Rose had finished telling everyone concerned what Alec wanted, Tess watching from her office. She had got her two friends to go out to the hotel and see if there was any CCTV footage that would give them a clue as to who could have smashed Tess's car window and if they had followed her or been waiting. She had forensics and two patrol cars on standby to follow them to the Ashworth's house and she'd called the cells to say Ashworth was to remain where he was and no-one was to talk to him or let him hear them. She'd also added he'd to have no contact with anyone and no phone calls.

Annie and Peggy had gone off after asking Rose what was going on.

"Nothing much, an officer's car was broken into last night."

"No way!" Annie said, wondering who it was. "So you want us to get the tape or disk to see who might have broken into the car. Whose was it?"

"I can't tell you that yet. Hardy said no-one is to view it, just ask if they have a recording and bring it back to him. We have to go search the Ashworth's house again, in case we missed anything."

Well she knew Alec wouldn't want anyone to know it was Tess's car and he certainly wouldn't want it seen on CCTV if it showed Tess and Harris walking out of the hotel together. She was thankful Tess hadn't yet said anything but there was still time and it would all blow up later.

Annie and Peggy were talking about it on their way to the hotel

"So what do you think it's all about Annie?" Peggy asked her as she drove.

"Beats me Peggy but why wouldn't Rose tell us anything?"

"Unless it was Hardy's wife's? What if they both stopped off after going to search that car?"

"No way, they barely tolerate each other."

"So the rumours are true and Henchard was meeting Harris?"

"Oh, wouldn't you love that to be true Peggy? Tell you what though, it might not have been her car, it could have been Rose's."

"Seriously?"

"Think about it. They were the ones to stop at the hotel and they got unlucky."

"Why would they do that unless? You mean they're having an affair? But we heard it was two senior officers unless it's both of them? You heard the rumours though, we heard Harris was bragging and Rose wouldn't have anything to do with him."

"Well it's either one of them or both, take your pick. Here we are, I'll go find the landlord."

Rose and Alec had followed the two patrol cars but Claire had been expecting them though she tried to act normally. She wasn't fooling Rose though.

"What do you want now? You already locked my husband up."

"Claire Ashworth, we have need to search the house again. DC Tyler, show her the warrant again."

"I've already seen it. What do you hope to find?"

"Please Claire, just step aside and let the officers do their jobs," Rose asked her.

"Why were you visiting your husband at the police station last night?" Alec wanted to know.

"Because you took him away like a common criminal. I wanted to make sure he was being treated fairly."

"Were you aware he sold a car recently?"

"Yes, we needed the money because you lot are stopping him from working."

Twenty minutes later, the house had been searched and there was no sign of the evidence bag nor the pendant. Claire had been out early and disposed of the plastic evidence bag in a neighbour's bin. Rose was watching the whole time, on the way over, she and Alec had talked about how they were going to handle it.

"I want you to make friends with her Rose."

"She's hiding something, we both know that. What do you want me to do?"

"So, find anything?" Claire asked, getting up from the kitchen chair where she and Rose had been drinking tea.

Alec had asked her to find out more about how the two of them had got together but Claire didn't seem to want to talk at first as officers worked around them.

"You got a boyfriend then, DC Tyler?"

"Call me Rose and yeah, I just met someone."

"In your line of work?"

"It's difficult sometimes but yeah. What do you do as a job?"

"I used to be a hairdresser, until I met Lee. A friend introduced us, we were instantly attracted to each other. What about you? How did you meet him?"

"Through work but it took us a while. You said before we took your husband away that it was him who'd told you to say you were in with him all that night. Were you trying to protect him from something?"

"Is this an interrogation?"

"No but if you know something, you have to tell us. We know you gave the pendant to Pippa, she was wearing it the night she died. If you know what happened Claire, if you're afraid of him, we can help you."

"I'm not afraid of him and I can't help you. I have no idea what he did before I got home, I swear but there was no-one here."

"Well you know how to contact me if you want to talk."

"Have you charged him?"

"Not formally but we will be doing later."

"You won't tell him what I said, will you? He still thinks I told you I was with him all night."

"That depends Claire, if he co-operates with us. We can't force you to testify against him but if you do, we can protect you."

Alec was heading up the search for the pendant, convinced Rose had been right but it wasn't looking good. He went to find her.

"Tyler, time to leave. Claire, have you anything you want to tell us that you've not already told DC Tyler?"

"No. Look I was scared when you took Lee away, I didn't know what I was saying."

"What do you mean Claire?" Rose asked her.

"If you're going to charge him, I want protection."

Alec went to sit at the table. "If you tell me who you were with that night and what time you got home, I will see what I can do."

Claire remained silent.

"Call us when you have something to say. Come on Tyler."

They got outside and Rose stopped him getting in the car.

"I'm sure she's still not telling us the truth."

"Rose, there was no evidence bag let alone the pendant. We got it wrong."

"No, I got it wrong, sorry."

"We tried, maybe it was just an opportunist? We will have to see if the hotel had a security camera."

Annie and Peggy had no luck, going back empty handed as the camera had no recorder connected to it and the landlord said those who were bothered about their cars usually sat near the screen. Alec wasn't pleased when they got back and Rose told him. He put his head in his hands as Rose sat across the desk from him.

"Sir, there is one more thing. Ashworth doesn't know we lost the evidence."

"You mean bluff him into admitting he killed Pippa? No, if it comes to court, his solicitor will ask us to produce the pendant."

"Then we don't use the pendant against him, we use his wife. If we promise to keep her safe, she might testify against him."

Tess had seen them come back and wondered what they were talking about. How had she not been able to convince herself she was right about the two of them? Of course he'd gone off to stay with her last night and now, he was bringing Daisy home tonight so she couldn't go and meet Dave. Her day was about to be made even worse when the chief decided he wanted to see the four of them.

"So Tess, tell me why you didn't do as you were asked and brought the evidence back to the station."

"I already said, I needed to stop so I got a drink while I was there. When I went out, there was glass everywhere so I called DS Harris."

"Why didn't you call your husband?"

"Because he moved into the spare room, he was going to leave me."

"I already know that. It's still no reason why you'd do such a stupid thing like leave vital evidence unattended. This will go on your record Tess. DC Tyler, seems your theory about who took the missing evidence didn't work out?"

"No Sir, I got it wrong."

"I backed her Sir, I take part of the responsibility," Alec defended her.

"Well you would stick up for her Alec," Tess huffed.

"This is not the time for you two to argue. A man is about to walk free because of your incompetence Tess, no-one else is to blame in this except you. Were you on our own?" the chief asked.

Tess wasn't about to take Dave down with her, he was all she had now it was clear Alec was infatuated with his DC. "Yes."

"Seriously?" Alec asked. "Why was Harris with you when we arrived?"

"He's my partner. Why were you with Tyler?"

"Enough, both of you," the chief told them. "Alec, go try and see if you can get a confession out of Ashworth. We'll hold him until his solicitor shows up and we keep quiet about this, understood?"

They all said a "Yes Sir."

Annie and Peggy were watching for them coming back.

"What do you think happened Annie?"

"I'm not sure but I think the evidence they found in a car belonging to the suspect was lost."

"Ouch! Someone's going to pay for that."

Claire was packing what she could carry into a rucksack. If they were going to charge Lee, she wanted to be as far away as possible when they did. He'd find out she told the police she wasn't with him that night and go after her if he did get out. Even though they didn't have the pendant, they had plenty to hold him on and they would force her to testify, despite what that young officer had to say. She bet anything that the boyfriend DC Tyler had been talking about was Hardy.

Ricky Gillespie had been late out that morning and seen all the cars next door and asked his wife if she'd seen them arrive, not that she would remember these days. So he'd gone next door to confront Claire.

"Stop worrying, I'm not going to say anything and neither is Lee," Claire had told him.

Lee had told her how Ricky, in a fit of temper had hit Lisa but what she'd told him at the time about Pippa wasn't the truth and she intended to keep it that way. He was keeping their secret and they were keeping his and she had an insurance policy against both of them. Ricky hadn't been satisfied with Claire's explanation and was now convinced his daughter's death was not an accident.

Alec had got the custody sergeant to take Ashworth back to the interview room and Rose had joined him but they were about to ask him again if he'd been with both girls that night when his solicitor arrived. Twenty minutes later after several arguments, Ashworth was walking out of the front door, released on police bail pending the retrieval of the missing evidence.

Alec went back to his office, Rose following.

"Sorry."

"Why, it was not your fault he got set free."

"So what now?"

"For me? Tomorrow, I go find a good divorce lawyer, she can forget the separation, let her name you as the other party and I will drag Harris into it."

"It's all my fault."

"How is it? The chief will hold me responsible, the Gillespies will find out."

"Stop it Alec. We'll get him another way. We'll go try his wife again. If he got out, she'll make a run for it and maybe come to us."

"Then let us hope so. Watch out."

Tess let herself into his office so Rose left.

"What are you up to Alec?"

"You would know, you let our main suspect walk out of here. Forget the separation Tess and if you think I am joking, wait and see. I will go pick Daisy up tonight."

"No, don't bother, I'll get her myself."

"No you won't, you are not telling her lies. Don't deny you were with Dave Harris last night."

"Well I bet you were with Tyler."

"She let me use her spare room."

Tess let out a laugh. "You think I believe that?"

"Believe what you like, it is all over. Now I have to go tell that girl's parents our main suspect has been let go. You can come with me."

Out in the office, Annie and Peggy were surrounding Rose's desk.

"Come on Rose, you can tell us."

"Tell you what?"

"What those two are arguing about. Are they splitting up?"

Rose shrugged her shoulders.

Things were tough for everyone over the next few weeks. Ricky Gillespie had moved out and the Ashworth's were nowhere to be found. Alec had begun divorce proceedings, Tess had signed the papers because she couldn't name Rose or Alec had threatened to bring Dave into it and he and Rose were settling in her apartment but Daisy was refusing to see him.

Rumours were rife in the station and the chief constable of South Mercia Police was determined they were going to get a conviction so a warrant was put out for Lee Ashworth when Claire came forward and said she would tell the truth about what happened that night in return for police protection and more pressure was put on Alec to find him but things had been uncomfortable when Rose's mother had decided to pay her daughter a visit, Rose not yet telling her even a month after Alec had moved in that they were living together.

It had started one Saturday morning when Rose got a phone call while she and Alec were playing around bumping into each other in the kitchen and when her phone had rung she had mouthed "My Mother, shush" at him but he had tried to take the phone off her.

"Rose, you are not going to deny anything are you?"

"Nope, well not exactly but if she finds out you live here, well you being in police will not save you."

He shook his head and went to rescue the toast – again.

"Mum, hi, whatcha doing ringing so early?"

"I'm in the coach station, that's what. Howard just dropped me off and the coach is in twenty minutes and I'm stuck in a bleedin' queue and if I miss it I'll have two hours to wait."

"Where are you going Mum?" she asked, desperately hoping it wasn't where she was as Alec scraped the toast a bit too loud for her liking.

"To see you sweetheart, whatcha think? I know you're upset because things didn't work out for you and I want to meet this new fella of yours, you're being very mysterious over him."

She had told her mother there was someone she was seeing but never revealed the details, since it had leaked into the news and had finally hit London.

"Mum, my place is in a mess and I've got someone moving in."

"Since when?" Jackie asked, spying they were preparing at last to open another ticket window and there were five people in front of her and there was a man arguing over how much a ticket to Edinburgh cost.

"Have to go sweetheart, another ticket window's opening. Love you, see you soon."

Rose was left with the phone in her hand.

"Well?" Alec asked as she put the phone on the table at the same time he put her breakfast down.

"She's on her way down."

"What? Tell me I heard wrong? Why is she coming down?"

"Relax lover, her bark is worse than her bite. I'll tell her you're just staying while you find a place to live and she'll have to stay overnight on the sofa or you could get in her good books and offer her your room and you sleep on the sofa."

"Rose, we share a bed, I am not sleeping on the sofa."

"Just until she goes to bed. She never gets up early on Sundays, you can be in the kitchen by the time she emerges."

"Have you done this before?" he asked, amazed she had already worked everything out.

"No but I always have a contingency plan, just in case. No doubt she'll call when she gets to the bus station so I'll borrow your car to pick her up."

"No you will not, I am coming with you. If she sees me, she will more than likely get the next coach back. Hopefully."

"Alec, I'm sorry but once she's made her mind up, there's no changing it, even if she does find out I'm shagging my boss."

The visit went better than they expected, once Jackie got over the initial shock her daughter was living with a man who was her boss, older than her and he was getting a messy divorce because they were still in the same division as the chief refused to move anyone despite Alec requesting either he or Tess were moved.

He'd been in the chief's office several times and got the same answer.

"Alec, there is nowhere for either of you to go and now Tess is a single mother, technically, she's requested she not be the one to move because of your daughter's schooling. I already asked the other station if anyone wants to transfer and you take their place but after what happened here, no-one is volunteering. The case has tainted both your reputations even though in general, the consensus is she was a senior officer and was therefore responsible for her own actions but it sticks Alec."

"So are you saying there will never be a chance of getting out of here, even in a nearby town?"

"I'm sorry Alec but you'll have to consider a transfer out of the question unless you are prepared to move away completely and I know things are strained enough with your daughter and you won't want to leave your new girlfriend behind."

"If I leave Rose behind, Tess will go off the rails with her, I can't leave her. I know she's not been here long enough to qualify for a transfer herself, so if I stick it out for a few more months, can you find us somewhere where they will take both of us?"

"That's going to take some doing. A lot of chief's won't entertain senior and junior officers being involved, especially with a divorce going on. Maybe by the time it comes through, some vacancies may have come up at the same station but I'm making no promises. Look, the only thing I can do is maybe move Tyler but she would no longer be your DC, she would be Hartley's, he just got made DI."

"No, she is not working with that arrogant son of a…" he stopped. He was getting angry again and was realising it wasn't doing him or Rose any good. "Forget it, we will find another way."

So during Jackie Tyler's short but whirlwind stay with them, she had grilled him several times over his intentions towards her daughter, how they were managing to keep working together, if his wife was going to give him the divorce and of course their sleeping arrangements because despite at the introductions, a mother knows when her daughter's boss is shagging her.

Alec was relieved when at three on the Sunday afternoon they were waiting with her mother for the coach back to London to arrive and Rose had taken her to one side.

"So, what do you think of him then?" Rose asked nervously, glancing at Alec, who gave a weak smile back.

"He's ok I suppose but Rose, what if his divorce doesn't come through? What if his wife changes her mind?"

"She won't, she hates us both, trust me. As soon as some transfers come up in the same station, we'll be gone from here."

"Back to London?" her mother asked hopefully, glaring at poor Alec, who swore the clock above the coach stand had got stuck ten minutes ago and there was no sign of the coach and no announcements it was running late.

"I don't know but not if we can help it. I really don't want to work there again. Come and say goodbye to him, just for me."

The coach arrived just on time and Rose hugged her mother goodbye. Alec had to wave her off, since Rose was holding his hand and as they got back into his car, she turned to kiss him.

"Thanks Alec, I know it was a bit daunting but at least she didn't slap you."

"I suppose I should be grateful for small mercies? It was a bit much having to get up before she did this morning, if she visits again, I am not pretending I slept on the sofa."

Rose smiled and put her hand on his jeans-clad leg. "You weren't fooling her you know."

"You mean she knew? Right, Tyler, you are in deep trouble when we get home."