Alec wasn't sure what Rose had been telling him about Joe Miller for, what could he do about it? He went off to reception and asked Bob to call DS Miller down.
"Was it important Sir?" Bob asked as he dialled Ellie's extension.
"Was what important?" Alec asked, leaning against the desk.
His time in hospital overnight was beginning to catch up with him and Rose yawning had not helped, though she had been trying to hide it.
Bob shook his head and Ellie answered, him asking her to come downstairs.
"Rose just showed up for her interview," Bob told her, remembering she'd not wanted the DS to know she'd come in early and asked for the disagreeable DI.
"Have you seen Hardy?" Ellie asked him, since she'd lost track of how long he'd been gone.
"He's down here already Ma'am, he asked me to call you," Bob replied.
He tried to ignore her comments and put the phone down.
"Are you waiting here for her or taking Rose to the other interview room?" Bob asked him, thinking it was a fair enough question.
"We'll collect her and take her to a formal interview room. Her work partner will be coming in at some point. Does everyone call her by her first name?" Alec wanted to know.
"We all know her, well most of the town know her so we just call her Rose. She never seems to mind and she's part of the emergency services."
Alec thought after last night, he was hardly likely to forget it and she wouldn't let him anyway. He wasn't sure what exactly she had meant by asking him to her place later, it was going out last night that had caused his problem in the first place. Ellie came through the stairs door, a folder in her hand.
"Well where is she then?" Ellie asked, forgoing the 'Sir' bit.
"She arrived early, she's in room one, I asked her to wait there," he replied, still wondering why Rose hadn't told the DS that her husband had a temper.
"So when did you see her then and why didn't Bob or you tell me she was early?" Ellie wanted to know.
"I'm not the one here for the interview Miller," Alec refused to fall for the trick of her trying to find out things.
He opened the door and Rose got up. She'd wondered why she'd spontaneously invited him for dinner when he'd kept her at the hospital all night but if he wanted to know more, she wasn't telling him over lunch. He'd not even said if he agreed. She had almost backed out while she'd waited for him to come downstairs and was just going to ask him how he felt after last night but she had to tell someone, Steven would just keep going on at her over it.
"Hello Rose, sorry to keep you waiting," Ellie started to apologise. "I wasn't told you'd got here early," she continued, looking directly at Alec. "We'll just take you to the other interview room, we have to record it, is that okay?"
"Yeah, whatever it takes if it helps. So do you want me to tell ya about when we were called out last Friday morning?" Rose asked.
"Partly," Alec replied, allowing her to go first. "We have some other questions for you and your work partner in connection with what happened. We just need you to clarify some points. We couldn't tell you earlier what it was about."
"Sounds mysterious," Rose smiled at Ellie, who had opened the other interview room door for her.
"Nothing mysterious Rose," Ellie smiled back as Alec closed the door. "We just needed to ask you both about it separately."
Rose wondered what they were both so worried about, that she and Steven would make things up between them? Yes, they talked about some of the things they'd seen but it never went any further unless they were concerned for someone's welfare and what looked like an accident could have been more. Then Steven would put another report in and leave it to the supervisor as to if it should be taken any further.
Alec switched on the recording equipment and asked Rose to say in her own words how they were called out that morning, him making notes.
"So, you only got the call because the person who found Danny had not checked on him?" Alec asked her.
"Yeah, otherwise they would just have sent one of the other ambulance crews or waited for the coroner. We turned him over after putting our examination gloves on and we followed procedure, trying to revive him, in case he had been unconscious and had only just expired. Steven decided there was no chance of saving Danny and said to stop. Danny's face was wet with the sand, that's why we couldn't tell at first."
"Then we arrived?" Alec asked her. "I mean uniformed officers were already at the scene holding onlookers away and I was joined by DS Miller?"
Rose wanted to say yeah, then he'd been a pain but she needed him to hear the rest about Joe Miller.
"Yeah, then the coroner took over and we left after Steven made his report. Sorry, it was rather upsetting, finding Danny like that and seeing Beth so upset. I should try to go see her."
"Rose, you had best stay away for now," Alec advised her. "She may start asking you questions, like why you couldn't save him."
"Yes Rose, it could get awkward," Ellie agreed, surprised she and her new boss could agree on anything. "You can't give her the answers she wants, she may put some of the blame on both of you."
"Yeah, okay then but I'll maybe just send a card? So, what else was there?" Rose asked, not wanting to cause Beth any more distress and Beth making her admit Danny was already dead when they'd got to him.
She had known the second they had seen Danny face down on the sands but it was their job to do anything they could and she wished she had never been on the early shift that morning. It was something she was never going to forget and she'd hoped to get over to see the vicar but of course, she'd chosen to go talk to Alec Hardy instead.
"Rose, were you called to another incident involving Danny, a few weeks ago?" Ellie was asking her.
"Yeah, we were. We got a call to meet Mark's boat at the harbour, we were told Danny had caught his foot on a fishing line and Mark was worried it may get infected. I cleaned his foot properly and bandaged it then told him to keep the wound clean."
"So you normally would be called to minor incidents as well as emergencies?" Alec asked her.
"Yes, if someone's reported as unconscious with no life-threatening conditions," she replied, Alec hoping she wasn't going to tell on him.
"Like slipping in the bathroom?" Ellie tried not to smile.
Rose could only assume that was what Alec Hardy had told his DS in order to cover the injury to his ear. She didn't think he'd admit to being taken to hospital over it and she'd promised him she wouldn't tell. She saw him glancing at her friend.
"We'd like you to just sign a statement then you can go," Ellie told her.
"Yeah, of course. Have I been helpful?" Rose asked.
"Yes, you have, we can't say just how much at this stage," Alec replied as Ellie got up.
"I'll go wait for your statement to be printed out. Are you coming Sir?" Ellie asked him.
"I'll wait, no need for both of us to go Miller," he replied, turning off the recording equipment.
He was thinking if he could get the paramedic to tell him the rest about Joe Miller, he might get out of her dinner invitation.
As the door closed, Rose leaned on the table.
"Thought she'd caught you out there Alec," she grinned at him and rested her head on her arms.
"I thought you were going to say you also took people who had collapsed on their bathroom floor because they were stupid enough to run out of their medication?" he replied, putting his pen and notebook away.
"Were you really stupid enough to run out of them?" she asked, glancing up.
"I had some left but they were in my office drawer, I neglected to retrieve them. My GP sent me a prescription, it arrived this morning."
"Bit late now?" she smiled. "You got some from the hospital and may I remind you, you'd still be there if I hadn't vouched for you?"
"No, you need not remind me. Do you want to tell me the rest about Joe Miller?"
"So you can get out of coming round later?" she teased him. "I don't want her to catch me talking about him Alec, I can't let her find out. What if she does know he's got a temper? She wouldn't want anyone else to know, would she?"
"Indeed?" Alec had to agree, seeing he wasn't going to get out of her making him a meal so easily if he wanted to hear the rest. "So, what time then?"
"Hmm, seven thirty, it's the middle block, number nine, think you'll be able to find it?" Alec just nodded. "Press the number then the intercom and I'll let you in. So, how did you get on with Lucas when you'd dropped me off?" she grinned.
"Silently," he replied as he heard the door opening.
Rose signed the statements and got up to leave.
"Anyone want to get lunch?" Rose asked as she'd got up suddenly before Ellie had seen her.
"I'm meeting Joe and the boys, I sent him a quick message," Ellie replied.
"What about you?" Rose asked Alec.
Alec was hoping she wasn't going to ask that, in front of Miller.
"I suppose I have to eat? After you," he indicated as Rose got up and Ellie put the statements in the folder.
They walked across the road and found a table at the far end, Rose grabbing a menu and hoping they were serving an all-day breakfast. Alec pulled a face when she asked if he wanted the same, opting for the healthy option as he got up to place their orders. He came back and sat opposite her.
"I figured it was my fault you missed breakfast," he told her as she tried not to blink in the sunlight.
She got up and sat beside him, more in the shade.
"I'll let you off," she smiled. "Did Joe keep trying to fill your glass?"
"You could say he insisted. Miller says he tends to do that."
"Yeah, he tried it a few times, Ellie had to keep reminding him. So, you weren't trying to back out of tonight?" she asked him.
"As long as you don't tell your friend? Rose, I thank you for rescuing me from the hospital but it's not a good idea for me to keep accepting dinner invitations from people I work with."
"You hardly work with me Alec," she reminded him. "So, we bump into each other at callouts and when I have to save your ass."
They were interrupted by their drinks being brought over.
"Sorry," she tried to apologise.
"It was my fault. Maybe if I'd not gone out last night and been in a hurry to leave my office, I may not have collapsed? I should have mentioned to Becca there was something wrong with me, she wasn't to know when she called for help."
"Alec, I saw Danny, in front of me and I couldn't save him. What if I'd not been able to save you and all because you'd run out of your medication? How do ya think I would have felt, even if I'd got ya to hospital? I saw the empty packet Alec, I would have known what had caused it, even if the hospital hadn't told me what was wrong with you."
"Was that why you went back? To make sure you'd not failed in your job?" he asked as the stallholder brought their meals.
Rose would have got up and slapped his face had her late breakfast not been put in front of her.
"You think you were just another patient last night?" she asked instead.
"Face it Rose, it could have been anyone who had been called out last night but no, it had to you," he replied.
Still debating whether she should leave or not, she started eating her toast.
"Yes it did. Who would have been there for you if you'd not made it Alec? How could I have just left you?"
"You leave everyone else there Rose, not everyone has someone with them."
"I knew it was serious when Steven said he'd called ahead, then when they said what was wrong with you. Hell Alec, Steven even dropped me back at the hospital and all you'd been was rude to me, asking me stupid questions like why the ambulance was outside the harbour newsagents."
"You still never told me," he reminded her, pouring out his tea.
"You never asked what was wrong with Jack or I would have told you, we're obliged to when asked by a police officer but you were too busy being nosy."
Alec supposed he had deserved that one, his curiosity and his annoyance for the blonde had got the better of him at the time.
"As I recall at the time, you told me it was my fault you had been called out," he replied.
"Partly, he got annoyed over it and panicked. You can't really blame him."
"You questioned my interviewing skills over the newsagent but you never bothered earlier," he told her.
"Ellie was there, what could I say? I bet she never knew the reason why you walked off at the same time we were there?"
"How did you know?" he asked, trying to eat at the same time.
"I saw her over the other side of the harbour, you plum. You had to have been out somewhere with her and she'd left ya to it."
"If you get tired of being a paramedic, you should join the detectives programme," he replied, putting his knife and fork down.
Rose thought just what she needed, him to start being even more sarcastic.
"Why did I invite you over tonight?" she reminded herself out loud.
"To tell me the rest of what you told me earlier," he replied. "What do you expect me to do about it Rose?"
"I don't know, I just had to tell someone, I thought I'd already said that?"
"You may have done but what does his wife have to do with it?" he wanted to know.
Rose put her cutlery down and placed her hand on his.
"I was gonna tell ya that later. Geez Alec, is this all because I was the one who saved your ass last night?"
"Shush, why not get a loudspeaker and tell the whole harbour?" he asked, moving her hand though it felt good, not that he was going to admit it. "No, it is not about that and you know it Rose. Hell, we've done nothing but get annoyed with each other since we met, I may as well have stayed where I was and have my ex wife keep reminding me why she took off with another man."
"She did?" Rose tried not to laugh and finishing her now cold latte.
"That's not meant to be funny Rose, hell, why do I keep repeating your name?" he partly asked himself.
"Why are you asking me?" she replied, sitting back and folding her arms. "Fine, don't come tonight then?"
"I never said I wouldn't come tonight, I just said it wasn't a good idea."
"Make your mind up Alec," Rose started to smile. "Bring some non-alcoholic wine with you, you'd best stay off the real stuff."
"Don't remind me. I only accepted last night to stop her nagging me and I expect she was doing that because I suggested her son Tom led a reconstruction of the night Danny died."
"When was that planned? I hadn't heard about it," she asked him.
"It will be announced on social media tonight and the local news, she's roped in her nephew as his punishment for giving out Danny's name before we released it officially."
"Yeah, that little toad will do anything for a story, trust me. I've lost count of how many times Joe used to get annoyed if Olly turned up anywhere we were called out and they're related."
"He lost his temper with his wife's nephew?" Alec wanted to know, thinking he should maybe go check Miller had actually got tomorrow night arranged, she'd already been trying to get out of it.
"It looked like that to me, sorry, I never said."
"Rose, I do want to hear what else you have to say and that's the only reason I will still come over tonight, got it?" he asked.
"Gotcha. You could look a bit more enthusiastic about it though," she teased him as he started to get up.
"I will try to be more enthusiastic upon my arrival. I still mean it though, I'm not accepting for any other reason."
"Yeah, just like you couldn't resist it when you saw the ambulance. You could make an exception and accept as a way of thanking me," she decided to tease him.
"You both saved me I suppose, you're not inviting him too are you?" he asked, wondering if the man was going to turn up for the interview before he got back, if Rose was ever going to let him leave.
"I don't think his boyfriend would approve, we don't see much of each other socially. Anyway, I was the one who went back to check on you and stayed with you all night, remember?"
"Yes, I do and I am going to be late back. I will see you later, give me your phone number in case I am going to be late."
"Yeah, tough guy," she laughed as he held out his hand to help her up.
"Rose, if you said you went back to the hospital because I had no-one, how were you not surprised when I mentioned my ex?"
"There was only a picture of a young girl in your wallet, not a family one or a woman."
"That was a picture of the girl who died on my last case. Her killer got set free because my cheating ex-wife lost vital evidence," he told her as they walked back towards the station. "I never told anyone that before or about the photo."
"Sorry, I had no idea," she replied as they came to the road, Rose hoping Steven wouldn't appear, he'd never stop tormenting her. "See ya at seven then?"
"Sure," was all she got out of him as he left her to cross the road.
Rose stood there for a while, wondering what the hell was going on. Why exactly had he just said it wasn't a good idea to have dinner with her than still say he'd go? Maybe that had been directed at Ellie though? She saw the bus as she walked around the corner and hoped it was going past the supermarket, she needed to impress her dinner guest though why she was bothering, she had no idea.
Alec got back to his office and Ellie followed him in.
"Enjoy your lunch Sir?" she grinned at him.
"When is Steven Price coming in Miller?" he asked, to avoid the question.
"At three, he called to say he'd be late, unlike Rose, who seemed to be early? Just what time did she arrive, Bob won't tell me."
"Then ask her, she's your friend. Did you get everything arranged for tomorrow night as I asked?"
"Yes, Olly's putting it on the paper's social media account though I told him he's not off the hook yet over releasing Danny's name," she replied as he pulled one of his faces, that of sucking on his bottom lip that annoyed the hell out of her.
She knew he hadn't forgiven her or her nephew over that. Now she was supposed to organise the whole reconstruction and had told Tom last night before Hardy had arrived that he was to lead it. Fortunately, he'd taken the news fairly well and he'd agreed to do it for his friend but she still wasn't happy about it.
"So, you're not going to tell me how lunch went with my friend or why she arrived early?" she tried again as he indicated for her to leave. "Sir, she's my friend and you running off the other day to see if it was her concerns me."
"Shut the door Miller."
Ellie did as he asked as he took his specs off. "You were the one that said it was a shame she couldn't have been there last night. So which is it Miller? Are you trying to tell me to stay away from her or play cupid?"
