Doctor Who

Broadchurch AU

Chapter Four

Rose shook her head fervently, denial evident on her face. "I don't – I don't remember this being taken. I promise you; I wasn't at the sleepover that night." She insisted. "We were all with each other during the day and at school – me and Pippa were – just not in the evening."

"Right." DI Hardy said dubiously, pocketing the photograph. "Is there anybody that could confirm that?"

"One of them is dead and the other is missing." Rose said sarcastically. "I mean, Cate Gillespie? I remember Cate being near Pippa on the phone when I was telling her that I couldn't make it. She was getting ready to go to the wedding."

"Right, I'll be sure to ask Cate Gillespie about that this weekend." Rose looked puzzled, so he continued to explain. "DS Miller and I will be going to Sandbrook to speak with her. We have reason to believe that we could reopen the case with some new evidence."

"Oh. What evidence might that be?"

"I can't discuss that with you now until it's been confirmed, but you should know that we might come back to talk to you. If there's anything you would like to tell me now, then please do. It won't do any good hiding secrets; they'll get found out eventually. They always do. Is there anything else that you'd like to discuss whilst I'm here?"

Rose shook her head. "No. I've told you everything that I know."

Automatically, DI Hardy knew that Rose was lying. He didn't know what about, but he could tell. "Right. Well …" he paused and pulled out a number card, handing it to her. "Here's my number if you change your mind. I'll see you around." He stood to his feet and nodded towards her painting. "It's looking good." With that, the Detective turned around and made his way towards the village.

Ellie was more than a little miffed when DI Hardy had instructed her to drive the two of them down to Sandbrook, which was a distance away from Broadchurch.

"Look at us, Thelma, and Louise! You can be Susan Sarandon." Ellie chortled to herself, secretly enjoying the joke, before getting irritated as DI Hardy messed with the radio buttons. "Just leave the radio alone! If you can't find something to listen to, just turn it off." He huffed and turned it off, leaning back in his chair. "Right, so if we're not having music, you can at least tell me your theory. With everything, you know? What do you think happened at Sandbrook?"

"Someone went into the Gillespie house, abducted both girls. Got rid of the bodies."

"Why Lee Ashworth?"

"The Gillespie's said Pippa always used to like going next door to see Lee."

"If Ashworth was in their house, there must've been forensics." Ellie pointed out with a puzzled frown.

"Yeah, there were. Ashworth's DNA was all over the place." DI Hardy confirmed. "A strand of his hair was found on Pippa's pillow."

"What was his argument?"

"That'd he'd been in the house plenty of times, which is true … but he still couldn't or wouldn't explain how the hair got on her pillow."

"Wait, wait, wait, this sounds like a plausible theory. However, we've got one small problem that throws everything out."

"What's that?"

"I'd have thought it was obvious." Ellie said in astonishment, glancing at him. "Rose? How does she fit in all of this? Supposedly she and Pippa were with each other all of the time, right? And I think we can both agree that she's either lying or hiding something about the night the other two went missing. How is it that two out of the three girls have gone missing, one turns up dead, the other still missing, yet Rose ends up alive and seemingly unharmed?" Ellie shook her head, taking the exit off the motorway. "There's some sort of conspiracy here. Rose is clearly frightened of something, or someone … she wants to distance herself from whatever's happened, right? What are our options?"

DI Hardy remained silent, not disrupting Ellie's flow.

"It's simple, isn't it? We apply more pressure to Rose to give us some information, and if she claims she doesn't remember, then we tell her either way she could be charged with obstruction of justice. Or we have her do some hypnotherapy as a last resort to relive those memories. What do you think?"

He nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

She knew she shouldn't have done it, but she couldn't help it. Alec forbade her from seeing him, but she was weak, and couldn't find the urge or the adrenaline she got whenever she saw him.

She lay in her bed, sweaty, naked, and spent, with Lee's frame looming over her in a similar position.

"How many men have you slept with since I left?" Lee asked, out of the blue.

"None."

"Are you sure?"

"I think I'd remember."

"What about you?"

"Same."

"Really?"

"No sex with any men."

"Any women?"

"Do French girls count?" Lee said, a smug smirk on his face.

"Cheeky bastard!" Claire swore, shifting in the bed so that they were facing one another. "What are we going to do, Lee?"

"What have you told them?" He asked, reaching out and gently stroking her cheek in a self-soothing manner.

"Nothing."

"You'd better be telling the truth, Claire."

"I am." She reassured him, pressing a kiss to his hand. "Will you tie me up this time?"

After giving Ellie a copy of the key to the Ashworth's home that he'd had made, DI Hardy approached the Gillespie's door with a lump in his throat. It had been a long time since he had been here, and he wasn't at all sure as to how this interaction would go.

He took a breath and knocked on the door, waiting with trepidation. The door opened. "Cate, please don't close the door."

Cate Gillespie appeared just as startled to see him. "What do you want?"

"Five minutes."

Cate turned back into the house with DI Hardy following and closing the door behind him. She entered the living room, pouring herself a glass of wine. "I still haven't given up on you," she told him, having a drink. "Or the case."

DI Hardy cleared his throat. "Erm, I thought you might want to hear this from me. Lee Ashworth is back in the country."

Cate stared at him. "Where?"

"Nowhere near here," he assured her. "I'm keeping him under close supervision."

"If I see him, I'll kill him."

"I know." DI Hardy watched in amazement as Cate downed her glass in one and went to pour herself another almost instantly. "I'm sorry to hear about you and Ricky."

"It was a long time coming …" Cate scoffed, shaking her head.

"Well, going through something like this …" DI Hardy noted, trying to sympathise with her.

"We were broken before then."

The conversation was beginning to get awkward, so DI Hardy quickly changed it. "This might come across as odd, but can you remember a close friend of Pippa's … I can't recall her name – her best friend I think –"

"You mean Rose Tyler?" Cate nodded. "Of course, I remember her, they were always together since they met in primary school. I still think about her, wondering if she knew more about what happened …"

"I don't want to make any promises, but I have reconnected with her, incidentally." He explained slowly. "I am trying to get her to open up about the events of that night, but understandably, she is quite guarded so it will take time. However, she did disclose that the night of the events there was supposed to be a sleepover that took place. Rose stated that there was a phone call between her and Pippa whilst you got ready for the wedding. Did this occur?"

"I do remember a phone call taking place," Cate recollected. "I was putting my earrings in, and Pippa was sat on the stairs talking to Rose. They weren't arguing or anything, but I could tell from her tone that Pippa was disappointed. She hung up and told me that Rose couldn't get to their sleepover anymore because she'd been asked to babysit her brother."

"So, Rose never made it to the sleepover?"

"As far as I know, but Jackie – Rose's Mum – I still keep in touch with her every now and again. She told me the night following the sleepover Rose was never the same, she was on edge and her mental health had taken a downward spiral. Understandably her best friend had died so that was a shock, but Jackie was convinced that Rose knew more about what happened that night. Each time she approached the subject, Rose retracted and distanced herself even more."

"Do you still have Jackie's number?" DI Hardy asked, taking the opportunity whilst he could.

"I do, but I'd be surprised if she spoke to you." Cate pointed out, scribbling a number down on a piece of paper before handing it to him. "Did you say that you've seen Rose?"

"I've bumped into her yes, why?"

"Would you wait there a second? I've got something I'd like to give her."

DI Hardy was puzzled but nodded as Cate rushed off upstairs whilst he waited. He wondered how Ellie was getting on next door. Hearing Cate rummaging upstairs, he took the moment to look around the room, and saw many photographs of Pippa growing up in frames. On the mantlepiece of the fireplace, he saw one of Pippa with another girl, on closer inspection it looked like Rose.

"That was taken at Rose's twelfth birthday party." Cate said behind him, startling him. "It's one of my favourite memories of the two of them, they were both so happy, enjoying life." She cleared her throat, handing him a bag with something inside of a box. "Tell Rose that Pippa would have wanted her to have this, it's nothing special, memories really. It meant a lot to both of them, and all it's doing up there is collecting dust."

"Thank you, I'll make sure to pass it onto her."

"Could you also tell her, that I don't blame her for what happened." Cate added with a watery smile. "I used to, in the beginning, I was so angry at her. Not anymore. She's got my number; she can also call me anytime."

Meanwhile, Ellie was inspecting the Ashworth's old home next door whilst DI Hardy spoke to Cate Gillespie. It was an ordinary looking home, with a kitchen to the left, and the living area straight down the hall, with the stairs on the right. Ellie started her exploration in the kitchen, and before leaving, she noticed sets of fingerprints along the doorframe, which she made a note of. Next was the living room, which was mostly bare apart from an old sofa and a few loose floorboards stacked up near the French doors that opened up into the garden.

Ellie then noticed that the floorboards that she was walking on was a different tone of wood that was stacked up by the door. Why would the floorboards be different? Was it a DIY project, or something more sinister?

She then moved upstairs, finding a main bedroom, a bathroom, and a guest bedroom. Whilst the other bedroom was normal, the guest bedroom gave Ellie an odd feeling, like something bad had happened in here. She couldn't describe it, but she pushed through and started searching. Once again, there was nothing out of the ordinary, until she lay on her stomach and looked under the bed. Near the wall was a storage box, slightly dusty. She reached over to grab the box and pulled it out from under the bed. She blew the dust off of the lid before opening it up.

"Oh my God!"

"Yes Mum, I'm doing fine." Rose rolled her eyes at her mother's questioning over the phone as she strolled through Broadchurch. "I'm not coming home. I'm settling in and I've got a new job as a junior journalist. I like it here, and it's a fresh start."

"Don't roll your eyes at me, young lady." Jackie chastised her. "You might like it there now but what happens when you start getting homesick, when you struggle to make friends, or you have an episode."

Rose's cheeks reddened in fury, even after all this time, she was still being treated like a child. Not an adult. "I won't! Mum, please! I understand that you're concerned, I would be too after what happened, but I want to do this. I'll keep in touch with you when I can, and I'll arrange some time for you to come and visit and see for yourself." She stopped to briefly check the traffic before crossing the road. "I like it here Mum, it's safe, and I want to –"

"LOOK OUT!"