Rose tried to forget about her encounter with whom Bob had called Alec Hardy. She really hoped she wouldn't keep bumping into him but since it was unlikely the sergeant would be driving him around on his patrols once Ellie came back to work, she hoped to keep their 'meetings' to a minimum.
Steven continued to tease Rose about the scruffy detective as he called Alec Hardy but soon gave up when Rose refused to talk to him.
"Come on Rose, I was just having a bit of fun," he told her as they returned to the depot on the following Monday night.
"Okay then, truce but there's little chance if we bump into him again he'll even talk to me. You can make it up to me by letting me do the driving tomorrow or I might forget," she relented.
"As if," Steven laughed as he checked everything was in order. "You getting a taxi again?"
"Yeah, I should think about getting a car but the insurance would cost me more than the car's worth," she grinned, getting her locker key off her keyring attached to her belt loop.
"That's because you'll get no discount Rose," Steven laughed. "I bet you have to pay more in taxi fares?"
"Maybe but I don't have to find the money all at once," Rose replied, getting her jacket out.
"Bet you can afford it though, what do you do with all your money?" Steven joked. "When's your mum coming down again then? She's a good laugh in the pub."
"Maybe at the end of August, if I can get the time off?" Rose told him.
"You know there are plenty of reserves dying to make a bit of extra cash over the bank holiday," he replied, closing his locker. "Right, see you tomorrow then? Don't forget we're on late, I wish they'd sort these shifts out, the moron who came up with them should try working them."
"Good thing Jason's the understanding type," Rose replied, getting her phone out to call Budmouth Taxis, since they knew her but all the time she'd been using them, the friendly controller had never bothered giving her name though all Rose had to do was give hers and where she was.
She just wished it wasn't always that creep Clive, who preferred being called by his surname. She wondered if Alec Hardy preferred being called just 'Hardy' but where had that line of thought come from? She'd managed not to think about him since she met him at the traffic accident, until her work partner had kindly reminded her all day.
Unfortunately for Rose, after her day off on Thursday, her wishing they'd sort days off out as well as the hours, she was on early shift the following morning starting at six thirty and they had just got into the dispatch office to sign in when the operator called them.
"Got a call to go to Harbour Cliff Beach," Steven told Rose as he was handed the details, since that was part of their coverage.
"At this time?" Rose wondered, hoping to grab a coffee from the machine since the new catering manager had got a new machine that served her favourite brand in the red cartons. "So what's happened then?" she yawned, glad for once he was doing the driving though she meant to suggest they split it again as they'd done the other day.
Steven didn't really want to tell her when he read the finer details.
"Someone's been found on the beach, the caller didn't give a lot of details," he lied, putting the slip of paper on his clipboard that Rose always teased him about.
"Come on Steven, tell me, I'll just find out when we get there," she insisted.
"Then you'll find out when we get there Rose, the person who called it in didn't check, okay? Whoever it is could just be unconscious but the operator's called it in to the police station," he told her sternly.
Since he'd had more experience than she'd had, she knew when he wasn't joking around and since he'd not teased her about the new DI being the one who pulled the short straw, he meant business. She had decided after Joe Miller had left she would bow to her new partner's experience, she still could learn something from him, unlike her former partner.
Avoiding putting the siren on until they got near the harbour car park, he put it on as they approached the police cars that had been sent. Meanwhile, Bob had been sent to collect who everyone called the grumpy DI from his hotel to attend a farm break-in on the cliff top as Rose and Steven made their way to the beach.
As Alec Hardy was putting his notebook away after complaining the incident didn't need his attention at that time in the morning, Bob was taking the radio call.
"Well you wanted to know what was going on around here Sir," Bob told him as they got back in the patrol car. "Seems someone's been found on Harbour Cliff Beach, two units are already there and the ambulance has just arrived, they want you to attend."
"Really? Aren't there any junior officers around or is it too early for them as well?" Hardy replied sarcastically as Bob drove off.
"I expect whoever's on duty at this time are busy elsewhere Sir, from today your DS will be back and she'll have the pleasure of driving you around," Bob replied, hoping Hardy wouldn't reprimand him when they got back to the station.
Even though it was early, the sun was already out and Alec thought it was just his luck to get sent here of all places, near the water he hated since finding young Pippa in the overflowing river, what seemed like only yesterday. They arrived at the car park, Alec sincerely hoping whoever the ambulance crew were, the young blonde he only knew as Rose wasn't part of it.
He knew she was a paramedic and unless whoever had been found had been reported as unconscious, just an ambulance crew would have been called. As the police tape was held up for him and he dodged underneath it, Bob remained to help control the crowd that was already gathering, Alec noticing a woman looking disinterested and smoking away.
As he walked towards where he could see the ambulance crew, he knew one of them was Rose, unless the service employed more than one petite blonde and he doubted that somehow.
"Please don't let it be her," he mumbled to himself as he gripped his hands together, feeling the panic of an attack already coming on.
Then as the male attendant moved to one side, he could tell whoever was laid face down on the beach was only a boy, probably a bit younger than his daughter but around the same age as Pippa. Rose looked up as she shook her head at Steven as he'd examined the boy first and was about to cover him with a blanket. They had tried to revive the young boy Rose had immediately identified as Danny Latimer and Steven had taken over, knowing Rose would be upset.
As they'd got to where Danny was lying, Rose had gasped.
"It's Danny," was all she could manage to say, Steven holding her back and passing the bag and blanket to her, having left the trolley in the ambulance until they assessed whoever had been found.
Steven had crouched down and took the boy's wrist, shaking his head.
"We have to try Steven," Rose reminded him, going in the medical bag and getting an oxygen mask attached to a small canister out.
"I know Rose, let me do it but until the coroner gets here, we don't know when this happened. Look at the bruising on his neck though," Steven pointed out as he turned the boy over.
"Leave that for the police," Rose reminded him as she knelt at the other side, putting the mask on but she knew deep down they were too late. "I'm glad it's not our job to tell his parents, who could have just left him here?"
Steven couldn't answer but he'd love to get his hands on whoever it was and show them what it was like. He'd just got up, leaving Rose where she was as Hardy approached.
"So, what's going on then?" Hardy asked Steven, him thinking that must be the new DI's standard approach to everything.
"Sir, an eleven year old boy, we suspect he was already dead when we got here but we did try, both of us to revive him, since the person who called it in didn't know how long he'd been here. We thought at first he was unconscious but had only just expired, we had to try, just in case. Rose knows him."
Hardy got up and offered Rose his hand to help her up and Rose being dazed took it.
"Then who is he?"
She was about to answer when she saw Ellie approaching, who saw it was Rose in attendance and who was talking to who had probably just stolen her job from under her nose while she'd been away.
"No, no, no," Ellie was saying as Hardy turned around, trying to avoid getting dizzy and hitching a ride to the hospital while he had two paramedics on hand.
"Who let you through, get out of here now," Hardy insisted.
"I'm DS Miller, that's Danny, I know him. Rose, tell me he's not dead?" she asked her friend as she shoved her ID at Hardy.
Rose could only shake her head. "I'm sorry Ellie, there was nothing we could do for him, we did try," she replied as Hardy held Ellie's ID out to her.
"Alec Hardy, I'm the new DI," he said to Ellie, Rose thinking that was more than she'd got out of him last week.
"I know, you got my job," Ellie replied angrily, making Steven try to hide a smile as he'd known there would be trouble when the two of them eventually met.
"Really, are we going to do this now?" Hardy just replied as Rose realised she had been handed the green blanket and was covering the boy.
"Are you two gonna argue who got who's job all morning?" Rose asked as she got up again.
They both turned to her.
"Rose, was he dead when you got here?" Ellie asked her, ignoring the man who had taken her job.
She had stormed out of the chief's office after being happy to be back at work and had been expecting confirmation of her promotion. Now though, would she have wanted it since her best friend's son was lying face down on the beach, since Steven had turned him back over until they'd got him covered. Ellie though was not going to admit to who had fast become her annoying new Scottish boss that he could keep the job if it meant he'd take all the responsibility for finding out who killed Danny.
"So will someone tell me who he is?" Hardy turned to Ellie, then looked at Steven then not too quickly turned back to Rose.
"He's Danny Latimer, 11 years old. His family live in the town and he goes to school with DS Miller's son," Rose replied, recovering slightly more than her friend Ellie was doing at the moment.
Rose could see someone in a red dress duck under the police tape as the officers were occupied and knew immediately it had to be Beth, although Rose didn't really know her that well, not like Ellie did. She pointed beyond the other three and Ellie turned, running as best as she could on the stoney beach to stop her friend.
"No, not my Danny," Beth was crying out as Rose hadn't covered the boy's trainers, thinking that was the least important part of him to cover.
"Beth, you can't be here," Ellie told her as two officers, one of them being Bob tried to stop her but Beth was still calling her son's name.
"Get her out of here," Hardy was insisting, trying to grab Beth without hurting her and causing himself any harm.
Rose was blinking in the sunlight, wishing they were allowed to wear sunglasses while in attendance but since the situation involved only the police, got them out of her shirt pocket and put them on, Hardy now staring at her as he turned back, slowly. Beth was just being taken away when the coroner arrived, followed by a forensics team, Rose noticing Brian leading them and cringed.
She hated him as much as the cab driver, since she seemed to be the number one target for the creeps of Broadchurch. She knew she should get a boyfriend but with the hours she worked, no-one would put up with her, well maybe except the cab driver and the head CSI.
Eventually, the coroner decided they should take Danny back to the hospital, since technically Rose and Steven's job didn't include transporting the deceased and they'd only been sent partly because it was in the area they covered and partly because whoever had called the emergency number hadn't checked to see if the boy was alive or not.
Steven picked up the medical bag as Rose got the blanket back and he put his hand on Rose's shoulder.
"Back to work Rose, goodness knows how many calls we've missed, we'll have the other teams on to us," he grinned, trying to lighten the mood, not that he thought the DS and the DI looked too amused.
Hardy watched them walk off then began asking Ellie questions, Ellie wishing she'd stayed off another day, as if jet-lag wasn't enough to cope with, her new boss was already getting her annoyed and was irritating.
Steven checked in with headquarters and they were back in the real world, being sent to someone who had fainted in the supermarket, the same one Rose used where a few years ago, she'd seen Joe Miller lay into a bloke for jumping the traffic lights when he'd just done the same.
Steven was trying to cheer Rose up.
"Bet you someone's fainted over a price increase?" he laughed as he put the siren on, since people were still trying to find out what had happened on the beach and cars were stopped as the drivers thought spaces would miraculously appear when it was obvious the place was full. "Wish they'd all realise there are another two car parks," he huffed as he tried to get out of the road by the mini roundabout.
"Yeah but then they'd have to walk further to the beach," Rose tried to joke. "We might have to go back to treat them for exhaustion. You're not gonna tell on me for putting my sunglasses on at the scene are ya?"
Steven pretended to put on a serious face.
"I should do, being the senior paramedic. Aw, don't pull a face at me Rose, I'd have put mine on but I left them on the dashboard," he grinned, reaching for them as they reached the main roundabout.
Sometimes Rose had to wonder how he could drive and do other things at the same time, unlike Joe Miller who always gripped the steering wheel with both hands that made his knuckles go white and she thought she'd have to prise his hands off sometimes, not that she would have enjoyed doing so. She thought he may have believed if he let go the ambulance would drive itself and do him out of a job.
Ellie and Hardy were on top of the cliff after she got a call from Brian, who had gone off after organising his team putting up two tents. It amused Ellie that the new DI had done nothing but stare at Rose on the beach and had been gruff twice to Brian Young.
"A good morning would have been nice," Brian had greeted them on the cliff top after Hardy asked him if the boy had fallen but he'd doubted it.
"No, it's the wrong angle, not how the boy was found and the paramedics would have only turned him over to see if he was still breathing," Brian replied. "They would have put him back as they found him Sir. There's no sign anyone was at the edge of the cliff."
"It's a bit dangerous, why no fencing up here?" Hardy asked no-one in particular.
"It's the coastal path, everyone knows to stay away from the edge," Ellie replied, wishing he'd stop asking stupid questions.
Brian just shook his head, silently wishing her good luck at working with the new DI and glad he was out of the way. They walked off towards the next part of the beach as Ellie had driven round to the end of the caravan park that was there and were discussing how the boy had got on the beach when Hardy saw a man approach them, spying a badge around his neck.
"Ellie, DS Miller," the new arrival shouted as she and Hardy got to her car.
"Who's that?" Hardy asked her.
"No-one, ignore him," Ellie replied, unlocking the car doors remotely.
"Well he knows you," Hardy nodded towards the other man.
"No statement at this time Oliver," Ellie told him sternly and got in the car.
As they drove off, Hardy saw who Miller had just called Oliver in the rear mirror.
"So who is he?" he asked her.
"He's my nephew, he must have followed us," she replied, a bit annoyed.
"You don't say?" Hardy mused. "So you know the paramedics as well?"
"Only Rose, I don't know her partner all that well," she replied, not wanting to say too much. "Have you met them before?"
"Last week when I was being shown around, on the main road at a traffic incident," he admitted.
Ellie glanced at him in the mirror, wondering why he was asking. As if Rose would be remotely interested in a scruffy Scottish detective? Why had he got so annoyed about it though? He'd stared at Rose when she'd answered him and when she'd put the blanket on Danny. As they drove to the Latimer house, Ellie knew there was going to be trouble.
As they broke the news, Ellie made some drinks and Beth wanted to know why the paramedics were there.
"It seems whoever found Danny on the beach didn't know if he was just unconscious Beth," Ellie was telling her. "In those cases, they would have been sent to see."
"Was it Rose?" Chloe asked her.
"Yeah, she was very upset but she did her job," Ellie replied, looking at her new boss.
When they got outside, Hardy stopped Ellie.
"What was that about? Does everyone in the town know the female paramedic?"
"Most people know her around here, it's a seaside town, we get a lot of tourists who think they can attempt things like climbing the side of the cliff and have breathing difficulties or kids that stand on something on the beach or in the water, it's part of their area," she tried to explain. "Are you sure you only met her once?" she asked him.
Hardy shook his head. Why was the blonde getting to him? After a hectic weekend for the detectives, Rose having always got Sunday off but never knew when her other day off was, on the Monday morning she and Steven were called to an incident at the harbour newsagents when Jack Marshall had just had an argument with Hardy and he felt faint. Hardy had seen the ambulance head towards where they'd just come from when he and Ellie stopped to get a drink from one of the food stalls.
"What's the problem Sir?" Ellie asked him as he could just make out Rose going into the shop.
"Nothing, why have they been called there?" he wondered.
"Maybe he got annoyed with you asking him questions?" Ellie grinned as she finished her drink. "Why not go find out?"
Before she could protest, he threw the drink carton into the bin and set off back to the newsagents where Steven was checking Jack.
"What caused you to feel unwell?" Rose was asking him, having taken his pulse
"That damn new DI, that's who," Jack replied, feeling a bit better.
Steven suppressed a smile. "Seems he's ruffling a few feathers around here?"
"It's not our problem," Rose reminded him. "You'll be okay Jack, don't let him get to you. If everyone did, we'd be rushed off our feet. It seems DI Hardy is out to get annoyed with everyone he meets."
"Yeah, we've had first hand experience," Steven tried to joke. "Well at least Rose has, haven't you Rose?"
They gathered their things and were just going outside when Hardy was looking in the window.
"I might have known it would be you," Hardy told Rose as Steven went back to the ambulance, leaving her to it.
"This is our area, you'd better get used to it," Rose replied, hoping she sounded as rude as he was – he wasn't her boss. "You might want to go easy the next time you ask someone questions."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Hardy asked.
Steven beeped the horn at Rose, making her jump.
"You're a detective, you'll figure it out," Rose replied, making her retreat and leaving Hardy staring after her.
As she climbed into the cab, she thanked Steven for his support.
"Thanks for leaving me," she told him as she fastened her seatbelt.
"I didn't know you needed any help?" Steven just grinned as he reversed out of the parking space in front of the few shops. "So he does only get annoyed at you then? I wonder why?"
"How would I know?" Rose replied as Hardy stood by the post-box and watched them drive off.
Hardy was wondering exactly the same thing, why was she getting to him?
