess waited for Alec putting his mail in the drawer and putting his jacket on.

"I know what was in that envelope you were hiding," she told him.

"Did you even open yours?" Alec wanted to know.

"I don't need to, how did you do it so fast?" she asked him.

"It's only to say they've received the papers," he admitted. "What did you think it was?"

"Well you mentioned about getting married in Scotland," she reminded him.

"I know Tess, let's see what they make of it eh?" he replied as he left before her.

What exactly was he playing at, Tess began to wonder as she went to get the search warrant. He was getting far too devious, she'd never seen him like this before, well except when he'd finally left, then he'd kept away from her but he must be planning something.

Was he bringing Rose here to live? She had thought he'd been bluffing over the divorce, then over them getting married in Scotland, whatever he meant by that. This was a completely new side of him and she wasn't sure she liked it. She'd always been able to control him and her mother had already picked up on it, let alone her sister. What was she going to tell them?

Alec left Tess and Dave to go in one car, he went with the uniformed officers out to the estate and one of the officers knocked loudly on the Ashworth's door, Alec seeing a car parked at the side.

"Harris, check out that car, see if it's unlocked and go through that warrant, find out if it covers searching Ashworth's other property."

The officer wasn't getting any answer, until they heard a window opening upstairs in the Gillespie house.

"What's all the noise about?" Cate Gillespie wanted to know.

"Have you seen Lee Ashworth this morning?" Alec asked her, thinking she looked out of it again and probably had a hangover.

What they hadn't known was that despite being upset, Cate hadn't been able to resist Lee Ashworth when he'd gone to see how she was and they'd been in bed since just after her husband had gone to work.

"Lee, get out of here, that sounds like the police knocking on your door," she'd told him as she pushed him off her.

"Trust them to come along before I'm finished," he complained, pulling up his shorts as he got out of bed, watching Cate put on her silky pink dressing gown. "Claire's gone right off me since the police questioned her."

"Shut up Lee and get out of here," Cate warned him again. "I'll keep them occupied, go around the back and pretend you've been working in the garden or something."

He gave her a filthy look so she just went to the window, opened it and saw all the people outside.

"No, why would I?" Cate wanted to know. "Ricky thinks he had something to do with Lisa's disappearance."

That was news to Lee as he was about to leave. Cate closed the window and ushered him downstairs and to the patio door.

"Is that true?" he asked as he was about to leave.

"How do I know?" she replied, trying to close the doors.

That was news to Alec as well as he told Dave to call Ashworth's mobile number, just as Lee closed his own patio doors, which he'd left open when he'd gone next door, hoping to catch Cate. The phone had rung twice just as Lee reached the front door.

"Quit knocking," Lee told Alec as he opened the door. "What do you want now Hardy? We've already told you we were both in that Saturday night."

Alec turned to Tess, who was holding out the search warrant after Dave had handed it back.

"Lee Ashworth, we have a warrant to search your house in connection with the death of Pippa Gillespie and the disappearance of Lisa Newberry. Officer, read him his rights then proceed. Ashworth, do we have your consent to search your car?" Alec asked hopefully, since he doubted it had been included.

"You must be joking Hardy," Lee laughed, stepping aside as uniformed officers entered the house. "You're wasting your time when the real killer's out there. Why are you even here?"

Alec wanted to say he'd suspected the man of causing Pippa's death right from the start but had no proof. If he could talk Rose into helping him prove it, they could be out of here, get married and move to Broadchurch.

His plan was coming together nicely, now he was free of Tess's clutches and the idea he'd had about marrying Tess in Scotland was a stroke of genius, if the ancient law still stood, which was up to the court to decide but he'd made sure he'd pointed it out.