Almost family

Alec had been going to tell Rose but everything had happened so quickly. He had somehow found the time on Friday to find out how much it would cost to hurry the divorce through, given they'd been married in Scotland. The man on the other end of the phone had been helpful and given him the details to call the court in Paisley but he'd had to put up with endless stares from Tess wondering what he was up to.

He had been assured the case was being dealt with and as long as there were no objections from either of them, the case would not require them to attend. Then it would be a matter of the divorce being granted and being made final after a certain period of time to be set by the court. Since Alec himself was Scottish and he was seeking the divorce, there were other factors to consider in his favour, which he'd been pleased about.

"So, she's in for a bit of a shock then?" Rose nudged him and put her arm through his.

"Ah, yes love. The details will be sent to me, I did not have the time to write them all down," he smiled back at her as Jamie and Luke came back with a tray of food. "We should discuss this later, Jamie, you need to know some of it."

"Dad, it's between you and mum," Jamie tried to argue.

"My dad said my gran was really unhappy when you left auntie Rose," Luke told Alec.

"Not now Luke," Jackie shook her head.

"It's okay Mum, John will have told him some of it," Rose insisted.

"Maybe not here though?" Alec agreed with Jackie, making Rose smile.

"Did your dad take you up to Paisley?" Rose then wondered.

"A few times," Luke replied. "I was all upset when she passed away."

"I know Luke, we all were," Alec told him. "So, where are we going next? Have you two been on enough of the rides yet?" he looked at the two teenagers.

They finally made their way back and Alec dropped Luke home and went in to talk to John.

"So you finally did the right thing?" John laughed when he was told Rose had agreed to marry Alec. "You know it broke your aunt's heart when you married Tess?"

"I was sort of reminded," he admitted. "How much did you tell Luke?"

"Not that much but he's probably picked up a few things recently," John replied. "Even he can see you and Rose always belonged together."

"I still blame Tess," Sarah-Jane told them as she joined them. "John, why didn't you invite everyone in?"

"It's fine Sarah, we need to get home," Alec assured her. "We have a lot to talk about now."

Sarah-Jane covered her mouth in surprise.

"You finally asked Rose to marry you?" she almost cried.

Then she went over to Alec to give him a hug, taking him by surprise.

"I'll go get everyone then?" John wondered, knowing what his wife was like and thinking at least Jackie would be getting impatient.

"I did ask her before," Alec reminded her. "I should never have let Tess interfere."

"Well you've done the right thing now Alec," Sarah-Jane assured him. "So, how long before your divorce comes through?"

"I'm working on it," Alec told her.

"Not soon enough eh Alec?" John grinned.

"I have to get that case out of the way as well," Alec told them. "I don't want it hanging over me when Rose and I finally get married."

"Well, I don't blame you," Sarah-Jane agreed. "Go get the others and I'll put some extra food on," she then suggested.

Jackie was trying to get Rose to call Alec to find out how much longer he was going to be.

"Well he'll have to be quick, I need to spend a penny," she was telling Rose, Jamie trying to ignore her.

"Well just go knock on the door then Mum, they won't mind," Rose suggested.

Jackie was just about to get out when Alec opened the house door to go get them.

"Ah, Jackie," he was taken by surprise again.

"How long were ya gonna keep us waitin' then?" she asked him, forgetting why she'd now got out of the car.

"We're invited to stay and have tea," Alec recovered, seeing Jackie now looked awkward. "You wanted something?"

"What? Oh, yeah, well out of the way then. Sarah-Jane, it's Jackie, I'm just popping to the loo," she called out.

Alec managed to dodge her as Jackie headed for the stairs and John popped his head around the kitchen door.

"I take it Jackie was in a hurry?" he grinned.

Alec shook his head and went to tell Rose and Jamie they were staying for a while longer. Rose went to the kitchen to offer to help Sarah-Jane, who immediately gave her a hug.

"Welcome to the family properly Rose," she finally let go.

"Thanks. I always felt like I was part of Alec's family when I lived in Paisley. Did he ever tell ya why my mum made us leave?" Rose asked her soon to be sister-in-law, of sorts.

"John told me bits of it, we didn't see much of Alec, we didn't get on with Tess much," Sarah-Jane admitted. "Well they always talked about you and what a shame it was that Alec lost you. It's none of my business but why did you never tell Alec about Jamie?"

"I couldn't, I didn't know what Tess would have done," Rose admitted.

"Well we always thought she had her claws well into him when he admitted she was getting to him," Sarah-Jane replied. "Well at least you had James to look after you? He must have been really good to you."

"He was. We didn't even tell his family at first that Jamie wasn't his. I'd known Donna a long time, I thought she'd be mad at me but she understood," Rose told her. "If it hadn't been for her and my mum, I don't know how I would have got over losing James."

"John wishes now he'd known that night," Sarah-Jane admitted.

"He couldn't have," Rose told her sadly. "The thing is, I want to tell Donna something about that night but I'm scared she'd fall out with me over it."

"What makes you think that?" she was asked.

"It's something I never told anyone, not even my mum or the police," Rose continued. "I've only told Alec."

"What did he say?" Sarah-Jane wanted to know.

"That it may not make any difference and may have upset everyone even more," Rose replied.

"Sometimes, it's not worth causing pain," Sarah-Jane agreed. "You can talk about it if you want?"

"Thanks, I'll see what happens. Well, best go feed that lot then, the boys haven't had anything since earlier," Rose smiled.

"That's not like Luke then," Sarah-Jane laughed.

They all chatted as they ate and John promising he would get Jamie whenever he wanted to visit. When everyone had left, Sarah-Jane wanted to know more about what had made Jackie and Rose leave Scotland.

"That's awful, Rose not being able to go back because of it," Sarah-Jane was horrified after John called Alec to see if it was okay if he told her.

"Rose, John wants to tell Sarah-Jane why you could never go back to Scotland," Alec had turned to her when he answered his phone.

"So, Jackie finally realised what was happening?" Sarah-Jane was asking John.

"Yes and since he was going to be away for a few days, she decided to move out while she could. How did she know what he was going to do when he got back?" John asked her. "After she found that letter, it must have terrified her. She didn't know what she'd signed."

"Poor Jackie must have been frantic? It could have been a lot worse had they stayed and he knew she'd found out," Sarah-Jane told him.

"Poor Rose was devastated. Alec didn't know what was happening when she didn't turn up for school," John recalled.

"Well, they worked it out in the end," Sarah-Jane smiled as she put her head of John's shoulder.

The following morning was fairly quiet, Alec was talking to Jamie about what he wanted to go on and study at college.

"I always wanted to do what my other dad did," Jamie admitted. "Now, I don't know? I might see about getting into the police? Do you think he would have approved?"

"I'm sure he would," Alec tried to assure the teenager.

"When are you and mum getting married then?" Jamie wanted to know.

"As soon as we are able. I'm afraid my almost ex wife is causing delays but I hope I have changed that," Alec replied.

Rose was helping her mother make a lighter than usual Sunday lunch, since she and Alec had to leave early.

"I'll try not to be away too long Mum," Rose promised.

"You do what ya have to Rose, Jamie and me, we'll be okay, John's not far away," Jackie told her. "I owe ya both that much."

"How do ya mean?" Rose asked her.

"For making ya leave Scotland," Jackie admitted.

"Mum, ya had no choice so don't drag that up again. Tess is to blame, not you," Rose insisted.

"I still feel responsible," Jackie told her.

"Well there's no need. Alec kept his promise but Bob still got off," Rose recalled. "Now, he's got another case to get out of the way and if I can help him in some way, then I will."

"Well just you be careful," Jackie warned her.

A few hours later, after packing Rose's luggage in the car, they were on their way back to Sandbrook. Alec was hoping to get a place of their own the following week, even if it meant annoying the personnel department more than he'd already done. He knew they wouldn't get out of the town until something more was done to get the young girl's killer caught and find her missing cousin. Or was Lisa missing?

"Will ya find out if ya still need me to make friends with Claire?" Rose asked before they got there.

"Don't worry so much about it eh?" Alec replied. "They may yet trip themselves up."

Well at least he hoped so. They got back to the hotel and Rose started to unpack, hoping they wouldn't be there long.

"I will be reminding them first thing in the morning," Alec promised her.

"Yeah, I know ya will Alec. It's better than being apart, for now," Rose told him. "I'll have to keep going out and then watch some TV. Can we meet for lunch?"

"Yes, we can love, unless I have something important to do. We may even be able to go look at a few places?"

"Yeah, can't wait to have a place of our own," Rose smiled.

The next morning, Alec kissed Rose goodbye after breakfast and arranged to meet later unless he called to say somewhere suitable for them to live had been found. He got to the station and was about to go ruffle a few feathers in the personnel office when the chief called him to his office.

"The operation is off for now Alec, we can't risk it at present," the chief told him. "There was some trouble over the weekend."

"What kind of trouble?" Alec wanted to know.

"Claire changed her mind, she said she did go out that night but she never saw either of the girls," the chief told him.

Alec was really annoyed.

"Why now? He must have upset her somehow then? Why will that cause trouble?"

"She must be out to discredit him," the chief suggested. "Wait until Ashworth finds out."

"Well, now is the time to get Tess to talk to her then," Alec replied. "You can make it an order she goes."

"That's not going to help you Alec," the chief pointed out. "She seemed in a foul mood when I saw her a while ago."

Tess certainly wasn't in the best of moods as Dave had already found out.

"Honestly, the nerve of that man," she was telling him.

"Slow down Tess. What are you talking about?" Dave asked.

"The divorce is now being handled by the Scottish court, because we got married there," she told Dave.

Her desk phone rang and she was furious she'd been given the task of getting Claire back in to take another statement. She got two uniformed officers to pick Claire up and was soon sat across from her in one of the interview rooms.

"What have you dragged me in here for?" Claire wanted to know. "I only said I was in for a while that night, I don't know what Lee did later."

"Why have you turned on him Claire?" Tess wanted to know.

Claire just laughed.

Alec had finally got somewhere with his living arrangements. A one bedroom flat was vacant not far from the police station and the agency had held off advertising it when it came in late on Friday afternoon. So he called Rose to meet him that afternoon as he could see Tess heading his way.

"Tess, need I remind you we are on duty? What do you want?" he asked her as he saw a letter in her hand.

"You think you're being clever do you, going to the Scottish court?" she asked him.

"Tess, I am tired of this dragging on. Rose and I intend to get married as soon as we are allowed. So if you think using delaying tactics in an English court is going to work, you can forget it. I will provide for Daisy until she leaves school but you got the house, don't think about claiming anything else," he warned her.

"I mean it Tess," he added as she turned to leave. "They won't mess around. Think yourself lucky I don't go up there and tell them how you lured me away from Rose."

"You wouldn't dare Alec," Tess hissed at him. "That would show how weak you were anyway."

"Yes and you took advantage Tess, of the fact I missed Rose. Well, that's over with, now get back to work. What did Claire have to say for herself?" he wanted to know.

"Nothing, she was being evasive. She won't give her husband up," Tess replied, shocked that was ordering her around. "You have a go then," she suggested.

"I am going nowhere near her, I don't want her twisting things around," he dismissed the idea.

"Well what were you plotting last week?" Tess wanted to know. "I know you were planning something."

"Forget it, it won't work now," he hated to admit. "Let's see if those two annoy each other and Claire gives him up. I know both of them are somehow involved. What do you want to bet that Lisa isn't just missing either?"

"What?" Tess shouted out loud, making everyone look towards his office. "You have to be joking Alec."

"Think about it Tess. If she was responsible for Pippa being killed, she would have turned up by now," Alec suggested. "You heard what Cate Gillespie said, Lisa was devoted to her younger cousin. I don't go with the idea she somehow caused Pippa's death then ran away. Even if it had been an accident, she would have come forward by now."

"What if that young man was involved, the one hanging around that night?" Tess forgot her grudge against him.

"We don't even have a name," Alec reminded her. "Go see Cate about him again, see if she remembers anything else. Also see if Cate knows where Lisa might be likely to hide, now we know where her phone was last used," he added as he read the latest report on his desk.

"Where was her last call from?" Tess wanted to know.

"I never said there was a call Tess," Alec reminded her, handing her the report. "It was in Portsmouth, so how did she get there? Something's not right about this."

"Her bank card was used as well," Tess pointed out. "She could be hiding there."

"No, it's more likely to be someone wants us to think that," Alec disagreed.

"Are you coming with me to see Cate?" Tess wanted to know.

"No, I have to go look at a flat later," he admitted.

"So Rose is here then?" Tess thought she'd make sure.

"You stay away from her Tess, you caused enough damage," he warned her. "Take someone with you to talk to Cate again."

Tess went off to get a uniformed officer to take her and Dave to see Cate Gillespie while Alec confirmed Rose would meet him at the address he had included in a text to her. They met up and waited for the agent to arrive.

"How's the case going Alec?" Rose asked him, her arm in his as they leaned on his car.

"We have a few more leads, hopefully we will get somewhere with them," he replied. "I will try and keep you out of it."

"Ya know I'll help, if it speeds things up," Rose reminded him.

"I know love but Claire turned on her husband over the weekend. Not enough to do any real damage but she is dangerous and unpredictable, I don't want you going near her," he replied as a car turned into the driveway.

They were shown around the medium sized flat on the first floor, which was furnished, a lounge with fitted kitchen area, a small bathroom and a bedroom. At least it would get them out of the hotel, Alec thought. They agreed to take it and the agent said she would get it sorted in a few days time and call Alec to collect the keys.

He took Rose for some lunch and Rose said she was going to call her mother when she got back to the hotel.

Tess and Dave didn't get much out of Cate, Ricky had been there so that was probably why, Alec thought when he was told.

"If we knew where Lisa was, don't you think we'd have said?" Ricky had got annoyed. "This is ridiculous, why aren't you arresting those two next door? You've seen them enough times, you must suspect them?"

"Stop it Ricky," Cate told him as she went to get another drink. "They liked the girls, why would they have anything to do with it?"

"How much did they like them Cate?" Ricky then wanted to know. "Have you searched their house again?" he asked Tess.

Tess was daring Dave to say yes but they forgot to include the car. Over the next few days, neighbours were being interviewed again to see if they knew the name of the man who had been hanging around that night and Lee wasn't happy when he was disturbed one evening by Alec and a DS.

Alec had called Rose to say he'd be late so she wouldn't worry. He'd collected the keys for the flat and he was going to take a few hours off the next day to move their things from the hotel.

"Go away Hardy," Lee had insisted. "Before I hire a solicitor."

"Just a few questions," Alec told him as he looked at his notes. "A neighbour saw you arguing with someone the night the two girls disappeared."

"What? Who told you that?" Lee wanted to know. "I did no such thing. Unless you have more than that?" he then asked.

Alec knew he was onto something so going back to Rose, he planned on seeing the chief first thing in the morning.