Kilgrave decided he would risk taking Rose out after all, since he'd already instigated their sexual activities after lunch and there would be no-one looking for him and if someone was looking for her, there would be less police around at night.
"Go on then, go get changed and I'll take you out."
She kissed his cheek and got up from the chair next to him, pleased he'd not got to her file as yet.
"Thanks Kevin, I'll go make myself look nice for you then."
Kilgrave got up and went to the kitchen where the housekeeper was staring at the clock.
"You can go now, be back for breakfast in the morning."
The woman couldn't get out fast enough. Then he turned to the two men, standing either side of the door, unlocking it to let the housekeeper out.
"One of you can go, I don't care which one. Wait outside for me to let you in tomorrow morning and one of you bring roses and chocolates for my girlfriend."
Rose was getting changed when Kilgrave entered the bedroom, Rose standing in her underwear in front of the mirror, a dress held up to her. It reminded her of when she had been in that house in Scotland, trying dresses before finding out there was a werewolf in the cellar.
"That one looks good Rose, don't take all night to choose."
"No Kevin, I won't take long. If you like this one, then I'll wear it."
It wasn't really her colour but she wasn't going to argue with him. She just hoped by now, someone would have been showing her photo around and wherever he was taking her, the staff would recognise her and discreetly call he police. She dreaded to think though what he'd do if they actually showed up.
He could take it one of two ways, give her up and try and bluff his way out or take her with him after pulling a Jedi mind trick on them by saying she wasn't the one they wanted. If only Pete knew he looked like the Doctor, it would be so much easier to find her.
Over dinner at Pete's hotel, everyone had got together, Mickey laughing at Alec's predicament of having to part with some of his beard before joining in the hunt for Rose.
"So, still no luck?" Pete asked them, Mickey shaking his head.
"Because it's now getting stale," Alec told them. "People are not going to remember him over a week after the incident, if he's not been out again."
"How do you know he's not been out?" Mickey asked.
"Because there have been no unusual reports, have there?" Alec huffed, a bit annoyed no-one was keeping up with him, even he'd figured that one out. No reports since Kilgrave was spotted on Sunday morning meant he'd gone back to being a recluse and had only been going out those two mornings to get breakfast for Rose. That gave him an idea.
He suddenly reached for his phone to call Kate, not wanting to explain things twice.
"Detective Beckett, have there been any new missing persons reports?"
Everyone looked at him as he explained.
"So since he's only been seen those times, he's either been making breakfast or someone has done it for him and what about those two men who abducted her? What about other meals? He must have got a cook or a housekeeper, see if anyone has reported a wife or a mother going missing."
"That's a good idea Alec," Kate told him.
Alec was wondering why he was having to do all the thinking around here.
"Yes, well since no-one has reported throwing hot drinks on themselves lately, he must be holed up somewhere with her. How about in the evening?"
"What about evenings?" Ellie asked him.
"Well he may stick to going out in the evenings so tomorrow, have her photo put out to all the restaurants in the same area."
Castle was listening, wondering who Alec Hardy thought he was, bossing his wife around.
Kate thought he did have a point, it was her investigation but Alec Hardy was clearly in charge here and she had no way of stopping him.
"Ok then, we'll do that and the captain will put her photo out to the newspapers the day after, you know the worse it is the longer it's left."
"You don't have to remind me of that, Detective Beckett."
He thought she was having a go at him over Sandbrook and taking three days to find Pippa and a lot longer to find poor Lisa's body, not that Tess had said you could tell it was her after all that time apart from her clothes and forensic evidence, well that and Ricky Gillespie finally admitting that was where he had taken her after he declined to answer any of his questions.
Rose and Kilgrave got a taxi down-town to a fancy restaurant and enjoyed an evening out, Kilgrave even opting to pay, Rose noted. She was the one who had to pay though when they got back, Kilgrave making her take the lead again. She tried to delay him by taking her time unbuttoning his shirt, which he seemed to enjoy as she kissed his bare chest every button that came undone but he knew she was stalling.
"Come on Rose, playtime's over, you know what I want?"
"Yes Kevin, I know what you want and I'm gonna give it to you, I was just making it interesting."
"You're stalling kitten, get on with it."
Rose ran out of buttons anyway so she went for his trousers, a wicked grin on her face, well the best one she could muster anyway, she just hoped she was fooling him but it she wasn't rescued soon, she would get too dependant and the longer it would take her to get over him, if she ever did. She had been wishing Pete had never talked her into coming here now but she'd never been to New York, well only to new New York and that didn't count.
The next morning, Kilgrave kept the staff waiting while trying to get Rose interested in rubbing more than his back in the shower and Rose pretending she was still somewhat shy in that department but he wasn't interested in her excuses.
"I expect certain things Rose, you know that?" he asked her as he unwrapped her robe.
"I know Kevin, can you just give me a little more time? I mean touching you is one thing but what you're asking?"
"Come on, you mean you've never had a man wanting you to do that before?" he asked, only half believing this woman was so shy.
"I don't know what you've read about me Kevin but I'm not with a new man every week, I've barely met half of those who claim to have been out with me, I probably just passed them in the supermarket or at a charity event."
"I find that hard to believe Rose, a woman like you?"
"It's true Kevin, I'm not someone who plays around."
"That makes a change then, where have you been hiding yourself?"
She wanted to say in another universe and then trying her hardest to get back and narrowly missing finding the Doctor again but she knew she couldn't let on about any of it, what Kilgrave wouldn't do to get control of two universes, she dreaded to think of the consequences and if he really got into the Torchwood site, both universes would be in danger.
"Nowhere Kevin. Are we taking a shower?"
"I've changed my mind, you go first."
"But I wanted you to lather me in shower gel."
"Another time Rose, quit stalling and get your shower, after breakfast, I want into your file."
She knew she was on dangerous ground here and had to tread very carefully.
"Kevin, you're not mad at me are you?"
"I don't know Rose, should I be? I'll let you off this morning but tomorrow, you won't be so lucky so you'd better get used to it. Don't take long either or I won't take you out any more."
"Sorry Kevin. I won't be long."
Kilgrave let the staff in, one of the men had been to an all night store and was waiting with chocolates and roses, Kilgrave debating whether to just throw them away but left them on the table since they had run out of vases. He was just a little annoyed Rose hadn't wanted to share his fantasy of her doing things to him, Hope hadn't had a problem but there again, she had been completely under his control and now, he couldn't figure out how Rose was resisting this long, she must be very highly trained in mind-control.
The moment Rose had been dreading arrived but she didn't know Jake had intervened last night and had set up an extra layer of security on her personal file by asking for another password. Rose stared at the screen when she put her password in, without hesitation.
"What's this Rose? Why are you delaying, are you hiding something from me?"
"I offered to tell you about myself Kevin. No, it's just someone has put another password screen on since I last logged in, I can't get past it."
Kilgrave thought he should have known Pete Tyler had an idea why his stepdaughter had been taken.
"How perceptive of them then, very clever, your stepfather has anticipated why you disappeared but never mind, I have enough for now until you get me into the main site. Why are they separate anyway?"
"Not everything is on the side of the site meant for officials, not everything about me is in there anyway, do you want me to access the main site for you?"
"Won't they have done the same to that?"
"I don't think so, there are too many employees and they won't be expecting me to give in and get you into the files. I don't know why they put an extra password on this."
"Tomorrow then, get me in tomorrow."
Rose could only agree she would. While all that had been going on, Ellie had been dropped at the 12th precinct and Alec, having shaved off enough of his beard that he felt he'd not given in altogether and that was what Kilgrave would look like after two days of going without, he was out with Ryan and Esposito in the area where the accident took place.
They were just approaching the same news vendor whom Kilgrave had told to pour a hot drink on himself when the man was going to run until Ryan stopped him.
"Hey pal, it's ok, he's with us. Is this the man who told you to harm yourself?"
The other man nodded. "Yeah, that's him except the other guy wore purple, like I already told the officers. Who's he then?"
"A detective, we're with the NYPD," Esposito told him, flashing his badge and nudging Alec to do the same, was that how they did things in Britain?
"Do you remember anything else about the man?" Alec asked him, getting him a look from the news vendor at his accent.
The man shook his head, looking at his hand that was still bandaged from last week.
"Keep him away from me," he told Ryan, looking uncomfortable at Alec's presence. "The other guy though, he didn't sound like him. Looks like him though, apart from the suit," he repeated.
"That's because I am not him." Alec got his phone out with Rose's photo on it, he'd been staring at it before leaving his hotel room.
"Was this woman with him?"
"No, I'd remember a dame like that. He was on his own then when I told him to put the magazine down, he told me to pour coffee on myself and I felt like I had to."
Alec was interested in knowing just how Kilgrave managed to do that.
"So, what happened after that?"
"I called my pal over to watch the stand while I went to the free clinic on 4th street to get my hand bandaged."
"So you did not see him argue with another man by the intersection then?"
The man shook his head, thinking how many customers he'd just lost with three detectives just standing there as only passers-by with the correct change were using the box to throw money into for the morning paper.
"Thanks for your help pal," Ryan told him.
"Always happy to help the NYPD," was the reply, although he was half-hearted about it, since he'd lost money.
The three detectives walked away, each with Rose's photo and asking people passing by if they had seen her in the last few days. Mickey and Jake were back in the hotel, going over news sites for any reported incidents that hadn't reached the police and getting nowhere.
"We should be out there," Mickey was telling Jake. "Why can't she just log into that fake site and we can go find her?"
"Calm down mate, it won't do her any good if she rushes him. She'll know what he's after and she'll know seeming too keen will make him suspicious, she'll just go at his pace. We'll find her."
"Yeah, it's just getting to me Jake, I should have come over with them, then this would never have happened."
"Don't beat yourself up over it, no-one knew this was gonna happen. She could have still gone off on her own."
"No she wouldn't. I wonder how Pete's getting on?"
Pete was facing his wife again, this time via video conference and it wasn't going too well.
"Let me come over Pete, I'm going crazy on my own."
"I know Jackie. I'll arrange a flight for you on Saturday if we don't find her by Friday."
"Well I'll have to settle for that then, wont I? I almost lost her before Pete, when she went back for the Doctor but you brought her back to me."
"Yeah and I'll do it again Jackie, I promise I'll bring her home, almost the entire police department are on the lookout for her now, Mickey and Jake are searching news and social media sites and Castle is following leads on his own from people who won't talk to the police."
"What about those two English detectives you got sent over?"
"Well DS Miller is at the precinct and Hardy is out with two detectives, seeing if he jogs anyone's memory."
"I still can't believe he looks like you know who, imagine that?"
"Yeah, well her abductor looking like him isn't helping her either. I'll call you tonight love and don't worry, get ready to pack a bag just in case."
He didn't really want his wife to travel all that way on her own and to leave Tony with the staff but she wouldn't be put off any longer. Jackie and Rose were very close and he knew it.
Alec and the two other detectives had moved to the two places Kilgrave had been to buy food and only got what Jake and Mickey had although the girl who had served Kilgrave ran into the back when Alec walked in. Once outside, Alec remarked about it.
"She seemed spooked, maybe we should get Miller down to talk to her?"
"Yeah, I'll arrange for it," Ryan replied.
Back at the precinct, Kate and Ellie were talking. "You must be missing your sons Ellie?"
"Yeah but at least they're with my sister though until lately, my youngest spent more time with his childminder than with me and Tom went to live with her after my husband got arrested."
"I read about that but you seemed to have coped well with it."
"I had no choice really. Hardy kept me going through the trial, I would have fallen apart and he knew it, he gave me something else to focus on than my own misery."
It was the first time she'd admitted that to herself, let alone a stranger and she'd certainly never tell Hardy himself.
Rose's photo was all over the place now as officers left leaflets in every store in the area and Kate had insisted they left them in the area near the hotel, in case she wasn't that far away from where she was taken from. By the end of the day, everyone was back in the precinct, Ellie had been to the café but got nothing out of the young woman, Kate believing she was too scared he would go back in, after her reaction to Alec.
"Don't you think Rose is going to have the same reaction to Hardy?" Castle asked innocently.
Alec looked at him. "I think with her, it will be a different reaction. He will have got close to her, got her to trust him and when she's taken away from him, that may do the most harm."
Pete had been afraid of that. "Well I'll have the best therapists on standby, to help her get over her ordeal."
"Hardy will probably be the one she reacts to most of all, even over therapists," Ellie stated, amused why anyone would take to him, even her own sister.
"Then if that's what it takes, I will be only too happy to help, if she does not run away from me. What about the media?" he asked Kate.
"We're gonna keep it to a minimum, once we find her and not give too many details. We'll just get Rose to issue a short statement, which will be read out for her, have a few photo taken and that will be it. The captain will give the go-ahead in the morning and it will go out in the second edition and on the radio and TV bulletins. If Kilgrave is watching or listening, we'll just have to take the risk."
In Alec's mind, they were running a week late and it wasn't before time they concentrated on Rose, not Kilgrave. He just hoped she wouldn't be too traumatised by her ordeal that she would go for him with a vengeance.
Castle was watching with amusement at Alec squirming, the guy looked totally different with his hair combed back and hardly two days growth of beard. The resemblance to the composite sketch was remarkable.
"So Alec, how did people react to you then?"
"Does it really matter Castle?"
Ryan and Esposito were grinning.
"Aw, he made everyone run a mile, didn't he Espo?" Ryan asked his partner.
"Yeah, the girl in the café dived for cover."
"I know, I went back to see her, remember?" Ellie laughed. "Seriously though, she's scared about something. Maybe when she hears it on TV and radio, she might come forward."
"That was the idea, people coming forward," Alec stated, still watching Castle with interest.
He wasn't used to having civilians around while he was working and certainly not one who was a writer. Alec thought he would be more than happy once this all went public but was hoping Pete Tyler wouldn't have to either pay a reward for her safe return or tell her mother he had failed. That was unthinkable to him now, Lisa being found all that time after her disappearance had changed him.
Ellie saw the look on his face, it was telling on him after Sandbrook finally being resolved. She just hoped Rose wouldn't take to him, for her own sake, Alec Hardy was damaged but there again, so would Rose by the time they found her.
"Are you going to offer a reward for information?" Ellie asked Pete.
"No, let's see how it goes tomorrow first before mentioning any rewards."
"I agree with Mr Tyler," Alec told them. "It will just bring everyone out of the woodwork with false sightings, let's wait for a while."
I agree with you," Kate told them. "Let's see what comes of the press statement, Captain Gates has already prepared what we want to release, along with her photo, we're not putting Kilgrave's name in it just yet, in case he sees it and he makes his move against Torchwood."
"We're already prepared for that Kate, Jake has put an extra password on Rose's file within the site meant for officials but just in case Rose is forced to get him into the real site, Kilgrave won't get too deep, we have someone monitoring it constantly and it will shut down the entire system, which we hope it won't come to but Kilgrave will know we're onto him and we may force his hand."
"It may be more dangerous for Rose, if Kilgrave is forced into something Pete," Castle offered.
Alec felt like saying they already knew that, it was a dangerous game they were playing and he didn't like it one bit. Alec really wished they had tea in the break room and looked around. Castle got up and offered him a cup of coffee, which he accepted with half a smile.
"Sorry we have no tea Alec," Castle apologised, everyone looking at him.
"We'll all meet back here in the morning then. Alec, are you still prepared to go back out tomorrow?" Kate asked him.
Alec was trying not to pull a face at the coffee, which he was not enjoying.
"Yes, whatever it takes to find her, even if it means people running away from me. We have to double our efforts now. What are your two associates doing Mr Tyler?"
"Jake and Mickey are monitoring news and social media sites, as are operatives back in London, for anything regarding Kilgrave and who he may really be, we're almost certain that's not his real name though how long he's been in New York, we have no idea or how he got here. If we were back in London, someone may have recognised his accent."
"Well I got some funny looks today," Alec told him. "Everyone seemed to know I was not English so if Kilgrave has spoken to anyone, we know he is definitely English so the online search can be narrowed down somewhat. What about immigration?"
"We're already onto that Alec," Kate answered him. "It depends if he's here on a visa and if indeed he's changed his name, it's making it really difficult."
Everyone left the precinct after Ryan said he'd pick them up in the morning and Alec had said he would go out with them again but it was all down to the media now. A city-wide broadcast would be made tomorrow morning on all radio and TV Channels plus all the newspapers and it that didn't catch Kilgrave's attention the police meant business and force him to make his move against Torchwood or at least make an attempt, then nothing would.
As they rode back to the hotel, Alec was wondering why indeed Kilgrave had not already made an attempt at the takeover, was it because he wanted Rose's company so badly now or was there another reason, like getting both the public and private side of Torchwood but why would he bother with trivial matters involving the public when he could have all their secrets? Could it be Kilgrave thought the public didn't report things and posted them online and they were much more interesting?
As they entered the hotel, Alec was still puzzled as to why the doorman had seen nothing of Rose's abduction. This was getting to him now as much as when Lisa was missing, it was getting personal and he was more determined than ever Rose was going to be found alive and reasonably well as opposed to all the speculation he and Ellie Miller had come up with whilst trying to end the Sandbrook investigation, he did not want to tell another mother that her daughter had been lost forever.
He thought he was over blaming himself for what happened in Sandbrook, perhaps now he had to admit he still felt some failure and finding Rose Tyler would finally give him some peace.