"Okay, Okay. So where's your little girlfriend Hardy?" Ashworth laughed.
Ellie was trying not to smile but failing.
"Agent Tyler will be along shortly, she was taking Claire home," Alec replied, determined Ashworth was not going to get him riled up or she'd be taking him to the Torchwood med lab.
"Huh," Ashworth scoffed, thinking his wife was getting special treatment.
The news she'd taken the only evidence that tied them with Pippa's death shouldn't have been that surprising.
"This is your last chance Lee," Ellie spoke up. "We let you meet with Claire so tell us who you saw Danny with."
"Well I don't know his name, do I?" Ashworth replied. "Yes, I saw him clearly with the light coming from the hut. I went to get a look through the windows, I saw the boy and this man in what looked like an argument, then the next thing I knew, the boy opened the door and ran to the edge of the cliff. I saw the man as he followed, I'd rushed to the corner of the hut so they wouldn't see me."
"You got a good enough look to pick him out from a line-up?" Alec asked him.
"Yeah, I reckon so. He wasn't that tall, he was wearing a blue polo shirt or t-shirt, he didn't have much hair," Lee laughed.
Ellie looked up from her notes.
"Miller, get those you've contacted in for a line up," Alec told her.
Ellie wondered when she'd had time to speak to anyone.
"Sir, it may take a while," Ellie protested.
"There can't be that many men in the town fitting that description," Alec replied. "Get it organised. What else did you see?" he asked Ashworth.
Ashworth thought Hardy was trying to catch him out. He decided to stick to what he'd done with the boy and what the man would have done, had he actually killed the boy.
"They went back inside," Ashworth told them, trying to go through what could have happened.
"You said he ran off," Alec corrected him.
"Yeah, he did, to the cliff edge. They went back inside so I looked through the window again. The boy was backed against the wall, then he slumped, like the life had gone out of him. He was put on the floor, then the man opened the door, picked him up and walked towards the cliff path."
Alec did wonder if Ashworth was playing them and he was guessing what might have happened.
"Then what?" Alec wanted to know.
Ashworth couldn't think of anything else.
"I don't know, I never followed. If the boy was found further down, maybe the man stole a boat or something?" Ashworth replied.
"Did you see him come back later?" Ellie asked him, wondering if Rose was going to be joining them and that the interview would be over soon.
"No, it was late, I decided to get my mat and sleeping bag and get some sleep. I never saw or heard anyone come back. You get a few locals in then."
Alec thought that would be interesting, if Ashworth actually saw the person. Meanwhile, Rose was about to leave Claire.
"So, is that it?" Claire asked. "You're just going to leave me here?"
"Well you invited Lee in," Rose reminded her. "I'll have to tell Alec."
"Is nothing private?" Claire wondered. "No, don't tell me, nothing's private. I expect Alec will want to know more?"
"I expect so," Rose replied, starting the car engine as she'd turned it off whilst they were talking. "Is there anything else Claire?"
"No, why should there be? Are you going to come back? I could do your hair for you, I've not done anyone's hair for ages."
"I suppose so? I have to get back now, call Alec if you need to but if Lee comes back, it's up to you if you want to see him."
Rose got back to the police station, asking where Alec was.
"He was in interview room one," the desk sergeant told her.
Rose was about to go down when Alec and Ellie were coming towards her, followed by Lee Ashworth.
"Right Miller," Alec was telling Ellie. "I want at least half a dozen men here tomorrow morning for a line-up, I don't care what you tell them."
"I'll just have to say it's part of the investigation and we can't say then," Ellie replied.
"Did I miss the interview then?" Rose grinned when Ashworth had passed her on his way out.
"You didn't miss much," Ellie smiled. "Now I have to go round up some locals, excuse me."
"Fancy some lunch?" Rose asked Alec. "Then we can pay a visit to the labs if ya want?"
Alec thought that was her way of saying she was taking him for a check-up. They went across the road to the catering stalls and ordered something to eat.
"Did you get anything out of Claire?" Alec asked.
"Yeah, plenty. They were playing you Alec, she let him in last night."
"What? I should have known by the way they acted. Ashworth just told us he got a good look at the man with Danny, Miller is organising a line-up."
"That should be fun then? So what did he have to say?"
Alec briefly told her then they walked across the harbour, Rose going into the medical bay where Doctor Martha Jones had been talking to Jake.
"So when is Rose bringing him in?" Martha had wanted to know. "Do you want me to stay or go on standby?"
"Just stay normal office hours, you got in the hotel close by?"
"Yeah, it's not far, Rose has my number. I'll get the two nurses to take it in turns to stay so there's twenty four hour coverage. When's she bringing him in?"
"In a hurry to leave?" Jake laughed, knowing she and Mickey were just getting acquainted.
"Stop it Jake. He was already dating someone when I joined Torchwood," Martha replied.
"He was only dating because Rose turned him down again," Jake told her.
"Yeah, I can hardly believe those two were together. Why did they split up?"
"You'd have to ask Rose, it's up to her to tell. You know her past is not up for debate."
"I know Jake, I've only read the official version. Why is she so secretive though? Never mind, I guess she won't be telling any time soon."
Jake had to laugh. Rose wouldn't tell anyone about her coming here and the Doctor, well maybe she'd tell Alec Hardy?
Martha had just put the phone down when Rose put the access code in the door and she turned around.
"Alec, meet Doctor Jones," Rose told him as Martha got up.
"Nice to meet you, Alec. We'll take good care of you if need be before your surgery. You have nothing to worry about," Martha told him. "Someone will be here all the time Rose, just bring him in day or night."
"Yeah, I'll have him here in no time," Rose smiled. "I'm just gonna show him the other lab today though, he'll see the med lab when I bring him in."
"Have you decided when you're having your surgery Alec?" Martha asked him.
"Rose suggested the weekend though I've not decided which one yet," Alec replied.
"I would have thought you'd want to get it over with?" Martha suggested.
"When I was told I had very little chance I'd survive?"
"Alec, don't say that. That's what you're here for, my stepfather has the best heart surgeons on standby," Rose told him.
"It's a simple procedure these days, it doesn't take long. You'll be out in no time," Martha tried to assure him.
Alec thought that was easy for her to say. That was the reason Rose had suggested a Friday, to have the weekend to get over it. A holiday was coming up though, maybe he should wait?
"Rose, about that? Maybe I should wait a few weeks, until the bank holiday?"
"Let's see what Doctor Jones has to say?" Rose suggested.
Martha gestured towards the med lab, since she only had a tiny office, which was why she had the door open.
"I could have got my own doctor down," Alec whispered to Rose as Martha indicated for him to unbutton his shirt.
Rose had to smile, since he was trying not to give in.
"Tough guy," Rose whispered back as she took his shirt and Alec climbed onto the examination table, Martha indicating he could sit up.
"Well, apart from your heart, you appear to be in reasonable health," Martha concluded.
Alec thought he could have told her that.
"Yes, I am aware. Rose told me you would take care of me, should anything happen before my surgery," he replied.
"A nurse will be here but I'm only a few minutes away and the call will be made to the surgeon. Well, I'll let you go back to work then. I take it your bosses don't know?"
Alec raised his eyebrows.
"They must not know or I'll be out. Rose is covering for me, getting me out of awkward situations."
"I bet she is," Martha smiled.
"It's the least I can do," Rose aimed at Martha. "I can take the lead and no-one will suspect anything, they expect Torchwood to try and take over. They're stretched as it is, they can hardly reject the offer of the lab being here and ready to test anything they find, they've got at least three crime scenes to cover."
"I thought the boy was found on the beach?" Martha asked.
Rose shook her head but Alec tried to explain.
"That's where he was placed by whom we think was a suspect in my last big case back in Sandbrook."
"What's he doing here?" Martha wondered.
"We think he followed Alec here, to find his wife," Rose told her. "He thought Alec was hiding her nearby and when Danny saw him up on the cliff top, he had to be silenced. He wasn't ready to let Alec know he was in town."
"So how was the boy killed then?" Martha wanted to know as she wrote Alec's results down.
"We think Lee Ashworth hit him with a boat oar, in the boatyard below the cliff," Rose replied.
"That's horrible, why do that?" Martha asked, hardly believing it.
"That's what we intend finding out," Alec told her. "Come on Rose, we have work to do."
Martha rolled her eyes as they were about to leave.
"Alec, when can I expect to be calling for a surgeon?" she asked him as they went back in her office.
"Alec's right, we should wait until the bank holiday, it'll give him an extra day. I can keep him out of trouble until then," Rose replied for him.
"Well good luck with that then," Martha laughed. "I'll inform your stepfather, he can let the surgeons know, it'll be a case of who can get here the fastest. Have you got enough medication Alec?"
"Ah, I may be a bit low," he admitted.
"Rose, I'll give him a prescription, make sure you get it for him, if he's going to wait for surgery."
She handed Rose the form.
"Yeah, I'll go later then," Rose smiled. "Thanks Martha. I'll try not to bring him back before his surgery and if he chases any suspects, he'll answer to me."
"Yeah, I bet he will," Martha laughed as she saw Alec was keen to go, since he was at the outer door.
Back at the police station, Ellie was sat with Frank trying to come up with a list of likely volunteers for the line-up Alec wanted so Lee Ashworth could pick out who he saw with Danny.
"Come on Frank, we've only got Nigel Carter so far," Ellie told him as he leaned over the two desks. "We have to think of men who vaguely fit Ashworth's description."
"Your husband," Frank laughed.
"Be serious," Ellie told him.
"I am being serious, Ma'am," he joked. "He's the least person we suspect."
"I bet Hardy doesn't think so," Ellie had to admit, reluctantly putting Joe's name on the list. "We'd just got back from Florida that day, we were all tired, I was in bed by eight. I had to be back at work the next day, I don't know why I bothered, I came back to be called to the beach and found Danny."
"I know, sorry Ellie," Frank told her sympathetically. "Why not ring Nigel Carter and ask him to bring a few of his friends with him?"
Ellie thought the idea was so daft it might just work, if she told him it would help catch Danny's killer. She didn't think he'd oblige though, since he'd given Mark Latimer a false alibi. She waited for him answering his phone.
"Ellie, what you wanting?" he asked.
"I need you to come in tomorrow morning, to be in a line-up. No arguments Nigel, you made a big mistake agreeing to cover for Mark and Hardy's still annoyed about it," she told him, thinking Hardy would indeed still be annoyed for wasting their time.
"When have I got time to come in?" Nigel asked her. "I'm working flat out 'cos Mark's off."
"Then come in before you start work. We have a witness from that night, do you want to help find out who killed Danny or not?" she asked him. "Bring some of your friends with you to make up the numbers," she added, thinking Ashworth could have been mistaken about the man he saw having hardly any hair, since it was dark. "Come in at eight thirty Nigel, we won't keep you for long."
That done, she had to call her husband, who was having a hard time with their youngest son and was about to take him to the park to watch Tom on his skateboard.
"You are joking?" Joe asked her as he strapped the boy in his stroller.
"It's only to make up numbers," Ellie replied. "You weren't out that night, were you?"
"What sort of question's that?" Joe replied.
"Just come into work with me at half eight, I'll watch Fred, get it over with."
On their way back from meeting with Martha and Alec seeing the lab, since some evidence had just been received for testing, Rose was holding onto his arm.
"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" she asked him.
"Don't go local for that prescription," Alec told her.
"No-one knows you're here Alec, well not up in the town and if I go."
Alec turned and gave her one of his looks.
"Okay, I'll go out of town then? If you went back on Friday, you wouldn't need them, would you? Besides, there's only two weeks to the holiday anyway."
"I've not got enough for two weeks Rose," he admitted as they approached the police station.
Rose stopped, almost tripping him up.
"What? You let them get so low? Geez Alec, what's wrong with you?" she asked him.
"Not here Rose. I was going to get my own doctor to come and meet me, had you not arrived in town and taken over."
"That's supposed to make me feel better?" she asked him.
Alec put on his best smile, something he was out of practise with. Rose just nudged him.
"Sorry. What do you expect Rose? I did not come here to have another child's death thrown at me. Then you arrived in town and not only take over the investigation, you take over looking after me."
"You never objected," Rose grinned.
"To what? Taking over the investigation or making sure I would survive?"
"Both, you plum. Look, why don't ya take it easy and let me and Ellie do all the work? You can just tell us what you want doing."
"Me, boss a Torchwood agent around?" he asked. "You do what you have to do Rose, at least until I go for my surgery."
"If it keeps ya out of trouble? Promise me you'll go out with someone and not chase anyone on your own. Now Lee Ashworth's seen Claire, what do ya think he'll do?"
"Leave town, if we are not careful. Let's go to my office and you can tell me what Claire told you."
They went inside and Alec wanted an update on volunteers for the line-up.
"I've got it arranged," Ellie told him as she sat next to Rose, not wanting to say she'd roped her husband in.
"Good. By the way, your boy, he was Danny's friend?" he asked her.
"Yes, I told you they went to school together. They were best friends. Why are you asking?"
"I need to speak to him, get your husband to bring him in."
"Sir, I object to that, he's already upset."
"Miller. We are trying to find out what Danny was doing up at the hut and who he was with. Your son may know if he'd been in contact with anyone recently," he reminded her.
"He's right Ellie," Rose agreed. "If Danny told him, we need to know. He'll think he's breaking a confidence but he's not. We're not saying whoever he was with killed him, we know Lee Ashworth had something to do with it. What if that person saw him?"
"I agree with Rose. We need that person to come forward and tell us what they saw after Danny ran off," Alec told her.
"They may have just left," Ellie suggested. "If Danny ran off, he may have just thought Danny was going to make his way home on the cliff top path. People who have rung in said it was a full moon that night."
"What else have they said?" Rose wanted to know.
"Nothing really useful except someone called to say they saw a dark figure putting something into a bin around two in the morning. Frank's following up on it," Ellie told them.
"Do ya think it was Lee Ashworth or the man meeting Danny?" Rose asked Alec.
"It could be either of them. Let's assume Ashworth took Danny down the coast in a boat he stole, why bother going back up though? Any reports of missing boats yet?" he asked Ellie.
"None yet but whoever it belonged to may not have even checked yet. The boat that was used is still being looked for but it could be anywhere."
"Alec, he'll have gone back for his bike," Rose pointed out.
"We don't know where he came from when he arrived at the police station," Alec replied. "He doesn't know the area, why seek somewhere to dispose of anything? No, I think whoever was with Danny would be more likely to do that, to get rid of any traces they had been in contact."
"What sort of contact?" Ellie wanted to know.
"What do you think Miller? Why take Danny up there in the first place? Did we find out how he got a key in the first place?"
"Maybe the door was left open for him?" Rose suggested. "He could have paid the cleaner."
"She wasn't so co-operative," Ellie told them. "She may have been careless and he got hold of them and made a copy."
"Indeed," Alec agreed.
"Alec, you think whoever was with Danny was trying to abuse him?" Rose asked.
"Ashworth claims he saw them looking like they were arguing," Alec told her. "Danny could have realised what was going on and that was why he ran off."
"I bet you're right. Then poor Danny spotted Lee Ashworth and Lee chased him to keep him quiet. The poor kid didn't have much of a choice, did he?" Rose asked.
"Sorry Rose but no," Alec replied. "If Ashworth had not been there and he'd run off home, he may have told his parents but there again, he could have been scared of what they would say."
"He's right Rose," Ellie agreed. "These days especially, accusing an adult of inappropriate behaviour. It's all taken very seriously and one wrong accusation can ruin lives. Don't forget that the person he was with may have threatened him before he'd run off."
"Do we know if Ashworth heard what was said?" Alec asked.
Ellie thought he should know, since he was there that Ashworth had already said he couldn t hear anything.
"No, he said not but he could be withholding the fact, he may have heard something. Should we call him back in before tomorrow?" Ellie wanted to know.
"No, if he points out who was there, we'll compare what they have to say," Alec replied.
"If we've finished here, I'm off to do some shopping," Rose told him as she got up.
"Why don't you two come over for dinner tonight?" Ellie asked them.
"Yeah, why don't we Alec?" Rose smiled. "Thanks Ellie."
"I'll call Joe and tell him, he'll still have time to rustle something up."
"So do ya have any more kids Ellie?" Rose asked her.
"Yeah a cranky toddler," Ellie laughed. "Joe was having trouble with him earlier."
"Aw, I remember when Tony was like that, my mum didn't know what had hit her. I'm looking forward to seeing him then."
"Well Joe will have to bring him in tomorrow, since your boyfriend wants to interview Tom," Ellie replied, aiming it at Alec.