Let's continue this! :)

"You did what?!"

"I told ya, he cleaned everything up and I checked. He didn't miss a spot! No one'll find out."

"I can't believe this, this isn't according to plan."

"It never is. We just have to play it neatly, and no one will notice until we're far and away from here."

"Seriously, you're taking over my plan now? Who made it up in the first place?!"

"Oh, stop whining. It'll work out, just wait and see. I stick to my part, but what about yours?"

Silence.

"Have you heard from her already?"

"She'll come."

"And will she agree?"

"She will, for sure. Just stick to your part, okay? Then I'll stick to mine."

During her walk back home, Ellie Miller just kept on repeating the scenario that had just taking place on her head.

You're dead to us.

The only thing that had been satisfactory about the whole intervention was that look on his face. One of total shock. But again, from very deep within she still couldn't resist the urge to come to his need, hug him and ask him to make dinner for her. As he had done so many years in a row now. Her life had been perfect, her life had been joyful with so much love and devotion.

Until that moment.

She wishes she could take it all back, one way or the other. Either never meeting Joe, or finding out as from second one that he had done it. If only she had been a perfect, glorious detective.

She shook her head. What was she babbling? Even the almost perfect DI Hardy hadn't found out until weeks later. He had found out sooner, alright, but not soon enough. She hadn't been the only one to blame.

Alec Hardy.

Ellie snorted. The stubborn bastard. Always pushing so hard, always doing it so grumpy. One'd say you'd get tired of yourself hearing you scold at everyone, never laugh, and pushing everyone away. But no, not Alec Hardy. He just kept on pushing and pushing. Even after his heart had stopped. And even after he has gotten his surgery. Not a moment's rest for him and the people around him. No one would want to have a life like that.

But again, it was admirable as well. She probably was the only one to see it, especially here in Broadchurch, but he always went all-in and never stopped until he got the people responsible.

Again, she shook her head. Well, she'd rather be a lesser detective and a loving person, than being Alec Hardy. Or so she thought.

How would he been? Was he now chasing Lee and Claire Ashworth on his own? Would he still have any persuasion left to find another sidekick, another her?

Maybe I should send him a message. Just telling him he's an asshole. And maybe how he was.

Absentmindedly, she took her mobile out of her small leather shoulder bag. Without her knowing, she had walked all the way home, whilst leaving her car at the beach house. She looked at her phone and saw it completely blank. No message, no missed calls, no nothing.

She had already opened her text screen, yet she hesitated right there and then.

Should she text him? Why hadn't he texted her? Should she always be the responsible, kind one? She hadn't quite forgotten what he had said back at the courthouse, she could remember it very clearly still.

No one cares about you here.

O, he had been mistaken. He had been mistaken so badly. The anger boiled up inside her again, right when the front door of her own house opened. She looked up and saw Lucy standing there, all confused.

"What are you doing?"

Ellie hastily put away her phone. "Nothing. Where's Fred?"

Lucy looked at her with a frown, but knew better than to argue right now. "Inside. I thought you'd be too, but then there was a note and no you. Where's your car?"

Ellie smashed her forehead with her palm when she realised. "Fuck."

Lucy, instead just opened the door for her. "Just come in already, we'll get your damn car later. I'm trying to make some lunch."

"O, great. That should be fun." Both sisters laughed a little at the sarcastic joke, knowing full well Lucy wasn't exactly a top-chef. Ellie stepped inside and even found herself chatting with her sister about ordinary stuff whilst hanging up her familiar jacket.

She walked ahead and noticed Fred and immediately the toddler crawled towards her with a smile. She threw her bag aside, never once thinking about Alec Hardy that night.

She never heard the text message coming in either.

His head was pounding viciously, alternating with a sharp pain at the back of his head. He hissed without a bare sound, not yet knowing what had happened or where he was. When he regained a bit more consciousness, he started to recall it all.

Choking. Gun. Blood. Bleach. Car. Nothing. But where was he?

He hissed again when the sharp pain made itself more present. When most of the pain subsided again, he slowly tried to open his eyes to take in his surroundings. It took him more effort than expected, and a throbbing pain at his left side of his face probably was the cause of that. He tried not to move yet, uncertain where he was and what he could arouse when he did.

He half opened his eyes to tried to look around him as from underneath his eyelids. On his left and right side where stone walls and not much else, whereas before him was a long hallway of nothingness. The blackness in front of him seemed to go on for ages since he couldn't see the end of it. No one to see though. Lastly, he looked up, and found a stone ceiling a good while away from him. Otherwise, there seem to shine through just a small beam of light on his left side from far ahead, but he couldn't yet decipher if it was another hallway or just a light on the side of the wall. For now, he thought it didn't matter so much. He concluded one thing.

It must be some kind of dungeon.

The thought alone frightened him a bit, but he wasn't yet ready to give in to that fear. After looking around again and finding no one in the near vicinity, he thought it was safe enough to open his eyes completely. His left arm started to become painfully present, as well as the itchy feeling on his newly made surgical wound on his left side of his chest. He tried to change his sitting position, but soon found out he didn't have much room to change. With a loud clanging, his handcuffs hit the chain that was attached to it, and again to the wall.

Shit.

He did, however, noticed no other chains and found out his legs were free, even so his mouth. A small feeling of joy crept up. Okay, enough possibilities to get out of this place then. He started shuffling around as best as he could with his movements being limited by his hands tied up as well as the throbbing pain coming from, well, everywhere.

How long has he been out for?

He shook his head to move aside all thoughts that were irrelevant for now. Only think about what matters now. Getting out of these chains and the hell out of here. Finally, his fingers regained some feeling and started tingling, a sign for Hardy to start looking and feeling around for anything that would do. While tapping carefully, the ground came up empty. No stones, no sharp objects that could help him pry open these handcuffs. In a last feeble attempt, he searched for the only pockets he was able to reach, his back pockets. It felt like an eternity, but after several minutes his left pocket came up empty. One last chance. His fingers slipped into his right back pocket and at the bottom, the tips of his fingers suddenly came across something small. And sharp.

Miller's hairpin.

Hardy smiled his broadest smile he had for ages, and even let out a chuckle.

That damn hairpin. He remembered it so vividly now, why he had that stupid hairpin in his back pocket. After Claire had done her hair, she had hated it. Hated the model the other woman had put it in. While they had continued working on the case, she hadn't stopped fidgeting with her hair, trying to at least got the model back in as she was used to. As he liked it. She had lost about all of the hairpins during that afternoon, and he obediently had picked them up one after the other to return in to her. But the last one she had lost right in front of the courthouse, and he hadn't got the time to return it to her. He would've done it later, for sure. But now, he was so glad he hadn't.

The memory about that moment, about her, made his smile last a bit longer. Again, Miller would save the day. Would she already… miss him? Most probably not, he knew how badly he screwed up the last time he saw her. She wants nothing to do with me. No one does.

His smile had disappeared, but still he wanted to get out of this place. To set things right. With some effort, he got the hairpin out of his pocket and let the object move around his fingers a couple of times, trying to find the best position to start with.

Just when he inserted the pin inside the lock of the handcuffs, his luck ran out. Footsteps were heard at the far end of the hallway and were approaching him. Approaching him fast. He quickly slid the pin in his pocket again and prepared himself for the worst.

The anger boiled up inside Hardy when he saw the person responsible for about all the misery in his life, standing in front of him.

He spat out his name with a taste of poison in his mouth. "Lee."

"Hello, Alec. How are you?"

Alec, instead, just rolled his eyes.

"I hope you're not feeling too uncomfortable. Or, well, maybe I do."

"Why did you do this, Lee? Let me been kidnapped. To do what? Did I come too close to the truth?"

Suddenly, Lee crouched down and took Hardy's chin in his hand with full force.

"You know nothing about me. Or what happened. All you wanted to do was make my life a living hell. Our lives, of Claire and me. You're the only one stubborn enough to not have giving up after all this time. It was about time you did that as well."

Alec jerked his face out of Lee's grip and came dangerously close to the other man's face. He looked angry.

"I will never give up, Lee. Never! I know you murdered those girls and you will pay for it, I swear."

Lee just stood up and smiled while looking over him.

"I think you can't demand anything in your position right now." Just to invigorate his words, he kicked hard and let his boot collide with the left side of Hardy's chest, making him crumble down and hiss in pain.

After the pain subsided enough to look up again, Alec's eyes were full of fire. "I will make you pay. I will."

Lee just laughed. "Stubborn arse. Just look at yourself. You're not even resembling a man anymore. I don't fear you."

"Wrong choice." Suddenly, Hardy remembered it all again. What had happened at his house. He looked up in surprise.

"And how on earth did you get Ri…"

Just at that moment, Ricky came into view, equalling Lee with an ugly smile on his face.

Still, Alec didn't understand just yet.

"Why are you involved, Ricky? Do you hate me so much?" He came across another reason for his involvement just right after that. "Or are you involved in the murders as well?"

Just as Lee had done, Ricky kneeled down and his face came an inch away from the detective.

"I guess you'll never find out now, he?"

"I will, and I shall."

Both men now just hovered above him, arms crossed.
Lee spoke up. "And how exactly did you plan on doing that?"

Alec just gnarled and tried his biggest bluff. "Someone will come for me. They'll start looking for me, and it'll only be a matter of time before they'll find me and arrest you."

As an answer to that, Ricky took out Hardy's phone from his pocket and moved it towards Hardy's face close enough for him to see. Although he didn't have his glasses on, Alec could figure out the words that were visible in the screen. A text message sent to DS Miller. A message from his phone, to her.

His breathing stopped for only a short moment when he read the words he had wrote to Miller.

Back to Sandbrook. Trying to patch things up again with Daisy. Get back to the job maybe. Good luck to you.

He looked up and saw two pair of eyes glistering in the dim light, both very content with this 'bright' idea that they had come up with.

It was Ricky again who minimized the distance between them again.

"And your lovely ex-wife received a similar message, telling her not to contact you soon. Now, see, I don't think anyone is looking for you or coming for you. And no one wants to come for you anyway, you yourself made sure of that. You make it very easy for us, actually. You're all alone now. And before they even realize what happened, they will be far too late."

With those last words, they smashed his phone on the ground and broke it with full force. Lee stood on it one last time with his foot, making sure it was completely broken down.

Both of them smiling, they left Hardy alone again.