CHAPTER EIGHT

MEETING MISS DAISY

Bonnie folded her legs up on the backseat of Ellie's car, trying to get comfortable for the ride ahead of them. She always hated long travel. She and Ellie were watching Alec talk to Claire outside her little house. It was the first time Bonnie had been to the house, and first time she'd seen Claire since the day she walked into court.

"Ellie?" Bonnie asked meekly from the backseat. "You've seen Claire and Alec interact, right? I don't really have a reason to worry, do I?"

"What?" Ellie asked, looking back at her. "What would make you think that?"

Bonnie shrugged, fiddling with her fingers in her lap, "I've never been the jealous type. And I trust Alec. I know the way he is with me is special to me – to our relationship. But that doesn't mean I trust this woman that he never mentioned before, that was involved in the Sandbrook case."

"To be perfectly frank, I think she's been lying about nearly everything to do with the case and what really happened," Ellie told the other woman. "Hardy treats her like a witness but thinks of her like a suspect. It's been his plan the whole time. Scheming twit."

Bonnie let out a little laugh, "That may be annoying to you, but it makes me feel better."

Ellie gave her a smile, "Things really are serious between you two, aren't they? You melted his icy heart."

Bonnie blushed delicately, "He's not a cold as he puts out there. He cares so deeply and keeps it all inside. I still get surprised when he opens up to me. When the world is cruel to you, you either burrow into yourself and hide from it, or you let it all pass through you and move on."

"He hides, you let it pass," Ellie guess. "That whole opposites attract things totally works for you two."

Bonnie shrugged, "I think it's more of a yin and yang thing. He burrows himself into his work and hides his pain to punish himself for what he perceives as his own failings and to avoid burdening others. But he lets others' transgressions against him pass on by. He holds no ill will for Tess despite how their marriage ended. But he can't let things like Sandbrook go. Me – I let the pain of my past stay in the past, grieve and move on. But I don't forgive. Ever."

Ellie nodded, understanding completely. She felt like she was witnessing a miracle, the way these two people came together and healed each other.

Meanwhile, Alec was running Claire through what was going on, "I'll be away one night, maybe two. I've asked Bob from the station to pass by twice a day." He pulled out a card for her, "This is his number – you call him if you're worried about anything at all." When she just stared at him and didn't accept the card, he asked "You still mad at me?"

"What about Ellie – why can't she stay with me?" Claire demanded.

"She's coming with me," Alec said.

She gave him a salacious look, "Oh. Dirty weekend away?"

He ignored her instigation, "When I get back, we'll talk about what we do next. Just remember – don't go near him. He's not good for you." He started back towards the car but held the card right out at her face, "Take it."

With some attitude, she yanked the card out of his hand. She then jerked her head to the car again, "What about that other bird in the car? Another colleague?"

He just stared at her.

She smirked at him expectantly, "What? Thought I wouldn't notice her or thought I wouldn't ask? Who is she, then?"

He just started walking away, "Go on. Lock all the doors."

He sighed as he pulled himself into the passenger's seat of Ellie's car and sank into the leather as she started up the engine and drove off towards Sandbrook. They were on the freeway for a little bit, but as the silence stretched, Alec reached forward to turn the nob on the radio, switching from station to station, almost like a nervous tick.

Ellie awkwardly chimed in from her seat, "Look at us, Thelma and Louise! You can be Susan Sarandon."

He just kept switching through radio channels. Until Ellie grew irritated with him, "Leave the radio alone! If you can't find anything you like, just turn it off." He obeyed, shutting the radio off. Bonnie watched with a smirk as Ellie huffed, "Right, so if we're not having music, you can at least tell me your theory. With everything you know, what do you reckon happened at Sandbrook?"

He stared out his window, "Someone went into the Gillespie house, abducted both girls. Got rid of the bodies."

"Why Lee Ashworth?" she asked, keeping her eyes on the road.

Bonnie wondered if she should be listening or putting on her music. But she figured most of this was already out there in the world. She wanted to help Alec put this all behind him once and for all.

"Ricky and Cate Gillespie said Pippa always used to like going next door to see Lee," Alec told Ellie.

"If Ashworth was in their house, there must've been forensics," she pointed out.

"Yeah, there were," he confirmed. "Ashworth's DNA was all over the place. A strand of his hair was found on Pippa's pillow."

"On her pillow?" Bonnie piped in from the backseat for the first time. "I'd like to hear how he explained that."

Alec looked at her through the mirror and back at Ellie, "He said he'd been in the house plenty of times, which is true, but... he still wouldn't say how the hair got on the pillow. At one stage, he said it had been put there to frame him."

"By who?" Ellie questioned. "This... Ricky, Pippa's Dad?"

"That's what Ashworth claimed," Alec said. "But this case, Miller, whenever you think you're getting close, it slips away from you."

"Is that why it got to you – cos you could never be sure?" she asked, digging into the root of the problem.

Alec was quiet for a moment. And Bonnie almost thought that he would ignore her question. But then his rough voice answered, sounding lost and far away, "I found her – Pippa Gillespie. She was in the river. And it was deeper than I thought. I got pulled under."

Bonnie held in her small gasp of realization as she remembered how Alec woke up and cried in her arms. I was drowning... I was trying to get her out of the water, and I went in and...

"Just managed to get free and carry her body onto the bank. She'd been in there maybe three days... Water rots the body... She was the same age as my daughter," he broke off with a harsh sigh. Bonnie leaned forward, almost resting her chin on the back of his seat and reached through his arm, weaving her fingers through his and holding his hand. She felt him squeeze back, almost shaking as he went on, "I can still feel the weight of her, water dripping off her clothes all down me. What sort of a person leaves a child like that?"

Bonnie shut her eyes as Alec held her hand to his heart, letting a couple tears leak out. Ellie kept her moist eyes on the road, letting the reality of why this case meant so much to him wash over them all.

It was starting to get dark and rainy and Bonnie was starting to dose off when Ellie stopped the car outside two houses that looked like they were one house separated into two, sharing a wall.

"Yeah, this pair here," Alec pointed them out. So, this was where Lisa and Pippa were last seen.

"Who lives there now?" Ellie asked.

"The Gillespies own both houses. They rented the one on the right to Lee and Claire. Cate still lives in the one on the left," Alec told her.

Ellie was taken aback, "Even after everything that's gone on?"

"She wanted to be there, in case Lisa came back," Alec sighed. As he said so, he shared a look with Bonnie in the rearview mirror. They both knew for certain that Lisa was never coming back.

"Let's go to the hotel."

They'd been able to get two rooms at the hotel, so Alec and Bonnie could share, and Ellie could have her privacy. Bonnie took her time in the bathroom getting dressed in her nightgown and brushing out her curls to get the tangles out from sleeping in the car. When she walked back out to the room, she saw Alec hunched on the bed, still clothed, peering at his phone with his glasses perched on his nose.

With a smile, she crawled over to him from the other side of the bed until her chin rested on his shoulder, and she whispered in his ear, "You know, I find seeing you in those glasses a rather sexy sight."

With a started smirk, he put his phone on the table and looked at her, "Is that so?"

She sat astride his lap and started unbuttoning his white dress shirt. "Yes. Why are you still all dressed? It's bed time."

As they both stripped off his shirt and undershirt, he said, "Why get undressed without you around to help me?"

"Cheeky bastard," she grinned, leaning down lay little kisses up his neck to his mouth, kissing him languidly. She pressed down on top of him as they embraced.

He fingered the hem of her nightgown along her backside as she started undoing his belt and zipper, reaching in until she grasped him in his boxers, earning a startled breath out of his mouth and nose. She started kissing down his chest as her hands pulled him out of his pants and his startled breathing turned into an outright guttural groan as she took him into her mouth.

"Bloody hell!" he cursed, peering own at her, his glasses still perched on the tip of his nose. "What do you think you are doing?"

She laughed through her nose as she worked him in her mouth. It should be obvious what she was doing. When his hips started moving with her, she lifted off of him. Their movements grew a bit hastier as they worked together to pull his pants down. With a cheeky grin, she pulled the hem of her nightgown up to reveal she hadn't bothered putting on panties.

"You're going to bloody kill me, love," he said, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he started struggling to breath.

Seeing that he was having trouble, Bonnie gave him a kiss and pushed him to lay flat against the pillows. "Breathe. Let me take care of all the stress."

He let out a breath as she lifted her hips over him. When they were joined, he let out a groan and gripped her hips as she started moving on top of him. He wished he could move with her the way he wanted to. He wanted to let out all inhibitions and meet her with the same unfettered emotion and energy she expressed to him during their intimate times. But then he could feel his heart start to pound and tunnel vision set in and he almost always had to slow down. He wondered if that left her unsatisfied with this facet of their life. But she never once complained.

She just loved him.

Bonnie loved looking at him when he was with her like this. He was most open and vulnerable, and of course she loved the absolute pleasure that raced up her spine when he was inside her. As she moved over him and started feeling the peak of it all, she leaned down over him and crashed their lips together. One of his hands reached up to cup her face and hold her closer as they came together, practically breathing for each other as she slowed down and then rested on top of him, letting her head rest in on his chest.

He brushed his fingers through the hair at the back of her head, "Did you...?"

She let out a breathy laugh into the skin of his neck, the air giving him goosebumps. "Yes, love, I'd think you'd notice."

He turned his head towards her, pensive, "Just wanted to make sure. I know I can't be... as energetic as you might-"

"Stop," she sighed, leaning up on her elbows, framing his head with her forearms as she looked down at him tenderly. "I am not dissatisfied with any aspect of our relationship. You have a heart condition. That impacts how you have to live and conduct yourself. Even in bed. But whenever we're together, we both finish, and I go to sleep with a smile on my face. Because every time, I feel close to you, I think about how much I love you, and you love me."

He brushed some hair out of her face, "I can't believe someone like you exists. Bloody amazing."

She stared down at him pensively, "One thing I don't like, is how hard you are on yourself. Like you're not deserving of love. You are deserving of love. And I am lucky to be the one to give it to you."

Quietly, they turned to lay on their sides and looked into each other eyes. Bonnie was almost starting to nod off when he spoke, "Would you marry me?"

Her eyes opened wide and looked right into his serious ones. She felt like her heart was going to burst. She gave him a sleepy smile and shuffled closer to him, "Yes, I would marry you, my grouchy man. I'm in love with you. I can't imagine a more fulfilled life without sharing it with you."

He grunted, kissing her forehead, "I should have a ring or something."

She laughed, feeling her eyes start to fall as her drowsiness set in again, "Well, you can prepare when you ask the real question. And you can be assured that my answer will be the same."

She fell asleep first, in his arms. He stayed awake a bit more, just holding her. He remembered feeling this swelling in his chest the first time he proposed to someone and they accepted. He thought it would last forever then too. But he had some kind of extra reassurance this time around, with Bonnie. She was different in every way from any other person, let alone woman. She loved unabashed, without any strings or expectations. She opened up, she shared, she accepted him. She made him better. And he felt he couldn't be the man he wanted to be without her. And he certainly knew not to let these kinds of connections go unconnected. He would not let her go for anything in the world.

Ellie and Bonnie both felt more awkward than Alec as they drove up to the Gillespie household.

Ellie asked, "How am I meant to get in there?" as she parked across the street. She was meant to look through Claire and Lee's home while Alec and Bonnie talked to Cate who still lived in her home.

Alec picked a key off of his key ring and held it out to her, "I made a copy before I handed the originals back."

She gaped at him, "No!"

He gave her a look, "You've read the files. You've met Lee and Claire. Have a look around and see what you think."

Ellie waited in the car while they approached the Gillespie door and Alec knocked. When Cate opened the door and scowled at the sight of him, he immediately said, "Cate, please don't slam the door."

"What do you want?" she drawled.

"Five minutes."

Reluctantly, she opened the door and let them in. Bonnie gave her a small smile and held out her hand, "My name is Bonnie. I'm a friend of Beth Latimer's and Alec's as well."

Cate slowly shook her head dubiously. She picked up a glass already filled with red wine and sipped from it, not saying anything to either of them.

"I still haven't given up on you or the case," Alec spoke carefully, not wanting to cause a fight, just wanting to help. He only wanted justice and closure for everyone involved. "Erm, I came because I thought you should hear this from me. Lee Ashworth is back in the country."

Cate's face went dead, but her eyes lit up with anger, "Where?"

"Nowhere near here," he assured her. "I'm keeping him under observation."

Her face went hard, "If I see him, I'll kill him."

"I know," he said, matter-of-fact. Awkwardly, he added, "I was sorry to hear about you and Ricky," referencing their divorce after their daughter died.

She didn't seem to have any feeling about that subject, "It was a long time coming."

He nodded, "Well, going through something like this..."

She scoffed, "We were broken before then. All that cock of the walk, 'every woman loves me' bullshit..." she trailed off. "Only so much any woman could take. Even over the fence, when he knew I was watching, with Claire. He'd check I could see."

Alec frowned. A relationship between Ricky Gillespie and Claire had never been mentioned during the course of the initial investigation, "I'm sorry, you never told us-"

"Even the moment his daughter was being killed..." she was still speaking.

"At the wedding? You were at the wedding together," he cut in.

She sank down into her couch with an incredulously sigh, "He was shagging one of the bridesmaids – Tiffany Evans."

Alec stopped short at the completely new information, "You always said you were together that night. You never mentioned-"

"What did it have to do with you?" she cut him off apathetically. "Makes no difference now, anyway."

Bonnie wanted to say that it did. That she should have said something the first time around. She could have been providing a false alibi for her husband. And he could have been anywhere. It made her fight a shiver.

Instead, Alec said, "I will get you justice."

"It's too late," she said.

"No, it isn't," Bonnie spoke again for the first time. "Not ever."

Bonnie sat a little closer to Alec in the casual restaurant across from Ellie waiting for Tess to show. She didn't want to be jealous. She was just nervous to see the woman that once held Alec's heart and crushed it. But Bonnie knew that she would treat it better.

"So, what does this DS look like?" Ellie asked, looking around.

Bonnie turned a raised eyebrow to Alec, "You didn't tell her?"

"Tell me what?" Ellie demanded.

Bonnie looked over at Ellie, "This DS is Tess."

Ellie gave Alec an angry look, "We're meeting your wife?"

"Ex-wife," Alec corrected pointedly.

"Wanker," Ellie glowered as a woman with tight brown curls pulled back in a bun, dressed in a business suit speed-walked in, looking flustered.

"Sorry, sorry! Got held up," she apologized, taking the empty seat next to Ellie.

"No, no, you're fine. We just got here," Ellie assured her.

The woman – Tess – gave Ellie a friendly smile and put out her hand, "You must be Bonnie. It's nice to meet you."

Ellie flushed at the mere thought of her and Alec being the couple at the table and shook her head, "Oh, no-"

"Bonnie would be me," Bonnie pointed to herself with an amused grin. She noticed Alec grimace at the mix up as well and thought it funny to think about his discomfort. "And it's nice to meet you as well, Tess. If I can just call you Tess."

Tess turned to her, her smile slightly falling in embarrassment or discomfort, but she forced it back up. "Sorry, of course, call me Tess." She paused a bit, her mouth slightly ajar. She let out a forced and awkward chuckle, "I'm sorry, you look like you can't be over twenty-five."

Bonnie kept her smile up and waved off the woman's faux pas, "Oh don't apologize for that – that's the best compliment I've gotten in a long time." She gestured to Ellie, "This is Ellie Miller. She and Alec used to work together."

Tess looked over at Ellie now, "Oh, you're Joe Miller's wife. The Broadchurch case. Right. Yep. I feel like I'm playing catch-up here."

"It's about Sandbrook," Alec abruptly cut in, straight to business.

Tess' whole face dropped, looking immediately exasperated, "Tell me that's not why you're here."

"Hear me out," he plead, leaning forward. "Lee Ashworth is back in the country. He's staying near me. There's grounds for reopening the case."

"Don't do this," Tess almost begged.

"Potential new evidence – a pressed bluebell sent to Claire Ripley anonymously," he told her before turning to Ellie. "Plus, Miller, tell her what she told you about that night."

Tess looked at Ellie expectantly. Feeling slightly put on the spot, Ellie paused before explaining, "Claire said that, the night the girls went missing, Lee drugged her with Rohypnol. She slept all night. When she woke up, he was cleaning the place."

Tess' face composed into a patient mask. "So, Claire Ripley's down there with you, too?"

"She's changed her story," Ellie added.

"Has she made a statement?" Tess questioned.

Ellie shook her head. "We were just talking."

"Would she give a statement?" Tess asked, as if she already knew the answer.

"I haven't asked her," Ellie admitted.

Alec broke in again, "Couple of officers, that's all I need. Some surveillance-"

"You're not even on active duty!" Tess protested. "Unless we have a genuinely significant new lead, there's just no appetite to-"

"At least talk to your superiors," Alec said beseechingly.

"What is wrong with you?" Tess asked him loudly, getting emotional and exasperated with the conversation. "How can you imagine I'd want to go back to it after what it did to us?"

Ellie and Bonnie both kept their faces blank at her sentiment as Tess and Alec stared each other down. Ellie broke the silence, saying, "You could reopen the case..."

"I could, but I won't," she said definitively.

Alec kept staring her down, "A girl's body is still missing. A killer's walking free. There're families who don't have closure and you won't reopen it because of what? Internal politics? Or... or personal inconvenience?"

She bristled at his accusation, "Don't take the moral high ground with me."

He glared at her incredulously, "Me take the moral high ground? You built a bloody house there!"

"I see the families every month. I write, phone and visit. I didn't run!" she accused him.

"I had no choice. No-one stood up for me," he pointed out.

"Maybe you should've made more friends," she posited back at him.

"Like you and Dave?"

Bonnie couldn't take it anymore and put her hands between their faces in a T formation, "All right, that's enough. You've both gone just a bit too far. This is not about either of you and what happened in the past. This is about Pippa and Lisa, it's about their families and what happened to them. It's about getting the truth and getting justice." She gave Tess a look, "There is absolutely no reason to give up doing so." She turned to Alec, "But this doesn't need to be personal." She leaned back, retracting her hands, "Why don't we table this discussion for later? Cooler heads and all that."

"Right, you're right," Tess stood, gathering her purse. She looked at Alec, "Don't be late for dinner. Daisy's looking forward to it." She gave Bonnie an awkward smile, "And meeting you as well." She then turned to Ellie and said, "Nice to meet you. Good luck with the trial," before making her leave.

Bonnie was surprised to see Ellie staring at her fondly, "What?"

Ellie shrugged, "Just remembering what made you such a good sitter with Tom back in the day."

Bonnie smiled, a little embarrassed, "My dad used to say I was born a natural mother, child or no child. It's just how I am."

She felt Alec's hand take hers under the table and knew they were both thinking about all their conversations they'd been having about children lately. They were going to continue having those talks, and neither minded.

Alec and Bonnie took a tab to a chicken restaurant since neither of them could drive Ellie's car, leaving the DS to relax in her hotel room. Bonnie had been eerily quiet in the backseat of the cab. So, Alec let out an awkward cough into his hand and asked, "Something is bothering you, isn't it? About earlier?"

Bonnie sighed, "You and Tess argued like you were still a married couple. And that just makes me more nervous about re-meeting her in a less formal setting and meeting Daisy as the other woman in her father's life."

"Tess and I argued like the divorced people we are," Alec pointed out, reaching over for her hand resting on the cab seat. "And Tess said Daisy was excited to meet you. Everything will be fine."

She turned over her hand in his to intertwine their fingers. "I'm normally not this insecure. You've cracked your way into my shell."

"And you softened mine," he answered, kissing her temple as the cab pulled up to the eatery. He quickly paid the cabbie and rushed around the car to open the door as Bonnie collected her messenger bag. He grasped her hand as they made their way into the restaurant and were waved over by Tess and Daisy. Daisy looked just like her parents, light eyes like Alec and light hair straight down her shoulders, soft features. Very pretty.

Tess stood, looking less formal and a bit as nervous as Bonnie felt, putting her hand out for the younger woman, "It's nice to meet you again. Different circumstances, of course. I'm Tess, this is my daughter, Daisy."

"Hi," Bonnie gratefully took the woman's hand and shook it. She then turned to Daisy and offered her hand, "Hello Daisy, I'm Bonnie."

Daisy had a little grin on her face as they shook hands, "I cannot believe you are dating my dad. You're way out of his league."

"Hey!" Alec protested.

But the women all laughed at his expense. Bonnie shrugged, "I don't know about that. But I see you're every bit as beautiful as your father said. I believe he said, 'beautiful and witty,' a father's worse nightmare, first time he talked about you to me. I found it very touching."

Alec hid his flush as the others looked at him in response. "Shall we sit?"

"Course," Tess chimed, retaking her seat on the bench next to Daisy. Alec and Bonnie took the chairs across from them.

Daisy leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table, looking at Bonnie with interest, "How old are you?"

Tess gave her daughter a look, "Daisy!"

"Oh, it's okay," Bonnie reassured the woman, pointing a finger at Alec with a smirk, "this one asked the same thing when we first met." She looked at Daisy with a peaceful smile, "I'm thirty-one. You're fifteen, must be just starting out in High School right now."

Daisy rolled her eyes good-naturedly, "Yeah, I am. How did you and my dad meet?"

Bonnie didn't want to get into the investigation at the dinner table and was thankful when a waiter walked over with menus for them, giving her more time to think on her answer. When he left with the promise to come back for their orders, Bonnie answered, "I own a bookstore across the street from the hotel your father was staying at when he first came to Broadchurch. Our paths crossed a few times, eventually we started meeting on purpose. I think I got under his skin."

"Too right," Alec said as he fished out his glasses to peer over the menu.

Bonnie handled her own, looking at it and between Daisy and Tess, "I hear you like this place. What's good here?"

"Oh, it's all good," Tess chimed in, holding out her own menu. "I usually get the chicken salad."

Bonnie peered at it, "Grilled chicken looks good."

When the waiter came back to take their orders, the women quickly gave theirs, but Alec kept staring at his through his glasses. "Have you got anything that isn't chicken?"

"There's spicy bean burger," the waiter offered.

"Oh, God, no," he grumbled to himself. "Or a salad?"

"Dad, it's a chicken joint," Daisy pointed out.

"I just don't really fancy it," he murmured.

Tess grinned over at her daughter, "See?"

Alec looked up between them. "What?"

Daisy laughed, "Mum said you'd be fussy."

"I'm not!" he protested as the girls laughed. He looked at Bonnie, "Aren't you supposed to defend my honor or something?"

Bonnie laughed and pointed at one of options, "Get the lettuce wrap."

Alec nodded, holding up the menu for the waiter to collect, "What she said then. Thanks." He put his glasses away and looked at his daughter, "So, how's school?"

"Pretty shit," she answered. Bonnie had to smother her chuckle.

"Oh, we use words like that now, do we?" he turned to Tess with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't look at me!" she defended against his stare with raised hands. "I've been fighting this for the past 18 months."

"Dad, 'shit' is not swearing," Daisy protested.

"Erm, it is!" he argued.

"Ah, thank you. See?" Tess readily agreed with her ex.

She looked between them, "No, it's not! Look at you both. You have no idea." She turned to Bonnie, "Let's get our drinks."

Bonnie was a little taken aback and shared a confused look with Alec, but agreed, "All right," and stood to get their drinks from the counter.

After ordering, Daisy asked, "So, are you and my dad going to get married?"

Bonnie was again startled but she always felt that complete honesty was the best approach and felt it wouldn't make her look good to hedge around a subject with Alec's daughter. "Well, I think so. Would that bother you?"

The teenager shrugged, "You seem cool. And after what mum did, I doubt dad would go back to her."

"What your mum did?" Bonnie repeated questioningly. She wondered what Daisy meant.

Daisy gave her a look, "I know the unnamed DS the papers said really screwed up those girls' case that dad protected was my mum. Who else would he protect like that? DS meets other DS at a hotel for a drink? I can put two and two together and guess at what she was doing there."

Bonnie sighed, "Your dad didn't want you knowing that about your mother and have it affect your relationship."

"Instead, mine with him suffered since he was practically ran out of here," Daisy said.

"Well, you can call, skype, you can visit anytime you want," Bonnie said. "Your dad would be thrilled to see you more. He really loves you, Daisy."

Daisy perked up and gave her a look, "Do you and dad live together?"

Bonnie blushed and nodded, "I just recently moved in with him. I gave up the apartment above my store to the new manager I hired."

"Do you have sex?" Daisy asked bluntly.

If Bonnie had been taking a sip of anything, she would have spat it out, "Now I know you get that cheekiness from your father!"

"You didn't answer the question," Daisy pointed out smugly.

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "Yes, we do. But you're not getting any details."

Daisy grimaced, "Ew, I don't want to know those."

"Good," Bonnie laughed as their drinks came.

As they had left, Alec had turned to Tess, "Oh, God, she's older, isn't she? Not just in days, but her manner and the way she dresses..."

"She's not a little girl anymore," Tess agreed.

Alec leant back in his chair, speaking softly, "Yeah... I missed her change."

"Yes, you did," Tess murmured. She then leaned forward and reached her hand across the table, "Let the case go, Alec."

He groaned, "You know I can't do that."

Their conversation was interrupted when an upset Ricky Gillespie walked up to them, looking at Tess and Alec with contempt, "Have you given him the bollocking, or shall I?"

Alec internally sighed when he saw the man, greeting him shortly, "Ricky," before turning to Tess. "Did you tell him I was here?"

Tess looked guilty, "Ricky called me earlier to lodge a complaint of harassment against you and-"

Ricky pointed a finger at him, "You leave Cate alone. She's too fragile."

"We all want the truth," Alec replied tiredly.

Ricky spat at him, "We had the truth and you screwed it up for us. You're a failure! You can never put it right."

Bonnie and Daisy walked over with their drinks. Bonnie instantly knew who the man was and was shocked to see Lisa again for the first time standing behind him, looking angry and uncomfortable. Daisy was confused when she saw the man and asked, "What's going on?"

Ricky completely deflated when he saw her walking up, asking Alec, "Is this your girl?"

Tess nodded.

Ricky turned to Daisy, asking softly, "How old are you, sweetheart?"

Still confused, she answered, "Fifteen."

Ricky spoke wistfully, "I had a girl like you. She was murdered... and, thanks to your dad, a man's still free."

Bonnie stood forward and blocked Alec from standing up, standing in front of him and Daisy and setting her drink down before she spoke to Ricky, channeling some of Lisa's fear and desire to get rid of Ricky. "That's enough, Mr. Gillespie. You're upset, and I think it's time that you go home."

Ricky glared at her unsteadily, "And who do you think you are to tell me to go home? I have no home thanks to him!"

"That's not on Alec," Bonnie replied patiently. "All right?"

"Listen-" he started to argue with her, reaching forward.

Alec was about to intervene but was surprised when Bonnie caught him hand and pushed her thumb into the pressure point. Ricky hissed in pain and backed away quickly, but she followed him, pressing into his hand until he was closer to the door of the restaurant before letting him go. "Drive safe, Mr. Gillespie."

Bonnie held in her sigh as she returned to the table, "You all okay?"

Daisy stared at her, stunned, before saying to Alec, "She's awesome. I like her."

"Where did you learn something like that?" Alec asked as Bonnie and Daisy took their seats.

"Jay made me take a bunch of self-defense classes when I moved in with him," she explained, sipping on her lemonade.

"Jay?" Tess questioned curiously. "Old boyfriend?"

Bonnie let out a laugh. "Heavens no. My Uncle. My father's family lives in Whales and Scotland. I grew up in America but moved out to Whales after I turned eighteen."

"Oh, where did you live in America?" Tess asked.

"Richmond, Virginia," Bonnie answered. "Born and raised for the most part."

"Was it your dad and his family that brought you here?" Daisy piped up.

Bonnie grimaced, "Sort of. My father died when I was fifteen..." They were a bit quiet when she said so. Tess averted her eyes, and Daisy was somber. She was fifteen, she didn't want to lose her father. She couldn't imagine it. Bonnie cleared her throat and continued through the awkward pause, "And I never got on with my mother, we're very different. So, when I turned eighteen, I decided that I wanted to start over and feel closer to my dad. Moving in with his brother, visiting where he grew up, accomplished all that. He also instilled in me my love of books – ergo I've got my bookstore now."

"Did you always want to own a bookstore?" Daisy asked as their food was brought out.

"The original plan was to be a teacher," Bonnie said, cutting into her grilled salsa chicken. "But life happens and changes your plans sometimes. Do you have an idea of what you want to do?"

Daisy shrugged, "No idea."

"Well, you're young," Alec chimed in, tossing his tie over his shoulder to bite into his own wrap. "You've got time to figure it all out."

"He's right," Bonnie agreed.

Daisy was quiet for a moment, eating her food. Then she asked, "So, what are your intentions towards my dad?"

"Is that really a good topic of conversation?" Alec grumbled.

Bonnie laughed and touched his arm, "Your daughter has your inquisitive nature. She's the daughter of two police officers." She then turned to Daisy, "I have very deep feelings for Alec. And I see a good future for us. I have no intention of leaving him or hurting him. Does that satisfy you?"

Daisy nodded, satisfied, and looked at her father, "Dad, don't let her go."

"Oh, I won't," Alec replied, a bit flustered, but clasped Bonnie's hand under the table, squeezing it thankfully.

Bonnie quietly leaned her head into Alec's shoulder as they sat in the cab on the way back to the hotel. "I think that went well."

"You've earned my daughter's favor, that's for sure," he remarked, his arm resting peacefully around her and holding her to his side.

"But you should know," she sighed, looking up at him, "that Daisy knows what Tess did. That she lost the pendent, what she was doing when her car was broken into. She put it together when Maggie's story ran. She just told me, I didn't say anything."

"Bloody fantastic!" he cursed, leaning his head back, clenching his eyes shut.

"She didn't seem angry," Bonnie assured him, reaching her hand around his neck to massage the tension lightly. "She just seemed frustrated with how you were treated. And she misses you. I told her she could visit any time she wanted."

He kept his eyes closed, "We're going back tonight..."

"He did it," Bonnie cut him off.

"What?" he asked, taken aback by the sudden change in subject. He finally reopened his eyes and looked over at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Ricky," she said. Giving the cabbie a look, she lowered her voice before adding, "I saw Lisa again. With Ricky. She was frightened, and uncomfortable, and angry. She wanted him to go away. That's odd for a niece to feel about her Uncle, right? Especially one she babysat for so often. I mean, I love Uncle Jay. Even when we fight, I never get scared or uncomfortable like she was. I believe he did it."

He looked at her, "I'm beginning to wonder the same."

How'd you like Bonnie's first meet with Tess and Daisy?

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RegalGirl94