CHAPTER SEVEN
THE TIDES TURN
Bonnie was sleeping soundly, facing away from Alec in bed, when he started thrashing a bit. Unconsciously, she turned over to face him, still sleeping. But then she was unpleasantly awoken when he started violently gasping for air and coughing. She quickly tried to embrace him and comfort him, "Honey? Alec, can you breathe? Is it a nightmare?"
He stopped gasping as much as he laid back and tried to calm down under ministrations, trying to gain breath. He didn't answer her at first. But then he whispered, "I was drowning... I was trying to get her out of the water, and I went in and..." trailing off into choked breaths. She didn't question him, just brushing his hair back with her fingers and trying to be there for him.
He suddenly started to cry, heavier and heavier until he was sobbing into his hands, his body bouncing slightly on the bed. Bonnie felt tears well in her own eyes as she reached forward to pull him into her arms, letting him cry into her shoulder and chest. As she did, he wrapped his arms around her and clutched to her like a child clutches its teddy bear at night. "It's going to be all right, honey. I love you. I love you." Almost into the morning, he cried into her shoulder and held her tightly to him, not letting her go until the sun came up.
When it did rise into the new day, they both took care on how they dressed. Bonnie threw on a nice blue blouse and some black slacks, along with a gray cardigan sweater.
She was helping Alec with his tie as he was on hold with his doctor. "Yeah, still holding for Mr. Davies... No, no, I don't want to reschedule. I want to erm... talk to him about an increase in my symptoms... What, is he some higher mortal who doesn't phone people?... My GP? Seriously?" It didn't seem to be going well as he hung up the phone, "For..." and stopped when he saw none other than Olly at the open door, muttering to himself, "God, what do you want?"
"Hello Olly," Bonnie waved the eager journalist inside.
Olly didn't bother with pleasantries. "Lee Ashworth came into our offices the other day. Now, I couldn't place him at first, but then..." he held up some articles with Lee on them, front and center, about Sandbrook, "I went through all the Sandbrook press cuttings. It's a bit of a coincidence, you and him both here."
"Does your editor know you're here?" Alec asked.
"I'm a bit fed up with the way you talk to me," Olly said petulantly.
"Excuse us, Oliver," Bonnie cut in, hands on her stern hips. Alec idly thought she looked just like a mother. "But you are in our home berating us about something that is none of your concern. And you have absolutely no ground to stand on when it comes conducting conversations like these in these delicate situations. You're the one who announced Danny's identity before the family had even 24 hours to let the news of their brother and son's death set in. You're the one who started the snowball of character attacks that lead Jack to take his own life. And you're the one who started the press making Danny's case less about catching the killer and more about attacking Alec."
Olly gaped at her angrily, "You can't possibly put all that on me!"
"Yes, I can!" Bonnie glared at him. "I'd like you to get out of my house, and for you to stop being such a petulant child."
Alec, Olly could have handled being tossed back by. But not Bonnie. She looked damn intimidating, like his own mum or even his Aunt Ellie, with her glare set into her face and her hands on her hips in fists. With a blank face, he turned around and left.
Bonnie smirked a bit when she felt Alec's hands settle on her hips from behind, "That was sexy."
She turned in his arms to wrap hers around his neck. "Alec, I've seen that man before."
His lips that had been poised to kiss her, froze in front of her face. "What?"
"He came into the store asking for directions to the paper," she explained. "Didn't tell me who he was. Just that he was putting out an ad for handyman work. I gave him directions and he left."
"Bloody hell," he cursed, raking his fingers through his hair. She reached up to fix it once he let his hand fall to his side again. "Now he's bothering you. And your mum is bothering you. How are you even upright right now?"
"I'm tougher than I look," she reassured him.
"And you look pretty bloody tough," he mused. "You let me know if he comes 'round harassing you. And your mum. They're the last people in the world you need to be bothered by. And I can take care of you sometimes."
She nodded. "You know it'll be all right, right?"
He held her close, "You think so, don't you?"
She nodded, giving him a kiss, "I love you. We're going to figure out your medical needs. We're going to get through the trail. I'm going to be fine on the stand and Joe is going to rot in prison for the rest of his life."
He fondly cupped her face in his hands and brought her in for another kiss. When he pulled back, he said, "I want to go to Sandbrook this weekend to see about reopening the case. I hope to see Daisy while I'm out there." After a pause, just staring at her, he added, "Could you come along? Meet her and all of that?"
She smiled up at him and stroked his tired face, "I would love to."
"Oh, bloody hell!" Ellie cursed. She was running late for court and ran out of change for the parking machine. And to make her even more anxious, her sister was being called this morning and expressed her plans to lie on the stand and say she'd definitely seen Joe and recognized him dumping a bag in the bin outside her house the night Danny died.
"Here you go," the deep voice of Lee Ashworth came up behind her as he reached around to push change into the machine for her. "I've got it."
She stared at him, "I hope you're not following me."
He gave her a look, "Says the woman who had me recorded." She took the parking ticket and walked over to her car quickly. But he followed after her, "I heard they trashed you in court. Hurts, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, well, I'm sure the jury saw through it," she told herself more than she was telling him.
"It's like a game to them. Don't care about you, what you've lost: husband, son, job-"
She cut him off, "I haven't lost my son and now I'm running late." Once she put the ticket in her car, she started power walking towards the courthouse.
He glared. "Hardy slept with my wife. That's why he's so obsessed with the case."
"What's that got to do with me?" she asked. But she had to think to herself that she didn't believe for a moment that Alec had any kind of sexual or romantic relationship with Claire.
He spoke with venom, "He's poisoned my own wife against me, even though I tried to help him solve it. I just want Claire back."
She glared at him with a pointing finger, "Well, I've talked to her. Stay away from her. You are not good for her."
"He paid for your parking?" Alec questioned as Ellie made her way through security.
"He said you slept with Claire Ripley," she said with a small laugh in her voice.
He rolled his eyes at the absurdity. But then as they started walking towards the courtroom, he said, "I'm going up there, Miller."
"Where?" She couldn't keep up with him sometimes.
"Sandbrook, this weekend. You can drive me," he said as if he were still her boss.
"What? No, I'm not a taxi! I've got better things to do!" she objected.
He raced his hands defensively, "I've asked Bon along, but she can't drive either. But there is an officer there I can talk to about reopening the case. See the place for yourself. Leave wee..." he trailed off again on her son's name.
"Fred!" she railed.
He nodded along, "Fred with your sister."
They climbed up the stairs and Hardy slowed a bit when he noticed Bonnie talking to Beth just outside the courtroom as they started to walk in. She looked beautiful and nervous.
"She's going to be all right up there," Ellie voiced behind him as they entered the courtroom and took their seats.
Bonnie kept her posture as straight as possible as she made her way up onto the stand. The clerk helped her up and asked, "Do you wish to swear or affirm?"
"Affirm," she said so he handed her a card and asked her to read from it. "I do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that the evidence I shall give... shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."
Jocelyn stood, "Miss Irving, can you explain for the jury what you do for a living?"
Taking her cues on how Alec gave his testimony, Bonnie looked between Jocelyn and the jury members, "I own a bookstore called Between the Pages in town. I mostly deal in secondhand books, sometimes early editions of classics, as well a textbooks and popular fiction. I also run a tutoring center year-round for the local students."
Jocelyn nodded. "And how long have you lived in Broadchurch?"
"I don't know the exact number," Bonnie answered. "Almost ten years now. I moved from Whales after school."
"And how did you know Danny Latimer?" Jocelyn questioned.
Bonnie flinched at his name, imperceptibly, "I used to watch him when he was smaller, for Beth and Mark sometimes. On date nights and such. He also came into the store for tutoring."
"How did you meet Mr. Miller?"
Bonnie spoke evenly, "When I first moved here, I wasn't used to the layout of my bookstore and apartment. I took a small tumble down the stairs. Mr. Miller was still an EMT back then and was the one to patch me up."
"Would you say that you are close with the accused?" Jocelyn asked.
Bonnie shrugged, "As close as any neighbors. I was always closer with Ellie." She tried not to smile at Ellie in the stands and keep to the facts.
"Did you ever notice any suspicious behavior in Mr. Miller during the investigation?" Jocelyn asked.
Bonnie nodded, "On the day that he was arrested, he stopped by the store to ask me to watch Fred while he took Tom into the station to answer some questions."
"And what was so abnormal about that?" Jocelyn asked. "It is my understanding that you used to babysit both Danny and the Miller's son, Tom."
"Well, it wasn't the fact that he asked me to watch Fred," Bonnie said. "But it was how he acted when he came by. He seemed nervous, withdrawn. And then as he left, he said, 'You're a good friend, Bonnie'. It seemed strange to me. He'd never said anything like that to me before. It felt like he was saying some sort of farewell to me."
"Objection," Sharon broke in, "witness is speculating on my client's feelings."
"I'm simply describing how Mr. Miller acted the last I saw of him before he was arrested," Bonnie defended herself calmly.
The Judge gave Sharon a look, "She's right, Miss Bishop."
Jocelyn took her cue to continue, "I'm afraid we must address your relationship with DI Hardy. Can you tell me how you met the detective?"
Bonnie fought the smile on her face, "Well, I first saw him about a week before Danny was found. We bumped into each other on the coast. But we didn't officially meet until the day of, when he came to inform the Latimers of Danny's death."
Jocelyn nodded, "You were with Mrs. Latimer during the course of that day, weren't you?"
Bonnie nodded, "Yes. There were races at the school. I was bringing pudding cups for the children and decided to help Beth when she realized that Danny hadn't been to school. I was with her on the beach, I took her home. There, I met DI Hardy when he first took on the case."
"And when did your romantic relationship begin?" Jocelyn asked. "Wouldn't it be inappropriate for the head of the investigation to consort with a person of interest?"
Bonnie shook her head, "They knew very early on that they were looking for a man. Alec – DI Hardy – and I ran into each other pretty often with my place across the street from the Trader's where he was staying. I offered him tea, the usual niceties I usually offer to anyone. We didn't turn romantic until several weeks into the investigation."
Jocelyn shuffled some papers, "I have a receipt for the fixing of two broken locks at your bookstore and the store to your flat, around the same time you're describing. Can you explain what happened?"
Bonnie nodded. "I tend to sleep with a window open. I had a panic attack midst a nightmare in my apartment, ended up knocking over a lamp. When DI Hardy heard the lamp breaking and my screaming, he broke down the doors in order to get to me and aid me. He stopped my panic attack and helped bandage up some of the cuts I'd gotten from falling into the glass from the lamp. That was the night we first kissed. It didn't get farther than that."
Alec leaned a bit forward in his seat, fighting a half-smile at the memory of kissing her for the first time. She did have a way of making him a sentimental fool.
"Did DI Hardy ever reveal privileged police information about the case to you?" Jocelyn asked.
"No," Bonnie answered.
"The night Joe Miller was arrested, Ellie Miller testified that she visited your flat and was there with DI Hardy and you the whole time she was there," Jocelyn described. Bonnie guessed that's what Alec meant by knowing she'd be called up based on what was revealed yesterday.
"That's correct."
"So, it would be incorrect to assume that Mrs. Miller and DI Hardy were having an affair?" Jocelyn questioned.
Bonnie snorted, "I'm sorry, what? Ellie and Alec? That's ludicrous."
"You were present with them at your flat the entire time PC Miller was there?" Jocelyn asked. "And all the three of you did was talk?"
Bonnie nodded, looking between Jocelyn and the jury, "Ellie needed to absorb all that had happened, what was happening. Her husband, the father of her children, was arrested for killing a child. A child he claimed to love romantically. It would be difficult for anyone to wrap their head around. Her world was turned upside down."
"So, there was no affair," Jocelyn seemed to be glad to determine, briefly looking out to the jury. "DI Hardy was, at this time, staying with you at your flat, and you were in a serious romantic relationship?"
Bonnie nodded, "Yes, we're very committed to each other – were so even then. Ellie and I are good friends as well. There was nothing untoward going on between them."
Jocelyn nodded, "Thank you, Miss Irving."
Sharon stood up, speaking to the judge, "Permission to treat the witness as hostile, your honor."
Jocelyn stood quickly, "On what grounds?"
Sharon looked smug and somewhat righteous as she justified herself, "I believe that the witness is guilty of identity theft and is testifying under a false name today. There is no record of a Bonnie Irving matching the witness previous to 1999."
Bonnie couldn't help but snort, "Is this attitude really because I changed my name when I was eighteen? The records are with the American government, where I was born."
The Judge gave Sharon a stern look, "Permission denied, Miss Bishop. Carry on or let the witness step down."
Sharon gave Abby a heated glare before turning to Bonnie, "Why would you change your name? What were you running from?"
"Nothing illegal if that's what you're implying," Bonnie responded calmly to her thinly veiled accusations. "You'd change your name too if you'd been named Marjorie MacQueen the Second."
She and Jocelyn noticed with hidden glee that some of the jury members chuckled at her candor. They failed to notice Abby pull out her tablet to do something under the table as she made notes excitedly, eager to make up her mess ups.
"Why are you lying about DI Hardy and PC Miller's affair?" Sharon berated her.
Bonnie kept her face straight, "I'm not lying. There is no affair."
"And what could you and DI Hardy have to discuss on date nights other than the case?" Sharon questioned. "How are we supposed to believe that he didn't tell you about privileged details to... I dunno... impress you or get your thoughts?"
"He never told me something that wasn't already public information," Bonnie stated. "He didn't need to break protocol to impress me. I liked him from the start."
Alec couldn't fight the small smile on his lips this time. Even more so when he felt Ellie nudge him with her elbow.
"If you were never a person of interest, why were you questioned by PC Miller and DI Hardy in your flat deep into the investigation?" Sharon asked.
"They also wanted to know why there was no Bonnie Irving in Britain before 1999," Bonnie explained. "I told them how I changed it to honor my late father and moved to Whales to live with his brother and go to school before I moved to Broadchurch and start my business. Very straight forward."
"And how is your relationship with DI Hardy presently?" Sharon interrogated.
Bonnie let herself smile this time, "It's amazing. We've just recently moved in together. We support each other. We're good together."
"And what do you feel about how he colluded with PC Miller to frame Joe Miller for murder?" Sharon assumed.
"That's not what happened," Bonnie spoke calmly. "And we all know it."
Sharon narrowed her eyes at Bonnie, "You don't like me, do you, Miss Irving?"
Bonnie shrugged, "Can you blame me?"
"I think I'd like to know why?" Sharon spoke.
Jocelyn stood, "Why is this relevant?"
Sharon turned to the Judge, "Her feelings about me affect her responses to my questioning."
The Judge turned to Bonnie and said kindly, "Could you please answer Miss Bishop concisely and respectively so that we may move on?"
Bonnie nodded, "Of course," before turning to Sharon. "I don't know why this is relevant because it doesn't affect how I answer your questions. But for the few minutes I've been up here you've not only incorrectly accused me of identity theft but attacked the character of my close friend and the man I live with. Not only that, but you're also trying to get the man who killed a child off charges."
Sharon seemed off kilter as she noticed some of the jury members sympathizing with Bonnie as she stood up there. "You're assuming my client's guilt?"
Bonnie nodded, taking a deep breath, "I loved Danny. It is unthinkable what happened to him and the person responsible deserves to see justice for it. Joe was having an illicit relationship with Danny behind his family's back. Secret messages, secret meetings. Danny was eleven years old. Does that sound innocent to you?"
"My client was simply helping Danny," Sharon posited. "As a parent, he saw his boy's best friend in need of guidance and someone to talk to since his own father beat him. He loved Danny as well."
"And you're assuming that?" Bonnie asked.
"He stated as much during his interview with your lover boy. That he was there for Danny when his father gave him a split lip," Sharon said spitefully. "Now-"
"You mean the interview in which he confessed?" Bonnie asked, accidentally cutting her off. "You don't get to cherry pick sentiments from a confession you've had thrown out of evidence."
"Too right," Jocelyn jumped up. "If Miss Bishop wishes to discuss anything said during the interview and subsequent confession, the whole tape should be reintroduced into evidence for the trial."
"I'm simply trying to explain the true nature of the relationship Mr. Miller had with Danny Latimer," Sharon tried to dissuade the look on the Judge's face. "These people have painted him as a pedophile when he simply told DI Hardy that he was trying to be there for Danny where his own father wasn't."
The Judge looked between Bonnie and the two counselors before sighing, "I'm sorry, Miss Bishop, but if you wish to discuss any point of that interview, then you must think it has merit. I am repealing my decision to have the confession excluded."
Excited murmurs broke through the whole courtroom. Ellie and Hardy were thrilled. Mark and Beth clutched each other and smiled at Bonnie.
The Judge spoke to the jurors, "The Jury is advised to now consider the confession legitimate and take it under advisement while you make your decisions." She turned to Bonnie, "You may step down now, Miss Irving."
"Thank you, my lady," Bonnie nodded as she stepped out.
Alec stood with the Latimers waiting for Bonnie to exit the courtroom as they had beat her outside in the hall. Ellie made herself scarce at a table when she saw Beth. The group smiled when they saw a smiling Jocelyn walking Bonnie out. "That could not have gone better." They were relieved to hear the solicitor say so. "The jury loves Miss Irving, and now has some contempt for Miss Bishop due to her treatment of her on the stand."
"And she got his confession back in," Mark exclaimed, not being able to hold back from hugging Bonnie. "Thank you."
Beth was crying in happiness as she hugged her next, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
Bonnie hugged her friend tightly, "She just screwed herself up. I didn't do much."
"Contrary," Jocelyn said, "if you hadn't said the word confession, I would not have been able to bring the subject up to the judge. You were very smart."
"She was brilliant," Alec broke in, keeping his smile muted in front of the others, but they could all tell he was pleased.
Beth was still hugging Bonnie to her side and pointed a humorous finger at Alec, "You don't let this girl go, you hear me? She's special."
Alec actually laughed with Beth, "I'll take that under advisement."
"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to grab a cup of tea before we're called back in," Bonnie said, skipping off. "Be right back."
She shared a smile with Ellie as she passed the woman downstairs to the coffee and tea stand to order a cuppa. Lucy approached her with a smirk, "Good on you in there. Gave that bitch what for."
Bonnie smiled shyly. "I simply told the truth. You should as well."
Lucy frowned, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I know Ellie gave you money," Bonnie spoke quietly as she accepted her cup from the barista. "Bishop is desperate to make it look like Alec and Ellie colluded to frame Joe. That's their only defense at this point with the confession thrown back in. So, I guarantee they know about the money, and they'll use that to make it look like Ellie paid you off to make your statement, especially since you held back 'til the last second. All I'm saying is don't embellish. Just the cold hard truth and the jury will put the pieces together."
"I'd been playing a bit of online poker... and then I went to the window to close the curtains," Lucy answered on the stand.
"What time was this?" Jocelyn asked.
"4:47am. I checked it on the computer," Lucy looked at the jury as she spoke.
"And what did you see when you went to the window to close the curtains?"
"A man putting a bag into a bin across the street."
"Can you describe the man?"
Lucy paused when she was asked this. She knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to put Joe away. But she didn't want to let her baby sister down anymore. "He was just under six foot it seemed, a bit thin. And I could tell he had a bald head under the black cap he wore."
Jocelyn nodded, "That description bears a resemblance to your brother-in-law, correct?"
Lucy nodded, "I would say so."
Jocelyn said, "Thank you," and sat herself down.
Sharon stood, "Miss Stevens, you didn't go to the police until 57 days after seeing this man you claim to have seen throwing out a bag."
"I didn't connect it to Danny's death until a few weeks later."
Sharon didn't look kind or convinced, "Really? Despite it being the talk of your town? Despite your own sister being one of the investigating officers?"
Lucy spoke with a bit of attitude, "I know this is every day for you, but the rest of us haven't lived through this before. It was new."
Sharon scoffed, "The facts of your evidence are: finally, you make a statement, 57 days after having seen a figure on a dark street, that bares a passing resemblance to the defendant."
"I know what I saw," Lucy stated.
"It was dark, the figure was far away," Sharon illustrated.
"I know what I saw," Lucy insisted.
After Lucy, Jocelyn brought in some surprise character witness to take the stand and talk about Joe Miller. Bonnie anxiously sat behind Beth and Mark with Nige as they listened to the dark-skinned woman discuss her working relationship with Joe Miller back before Bonnie had even lived in the country.
"Mr. Miller and I worked for two years together, between 1996 and 1998. We were shift partners working as paramedics at Cardiff City Hospital."
"Can you describe Mr. Miller as a colleague?" Jocelyn requested.
"A bit quiet, kept himself to himself," the woman spoke openly.
"When did you stop working together?" Jocelyn asked.
"It was November 1998, two days after Bonfire Night, and it was at my request," she said the last bit to the jury, emphasizing that the separation was acrimonious.
"Why did you request it?" Jocelyn moved on.
"Joe had offered to give me a lift to get some shopping. The supermarket car park was really busy. Then he saw a space, but this bloke in a BMW came in the other way, the wrong way, and got in ahead of him," the woman illustrated, talking with her hands.
Jocelyn hid a smile, "What did the defendant do then?"
The woman seemed disturbed as she said, "He jumped out the car, ran across and punched the guy in the face. The bloke fell back against the car and Joe started kicking him, going at him really hard!"
"Did you try and stop him?"
The woman shrugged and nodded at the same time, "When I realized what was going on, yeah. By the time I got there though, the guy was bleeding. He ended up with three broken ribs and it took four people to pull Joe off him."
"Had there been any warning signs that Mr. Miller might have a violent tendency?" Jocelyn questioned.
The woman shook her head, "Nothing. It came out of nowhere," as if she were still confused about what had happened.
"Thank you." Jocelyn sat down.
Sharon stood, "Is it a high-pressure job being a paramedic?"
The woman admitted, "It can be... but on that day, we had a good run and even had some time off."
"How many lives did Mr. Miller save in the two years that you worked together?"
"I don't know," the woman said.
"Two, three?"
"More like 50 or 60," she admitted. "It doesn't make what he did right, though."
"But you never saw any sign of this behavior before that day?" Sharon pointed out.
The woman stared back at her, "He blew. I saw him go. It was like a switch had been flipped in him."
"Thank you," Sharon said as she sat down.
But the woman was still talking animatedly, "Scared the life out of me. He nearly killed that guy!"
"Thank you!" Sharon spoke louder to cut the woman off.
Jocelyn concluded, "That concludes the case for the Crown, My Lady."
So I know how I got the confession back in was a fictional long shot, but I was always of the opinion that some of the decisions the Judge made and the things Sharon was able to pull of were ludicrous and stupid. So, I'm fixing it up.
REVIEW!
RegalGirl94