Chapter 7 – Post-Trauma Day Three
*5:00pm*
Day three, Alec had gone into the station for a few hours and made phone calls. Ellie had, as promised, brought along some assignments for him to work on. His first duty was to call Liv's publisher and explain what had happened. There had been a heated discussion between he and the woman on the phone regarding if a press release should be sent out to the media. It had already been a hard-enough job keeping Liv's name out of local press, at least what was left of the local press. Maggie no longer ran the 'local' paper but had promised to help keep the specific details out of print and offline as long as possible, only referring to the 'victim.'
The afternoon had gone by in usual fashion. Ellie stopped in after lunch to update him. There wasn't a whole lot of new information to report. Her team was following up on leads related to the cook's friends that might be fellow criminals.
Ellie was doing good work with the investigation, and Hardy was pleased to have her as an equal partner in the department now.
*Flashback: Month Three of Alec and Liv*
"Okay, Hardy, why have you insisted on us all coming to the pub tonight? It's not like you to encourage group social gatherings." Ellie's eyebrows furrowed as she looked over at her partner. She, Beth and Mark Latimer, and her father all sat at the table.
"All in good time, Miller. You're always telling me to be more patient, shouldn't you live by your own rules?" Hardy glared at his partner, then turned and smiled as Liv came down from the stage, having finished her first set of the night.
She slid into a seat next to him and smiled back before looking around. "So, has he let the cat out of the bag why he's gathered us here?"
"You mean you don't know either?" Ellie gaped as she looked between Alec and Liv. She had almost thought it was perhaps an engagement announcement on the way, but the glare she was getting from her partner now confirmed her error.
At that moment, Alec noticed someone come in from behind them and stood. "Ah, here we are now." Ellie turned as he waved over the person who had come in, just in time to see CS Elaine Jenkinson coming towards them.
Ellie's look of confusion only grew worse, but she stood in deference to her superior. "Ma'am?"
"Oh, sit down, both of you. I wouldn't have agreed to this if I thought it was going to be so formal." CS Jenkinson took the remaining open seat at the table, and everyone but Hardy glanced at each other in confusion.
"What exactly have you agreed to, ma'am?" Ellie questioned.
"To making this announcement here, after hours," Elaine explained. "It was DI Hardy's idea. I was quite surprised, myself." She paused and watched Ellie glare at Alec for a moment before continuing. "Ellie, DI Hardy has strongly recommended, and I agree, that you receive the long overdue promotion to Detective Inspector. Wessex Police Department is growing, and two DI's on the field can only be a benefit."
*Present Day*
6:30pm
Now, as evening settled in, Alec sat back, reading 'Midnight Call,' Liv's book. Music played quietly in the background from an iPod that Daisy had given him. His daughter had read an article that said that playing music was good for comatose patients, as it maintained their brain activity. He wasn't sure if there was truth in it, but it couldn't hurt, and the songs reminded him of Liv, as Daisy had picked out many of the songs Liv had covered while singing at the McEwen's Pub.
*Flashback: Month Three of Alec and Liv*
"It was rather amazing of you to invite everyone out for the announcement of Ellie's promotion. Seems so unlike the Alec Hardy that I've come to expect based on prior research and eyewitness testimony." She giggled when he looked at her with a raised eyebrow, then squeezed the hand she held as they walked down the beach slowly.
"Well," Alec drew out. "Ellie has been through a lot, even in the five years I've known her. And through it all, she's been a good friend and a good partner to me. She's done a lot for me. She helped me solve Sandbrook. Hell, she solved Sandbrook." He glanced quickly at her with a smile. "She introduced me to you."
"Yes, that she did." She smiled back. After a short distance walking, Alec stopped and turned them towards the ocean as the sun was setting. "Why'd we stop here?"
Alec shrugged, but answered, "A few months ago, just after we met, you mentioned having to miss so much from when Danny died. I thought you might want a moment to remember him. This—this is where I first met Ellie. This is where Danny was found." Liv had turned towards him to listen and gasped at his last statement. "I hope it doesn't seem too morbid, I just thought—"
"Sshhh," she shushed him and touched a finger to his lips and he quieted. She then turned back towards the ocean, looping her arm around his, and after a quiet moment, she whispered the words to a familiar song, "Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling from glen to glen, and down the mountain side. The summer's gone, and all the roses falling, it's you, it's you must go and I must bide." They stood quietly on the beach for a few minutes longer, before she spoke again. "Thank you for bringing me here."
*Present Day*
"Have you eaten dinner?" Paul Coates questioned Alec as he stepped into the doorway of Liv's hospital room.
"No." Alec said, his Scottish brogue particularly strong.
"I thought so. Here you go." Paul tossed him a paper bag. "Not as good as the roast beef at the pub, but it comes in a close second."
Alec watched as Paul sat down in the only other chair in the room and pulled his own plastic wrapped sandwich out of a bag. He quickly noticed Paul had the same sandwich. "You like roast beef?"
Paul nodded. "I do. I hope it doesn't improve your opinion of me too much, DI Hardy. We'd hate to tarnish your reputation against the clergy."
Alec shrugged. "I just have a hard time believing in a God who allows so much evil to run amuck in the world."
"So you hold my faith against me? You certainly don't hold it against Liv." He nodded towards the woman laying on the hospital bed. "She's attended church faithfully every Sunday since she's been back in town."
Alec nodded. "I've noticed." He said little more on the matter, continuing to eat his sandwich.
"I didn't come to argue matters of faith with you, Hardy. I came to bring you dinner and check in on Liv, and you. However—," the vicar stopped himself before he continued, thinking better of it.
Alec swallowed the bite he had been chewing and nodded to the man. "Five minutes."
"Five minutes?" Paul repeated as a question.
"You've been kind to me, Paul. You've brought me lunch or dinner every day since I've been here with Liv. You sat with me overnight while she was in surgery." Alec shrugged. "The least I can do, for Liv, is give you five minutes. I'll listen for five minutes. Then we'll move on and talk about the weather or something."
Paul couldn't hide the surprised expression on his face, but he quickly gathered his composure, sat his sandwich down on his lap and began. "You say you can't believe in a God who allows evil. But, if God didn't allow evil, it would mean taking away man's free will to do good or bad. I can't imagine that you, Alec Hardy, would prefer a God who did not allow you to do as you pleased with your life. If so, he wouldn't allow you to believe or not believe as you wished." He paused and looked at Liv a moment. "Some people, having lived the life that Liv had with her father and ex-husband, would shake their fist at God and say 'Why me?' Other people, like Liv, ask the same question, but instead of saying it as an accusation at God—they say it as a question of opportunity. 'Why me? What was I meant to do with these experiences? How can I better the world because of what I've lived through?' Liv has chosen to support battered women's shelters with some of the proceeds of her book sales. She visits shelters and encourages the women there. She uses her voice to bring joy and hope to others. You know as well as I do—her joy is infectious. Look at what it's done to you in the eight months you've known her."
Alec Hardy laughed. A laugh that came from his gut and brought with it a smile across his face. He laughed harder than he had laughed in a long time.
"What? What is it? I don't understand, is something wrong?" her voice muffled, Liv MacDonald smiled around the orange slice stuck in her mouth, it's skin covering her teeth.
"Yeah, Dad. What's the problem?" Daisy's mouth mirrored the woman she sat next to. The two women sat across the table from Alec, out to eat on a Saturday morning for breakfast.
And that is what had made him laugh out loud. Daisy took the orange slice back out of her mouth, smiling wide as she looked at her father. She hadn't seen him this happy since he used to play with her when she was a young child.
Liv took the orange out of her own mouth and grinned at him as she said, "I told you, even the great Alec Hardy is not immune to my charm."
*Present Day*
"Aye," Alec said as he thought back, remembering what Liv had said many months before. "Even the 'great Alec Hardy' is not immune to her charm." They sat in silence for a few moments, eating their sandwiches, and Alec glanced at the clock. "So, how about the weather?" And with that, the conversation moved on.