Day 5…
In the Broadchurch police station, outside an interview room, Hardy stopped Miller before entering and asked, "Why don't you handle this one?" Hardy looked down at his mobile and stiffly put it into his pocket.
"You know, I have interviewed people before." Ellie replied in annoyance.
"I'm sure you have." Hardy assured her without a smile. They entered the bare room together and sat across from John McDermid.
"Alright, so you've finally found my truck have ya?" Mr. McDermid said as he scratched his balding head. He sat awkwardly in the metal chair, fidgeting.
"Yes, Mr. McDermid, although it is currently being held for evidence." Miller replied calmly with a sidelong glance at Hardy. Hardy had his phone out again and was fiddling with it, eyes unfocused, saying nothing.
"Oh fine, as if I don't have enough to be going on about, what with being nearly murdered an all, how is I supposed to get to work? Hell, how am I supposed to be getting home, eh?" McDermid rambled on in a loud voice.
"Mr. McDermid you have to understand your vehicle was most likely involved in the death of a young lady. After we have thoroughly gone through the truck in question you will have it returned to you. We will, of course, provide transportation back to your home after the interview." Miller stated reasonably.
"Right, well why didn't ya say so in the first place?" McDermid asked contritely.
"Can you tell us what happened on the night of Monday, the 20th?" Miller asked.
"Yea, I was home watching East Enders on telly, then I hears a knock on the door. I goes to answer it and finds this basket with a bottle of wine in it. No card, I take it and drinks it and that must have been what drugged me. The villain what did it must have come in afterwards and took my keys." John McDermid rubbed his hands together nervously during his description.
"Do you still have the wine bottle?" For the first time Hardy looked up from his mobile and asked a question.
"No its gone, I searched everywhere for it, must have taken that too I s'pose." McDermid answered while sniffing.
"Can you recall anything else?" Miller asked as she threw a hard look in Hardy's direction.
"Nope, 'fraid not." MrDermid responded.
"Right, we've sent SOCO to your house to see if they can find any traces the intruder might have left behind." Miller said.
"That's not right, without me being there? Putting your hands all over my things with your grubby mits an all…" McDermid muttered angrily.
"Don't worry Mr. McDermid you can leave now and meet them there at your house." Miller reassured him.
"Right, then, we done?" McDermid asked bluntly.
"As soon as forensics can take your fingerprints to rule you out, but next time I would advise you not to drink from suspicious bottles of wine left at your front door." Hardy suggested. Hardy and Miller left the old man with a PC and headed out into the incident room. Hardy had his hand hovering over the pocket where he had placed his mobile.
"So, think they'll find anything at his apartment?" Miller asked when they reached Hardy's office.
"I doubt it, but you never know." Hardy said. Then he sat down at his desk across from her and asked abruptly, "Where are we at?"
"We know the girl's name now, Mary Pacardio, she was a nurse at the local hospital. We're going through her friends, family, and coworkers, to see if anyone had a reason to want her dead or knows anything." Miller said.
"We'll need to make a timeline for the day of her death. We've got to know what she did, where she was, and who was the last person to see her alive. Have Collins and what's his name, F-Fred." Hardy listed off his fingers quickly.
"Frank." Miller corrected him with a smile.
"Whatever. Have them go through all the local CCTV in the area." He said. He gestured towards Ellie to get her coat. "You and I will go and inform the family and check out her house."
"You did it again." Ellie said in a singsong voice.
"What?" Hardy asked clueless.
"Nothing." Miller shook her head. Hardy looked at his mobile again seemingly subconsciously.
"I'll be in the Gents, be with you in a tick, Miller." Hardy said with a strange look on his face.
"You alright?" Miller asked concerned.
"Fine!" He snapped back, he went out of the office and strode unsteadily to the exit stairwell. Fine, Ellie knew what fine meant. She went to follow him to ask him if he was all right. He might be on the verge of a collapse for all she knew, not that she could tell. The man looked half dead on a regular basis, but she couldn't bear to see him in hospital, not again. When Ellie opened the door to the stairwell she heard a voice. It was Hardy's voice. Her eyes widened as she realized that he was pleading. "-our Birthdays are coming up Dawn, I just want to talk to her. Please. I've sent a gift in the mail; no it isn't a bloody Barbie! I know she's too old for that sort of thing. Just put my daughter on will you?" He was on a lower level then her in the stairwell, just beyond eyesight, but his voice echoed throughout her soul. She could imagine to whom he was talking to. Hardy kept things close to the chest, but she knew he had an ex-wife and fifteen year old daughter. After a long pause he continued, "Dawn I told the papers not to use your name. I've been silent long enough. No, I don't blame you, never have. I just didn't want to carry it any longer." Miller had read about Hardy's ex-wife's betrayal during the Sandbrook case and her involvement with another man. Ellie had also learned from her nephew what Alec had done to protect his daughter from the scandal, taking the blame for Sandbrook, for years. After a moment he continued desperately, "Put her on the phone. Please, its important, I, I might not get another chance. She won't answer my calls, and her mail's switched off." His voice broke and so did Ellie's heart. "I'm…I'm not well… She's at her mates? Fine, could you tell her I love her. Will you do that Dawn?" He must have ended the call. She could hear him laboring up the stairs breathing harder than necessary. She debated with herself, whether she should stay and confess to listening in on the man's personal call or back quietly out the door and pretend she had never heard anything. She took the cowards way out and left before he had a chance to see her. She got on her coat and waited for him in his office after making sure everyone was pulling their weight in the enquiry.
Miller hadn't mentioned what she had overheard, and Hardy seemed normal if a little more crotchety than usual. When they reached the car park Hardy grimaced as he saw the man leaning against a pillar beside his car. "Oh, God, no anything but you!" Hardy prayed fervently as his eyes landed on local psychic, Steve Connelly.
"I've got a message for you." Connelly said as he approached them and faced Hardy.
"I'm certain you do, but I don't see a stamp, return it to sender." Hardy replied sarcastically.
"Bugger off." Miller agreed, gesturing for him to get lost. The mere sight of the man brought back all the memories of the Danny Latimer case. Which in turn reminded her of who had been the cause of the poor boy's death. She heard the words once more sounding in her head faintly, "How could you not have known."
"She insists I tell you-" Steve Connelly went on persistently.
"I know, I know, ware the third striking of the bell…" Hardy said, glancing at Miller and seeing her unfocused gaze.
"You, better than anyone, should know by now not to ignore me." Steve said quietly, threateningly. He was a large man and he used his weight and height to advantage as he stood before Hardy. Ellie snapped back to herself as she wondered what he could have meant.
"You're like a bloody bad penny, go away." Hardy snapped back. He was not a man to be intimidated.
"She says her name is Mary." Steve said determined.
"We already know that. Leave now, or I'm nicking you for waiting police time, and for loitering!" Miller said angrily.
"Listen to me!" Steve Connelly yelled.
"What?" Hardy asked softly.
"She said that her dog ate it." Connelly said weakly, looking like he knew that this made him sound like an idiot. Hardy looked like he agreed with him as he said,
"Well thanks for that bit of wisdom, now shove off."
"Promise you'll look into it." Connelly said.
"Why should I?" Hardy asked.
"Because, I'll tell you why this place haunts you so." He said simply. Hardy stared at him for a moment.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Hardy said gruffly.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Steve said as he smiled smugly.
"Off with you, and don't come near me or this enquiry again." Hardy said. Steve walked away, satisfied, and the two detectives entered the car and drove off to speak to the family of the victim.
Mr. Rick Pacardio sat at his dining table with his mother and father-in-law and his small daughter. He stared at the tea in his hands, swirling the teabag in gentle circles. His mother held his daughter tightly and his father-in-law stared off in the distance. He had completely shut down since the disappearance of his daughter Mary, which wasn't that surprising. They had been close. Rick didn't know what to think or feel. The DI and his sergeant droned on, detailing the events of his wife's disappearance and subsequent death. The only words that registered were, Murder, Questions, We're sorry for you loss. He vaguely wondered if everyone felt this way when a tragedy like this struck. He'd have to make arrangements for the funeral. He glanced at his daughter, he was all she would have now, and how was he going to raise her all by himself? He wasn't up to it. Poor Mary, he loved her, did love her, still loved her. When she had gone missing he knew she was dead, he'd felt it in his soul. He just didn't know what he was going to-
"Mr. Pacardio?" DI Hardy asked, wondering if the husband was paying them any attention.
"Oh, er, yes? I'll tell you everything we know." Rick Pacardio responded.
"I apologize for the inconvenience." Hardy said.
"We understand, you're just doing your job." The mother-in-law of Mary Pacardio said while stroking her granddaughter's dark hair.
"When was the last time you saw your wife?" Miller asked Mr. Pacardio.
"Tuesday night, around 8oclock, she went out to get some milk. She walked to the nearest petrol station, but what happened after that, I just don't know. I should have gone with her. Ever since that boy was murdered by that sick bastard… I knew this town was getting dangerous, I should have been with her!"
"No it wasn't your fault, you couldn't have known." Miller said slowly, her arms folding over her stomach. Hardy looked over at her for a moment and said abruptly.
"I think that is enough for now, we'll keep you updated as the enquiry develops."
"Yeah, thank you." Rick said.
"Goodbye." Hardy said and left with Miller, leaving the family to their grief.
"Are you okay Miller?" Hardy asked.
"I know what you're going to say, that it wasn't my fault, that I couldn't have known, that everything is going to be fine! Well it isn't, nothing is going to be fine, nothing will ever be fine!" Miller ranted.
"I was going to ask if you would call SOCO to come and go through their house, and make sure Rick Pacardio comes to make an identification of the body." Hardy said simply.
"Oh. You think the husband did it then?" Miller asked as she wiped at her eyes inconspicuously.
"They usually do, but we should at least keep an eye on him." He said as he went to his car.
"Right. Are you calling it a night then, Sir?" Miller asked.
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, catch a ride with a PC back to your car." Hardy said.
"Yes, sir." Miller responded, used to be stranded by her Boss.
"And Miller, you are going to be alright." Hardy added over his shoulder. Miller looked after him gratefully, as he went into his car. He drove home to his hotel and picked up a takeaway from the curry place across the way. He ate it alone in his room. His heart ached as he lay back on his bed, downing a couple of pills from the end table. He turned on his side, worrying about the case, about Miller, about his daughter, and about himself. He turned off the light, clutched his heart, and tried to sleep.