Claire didn't want to face Rose again the next morning so she lay in bed, knowing her boss would be angry, especially after rearranging days off without asking but she really didn't care. She had a weekly bus pass but would get a bus late afternoon and go sit at the end of the pier and hope she wouldn't get moved on again, she could just about see if Alec parked his car there and would see a light on, maybe she'd even catch Rose again as she got home, if she waited at the bottom of the stairs. She thought she would ring the salon after lunch and claim she'd eaten something that had been off and it had made her too sick to ring earlier, then she had a better idea, for Rose's benefit.

Rose had woken up earlier, Alec with his arm around her and she disturbed him as she moved.

"Sneaking off love?" he asked, pulling her back down again for a kiss and getting his reward.

"No, it's my apartment, why should I be sneaking off? I think I can trust you, can't I?"

"Aye darlin' you can trust me. Get your things after work and walk round to my place or shall I come round?"

"No, I'll go the back way, she won't have figured that out yet, she'll be watching the front, if she didn't take any notice of last night."

"She had better have done, or I will keep her in the next time, no matter how much you ask me otherwise."

"I was only thinking what she would tell everyone if she gets to work before I do and there are the two Saturday juniors in today as well, an extra audience for her."

"Do you really care about what she would tell them, if the others know she's lying?"

"Well someone may have seen those officers escorting her off both nights so they may believe her about you locking her up."

"Right. I'm off this afternoon, meet me for lunch?"

"You'll have to come and meet me, we all cut our lunch short on Saturday's, it gets busy."

"Well maybe they can make an exception this week eh? I will wait outside at twelve thirty and never mind Claire, she will be moody from me having her carted off last night."

"Well I'm gonna get there early again, before she has two more under the illusion I stole you from her."

"Aye, you do that then love. Now, do you have time to kiss me properly before you have to get ready?"

Just before nine, Maureen, the owner of the salon was having a crisis when there was no sign of Claire. She didn't think there was any point in asking Rose where her senior stylist could be, given the part of the conversation she had overheard the previous morning and what Claire had been spreading on Wednesday morning while she was off for the day then pulling that stunt of swapping days off, what was she up to?

"Has anyone heard from Claire?"

Everyone shook their heads, including Rose.

Maureen shook her head and took Rose to one side.

"I wasn't getting at you Rose, I know things aren't so pleasant between the two of you these days but I had to ask everyone, what's wrong with her anyway, apart from something about you stealing her man?"

Rose was getting tired of this. "Alec was not her boyfriend, he never has been so I don't know why she's making such a fuss about it. Have you tried calling her? Maybe her bus has missed or got delayed?"

"She could always have called Rose, did you know she was going to swap her days?"

"I would hardly have asked Alec to come in if I'd have known she was going to do that, would I? I would have warned him off but I didn't think I should give him the impression I didn't want my co-workers to see me with him, we've got nothing to hide. I don't think it made things any worse, it was mainly over what happened last Saturday night."

"Well we don't have time for this, we have customers waiting, you'll all have to keep your breaks and lunches to a minimum and I'll have to get Sarah to help out if need be."

Rose was a bit annoyed, she would barely be able to queue in the sandwich shop and eat something, let alone have time to talk to Alec but he would surely understand.

Alec was surprised Ellie was already at her desk who was a little annoyed she had missed all the fun last night, the desk sergeant had been only too happy to report that Hardy had got the stalker from the shelter locked up then let her off without even a caution.

"I hear I missed the fun last night?" she called after him as he went to make himself some tea, Alec thinking he must get Rose to buy him some decaff teabags.

"You think it was fun for me to get down here last night to sort Claire out? Rose talked me into letting her go, that was the only reason she was not held overnight but next time, I'll forget where the key is."

He went to his office but Ellie wasn't going to let it go.

"So you saw her last night after all then? Thought you were backing off – Sir?"

"Don't start Miller, I'm not in the mood. I went over after I finished here, I'd just got back when I had a call to say Claire was hiding in the shelter again, why does she never get the message?"

"Don't you think you're doing exactly what Claire wants? She wants your attention and she's getting it. Let me deal with her for you."

"You think I can't sort out my own problems Miller? I brought Claire here and I got Rose into this and I've let it go too far."

"Yes, you have so can I give you some advice?"

Alec looked across at her, thinking she would give him advice whether he wanted it or not.

"Claire's the one you should be backing away from, not Rose. Rose obviously cares a lot for you, putting up with all this so let me deal with Claire, get them both in here and find out why Claire is gunning for her. Was she like this before you both came here, you and Claire?"

Alec did not like discussing his relationships, especially not with his annoying DS

"No, I hardly saw her until I told her I was considering getting a transfer, it was the biggest mistake I made, well apart from helping Claire in the first place but how did I know she would turn all psycho on me?"

Ellie let out a laugh. She would have told anyone who had suggested two women were going to argue over Alec Hardy that they were off their heads but it was actually happening, brought on by Hardy meeting someone else.

"So, Claire never showed any signs she was interested in you, before you met Rose?"

"No and I'm not going to be interrogated over it either."

"You want my help or not?"

Alec sipped his tea and let her continue.

"So let me get this right, you think Claire invited both you and Rose to her cottage that Sunday afternoon on purpose?"

"Why else Miller? She wanted to see if I would do anything, meeting a young blonde. Claire was trying to find out if I would choose her or someone else, she mistook my bringing her here with me for something else."

"So, light the blue touchpaper and retreat to a safe distance?"

"Who, Claire or me? Claire is just annoyed because she thought I had no other friends down here so I would want to spend some more time with her, she can't accept that I don't want to."

"Even before you met Rose?"

"Yes, that's what I've been trying to tell you Miller. I like Rose, a lot but Claire is going to drive her away for good, maybe send her back where she came from."

"London?"

Alec nodded, he couldn't tell his DS it just wasn't the London in this universe, well not any more it wasn't.

"Well let me get them both in or separately and talk to them, find out how far they are both willing to go over this."

"Claire will just come out with all her lies again, you will be wasting your time Miller."

"Have them both meet me on Monday lunchtime and we'll have an informal chat then, see if I can get to why Claire is suddenly jealous over Rose."

Alec shook his head, why should he care if his DS wanted to waste her lunch break?

"Suit yourself, Rose may be willing to talk but I can't say the same about Claire. I know why else Claire got me to her cottage that Sunday afternoon, she was bored and wanted to cause trouble and I gave her it."

"It won't put you off seeing Rose over the rest of the weekend, will it though?"

"No Miller, that it won't."

Rose was rather annoyed she was having to cut her lunchtime even shorter than the last few weeks she had been there and meant to call Alec during her morning break but since he didn't answer, she would have to just dash out and drag him into the takeaway and find a bench opposite or just sneak back and try and send him a message. He wouldn't call back before she left if he had seen the missed call anyway.

Alec had been seeing the chief, who was warning him they may have to cut back their resources.

"Seriously? How are we supposed to find the killer with less resources than we have now?"

"The case is going stale Alec, the press are putting it on the back pages, it's no longer headline news so unless you get some new leads, all the extra staff will have to go."

He got out of the CS's office and checked his phone, which he'd put on silent and cursed he'd missed Rose's call. He went back upstairs to find Ellie had gone, thankfully. The last thing he needed was Miller giving him girlfriend advice though Claire, he would gladly leave to her. He left just after twelve and went to find a parking spot near the salon where Rose worked, being lucky as someone was leaving and dared the driver behind him to take the spot while he was reversing into it, just outside the newspaper office of all places.

It was just his luck that Olly Stevens was on his way out.

"DI Hardy, do you have a minute?" Olly asked hopefully.

"Not now Stevens, I have to be somewhere."

"It won't take long. Is it true resources are being pulled from the Latimer case?"

How had he found that out, Alec wondered.

"No comment Stevens, the press office issues any statement about personnel and well you know it. Have you been talking to your aunt again?"

Olly was not about to admit he was stringing along one of the girls in the HR department of Broadchurch Police Station, purely for professional reasons of course.

Alec went off and looked through the window blinds of the double-fronted salon, trying to spot Rose. Olly wondered what the detective was actually doing staring into a women's hairdressers or was he going to get his hair cut? Olly shook his head – the detective's hair looked shorter than the last time they had met, maybe he had a girlfriend who worked there? It would be worth his while to find out, maybe Liz had something interesting to tell him later though why she'd not already told him Hardy had a girlfriend, he didn't know.

Alec was checking the time, there were over five minutes before Rose would be out but she had just finished a young boy's hair when she spotted Alec outside so taking advantage of following the boy to make sure he paid, she opened the door.

"Alec, sorry, I won't have much time today, can you go to the sandwich shop and get something and get me a coffee?"

"Sure love, busy day?"

"I'll explain later, have to go now."

So Alec went to join the short queue, getting a few looks from some of the women behind the counter as well as the customers and Rose was waiting outside, not wanting to embarrass him by going in and giving him a wet, sloppy kiss or putting her arms around him.

They went to sit in his car, since the two benches across the road were already occupied with mothers and screaming toddlers. Alec thought all he needed now was for the annoying nephew of his just as annoying DS to come back and see them.

"Thanks Alec, sorry but Claire didn't come in to work today, are you sure you let her go?" Rose teased, putting her coffee cup on the reasonable smooth dashboard.

"Yes, I let her go, she is just trying to prove a point, that's all."

"What did you say to her anyway?"

"I told her you had asked me to let her go and to leave you alone."

"That's not going to help Alec."

"I'm trying my best love, you know that. Miller offered to talk to her, she reckons I'm giving Claire exactly what she wants, my attention."

"She could be right Alec, maybe that's been Claire's intention all along, just think about it? You bring her down here, leave her to get on with it then she meets me, gets us both to her house on the same day and then pretends to be jealous. She's not really, she just doesn't want your attention going elsewhere and she was trying to see who you would choose."

"Have you been talking to Miller already?"

"No, how could I have been?"

"Just joking love. Why don't I walk up and meet you tonight, just in case Claire follows you?"

"No Alec, I can do that on my own, really, she's not going to get me any more paranoid than I already am."

"Ok love, have it your way but if you even get a hint she is following you, you call me and I'll be right over."

"Yeah, ok. I'll get changed and come over, do you want to start dinner before I get there?"

"I'll wait for you love. So, any word from Claire as to why she didn't show?"

Rose hadn't known that Claire had deliberately phoned Maureen when she knew Rose would be out to lunch and had claimed she had what she thought was food poisoning, putting on a weak voice then adding she wasn't sure what had caused it and planning to play on it later to get to Rose.

Rose kissed Alec's cheek and went to get out of his car.

"Coming in for a beard trim?"

"I don't think so Rose, what with the salon being busy today, what would all those women think of me?"

"That I was a very lucky girl?" she teased, reaching back to run her fingers on his chin.

"Get back to work Rose, before you lose your job," he joked.

Rose went back into the salon with just enough time to visit the ladies room and get back onto the floor, to more spotty teenage boys who fancied their chances asking her if she had a boyfriend. She thought she just might take a photo of Alec and herself, put it in a frame and leave it by the mirror, Mario had a photo of his boyfriend to ward other men off.

By half past four, the salon only had a few customers in and Maureen called Rose over.

"Claire claimed she had food poisoning."

Rose was hardly surprised, given what she must have been eating, spying on her and Alec.

"Am I meant to feel sorry for her?" Rose asked.

"No, I'm letting you know because come Monday, I don't want any more arguments between the two of you and dragging the others into it, do I make myself clear?"

Rose nodded, it wasn't her fault Claire was being so petty.

"I'll be talking to Claire and I'm changing my day off, I don't trust Claire to be in charge while I'm gone and since Tuesday seems to be our quietest day, you can share responsibility with Mario, he's been here the longest. Whatever is going on between the two of you stays outside, I'll be telling Claire the same on Monday."

"Sure Maureen and I'm really sorry Claire is going on like this, she's just jealous for no reason at all and Alec's trying his best to stop her. Last night and the night before, she was watching my apartment and Alec had to have her moved on then last night, he had her taken to the station and gave her a warning. That's why she's not been in today."

"I see then. Well if your detective boyfriend can't handle the problem he seems to have caused then no-one can. I'll be having words with Claire anyway, she's venting her jealousy out on you and it's affecting my business."

Claire had got the bus and had arrived by the harbour just before five, thinking she would grab something to eat and go sit on the end of the pier, since it was a nice sunny afternoon. If Alec Hardy thought he was going to scare her off by locking her up then letting her go, saying Rose had persuaded him to drop it, then he had another thing coming. Claire Ripley did not back down that easily, well not unless her family was under threat or Lee was after her for ratting on him and blaming the entire incident with Pippa onto him. It served him right for going with Lisa behind her back.

Alec had driven up to the supermarket but by the time he'd gone round with the trolley, he had to go sit down in the café and have a rest but he was seen by the local vicar.

"DI Hardy, are you ok?" Paul Coates asked, sitting opposite him.

"I'm fine, this investigation is getting to me, it's too much like my last case."

Paul didn't like the detective very much, not after he'd asked the cleric to provide a DNA sample but Paul had an obligation to the parish to provide pastoral support and like it or not, Alec Hardy was part of the community.

"We're holding a memorial service for Danny tomorrow, you're welcome to attend."

"So you can have a dig at me?"

Paul laughed, pouring some tea into a mug. "You are making enemies detective inspector, you're suspicious of everyone."

"It's my job to be suspicious. I'll ask my girlfriend if she wants to come."

"I heard you'd met someone, what's her name?"

Alec supposed everyone would find out sooner or later and was slightly surprised Miller had not already told the whole town.

"She's called Rose, she's a junior hairdresser."

"I'm surprised Beth hasn't met her then."

"I'm sure there is more than one hair salon in the entire town and maybe Mrs Latimer has other things on her mind?"

Paul eventually took the hint and left Alec to finish his almost cold pot of tea and get his groceries to the car before the frozen food defrosted. He was looking forward to spending the day out with Rose but he was obliged to inform her of the Sunday service for Danny Latimer, it was up to her if she wanted to be seen with a grumpy detective in front of the entire population of Broadchurch, well the vast majority of them anyway. He had long since given up being religious, having been brought up to attend church with his parents until he was old enough to make his own decisions.

He put his groceries away once he reached his cottage and went to lay on the sofa, hoping he would remain calm until Rose arrived. Claire was putting a lot of stress on both himself and his girlfriend but he thought back to what Ellie Miller had said, maybe he was actually giving Claire what she wanted, his attention so maybe it was time to just ignore what she was doing and leave the uniformed officers to it, they had been told to just keep moving her on until she finally got the message.

If she ever found out where he lived, he would have to think of something more drastic without setting himself up for a visit to the local hospital, Rose certainly didn't need that on top of everything else.

Rose got home and got changed and gathered a few things to take for the weekend and was hoping the rushed lunch with Alec hadn't made him think she had just used it as an excuse since the unplanned stopover last night. She had needed him though, this was getting her down and she knew she had to be stronger than this but she wasn't used to playing psychological mind games with a female Norman Bates.

She'd had some basic training but most of her time she had spent trying to get back and now she was actually back, she was beginning to wish she'd never left. She'd not even had time to think about what happened with James, Claire was the foremost on her mind, that and her enemy driving Alec away from her and then what would she do? Alec was the one who was holding her together despite the fact this never would have happened if she'd not met him at Claire's cottage barely two weeks ago.

What had started out innocently last Friday lunchtime had changed in a matter of a few hours, she had got over her initial shock of Alec being the double of James and her Doctor and now she was caught up between him and his disturbed protected witness who obviously didn't get the whole picture there was nothing between Claire and Alec. Well Claire was no longer being protected by Alec, he'd told Claire he wasn't guaranteeing her cottage any longer and he'd not actually said the witness protection part was over but it was pretty obvious it was but would Claire get the message?

Rose hoped so, for both herself and Alec's sakes, he didn't need all this any more than she did. She put her things in the overnight bag and checked the curtains were closed, to keep Claire guessing should she want to risk getting locked up again though this time, no amount of persuasion would convince Alec not to keep the stalker locked up until Monday morning and she wouldn't stop him now. Rose knew Claire had stayed off work on purpose, she'd been too embarrassed Alec had locked her up and then been released because of some intervention but Rose couldn't have faced her telling the entire salon Alec locked her up.

Claire was about to go take up in the shelter again, it was early and with a bit of luck, no-one would move her on for a few hours but she'd have to watch out for them this time. As she approached the end of the stone pier, she was sure she could see Rose in the distance but wasn't sure it was her. She was torn between following whom she thought was Rose or going along and seeing if Alec's car was there or if the curtains were drawn so she decided to risk it, keeping her distance and seeing the woman she thought was Rose turn down a street at the other side of the river but by the time she got to the end, whoever it was had disappeared from view but there in front of a row of cottages that was offset from the street was Alec's car.

Claire could hardly believe she had found where he lived, her gamble had paid off and there was a wall at the end of the street she could sit on until she decided how she could find out which one he lived in and wished there was a better vantage point but she could see when they went out and they wouldn't be expecting her to have discovered where he was now holed up with Rose. This was getting better and better because the officers wouldn't be looking for her there either and when Alec got no reports she was watching Rose's place, they would let their guard down, which was exactly what she wanted.