CHAPTER SIX
CROOK
It was dark when Bonnie wheeled her bike to the house and set it against the door before walking in as Alec was changing. She gave him a kiss, "How was it today?"
"Same as always, bloody awful," he cursed. "That damn woman is trying to twist everything around in his favor. And who knows with a jury trial if she'll succeed?"
"Joe won't go free," Bonnie said resolutely. "No matter what."
"I wish I had your optimism, love," he said, settling into the bed. "These things drag on forever it seems, and they dig everything up that we try to bury when we make the arrest. Without the confession, I honestly don't know what will happen."
"These people are supposed to be competent members of society," Bonnie cupped his cheek. "I have to believe that they will see the truth no matter what that woman tries to put in their heads."
Once they were both ready for bed, they slid into the blankets and Alec wrapped his arm around her as she pressed her face into his chest. After a moment of silence, she whispered in the dark bedroom, "Did you mean it when you said you weren't all that opposed to idea of another child?"
His hand stroking her arm froze for a moment. "I guess so. I only started thinking about the subject last night."
"Me as well," she murmured. "A bit more so after I went to see Beth and the baby."
"Those maternal instincts kicking in?" he asked, not knowing how he definitively thought about having another family. An expanded family.
"Maybe," she cuddled into him. "I guess all the thoughts about kids and stuff that I put out of my mind for years are flooding me now that I've given myself permission to think about it."
"So, you do want them?" he asked. "Children?"
She turned her head to look at him, "There's a difference between knowing that I want children or knowing that I don't not want them? Does that make sense?"
He looked back at her, "I've gotten used to the way you think. But to be clear, I really don't think I'm opposed. It doesn't make sense. I'm probably too old, we've been together less than a year-"
"None of that matters," she softly cut him off, rubbing her thumb soothingly across his chest. "You're not too old to have a family however we choose to. It's not like we have to start trying right now. And the time we've been together makes little difference to me. Like I told Beth before, I am certain about you. About you being in my life, now and in the future." She leaned up on her elbow to look over him, her hair caressing the sides of his face. "I love you. Whether our future includes children, or it doesn't for whatever reason. I don't have anything definite in mind right now. But I definitely think that I want to keep talking with you about it. And I don't think we should make a decision until after the trial is over and the chips have fallen and settled. You know, don't make decisions after life changing things happen and all that."
He reached up to cup her face, "We'll just keep discussing it until we've both made up our minds."
She leaned her head down to kiss him, "I love you."
He kissed her back, "I love you too."
"Rohypnol? Definitely Rohypnol?" Alec questioned at a table with Ellie outside the courtroom. Ellie had taken Claire out for drinks the night before and was subsequently nursing a hangover now.
"Yeah. She woke up to see him cleaning."
"She never said any of that before," he mused.
She scoffed at him, "Why are you such a fuckwit about this?
"Sorry?" he asked.
"She was next door," she said. "She had access. Her story is inconsistent. This woman you're protecting is a suspect."
"I know," he revealed.
She gaped at him, "What? You told me you'd been protecting her."
"I was keeping her safe, so she didn't abscond," he piled on.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she glared at him now.
"I needed to know if I was going mad. I wanted someone to look at it objectively," he reasoned with her.
"For god's sake."
Hardy straightened up when he noticed Jocelyn approaching them. "Uh-oh, Miller. This could be you."
"You're going to be called," Jocelyn spoke solemnly.
Ellie nodded, "Right, okay, I've done it before."
Jocelyn didn't lose an ounce of her grave demeanor, "Not like this. Stay calm, stick to the facts. Don't get drawn into anything else. Don't get emotional."
"I know."
Bonnie knew her good mood due to her and Alec's ongoing conversations on the future would pop like a bubble when she saw Marge in front of her store. "I thought I made things clear last time you intruded into my life."
"Honey, I just want to talk," Marge tried to appear sympathetic and demure as she stood out of the way, so Bonnie could unlock the front door. "I want to make amends."
"I've heard that before," Bonnie said as she let herself into the store and turned the sign over to open. "And I'm not interested in hearing anything more from you."
"Please just hear me out. I'm your mother!" Marge beseeched her, following her into the store.
"That doesn't mean anything to me anymore," Bonnie said in a hard voice. "My being your daughter meant jack shit to you with the way you treated me growing up."
"I was a good mother," Marge said with a wagging scolding finger. "I provided for you – a home, a good education, a bright future in the family business!"
"Oh, please!" Bonnie scoffed. "You didn't provide anything for me. Dad and his life insurance did. Thank God he created a trust fund for me, otherwise you would have wasted all the money meant to go to my schooling. And you never so much as helped me with my homework let alone contributed in any way towards my education. And there was no family business. You're a crook."
"You of all people know that my gift is genuine," Marge said seriously.
"You and I both know that you exaggerate your abilities for monetary gain," Bonnie said as she started setting out chairs that were overturned on the table-tops. "You can't call spirits back to communicate with them once they've already moved on. I used to watch you – I knew you were lying! And I felt guilty as Hell every time I didn't call you out on it."
"It is possible if they've simply faded, not moved on," Marge smirked. "You can call them back. Talk to them in a meditative state. They're willing to do anything to earn them a place back in limbo."
Bonnie held up her hand to halt her mother's talking, "I said I don't want to hear anything you have to say. I never wanted to see you again. But I guess you never really cared what I wanted before. Who are you to let a silly thing like my wishes and a restraining order stop you? A restraining order I will be re-filing with the police here."
Marge gave her a condescending look, "I understand that we haven't seen each other in a long time and you need time to adjust. It will take time to repair our relationship."
"We have no relationship," Bonnie said as she set down the last chair. "Now, get out of my store before I call the cops. I'm friends with all of them, you won't be able to spin a lie to get out of trouble here."
"I'll go – for now," Marge said. "But we need to discuss the next book. Our audience is eagerly awaiting the tale of our reunion."
"There'll be no book about me again or I will sue you," Bonnie pointed to the door. "Out."
Marge silently made her way to the door, leaving Bonnie to heave out the deep breath she'd been holding in between sentences. She couldn't believe the sheer arrogance that woman had. She really hoped she didn't have to blow up her life once more because her mother didn't care what she actually wanted.
"Take the book in your right hand. And read from the card."
Ellie took a deep breath on the stand as she recited, "I swear by almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Police Constable 516, Ellie Miller, attached to Exeter Police Traffic Division, formerly Detective Sergeant attached to Broadchurch CID."
Jocelyn kept to the facts, "How long have you been married to the defendant, Mrs. Miller?"
"12 years." Ellie kept thinking about what Jocelyn said. Stay calm. Keep to the facts. Don't get emotional.
"You have two children, correct?"
"Yes, Tom is 13 and huge and Fred is nearly two," Ellie answered.
"Was it a mutual decision to have children?"
Ellie shuffled on her feet, "I was probably keener, but Joe went along with it."
"What sort of relationship did you have with your husband?"
Ellie held in her emotions as well as she could, "Good. I went to work, and he looked after the kids. I loved him."
"How would you describe your relationship with Mark and Beth Latimer?"
Ellie tried to keep from averting her eyes to Beth and Mark in their seats. "We were good friends. Beth and I were in the same NCT group. We had Sunday lunches together. Our boys, Danny and Tom were best friends."
"How curious was your husband about how the investigation was proceeding?"
"Err... on the day Danny's body was found, he asked if we knew who did it," Ellie told them.
"Was he interested in forensic evidence?"
"When we found the crime scene he wanted to know what we'd discovered," Ellie said.
"Had he demonstrated any interest in forensic evidence prior to this case?"
"He knew a bit about it because of his job as a paramedic. He'd been called to a few crime scenes. He knew how evidence was gathered and what made it easy or difficult," she explained, looking between Jocelyn and the jury members.
"Have you had any contact with Mr. Miller since the day of his arrest?"
"No."
"Did you at any time suspect that your husband was involved in the killing of Danny?"
Her eyes welled with tears. "I didn't. Now, I wish I had."
"Why did you attack him, your husband, in the interview room after his arrest?" Jocelyn asked, kindly.
"Because the man I trusted most in the world had killed the son of our best friend," Ellie told her.
"So, you attacked him not as a policewoman attacking a suspect, but as a wife confronting her husband?" Jocelyn asked to make her own point.
"Yes. The police had nothing to do with it. It was about him and me," Ellie ascertained.
"Thank you, PC Miller. I understand how difficult this must be for you," Jocelyn said to conclude her questioning.
"It is," Ellie whispered, letting some more tears well in her eyes. "It is horrific."
Sharon showed no sympathy – even for show – as she stood to begin her own line of questioning, "How was your sex life, PC Miller?"
Ellie was startled. Both at the question and the emphases on her demoted title. "I dunno, normal. How would you describe yours?"
Sharon regarded her with humor, "Not frequent enough to be honest. But I'm not in the box."
The Judge gave her a look, "Quite, Miss Bishop."
Sharon waved defensively before turning back to Ellie, "Did you engage in S&M? Bondage? Torture fantasies? Violent roleplay?"
"No, nothing like that," Ellie answered evenly.
"Did your husband use pornography?" Sharon asked.
"No. Apart from one time his mate gave him a DVD. We watched it together and we mostly laughed through it," Ellie almost flinched reliving the once happy – now tainted – memory.
"Did it involve children?"
Ellie gritted her teeth, "No."
"Gay pornography?"
"No."
"Did he show a predilection for images of children?" Sharon asked.
"Not to my knowledge," Ellie said.
"Did you either as a wife or a police officer ever discover images of children in your husband's possession?"
She had to chant in her head to keep calm. "No."
"Would you say that you are a good police officer?"
She wondered when Sharon would start attacking her character and competency, "I get the job done."
"I think you're being modest. Until recently, you'd been on a rather strong career path, hadn't you?" Sharon said condescendingly.
"I did my best."
"And yet as a police officer, you didn't detect any suspicious behavior from your husband?" Sharon asked her.
Ellie sighed, "None."
"You didn't spot any such behaviors because your husband didn't kill Danny, did he?" Sharon misconstrued purposely.
"He did kill Danny. He's not the person I thought he was," Ellie insisted.
"Are you talking as a wife or as a police officer now?" Sharon mocked her.
"Both," Ellie chewed the words out.
"Did you take a sleeping pill on the night of Danny Latimer's death?" Sharon switched directions.
"Yes, I get terrible jet lag. I have them prescribed," Ellie explained.
"You didn't wake up until the next morning, is that correct?" Sharon questioned.
"That's right," Ellie nodded.
"So, as far as you were concerned the next morning he'd been there all night," Sharon speculated.
"That's what I thought at the time and it turns out not to have been true. Joe knew I'd taken the pills. He must have planned to meet Danny accordingly," Ellie speculated right back.
"Do you actually know of such a plan?" Sharon asked, lips pressed into a firm line now.
"No," she admitted.
"Then, please stick to the facts, PC Miller," she sounded like a stern boss. "When did you and DI Hardy first start having an affair?"
Everyone was startled at this question. Ellie gaped for a moment, "What?"
But Sharon acted as if she hadn't answered at all yet, "Is the affair ongoing? Can I remind you that you are on oath?"
"No, we've never had an affair," Ellie denied.
"Again," Sharon said, glaring as if she knew Ellie were lying. "Can I remind you, PC Miller, that you are on oath?"
Jocelyn stood, "My lady, where is the evidence?"
Even Hardy sat forward now, wondering what this woman was going to pull out of thin air.
"Coming to that now, my lady," Sharon said, shuffling with her papers.
"You won't find any cos it never happened," Ellie insisted.
"The night of your husband's arrest where were you?"
Ellie sighed and stood straighter, "We'd gone to a hotel because we had to leave our house. I left my kids with my sister cos I went to see Beth, Mrs. Latimer."
"Why?"
"I felt I needed to," Ellie justified.
"And then what did you do?" Ellie was quiet at first before Sharon pushed, "Where did you go, PC Miller?"
"I went to see DI Hardy," she admitted. She could feel the looks she was getting from Beth and Mark.
"Where? Where did you go to see DI Hardy?" Sharon demanded to know, as if she already knew. When Ellie took more than three seconds to answer, the woman pulled out a piece of paper and regarded it as she added, "Well, according to CCTV, you went to the Trader's Hotel around 11:37pm. And left just after a quarter to two. Over two hours."
"I didn't go to the Trader's Hotel," Ellie denied. "CCTV may have caught me passing by on my way to the bookstore – called Between the Pages – across the street. DI Hardy had checked out of the hotel and had been staying at the flat above the bookstore at this time."
Sharon gave her second chair Abby a glower before turning back to Ellie, trying to keep on her own track, "And why was DI Hardy staying above a bookstore rather than the hotel? And why did you go there?"
"Press hounded him at the hotel," Ellie explained. "So, he checked out and went across the street. I went there to talk. To make some sense of things."
"You talked," Sharon mocked her. "You left your two children on the night that their father was arrested for well over two hours to go and see DI Hardy alone on the night that he'd arrested, and you'd beaten up the defendant, your husband, in a flat to talk?"
"I needed to make sense of what had happened," Ellie said. "And we weren't alo-"
Sharon hadn't even let her finish her sentence. "You colluded that night to frame the defendant, your husband, to get him out of the way, because you were having an affair with DI Hardy, didn't you?"
"Absolutely not," Ellie glared. "There was no affair. And we weren't alone that night. We were with Bonnie Irving. She owns the bookstore and the flat. She was with us the whole night. There was no affair."
Sharon paused, giving her second chair a death glare. "And how are we supposed to believe that this bookstore owner isn't in on your plans to frame my client?"
"This is how you think you're gonna win? By twisting the truth and distorting our lives?" Ellie asked her, disgusted with this woman.
"And isn't it the case that this investigation missed key opportunities and failed to examine leads because it was compromised by your personal liaisons with DI Hardy? And together you put an innocent man in the dock?" Sharon berated her.
"No, totally untrue," Ellie said. She stopped to take a deep breath. "I am not the one on trial. I've done nothing wrong. There was no affair, no collusion. We weren't even alone that night or in the Trader's like you seem to think." She spoke calmly and evenly, happy that she hadn't lost her cool.
Sharon's jaw obviously clenched as her plan to make Ellie lose it on the stand failed. "Thank you, PC Miller."
Bonnie hadn't beaten Alec home that evening, riding in on her bike as he reclined out on the stone steps in front of the house with his files and his head in his hands. She set her bike against the house and sat with him, weaving her arm through his and resting her head on his shoulder. "How did it go today?"
"All I can say is I know you're going to be called tomorrow after what was brought up today," he told his, kissing the top of her head. "You'll need to stay calm, straight to the facts."
"I know what to do," she assured him. "I used to play a witness in a lot of mock trial for students or first year associates at firms when I was in school. And I was on the debate team in High School."
"This isn't a debate, it's court," he pointed out. "She's not going to argue with you, and you shouldn't argue with her."
"I won't, but I also won't let her twist my words against me or you," she said. She pulled her head off his shoulder to look at him, "My mother is here."
He did a double take. "What?"
She nodded, still reeling. "She just showed up yesterday. Rambling on about making amends, how I owe her, all this nonsense. I told her I never want to speak to her again. I stopped by the station to put in a report to file a new restraining order for this country. Dave said it's as good as done seeing as she's clearly violated the one I had in America by tracking down my new location in another country. Just would like to warn you if she comes around when you're here alone. But if you can deal with murderers, you can deal with her."
He gave her a kiss on the forehead, "When will this bloody madness end?"
She smiled ruefully, "Whenever the world sees fit. Let's go to bed."
"Let's," he agreed, taking her hand as they went into the house.