"We both think it's him. He may have got away before but we think he came back to look for his wife."
"Why would he come looking here Alec? You didn't bring her here did you?" She saw the look on his face. "Tell me she's not living with you?"
"No, of course not but she's nearby. I wanted to keep an eye on her, to see if he contacted her."
"Well it looks like you got what you wanted then? Now we have the main suspect from your old case in town and the press will have a field day with it. Well, I suppose I can see why he'd be of interest but why would he kill Danny?" the chief wanted to know.
"We think he was up near the hut, Danny ran off from someone we have yet to identify and recognised Ashworth. We then think Ashworth chased the boy down to the boat yard and hit him with an oar. We are testing the oar for Ashworth's fingerprints but he may have wiped them off, we found a cloth halfway down the path but there was still blood on the oar."
"Well, we'll have to wait and see. We need to find the other person Danny was with. How is that going?" the chief asked him.
"Slowly, it was the weekend. That's why Miss Tyler offered Torchwood's help. They can have a mobile lab here and take the pressure off."
"Yes, well Mr Tyler has already contacted me, he's making all the arrangements but let's hope this will be resolved quickly. Ask Miss Tyler to come in then."
Alec opened the door and gestured for Rose to join him. Alec did the introductions after offering Rose his chair. The chief asked Rose if she would co-ordinate between the police and Torchwood.
"Yeah, I've done it before," Rose assured her.
"Well, the less disruption the better. One thing though Miss Tyler, I will only allow you to work directly with us, I don't want Torchwood agents all over town asking questions. I suggest you go around with DI Hardy and DS Miller. Alec, I heard you've already interviewed a few people?"
"Yes but I am now waiting for more males to be fingerprinted, so we can find the person who lured Danny up there that night. I have Mark Latimer coming in later to answer a few questions."
"Really Alec, can't that be done at his home?" the chief asked.
"We went to his home, he was refusing to give some answers, ask Miss Tyler. We have him on a recording, waiting up by the hut before another car arrived and he went off. The tape ran out so we don't know when he got back. I've also already interviewed Lee Ashworth over it."
"Why didn't you say so?" the chief wanted to know.
Rose had to smile. Alec was testing his new chief to see how far she'd let him go.
"He came in of his own accord and tried to pin the blame on the other person with Danny. It's imperative we identify this other person, Ashworth said Danny came running out of the hut. He said it was too dark to see whoever it was but I think he's holding back."
"Yeah, I thought so too," Rose agreed. "He wants to know where his wife is in exchange."
"Well, are you going to tell him?" the chief asked.
"When I've asked her if she wants to see him. Rose is going to make friends with her."
Rose still hadn't decided if it was a good idea or not. If it helped move the investigation along though?
"Well, if it helps?" Rose wondered out loud.
"Alec, you are trying to run two investigations and three crime scenes," the chief reminded him.
"He doesn't have to, he's got me," Rose replied for him. "First, we find who killed Danny. If it was Lee Ashworth, like we suspect, then let's tell him where his wife is. I can talk her into seeing him."
Alec wondered how she was so confident. This could be the big difference between the two investigations.
"I should go check if we got any results back from the oar that was used," Alec told the chief.
He wasn't looking forward to meeting Brian again. He and Rose said goodbye to the chief and went up to his office. They were just passing the one next to it when Brian called after him.
"You wanted some results?" Brian asked him, seeing the DI still had the blonde in tow.
"Yes. What have you found? Tell me whose fingerprints were on that oar."
Rose followed them into the office, Alec allowing her to sit down and standing behind the chair.
"We only got partial fingerprints from the oar, not enough for a positive match but the blood was Danny's. Whoever hit him probably wiped their prints with that cloth that was found but we got nothing from that."
"So has the boat used to move Danny been found?" Rose asked.
Brian looked up at Alec.
"You can answer her, she's consulting on the case."
"No, not yet but there were signs a chain was cut where there was a row of small boats. Sir, we need more fingerprint samples if we're to identify who was in the hut."
"Yes, we are working on it. If you get any more information, let us know. Come on Rose, we have Mark Latimer to interview. You will be getting extra help later, you've heard of Torchwood?" Alec asked Brian as he held Rose's chair for her.
"I know who she is," Brian nodded towards Rose. "Are they taking over?"
"Not exactly," Rose replied. "We're here to offer all the help we can to catch whoever killed Danny. Brian is it? I've got a younger brother, I know how the Latimers feel. Let's go," she turned to Alec.
Mark Latimer was waiting downstairs for them, talking to Ellie, who had been informed of his arrival.
"This is a waste of time Ellie," Mark was telling her. "Why aren't you finding the person who killed my Danny?"
"We are Mark, we've had new information early yesterday morning, we're working hard to get the person responsible. Just answer the questions DI Hardy has for you. Why are you here anyway?"
"Your boss didn't believe what I had to say about where I was."
"Mark, we saw you waiting for someone that night, just a few yards from where Danny had been. Just tell us who it was."
"Does it matter Ellie? I really don't remember with all this going on, I can't think straight any more, we can't even make any arrangements, how's that fair?"
"It's not Mark but you've had all weekend to remember, that's why he gave you time probably. We've got extra help in now, I can tell you that much."
"You mean that Rose Tyler? What's so special about her, except she's got a rich stepfather and she's in the papers all the time with a new boyfriend?"
Ellie wondered how Hardy was going to cope with the fact he seemed to be her latest one? It wouldn't take long for Olly to disobey any warnings he'd had to stay away from the pair of them.
"That's beside the point Mark, she's a top agent and she's here to help. We should go to the interview room, they were just talking to forensics, they may have some more news," she suggested.
Rose and Alec were talking on the way down, Rose questioning if he should be taking the stairs.
"Rose, get one thing straight, I have to act normally or people will begin to suspect there is something wrong with me. I did not ask to come here to find myself investigating another murder. I know you are here to help, that is going to make a big difference."
Rose was glad he felt that way.
"Alec, no-one but my stepfather knows about you, anyone who he sends down here will keep quiet, they answer to him, not your chief. So, what do ya think Mark Latimer's hiding?" she asked as they emerged into reception.
"Sir," the desk sergeant called over to Alec. "DS Miller's taken Mr Latimer to interview room one. I have a pile of message here for you as well."
"Then send them upstairs and have someone go through them," Alec replied, thinking they were disorganised. "What are they still doing on your desk?"
Alec went off, leaving Rose to shrug her shoulders.
"Come on Rose," he called after her as he was halfway down the corridor.
He waited outside the interview room door for her.
"What do ya think he's come up with over the weekend?" Rose wondered.
"Hopefully he'll remember who he was with," Alec replied as he opened the door.
Ellie got up and went to sit next to Mark, since Rose had a habit of sitting next to Hardy.
"I was with Nigel Carter," Mark spoke up as Ellie started the tape.
"So, you could not remember the name of the person you work with?" Alec asked him. "Where did you go?"
"Just around, then to the pub, down by the harbour. What's this all about?"
"This is about where everyone was on the night your son died. Wait here while we check it out," Alec told him, getting up then helping Rose. "Why could you not have told us that the other day?"
"I told you, everything's mixed up. The call-out was the night before."
Rose thought she needed to keep up.
"Come on Miller, we are going to check with Nigel Carter," Alec told her, opening the door for Rose.
Once in the corridor, Alec turned to Ellie.
"After we see Nigel Carter, I'm going to take Rose to meet Claire Ripley. If she agrees to see her estranged husband, he may tell us more of what he claims to have seen that night."
"Do ya believe what he told ya?" Rose asked.
"Not all of it. Do you?" Ellie replied as Alec's phone rang.
"It's Claire," he told them.
Claire Ripley, as she wanted to be known as had been looking out of the window and swore her husband was standing on the hillside but she supposed it could have been anyone until she had a text message from an unknown number.
Alec answered his phone and Claire began telling him she was sure Lee had found her.
"Alec. Why didn't you tell me Lee was in the area?" Claire panicked.
"Calm down Claire. I only found out the other day and he has no reason to know where you are. I'll be down later and I'm bringing help."
"What? I don't want anyone else here Alec," Claire replied.
"Claire, it's someone who can help, trust me. I have something to do first, we'll be down later. Keep the door locked and don't answer any calls from unknown numbers."
"Alec, I had a message. It said 'I'm close'. It has to be Lee. How did he get my number?"
Alec thought that was easy, since she didn't have an unlisted number.
"He is just guessing. We'll be down as soon as we can."
"Who are you bringing Alec?" Claire wanted to know, going to the window again to see no-one was there.
"Someone you can trust Claire."
They got into Ellie's car and she took them to see Nigel Carter, whom Mark had decided that morning could provide him with an alibi while he'd been meeting Becca Fisher. She'd hardly talked to him the last few days and to think he was going to maybe leave Beth for her.
After arriving at Nigel Carter's home and him making up a rubbish alibi for himself and Mark, Ellie remained at the station while Rose and Alec went to her car and he showed her the way to Claire's cottage. Claire was out before Rose even put the brake on the car.
"What's she doing here?" Claire asked as she recognised Rose. "Are you joking?"
"Claire, meet Rose Tyler. We should go inside."
"Hi Claire, I'm here to help," Rose told her.
Claire was not looking happy as they went inside.
"What can she do?" Claire wanted to know.
"She knows why you're here," Alec replied. "We believe Lee has some information we need, he wants to meet with you."
"What?" Claire asked in disbelief. "Alec, I'm not ready to see him again, please don't make me."
"Claire, you'll be safe, we promise," Rose tried to tell her. "You heard about that boy who was killed?" Claire nodded, eyeing Alec. "Lee was near where Danny was killed, he told us some of what he saw but he said he'll only tell us the rest if he sees you. Danny was with someone, Lee may be able to identify him."
Alec wondered if it was wise to tell Claire so much.
"Claire, you can help catch Danny's killer," Alec told her.
"Don't put that on me Alec. Look what happened before."
"I know but we would not be asking you if it wasn t important."
"I'll have to think about it, it's a lot to ask of me," Claire replied.
"We know Claire but if it wasn't important, we wouldn't be asking you. Claire, we think he had something to do with the boy's death," Rose told her, looking at Alec.
"How can you be so sure?" Claire wanted to know. "You were sure he killed Pippa," she reminded Alec. "If that bitch of a wife of yours hadn't screwed it up, you would have proved it and I wouldn't be hiding from him. Why does he even want to see me?"
"We don't know," Alec replied. "We promise he won't hurt you Claire, like Rose says, it's important."
"I'll do it on the condition she's with me," Claire decided. "I won't see him here though, I don't want him knowing where I live."
"We can see where you can meet him," Rose tried to assure her.
That agreed, Rose and Alec left, Alec wanting to know where they could arrange the meeting.
"How about up at that hut?" Rose suggested as they got back in the car. "You can get the keys back can't you?"
"They will have finished up there for now," Alec replied. "It's not a good idea for you to go near him though, those two could be playing games."
"You think they've already made contact?" Rose wondered.
"I think he may have discovered roughly where Claire is living," he replied as they drove back up the narrow lane. "He will not have been just waiting for me to admit I knew where she was. He will have figured since we both left Sandbrook at the same time I was the one to hide her away."
"You were," Rose laughed as they headed back to the police station.
"Rose, it's not a good idea to take Ashworth and Claire to that hut."
"Well where else is there? It's the best place Alec, we can't take them to the hotel. We won't be there Alec, remember? I'll drop you at the station and go see if I can get the keys early for the caravan. What do ya think about taking them there? It'll only be for half an hour or so, they can be in the living area and us in the bedroom."
Alec still wasn't happy about it though.
"No Rose, I don't want either of them knowing where we live, do you?"
"Oh, good point then. Well we'd better think of somewhere, if we want Ashworth to talk. Can't ya just arrest him on suspicion?"
"Rose, I tried that last time and he got away. We have to be certain," he reminded her as Rose drove around the harbour.
"So, what are ya doing about Mark Latimer?" Rose asked him.
"Let him stew for a while until he comes to his senses. He is lucky I never locked him up. What is he hiding that is more important than finding out who killed his son?"
"Maybe that Nigel knows something? Ellie may have got somewhere with him?" Rose wondered.
"Be serious Rose? I bet Mark Latimer sent a text to him before his arrival asking Nigel to cover for him. How can you forget the name of the person you were with a few nights ago?"
"I do it all the time," Rose smiled as she stopped in the lay-by opposite the police station. "I'll text you with the caravan number, unless you want me to come back?"
"No love, you go get everything you can from the hotel, I will help you later. Take my room key and get what you can of mine. You can leave anything you are unsure of."
"That'll be most of it then. I'll take the laundry though, may as well make a start with it. Alec, I just thought. Maybe Mark was meeting a woman?"
"Seriously?" Alec asked as he took the seatbelt off.
"Yeah, think about it. Maybe he got tired of his home life and wanted a change? That could explain his reluctance? Can't ya get that recording enhanced to see who was in the other car or get a registration number?"
"Your experts would be better at doing that," Alec replied. "Will they contact you when they arrive?"
"Yeah, someone will I suppose? Actually, we can set up the meeting of Claire and Ashworth in one of the offices. Alec, I have a feeling he won't wait for us to set something up, he'll be trying to find out where she is."
"Yes, I know. Rose, that was the idea when I brought her nearby, that he would come looking for her. If he killed Danny by accident or not, he is still responsible, if the intent was there he did not want anyone to know he was here."
"Yeah, well ya know now," Rose reminded him, hoping a traffic warden wouldn't creep up behind them, since she was on a double yellow line where there was a sign she couldn't quite make out.
"I will go find out what Miller has learned and see if Mark Latimer is tired of being in the interview room."
Rose kissed his cheek then went to turn around in one of the parking spaces around the corner and Alec went back inside, going to where Mark Latimer was.
"How is my being locked up helping you catch Danny's killer?" Mark wanted to know.
"Then tell me who you were with that night. We've spoken to Nigel Carter, he's a bad liar and if you asked him to cover for you, you forgot about his mother. Tell us who it was, it will be confidential."
Mark put his head in his hands then looked up.
"I don't want Beth to know, things are not so good, even worse when we found out about Danny. I bet she thinks I had something to do with it, you bringing me in for questioning," Mark replied.
"I can keep you here for twenty four hours without charging you formally. Do you want a solicitor?" Alec asked him, leaning on the desk. Mark shook his head without looking up. "Were you with a woman Mark? It does not matter to me if you were or not, we just need to eliminate you from our enquiries. If you have no alibi, I will charge you formally with obstruction. Think about it."
At the Latimer house, Beth was trying to find out from their liaison officer how long Mark would be kept at the police station.
"DS Miller says Mark's being held for obstruction. Until he says who he was with, he ll have to stay there," Pete Lawson told them when he got off the phone with Ellie, who had been annoyed Hardy had gone off and left her to deal with Nigel while he was sorting out a problem with his old case.
Now though, she reckoned the two cases were connected, since this Lee Ashworth was under suspicion for killing Danny, accidentally or not. She just hoped Hardy wouldn't just have him as the main suspect. She had just dealt with Nigel when Alec walked in and went to his office, without Rose, she noted.
"Did you get anything out of Carter?" Alec asked as she followed him in.
"Only he was wasting our time. He said Mark just sent him a text asking him to say he was with him that night. What did he hope to gain from it?" she asked him.
"You know these people Miller. If Mark was with a woman, who would it likely to be?"
Ellie had an idea but wasn't sure it was a good idea to say.
"Sir, about more fingerprinting of the local men, does that include officer's relatives?"
"What do you think Miller? No-one is exempt if they knew Danny. The sooner we find out who was in the hut with him, they may have seen Ashworth talking with him or Danny going off. Ashworth claims Danny just went off on his own but that can't be right, who would be down in the boatyard waiting for him, with a boat oar in their hands?" he asked her.
"He may have disturbed someone down there," Ellie suggested. "Maybe the person who broke the chain on that missing boat? Maybe they were about to steal it when Danny came along?"
Alec was the one to put his head in his hands.
"I don't like this Miller, there are too many variables from Danny running off and seeing Ashworth, who won't tell us anything and the missing person who was in the hut with Danny. Now you've brought up another theory."
"Well, I don't like this any more than you do, Sir. I know them all and I don't think any of the locals would harm Danny so that leaves Ashworth, who you suspected killed a young girl. I think we should go with the original theory, Danny saw Ashworth and he chased him to the boatyard, struck him with the oar. The question is why?"
"Maybe Ashworth got tired of trying to catch him and was just swinging the oar when Danny ran into it?" Alec replied, thinking maybe he'd already suggested that or Rose had, no wonder Mark Latimer was confused, so was he with all these theories.
This wasn't what he needed, not at all so when Ellie left, he got two pills out of the pack he had in his pocket and tried to swallow them. From now on, he had to start taking them properly before he left for work and tomorrow, Rose would be there to make sure he did.
Rose had got the caravan keys, then she had driven the short distance to locate it then decided to go get what she could from their hotel rooms. She entered the hotel to see Becca looking at her phone.
"What's wrong?" Rose asked as the other woman seemed in a trance.
"What?" Becca looked up. "Oh, nothing. I hate to say this Miss Tyler but I had some reporters just turn up looking for rooms and I can't afford to turn them away. Just be careful on your way up."
"Well I'm leaving anyway, so is Alec, sorry. My office will be in touch to pay my bill. Sure you're okay?" Rose asked her, nodding to the phone in her hands.
"Well, I'm not sure what to do about something," Becca admitted.
Rose made sure no-one was around.
"You can tell me Becca, I won't say anything."
"I had a message, saying I should tell the police something. Rose, I was with Mark the night Danny died, I know he's got nothing to do with it but if Beth finds out?" Becca told her.
"Becca, you have to tell Ellie or Alec, Mark's being held for obstruction because he tried to get Nigel Carter to cover for him. He's been tryin' to keep you out of it. It's the least you can do."
"Yeah, you're right, I should go. I just don't want anyone else to know, we could have been up there while Danny was being killed Rose, it's been bothering me since I found out."
"Becca, I can't tell ya much but the police don't think he was killed in that hut so no, you won't have been there. I don't think Mark's a suspect either but if he won't say anything, Alec will charge him and he may have to go to court over it. Trust me, Alec's doing all he can to get Danny's killer but something is in the way."
"You mean me and Mark?" Becca asked her.
"Not exactly but it's not helping," Rose replied, thinking she'd best not bring Ashworth into it. "So who was the text from?"
"Chloe Latimer, she must have seen us talking, she was helping out at a function. I had no idea Mark had been taken in for questioning. I'd best get someone to cover for me and go down."
Rose saw her go off and went upstairs. Once in her room that she'd hardly used, she sent Alec a message: 'You're about to find out who Mark Latimer was with.'
Alec looked at it, wondering who Rose had convinced to own up.
Chloe Latimer was sat in her room, having left her mother and grandmother wondering why Mark was being held for obstruction. She knew all she could do was get Becca Fisher to admit there was something going on after she'd seen the way her dad had looked at her.
After Alec and Rose had left Claire, she got another message. Ashworth had got lucky and seen the pair of them leave one of the cottages in the distance, Hardy was getting careless, since he was with Rose Tyler. He smiled to himself as he sent the message: 'I'm closer than you think Claire. I want to see you.'
He knew Hardy would take his time arranging a meeting, if Claire would even agree to it so he'd have to do it himself. All this time, Claire had got the detective to hide her away down the bottom of a lane, a few miles away from where Hardy had got himself transferred, that had been very sneaky.
He'd walked across the fields and was stood overlooking Claire's cottage. Should he wait until evening then knock on the door? Then he had an idea, lure her into seeing him by getting her favourite food, then knock on her door. His plan couldn't really fail.