"Yes Ellie, with DI Hardy, he's been specifically asked by Peter Tyler to get involved with a case the 12th Precinct of the NYPD are investigating. His stepdaughter, Rose, has been abducted whilst visiting the city and the main suspect is thought to be English. Non of the detectives on the case have a clue who the man is, just a description and he's also wanted in connection with the death of a man who stepped under a bus."
Alec looked at his boss. "So, let me get this right, she goes missing, well abducted by a man who may have caused another man to step under a bus? Why do they want us to go over?"
"Because they can't find this man in any database, I expect Mr Tyler has already got his people working on it, I take it you have both been briefed on Torchwood?"
They both nodded as Elaine continued to outline what had happened so far.
"So, if you both accept the assignment, you leave in the morning, someone will be in touch with you to make the arrangements but from what I can gather, Mr Tyler is paying all expenses and hotel rooms will be reserved for you and tickets for the flight to New York will be waiting at London airport. Someone from the NYPD will meet you on your arrival."
"Can I ask a question?" Ellie wanted to know. "How long will we be there for and how come no-one knows who this man is, if they have a description?"
"You'll have to ask the detective in charge, Detective Beckett. Have either of you heard of the novelist Richard Castle?"
Ellie's face lit up. "Oh, he's my favourite author. Why do you ask?"
Alec shook his head, he might have known Miller was a big fan of the self-assured best selling author.
"He's a friend of Mr Tyler's and he consults on cases with the NYPD. He's also married to the lead detective, Kate Beckett."
Alec thought he might have also known the lead detective would be female, just his luck after working with Tess and then Miller.
"Just one more thing," Alec stated as he got up. "Why did he ask for me? You said I was requested."
"Ah, well, this is the odd thing Alec and you'll both find out when you get there anyway. This mysterious man whom they think has taken Miss Tyler, he's been described as having an English accent, it's also been established he may have the power of suggestion as witnesses all say shortly before the other man stepped under a bus, the two of them were arguing and they think she went willingly with him because he resembles a man she used to know."
"I should have known," Alec mumbled. "So how do they know she's been abducted and not just shacked up with this man somewhere?"
"Well for one thing, the man seems to favour wearing purple clothes, he told a news vendor to pour hot coffee on himself and he's been seen in a takeaway buying enough breakfast items for two people the day after Miss Tyler went missing. Another fact is, the man she lost, his files are sealed by Torchwood which would suggest he's never coming back so if you think she believes it is actually him, then that's not the case."
"So, is she a bit unhinged then, if this man looks like her friend?" Ellie asked.
"There has been some concern it could cause her some distress, yes."
"That still does not answer my question though, why did he ask for me?" Alec still wanted to know.
"Truthfully? Because not only does this man look like her friend, he looks like that famous Scottish actor and I'm sure you're already aware of that Alec but they all look like you or you look like them, whichever way you want to put it."
Alec didn't know what to say as Ellie started to smile. Who had he upset enough to bring this to him? He knew about the actor and just about tolerated it and no-one in the town so far had mentioned the comparison to him but a possible psycho loose in New York who'd taken to kidnapping one of the famous Tylers?
"This can't be happening," he thought out loud.
"Well I'm certainly willing to go, if it helps get her back," Ellie declared. "What about you Sir? Does the fact you now have two others who look like you put you off?"
Alec was not going to let his pain of a DS get the better of him.
"Yes, I suppose so, if it means I get away from cold cases and there's nothing else to do. Are the police over there arranging everything through Mr Tyler? I've not travelled abroad though since I had the pacemaker fitted, I can't go through any metal detectors."
"Then just declare yourself as a police officer Alec, I'm sure the airports will sort you out, you can't be the only one. I'll tell the commissioner to go ahead and let them know you'll be going. You'd both best go home and pack and Ellie, will your boys be ok with your sister?"
"Yes Ma-am, she's managed with them before and Olly will be around. I'll make it worth her while."
"Right, I'll get someone to call you both once the arrangements are made, I'll have a driver pick you both up as soon as I know the time of your flight and the name of those meeting you on your arrival. I expect you'll meet Mr Tyler at the hotel and he'll brief you as to what they've discovered so far."
Once out of the chief's office, Alec stopped Ellie in the corridor.
"I can go on my own you know Miller, if you don't want to leave your boys."
"No, it's fine and besides, who'd turn down the chance to meet Richard Castle?"
"Is that the only reason you're going Miller?"
"No, she is quite famous, her mother does a lot of charity work, you should read up on her before we go. I'm going to clear my desk and go home, I have to explain things to Tom and get them to Lucy's, since she's nothing else to do now."
"I thought she worked for The Echo?"
"Seriously? My sister next door to the amusement arcade?"
"I suppose it was only a matter of time, given her fondness for online casinos," he remarked, remembering her statement to the court at Joe Miller's trial. He also remembered Miller remarking her sister had mentioned she quite liked him so he'd stayed well away so she wouldn't get the wrong idea.
He went back to his office and looked up Rose Tyler and was quite impressed. She was a team leader at Torchwood, was interested in her mother's charity works and often attended benefits and she liked to be seen and not hide herself away. It also said she had several interests including keep-fit, running and liked to go to the cinema.
Then he read the reason why she and her stepfather had been in New York to establish Torchwood in the U.S but surely that would be in doubt now she had disappeared in the city? He made his mind up he was going to find her one way or another and if he had yet two more who looked like him, it was going to be interesting to say the very least.
Over at the 12th precinct, Detective Ryan was putting the last minute arrangements into play by informing Kate.
"Fine then, have the detectives been briefed?"
"Yeah, by their chief though we've learned something else about Hardy he's got a pacemaker."
"Wow, isn't he a bit young for one of those?" Kate wondered.
"Well he must have been bad, he was invalided out of the force apparently and he's not been back that long from what I read about him," Castle informed them. "You should find out if he's got any problems getting through airport security, make them aware of him."
"Yeah, will do, me and Espo will go pick them up then tomorrow. Do you want to see them when they arrive?"
"No, take them to the hotel and we'll meet on Wednesday morning although it will be a week since Rose went missing. Her mother must be going frantic, 1000's of miles away. I think her stepfather will have to give in and let her come over, she must feel left out of things."
"Yeah," Castle agreed. "Her younger stepbrother will be wondering why they've not returned home yet, I expect Mrs Tyler is caught between her older daughter and the youngster, he may be upset if both of them are away."
"Well that's down to them, our job is to return Rose safely to her family and that's exactly what we're going to do, right?"
They all agreed and went back to work. Jake and Mickey were going through various databases and Pete was looking on news sites at home and in New York for any mentions of similar incidents, no-one would be resting until they had more clues as to who was holding Rose.
Kilgrave had stopped for lunch, having familiarised himself with Torchwood cases involving the unknown and unusual and wondered if they'd had anything to do with the experiments his parents had conducted when he was younger, back in Manchester. He'd only just been aware of where he used to live before being locked in a room and it was still a mystery to him as to why his own family could do such a thing to him but since he'd got away, he'd become aware of the results and as soon as was possible, he would hunt them down and make them pay for what they'd done to him.
Once he had control of Torchwood, it would be easy to locate them and then, his ultimate goal was finding Jessica Jones and once he'd found where she was, he would play a little game of cat and mouse with her and she was the mouse. He would take his time though, Rose was growing on him, mainly because she still had some free will and she was rather good in bed and now apparently standing up as he'd found out to his surprise earlier when she had been the willing instigator of the activities.
After lunch, he got back to work and allowed Rose to go shopping, telling her to buy some more sexy underwear and surprise him later. Once she had left, telling her the usual urgency of being back on time, he used the time to look up his parents, not knowing where they were nowadays, they may even be in the same city.
He did though see several reports of people he'd met recently and was surprised to see the news vendor he'd told to pour coffee on himself who had made the most of it and got himself some attention but he took no notice since it never mentioned the other incident with the bus. Unknown to Kilgrave though, Captain Gates was withholding information from the press after the commissioner agreed it would do more harm than good releasing details of Rose's disappearance.
It was of no interest to the media anyway, not that many people in New York would want to read about a missing English heiress who had been attending a conference so it had been easy to get them to agree so far but the captain prepared a statement in case Pete wanted to take things further and get the public involved though it had been agreed they kept the man in purple out of it for now since when Alec Hardy arrived, they would discuss how to proceed.
When Rose got back with ten minutes to spare, Kilgrave insisted she showed him the items she had bought and Rose giggled when she tossed the underwear in his direction and he caught it, a smile on his face even though he'd been studying something at the time. He closed the laptop and pulled her down for a kiss, despite the two men standing by the door. He turned to one of them.
"You, go down to the store and get a bottle of red wine and a dozen red roses."
"Yes Sir."
"Are we out of wine Kevin?" Rose asked him.
He went over to the door and let the man out. "Don't be long or your friend here will come after you and you know what that means?"
The man just nodded and Kilgrave turned back to Rose. "No my love but I wanted something special for you and every day, I'm going to give you a dozen red roses but none of them will be as lovely as you. Come here kitten."
"Aw Kevin, you're so sweet to me."
She pulled him down for a kiss as he approached her, picking up the item of underwear with two fingers as he put his arms around her.
He whispered in her ear, "Can't wait to see you in these my love."
"Mmm, I can't wait to show you, why don't you come and help me?"
"Later love, we have to get back to work, you do want to help me don't you Rose?"
"Yeah, of course I want to help you Kevin but why are you so interested in Torchwood?"
"No questions, remember?"
"Yes Kevin, whatever you say. Tell me what I can do."
"All in good time, maybe I can take a break eh?"
"I'd like that Kevin, you've been working too hard."
He tossed the underwear towards her and dipped down to kiss her then when they stopped, he scooped her into his arms and walked towards the bedroom door, Rose holding on while he fumbled with the handle. She giggled as she held onto his neck with both arms and rested her head on his shoulder. The door opened and he stepped in, kicking it closed behind him.
"Kevin, what about the man who went for wine and roses?"
"Oh, he'll wait, you're far more important than he is my love."
Alec was packing for his trip to New York, wondering why apart from the main suspect looking like him Mr Tyler had thought about him. He'd found out as much as he could about Rose, her mother's marriage and her adoption and it was truly a rags to riches story but she never seemed to exploit it by being a spoilt brat and reportedly hadn't taken to money like her mother had done.
He picked up his phone to call his daughter to tell her he was going away for a while. They had been talking again properly for some time now after his successful pacemaker surgery and she was even debating coming down for the long school holidays in the summer and getting a part time job while he was working. If she did that, he'd have to move out of the chalet, there wasn't much in the way of privacy with having a teenage girl around since he could barely close his bedroom door.
"Daisy, hi. Listen, I have to go away for a while so we may not be able to meet on Saturday."
"Oh, is it work again? I thought you'd said you would cut down?"
"Well I did but I have to go to New York."
"Really? Wow, how come?"
"The NYPD need help on a case concerning two British citizens, one has been abducted by who they think is responsible for a fatal accident last week."
"So why does that involve you? I know I said I'd forgiven you, over Sandbrook when I found out about your health but are you going to keep running off again?"
"No, it's just one case, it involves the Vitex chairman, Pete Tyler's stepdaughter, she was abducted outside her hotel last week and they've tried everything to get her back. They think the man who took her is English and that she's been somehow coerced into going with him willingly, it's a bit of a mystery as to there being no demands so far."
He couldn't tell her that the chief had added the fact the man who had Rose Tyler may be planning on the takeover of Torchwood even though the public were aware of the organisation, they had a public fa ade and a covert one.
"So why you?"
"Promise not to laugh?" He got no answer so he continued hoping she wouldn't break out into a fit of giggles. "The man who they think took her, well he looks a bit like me."
"Oh come on Dad, I know you look a bit like that actor but another one, seriously?"
He thought he'd best not tell her there was yet another one, though nothing had been said about the man who had disappeared a long time ago. Why was it being kept so secret? So Rose Tyler had a boyfriend who had disappeared around the time those students or whatever had the population in such a frenzy that everyone believed they'd been invaded by metal monsters who wanted to convert everyone. It had all been covered up anyway and the old Torchwood had been partly responsible for letting it get out of hand and as for that John Lumic and his inventions, the man had also disappeared overnight along with Cybus Industries and a lot of businessmen had got their companies back including Pete Tyler.
"Well, I feel I should go if it gets her back to her family, I let Lisa Newberry's family down, I was too late to save her."
"Yeah, sorry Dad, I know that almost killed you now and I didn't help but neither did mum either, I think she still regrets that really. I asked her, if she'd get back with you but she said it was far too late now."
"Yes, it is so forget it Daisy, don't go dragging that up again, I asked her once and she laughed at the idea, maybe we just left it too long eh?"
He had been back to Sandbrook for the verdict of those responsible for the two cousin's deaths and Tess had shown no signs she had fully forgiven him although she had mellowed somewhat since her frosty behaviour towards him when he and Miller had reopened the case last year.
"So are you going on your own then?"
"No, I'm taking DS Miller with me, the chief doesn't trust me to go on my own," he chuckled.
"Are you sure there's nothing going on Dad?" she asked cheekily, knowing it got him going.
"Don't you start, I had enough already with the chief. Miller reportedly told her she'd quit if I ever tried anything, so it's safe to say neither of us are interested in going down that particular road anytime soon."
"Does that mean never Dad? I'm old enough now to accept it's over between you and mum so if you ever did find anyone, I won't make a fuss over it, well providing she's not my age or anything."
"Very amusing Daisy, like anyone your age would be interested in me?"
"Well if you find Rose Tyler, she might be grateful for the rescue," she teased.
"Rose Tyler is way out of my league and you know it and besides that, if her abductor looks like me and we both look like her lost boyfriend, goodness knows how she'll react when she sees me, she will probably go running in the opposite direction without even thanking me."
Daisy laughed, not wanting to let such a good thing go, she could keep this going for ages if she wanted, her dad was such an easy target for teenage mischief.
"Well, she's at least ten years older than me and she might strangely take to you if you rescue her?"
"I seriously doubt it but we have to find her first before she's tipped over the edge, goodness knows how such a thing is affecting her mentally. I'm going to find her Daisy, wish me luck."
"Yeah, good luck Dad and you can bring me a 'I love New York' t-shirt back or an NYPD one if you can get one. Who will you be working with?"
"You've heard of the novelist Richard Castle?"
"No way Dad! What's he got to do with the police?"
"His new wife is a detective, she's going to be in charge. She's a homicide detective but since a man has died, it's all been connected and Pete Tyler wants her to remain in charge and Miller is a fan of his."
He said goodbye to his daughter and thought about the prospect of working with two female detectives as if working with the infuriating Miller wasn't bad enough, now he had another independent woman to contend with, he might have survived a pacemaker operation but he was never going to survive this and when he found Rose Tyler, alive and well, she wouldn't be able to get away from him fast enough after her ordeal. Well so he thought anyway.