Alec just wanted to get this over with, since it seemed he was going to have to admit he was involved with who was now going to be a major witness and that could compromise the whole case so he had to think carefully and hope Rose wouldn't be upset if he denied things for the time being.

"Yes and no," he admitted. "Yes in the terms that she witnessed her old work partner have an altercation with another driver over them both going through amber traffic lights but she cannot swear the other driver had done so, there may have been a filter light as she was not familiar with that side of the road. She did admit her then partner had stopped then driven into the supermarket car park and she got out to do her shopping. She thought he was going to leave but when she came out, he was fighting with the other driver."

"This should have been reported at the time Alec, why wasn't it?" the chief wanted to know.

"As she pointed out, arguments in car parks are commonplace and no real harm was done, if it had, the other driver would have reported it," Alec replied, finding it difficult to withhold the fact if it had been reported, his DS may have got to know about it.

"Well I want that following up Alec, I know you have this murder investigation but if it has any bearing on this current case? Is she willing to give a statement now?" he was asked.

"Yes, I already contacted her about it, I thought she would be best doing so now, in case things get difficult," he replied.

"In what way?" the chief wanted to know.

Now he'd put his foot in it.

"I'd rather not say, for now," he replied, hoping she would go for it.

"Alec, you're not involved with her, are you?" she asked him. "If you are, you need to get her in now or as soon as possible, if the incident is related to Danny's death. So basically, she confided in you because she was afraid her ex partner is the one responsible?"

Alec saw he had no choice.

"Yes, she is and she is afraid if he finds out she spoke to us, he would get to know and as I said, she was friends with his wife," Alec replied, certain she'd already asked him that once. "It could make things very difficult for her, that's why I don't want any names mentioned at this time."

"Why not Alec, did she tell you who this person was?" she asked him.

"Yes, she did and when you find out, you will see why I am reluctant to reveal it," he replied.

"Very well, get her in as soon as you can Alec, if you're involved with her, don't tell anyone. Does this person's wife know she's seeing you?"

"I think Rose said her friend has her suspicions, Ma'am," was all he was going to admit.

"Crikey Alec, do you know what this will do?" she asked him.

"She's aware of the friction it will cause, it wasn't an easy decision for her to come and tell me and just so you know, we only really got involved the night before last. We did not exactly get on before that time, ask the desk sergeant, he will confirm that we were rather hostile towards each other when we kept meeting whilst on duty," he admitted.

"I see. So she's worried?" he was asked.

"Yes, she is and just talking to me could make it more so. I can't say who it is that she's afraid of but in the meantime, she knows to stay away from him. Thankfully she finishes work early tonight, I can have her come down when she finishes and get it out of the way but I have a request to make."

"Yes, I thought you would have," the chief smiled.

"I do not want DS Miller on this, she is a friend of Miss Tyler's, it may do more harm than good," he told her.

He was thinking if that didn't give any clues nothing would.

"Please don't tell me she's involved?" she asked him. She looked at Alec's reaction. "Alec, get Miss Tyler in tonight, I want a full report on my desk in the morning and I will decide what to do about it, understood? Get a junior officer in the interview room with you although you shouldn't really be doing the interview but if someone is with you, I'll let it pass. Just one copy for now and I want you to deliver it personally to me in the morning so you'd better be prepared to come in early before DS Miller arrives, if she's Miss Tyler's friend?"

"Of course. I don't like this any more than you do," Alec replied, wishing he could just get to personnel but maybe that should wait? "I was planning on moving out of the hotel," he admitted.

"Please don't tell me where you're moving to Alec," she replied. "Leave it for now, if you're not needing the hotel paying for I take it you are going to be sharing with someone?"

Alec could only nod in agreement.

"Well if you are officially still at the hotel, no-one can claim anything, can they?" she asked him.

Alec couldn't agree more. At least it hadn't been as bad as he thought it would be. He'd been expecting to get chewed out and told to end his all too brief relationship with Rose but he'd hoped he would get away with it. He went to his office and sent a text to Rose saying he needed her at the police station and that he'd wait for her arrival.

Rose had started her shift, getting nods of thanks for her driving the ambulance last night when someone pulled her up about it.

"That took some doing Rose," she was told by someone who had been there. "I don't think I could have found him like that and been able to take part."

"Thanks Brenda, yeah, it wasn't easy, trust me but it was something I had to do."

When they got in the ambulance, Steven asked her why she never normally argued over who was driving. They were about to set off when Rose got a message from Alec.

"Trouble?" Steven asked her as he pulled out.

"Another police statement. It seems Alec saw his chief and she wants me to make one about the car park incident. Alec's just tryin' to get it out of the way before anyone finds out we're seeing each other. That way, they can't say he talked me into it."

"Best get it out of the way Rose," Steven agreed as he set the sat-nav for the address he'd just got on the radio. "I was proud of you last night, you were very professional, I half expected you and your new boyfriend to be all over each other," he smiled.

"Geez thanks Steven," Rose laughed. "I think he may move out of the hotel later, no sense in him staying there as long as I get that statement out of the way."

"It might be best if he doesn't Rose, surely?" Steven disagreed. "If he keeps the room, all the better and if he's getting cabs from your place, word will get round."

Rose hadn't thought of that. Maybe they should discuss getting a car as soon as possible?

Ellie had wondered where her infuriating boss had got to and caught him on his way in.

"Anything I should know about?" she asked as she followed him into his office. "I saw you talking with Rose last night, are you two actually dating?"

"Wow, how long have you been waiting to ask me that?" he wanted to know.

"Well Joe mentioned he saw the two of you talking as well, all I've ever seen is the two of you arguing or trying to get the better of each other – Sir," she replied.

"You've changed your tune Miller, if I recall, you were telling me not to mess her around?" he reminded her. "We may have done but maybe we have made peace with each other?" he replied, not wanting to admit anything, well not yet.

"Well I hope so, she's my friend and she works some awful hours, which was why Joe gave up working. She doesn't get much chance to go out. Maybe you'll be more understanding?" she asked him.

"I will Miller. Is that all?" he asked.

Ellie just hoped he would keep his word but now, he had to be more careful what he said. When it got to just after five, he thought his DS may find it odd if he sent her home early but he needed her gone before Rose arrived. He knew he could get someone to stay behind, even a uniformed officer would do at a pinch.

"Miller," he called from his half open door.

She got up and stood in the doorway.

"I hope you don't expect me to work late tonight?" she asked him. "I promised Tom we'd talk about last night."

Little did she know she had come to his rescue.

"Yes, you should go and talk to him Miller, tell him well done and he did right by Danny," Alec told her.

"Wow, got a date?" she asked him.

"Ah, yes, well Rose will be finished early, I thought I would maybe take her out. It can't have been easy for her either last night," he replied.

Ellie went off with a smile on her face – wait until she told Joe that her grumpy boss had finally got his act together, she might get home a bit earlier in future. Fortunately for Rose though, once she got home and started talking to Tom, she forgot all about it, for now anyway.

Rose was just getting finished and ordered a cab, meaning to maybe take Alec up on getting a car but who would be using it?

"Early start again tomorrow Rose, sorry," Steven told her as he came out of the office. "We have to swap so be back for six. I'm sure your new boyfriend will appreciate that?"

"No wonder I could never get dates," Rose complained.

"Well you don't have to worry about that now, do you?" he grinned.

"Shush, we haven't told anyone yet. If Ellie finds out, well she'll tell Joe, won't she?" Rose asked him.

"Rose, you're not going to be able to keep it quiet you know? She'll find out from him, won't she?"

Rose had to admit he was right and if Alec didn't want Ellie around when she was due to make another statement, he would have given Ellie some excuse or another. Her cab arrived and trust it to be her worst nightmare.

"Evening darlin' going home?" Lucas asked as she got in the back, having long since stopped getting in the front.

"No, I'm going down the harbour, thanks. I'm meeting my boyfriend, the new DI, you remember him?" she replied. "Ya can drop me opposite the police station, I'll probably have to go drag him from his office," she added for good measure.

Well that was as good a cover story as any she supposed. She smiled at the thought of marching into Alec's office and persuading him to leave. She saw Lucas watching her through the mirror and wondered why he was so vain he couldn't use his first name instead of his last.

Alec was already downstairs, he'd managed to swear a junior officer to secrecy by telling him they had a possible witness as to who could have killed Danny and the officer was keen to oblige.

"Not a word about this, do you understand?" Alec had asked the new DC on the way down.

"No Sir, of course not, if it helps catch the killer?"

"Well I am hoping so, Daniels was it?" Alec replied, wondering how he'd managed to remember his name. "You are going to hear some familiar names when the witness arrives, they are under no circumstances to be repeated or you will answer not only to me but the chief. Go set up in interview room one while I wait for the witness to arrive."

"Yes Sir," Daniels replied, wondering what was so secretive.

He was soon going to find out as Alec looked at the time as he watched the door. Thankfully, Bob had gone off duty or he'd have even more to explain. He was about to go sit down when the door opened, Alec wishing it was a clear glass door. He had to restrain himself from greeting Rose as she entered.

"Hi, you wanted me for that statement?" Rose asked him, seeing a different desk sergeant.

"Yes, this way Miss Tyler," Alec replied. "There will be another officer present."

Rose was glad about that, she didn't think he'd invite Ellie to join them.

"The other officer is under orders to reveal nothing of what you tell us so you can talk freely and the chief superintendent will read it in the morning but she may not be able to take it any further at this stage."

"Yeah, you already said that," Rose replied as they came to the interview room door.

"Rose," he started to say, his hand on the door handle. "She knows your friend is somehow involved but I'm sorry, you will have to give names or the chief will not take it seriously. Be warned though that if she does, your friend will have to be told and she will be removed from the case so the chief will take it very seriously if an officer is involved."

"I get that Alec and if it wasn't true, I wouldn't have come to you about it," Rose replied.

"I know," he assured her, touching her arm. "I know this took a lot of consideration on your part Rose but you can't keep it to yourself, it's too big a coincidence and I think the chief also believes that though she did not say as much. Ready?" he asked her. "I'll take you out afterwards, I gave that as an excuse to send your friend home early," he smiled as he opened the door.

Rose stopped him.

"Alec, does this mean we can't see each other any more?"

He pulled the door to, turning back.

"I can't say Rose, sorry but I'll know better tomorrow. Rose, I will speak up about it but the chief may not even consider it to be serious at this stage, this is just a precaution, in case your ex partner goes after you. We should go in."

Rose was seated and Daniels set the recording equipment going and got a large sheet of paper out of a folder a WPC had taken in while Alec was waiting for Rose to arrive. Alec did the introductions and the time and date.

"Rose, can you tell us in your own words what happened on the evening your then work partner offered you a ride to the supermarket?"

Even just glancing at the junior officer, Alec could see this was going to be trouble at the mention of the Miller surname and the look on the other man's face as Rose told them how her friend had called her to see where her husband had got to and him lying to her, expecting Rose to back him up.

After Rose stopped, Alec had a few questions, to make certain Rose wasn't covering anything up and he hated himself for doing it.

"Rose, you are certain it was Joe Miller and another man you saw first arguing in the supermarket car park then going for each other?" he asked her.

"Yeah, Joe was standing at the side of his car, I could see him when he half turned," she replied.

"Did you know who the other man was?" Alec continued.

"No, I'd never seen him before but I'd seen the car Joe had argued with just a few rows down in the car park, it wasn't really busy at that time."

"So as you watched, the two men started struggling with each other?" Alec had to ask, even though he'd heard it before.

"Not exactly, Joe started it," Rose replied. "When I got out of his car, he was gonna go leave a note on the other car but he'd no paper so I just laughed and went shopping. I just assumed he'd leave and he'd calmed down. Oh, he did joke when I said he could have dropped me outside the store and he joked that I could walk," she added.

Alec hadn't heard that bit.

"So you assumed it was over with and left him?" Alec wanted to know.

"Well yeah, how did I know he was gonna go ballistic when he saw the other driver? I didn't even get a good look at him, Joe put the brake on the car so suddenly, I wondered what was happening," Rose told him.

"Had there been other incidents Rose?" he asked her.

Rose went through them, including when Joe had told his wife's nephew to get out of his way or he'd be in the back of the ambulance. Alec hadn't heard that bit either but that had been his own fault for telling her he couldn't do anything about it.

"Rose, going back to your then partner getting you to cover for him, how did it make you feel?"

"Like he was using me as an excuse. I didn't exactly back him up, I just told his wife he'd dropped me at the supermarket, Joe was the one who told her he'd waited for me and then joked he knew how long women went shopping. He never even thanked me the next day either."

"Scrub that last part," Alec ordered the other man.

"Sir?" Daniels questioned him as he got up. "There's a camera as well."

"I know that," Alec replied as he'd stopped the recorder. "If asked, Miss Tyler needed to stop for a moment."

He poured out some water for Rose to make it look realistic while Daniels went back to where Rose had just said that last sentence. Alec knew he shouldn't but he could claim Rose was upset at having to relay the facts but the real reason was obvious to him – that it would look to anyone else, including the chief that Rose was getting her own back on Joe Miller for not thanking her for covering while he lied to his wife.

"Are you able to continue Miss Tyler?" Alec asked her a few moments later, hoping Rose had realised what she had just said.

"Yeah, it was gettin' a bit much, sorry," she replied, knowing he'd stopped the tape for a good reason.

Maybe he meant she shouldn't have added the last bit?

Alec had a few more questions as Daniels jotted down what she was now saying.

"We will just need you to sign your statement, if you could wait?" Alec asked her. "I will have a drink brought in for you."

"Thanks, it's been a long day and I'm on early shift tomorrow. Funny, it's the same time as we started last Friday morning, we had to swap with someone."

"Really?" Alec asked her. "You mean this week or last week?"

"This week. Oh, I just thought, it could have been any of the teams and it had to be me," she realised, putting her arms on the table and resting her head.

Alec turned off the recording equipment. He took the tape out and gave it to the DC.

"Have some tea brought in for Miss Tyler," Alec told him. Then he followed the other man to the door. "Not a word about what she said, when the recording was stopped. She's tired and upset, understand?"

Alec went back to Rose and since the camera was off, pulled a chair round.

"Okay love? When we get out of here, I will take you for something to eat. Rose?" he asked as she'd flopped down again with her head in her hands.

"Alec, I just wanna go home, I start early in the morning. Why did we get two early Fridays? I might not have been the one last week but no, they had to send us."

"Rose, no-one was to know. Want to know something?" he asked, getting a smile from her. "When I walked on the beach last Friday morning, I asked myself the same question, why did it have to be you and look at us now? Rose, you are not going to like this but the chief may now have some objections to us seeing each other, that's why I asked you to do this tonight."

"Alec, I can't get through this on my own," she told him.

"Well let us hope you don't have to love," he told her just as the door opened after a short knock.

When the WPC had gone, he continued.

"The chief guessed but until she has seen your statement and who is involved, let's just go home and call for some food on the way and I will see about hiring a car. Then if we are not supposed to see each other, I won't have to keep getting cabs from here or the hotel, will I?"