Rose drove Alec back out to see the Gillespies since he wanted to see if the Ashworths would try talking to them but luckily, Ricky had gone out though Cate had a drink in her hand.
"Why aren't you out there finding who killed my little girl?"
"We have every available unit out who are not looking for Lisa but can you tell me, was she your niece or your husband's?" Alec asked her as Rose stood beside her.
"Mrs Gillespie, we need to know everything if we are going to find her, who her friends were, where she went but if she's your husband's niece, we need to know why she uses another name."
"She doesn't get on with her father, he left them so she uses her mother's name. There, are you satisfied now?"
Rose looked across at Alec, who nodded.
"Mrs Gillespie, did Pippa have a pendant she wore all the time? I saw it in some photos."
"Yes, she did, she hardly took it off. I think she got it from the neighbour."
"Was she wearing it when you left to go to the wedding?"
There were tears in the woman's eyes and Rose didn't know if it was from the drink or her grief.
"I think she was, why, did you find it?"
"Can you check for us, see if it's in her room?"
"Wouldn't your people have found it, if she was wearing it?"
Rose had done as Alec had requested and gone to the medical examiner and the CSU.
"No, it wasn't found, that's why we need to know. Would you mind if I looked for it?"
"Suit yourself but if my husband comes back and finds you, I won't be responsible for what happens."
"Then will you come with me?"
"Where's that other officer, Tess is it?"
"Conducting other enquiries. I can assure you DC Tyler is just as competent," Alec told her.
Cate nodded and got up, almost losing her balance as Rose caught her arm.
"I don't need any help."
Rose put her gloves on and looked through a pink jewellery box with a musical ballerina inside but there was no sign of the pendant she'd seen in the photos. She carefully sorted through a pile of trinkets on the girl's small dressing table but found nothing, then searched the drawers as the CSU had not at the time been looking for a piece of jewellery.
Rose was lucky she got back downstairs just before the girl's father came back. Alec had been looking at family photos on the wall and fireplace and was considering sending a team back in to do another search if Rose was unsuccessful but he would need further proof the pendant was actually hers and not Claire Ashworth's.
If he asked the neighbour, she would probably deny she had given the young girl the pendant and proving otherwise and asking her to produce it was another matter.
Ricky Gillespie burst into the living room, having seen Rose's car outside.
"What are you two doing back here?" he shouted angrily. "Get out, both of you, now. Stop harassing us, we did not kill our own daughter."
"No-one is suggesting you did, we are trying to establish some facts," Alec told him.
"Well you can send that other officer, I will not have you coming here, digging up our garden and making everyone think we are under suspicion and when are you going to talk to the neighbours?"
Alec decided now was a good time to find out how close they were.
"Do you want to tell us something about them?" Alec asked him, getting his notebook out.
"He was always watching out of the upstairs window, when Lisa came around. Why don't you ask him?"
Alec was fully intending to. After asking a few other question, he and Rose left but before they drove off, Rose noticed that the car that had been parked earlier at the side of the Ashworth's house had gone but a truck was outside the house.
"Rose, did we have the registration number of the Ashworth's car?"
Rose looked through her notes. "No, I don't think so Sir, I can check when we get back."
"Get on to the DVLA then, see if you can get it and then, put an alert out to all car sales and garages, in case he tries to sell it."
"You mean if there's any evidence the girls were in it on Saturday night?"
"Exactly. Well, was there anything else in the girl's room?"
"No, just a few bits of kid's jewellery and some trinkets, probably from the local fair or something but her mother looked nervous, I think she's scared of her husband and so is Claire Ashworth."
"Then I will leave them to you. Think you can handle them?"
"Yes Sir, I can handle them but what about your wife, she'll keep trying to find out why we're so interested in them."
"She is too busy trying to find out about where Lisa is, I gave her the job earlier, though she protested, as usual. I told her she was in charge of the continuing search."
"Should we share the information about why Lisa changed her name?"
Alec raised his eyebrows.
"What do you think? Would she share with us? Time for lunch, stop somewhere on the way back, my treat. You must get tired of canteen food."
"It will be all I can afford next week, well that and the discount frozen food store, though some of it's not bad. I'll stock up on ready made meals."
"Really? Have you advertised for someone to share?"
"That's why Christine couldn't find anyone until I came along, it's too far out. Everyone either has a place or doesn't want to move that far but it's easier now I have the car."
"Well when we conclude this investigation, I will tell the transport department I still need the car and make sure you fill it before you leave tonight, I would hate for you to be out of pocket and wait until you next get paid before getting the money back for the fuel."
"I'll try and remember Sir."
"You have forgotten something already, you don't have to call me sir all the time."
"Sorry, Alec."
He spotted a diner on the way back to the station, telling Rose to park behind the place just in case Tess happened to be passing by and he told Rose to order anything she wanted. When they got back, Rose had plenty to do, getting details of Lee Ashworth's driving licence and vehicle details and she'd just retrieved that and printed it out and had put out an alert that if the car was sold that it was reported to them when Tess came back in and went into Alec's office, since she felt she didn't need an invitation.
"Why have you done this to me Alec? Putting me in charge of the search for Lisa?"
"I needed a senior officer on it. Not up to the job?"
"Very amusing Alec. I'm going to need some help."
"Take one of the other DCs then."
"Oh, you don't want me to take Tyler?"
"She's my DC, not yours. Take one of the DS's then, I don't care which one."
He really didn't care but something Rose had said came to mind, that one of them was playing around though he'd not been able to get a name but she may be right, Tess could suspect it was him. Well if only it was.
As Tess left, thinking she may as well use this to her advantage and get Dave to help her, Rose gathered up the files and went into Alec's office.
"So if he has sold the car recently, you have an alert on it?" Alec asked, putting his specs on.
"Yes Sir," she told him, not wanting to chance his wife overhearing her calling him Alec.
"Well that is all we can do for now, if they are panicking, they may just have been out earlier though. DS Henchard wanted to know why I did not offer your services to help her in the search for Lisa."
"Sir? You wouldn't do that to me, would you?"
"No, I would not but I told her to take a DS. Do you know who it is who is messing around?"
"I can't tell you Sir, it's just office gossip, we have no real proof. Whoever we think it is may confide more in his friends, maybe you should ask around?"
"Yes, I am sure they are going to tell me when I am in charge. If you get some proof, will you tell me?"
"Yes, I'll tell you but I hope you don't say where you got your information from?"
Alec looked at her.
Rose had some more work to finish, Tess had gone out with Dave Harris, having convinced him Alec had said she could choose anyone she wanted to help conduct the search for Lisa. Tess had wanted to drive and they had just finished trying to talk with the elder girl's mother.
Dave stopped her as they were about to set off back to the station.
"So how are things at home Tess? You can tell me, I'm on your side. Did Alec get back from the hospital last night?"
"No, he stayed overnight, so he claims."
"Well call the hospital and check."
"Are you kidding? What will it look like if I don't know if my own husband was kept in for observation, especially since I didn't stay when I took his clean clothes for him. I was told he was still unconscious and I bet Tyler was with him though she claims when he came round, he told her to go home."
"She will have done Tess, well possibly. You're probably just worrying over nothing, where would he go if he didn't stay in hospital?"
That was how Dave operated, pretend to be sympathetic, try to sow the seeds of doubt but not directly and he could see it was starting to work. As they drove back, he suggested they meet again when she said Daisy was staying at her mother's.
"Come on Tess, when did you have some time to yourself? Alec will be working late, we could go grab a pub meal somewhere?"
"I have to go drop some clothes off for Daisy but I could meet you later? Do you know what he said to me this morning, while Tyler was waiting outside for him, since he'd called for her to collect him, not me?"
Dave shook his head.
"That he's moving into the spare room. What's that supposed to mean?"
"My wife told me the same, well she told me to move in the spare room, I do understand how it makes you feel Tess," he assured her.
In truth, his wife had said no such thing since when he got home every night he was trying to convince her she had nothing to worry about him going astray.
Finally, Rose caught up with work and went to knock on Alec's door.
"Sir, I'm going to go fill up the car for tomorrow. Do you need a ride home?"
"Yes, I will meet you downstairs, you go ahead. If you see my wife, don't give her any help if she asks how we are getting on in the case."
"It's like some kind of contest."
"She is capable of getting her own information, I am not asking for her help. They are two separate investigations so we can conclude faster than everyone working on the same thing. I find things run smoother that way."
"I'll take your word for that. I'll see you downstairs."
Tess was just coming back in as Rose was getting her car filled.
"Still here Tyler?"
"Yes Ma'am, just refilling for tomorrow."
"Well I will bring DI Hardy to work tomorrow morning."
"I'll have to let him tell me that Ma'am."
"Is my word not good enough for you?"
"If you tell me not to call for him and he needs to go somewhere, he'll chew me out for it. With due respect Ma'am, he will have to tell me himself if I pick him up or not."
Tess felt like screaming at the young officer. It would be just like Alec to decide he'd rather go with his DC than with her. Well if that was the case, she would go drop off Daisy's things and stay out for a few hours, see how he liked it.
"We just have one more place to go Rose," Alec told her as he got into the silver car.
"Where's that?"
They drove back out to the estate and parked a few doors away from the two houses, one being the Gillespie house and the other, that Rose had learned was rented from them by the Ashworth's. She found out by accident when looking through something and Alec had thought it was worth investigating, since the Ashworth's were withholding that information.
"What are we looking for?" Rose asked, since it was almost six and she thought they had called it a day.
"Stay here Rose, I'm going to take a look around the back."
"Don't you want me to come with you?"
"No, it will look suspicious."
"No, you going on your own will look suspicious, two of us, we can say we are considering buying one of the houses and wanted to see it from the back."
"I knew there was a reason I kept you around, come on then. Look for anything unusual, they should not be able to see us but we can see their upstairs windows and possibly the patio doors. Tomorrow, I am calling on the Ashworth's again, I want their permission to search their property and if they refuse, I want you to persuade the Gillespies as the owners to give us it. They must have a spare key."
"Do you think the pendant could be in the house? That would only prove it was Claire's in the first place."
"Yes but with Cate Gillespie saying Pippa was wearing it when they left her, it does prove either she was in their house that night or Claire, possibly her husband had contact with her, enough to prove they did see her."
They both got out of the car and walked around the corner, pretending to be looking at the houses.
"Don't you think we should look like we're together?" Rose asked as they got to where they wanted.
"We are standing together," he objected, thinking now this had been a big mistake.
What was he thinking? For the last few days she had been getting to him, well if he admitted it, it was rather amusing his wife thought he was cheating on her, with Rose. She didn't have to let him stay with her last night but despite waking up thinking he was drowning again, this morning had been the most peaceful breakfast he'd had in a long time where there were no arguments, no rushing Daisy off to school and Rose had thanked him for making her breakfast, though it had only been to show his appreciation and to make up for saying he could have stayed at home and been asked a load of questions but she seemed to have forgiven him.
Alec made a few notes then they walked back to the car.
"Shall I take you home now?"
"If you must."
"By the way, your wife saw me and told me she would bring you to work in the morning and for me not to bother."
"She did?"
"Yeah but I told her I had to ask you first."
"Well, we will be taking another field trip in the morning, in the opposite direction of the station, won't we Rose?"
"We will? Oh yeah, so we will, to ask permission to search the Ashworth's house. We're doing that first thing?"
"Why not?"
"Right, get it over with?"
"Exactly and before the Ashworth's know we are on to them."
"We are?"
"Keep up Rose, what do we have on them so far?"
"Ah, the pendant, giving Pippa a ride to school, the photos."
"Exactly. Now we see if the girls left anything around the house, especially the pendant."
Back in the Ashworth's house, Lee had sold the car, not getting what he wanted for it but it was late in the day after they had cleaned it inside and out, checked the glove compartment and made sure nothing was left, well so they thought. Lee though had no idea Rose had put the word out to all car sales in the area to be on the lookout for it but the plot owner had been in a rush to complete and not checked the latest information, going home for the night after locking the car up.
Rose and Alec had just driven off and Rose had asked him again if he was going home.
"Yes, I have to though I expect nothing but arguments but I need to clear the air."
Rose felt sorry for him as they arrived and Tess had a holdall she was putting on the back seat of her car. She half thought his wife was throwing him out but it was none of her business.
"Goodnight Sir, I'll pick you up in the morning then."
"Yes, goodnight Tyler, I will inform my wife you are doing so."
Then he got out and waved as Rose drove off.
"Do you have to wave to her Alec?"
"I was being polite. What's this?"
"Daisy's things, did you think they were yours? By the way, your muddy suit and coat have gone to the cleaners, someone gave me your coat earlier they had brought back. You can collect and pay for them, I'll leave the ticket on your desk tomorrow. I'll be staying with Daisy for a while and explain what's going on."
"About what?"
"The investigation, what do you think? I'm not telling her you're moving into the spare room, you can do that on your own."
"Well it won't be a problem yet, since she is not here, will it? Is there anything to eat?" he asked as Tess got into her car.
"I'm sure you'll find something Alec, you're not completely helpless."
He watched Tess drive off and went inside, going into the kitchen but instead of looking in the fridge or the freezer, he found a takeaway menu. Eating takeout would do him no good but he couldn't be bothered making something for just himself. Then he had a stupid idea. He dialled the takeaway and said he would collect, went to get changed into a jumper and casual trousers and set off to collect mushroom omelettes for two and hoped Rose hadn't started making something for herself.
Perhaps he should call her but she'd insist she was already making something for herself but if he turned up, she could always turn off what she was making, couldn't she?