"Ah, my daughter, Daisy," Alec felt Daisy put her arm in his.
"Hi, nice to finally see ya," Rose greeted the teenager.
"I thought I'd never get here," Daisy was all excited. "This place is enormous," she glanced behind her at the mansion.
"Yeah, I still get lost sometimes," Rose laughed as Tess approached.
"Nice to meet you Miss Tyler," Tess came forward, feeling left out and Alec was still staring at Rose.
Tess knew she was going to have more trouble with him than Daisy, he wasn't going to be giving her any attention, it was all on the bride to be. Maybe the Vitex heiress would mistake him for the groom, if Alec was actually going to shave for the actual wedding.
"Well, come inside then, I was just looking at the marquee," Rose tore her glance away from Alec. "Someone will get your luggage for ya. Your dress is in your room Daisy, try it on and if there's any problems, we can get them sorted. Come down to the kitchen when you're all ready, we'll be having afternoon tea soon, before the party."
Alec handed his car key to one of the male staff who had come out and followed the others inside, Daisy still staring at the open reception area and the ornate staircase. He decided Tess could explain their sleeping arrangements, there was no way he was sleeping in the same room just to keep up the illusion they were still married.
Tess held Alec back before following their luggage upstairs.
"I'll get Daisy's dress out of the room meant for her," she told him.
"Fine Tess, we may as well admit our arrangement," Alec replied as he went off, seeing Rose disappear around a corner.
"I saw the way you looked at her Alec, she's getting married tomorrow, that's why we're here," Tess reminded him.
Alec wasn't about to admit it so he went upstairs after Daisy, who was waiting for them.
"I think I'll get lost around here Dad," Daisy admitted.
"Don't go wandering into the wrong room," Alec warned her. "We don't know if anyone else has been invited to stay over who's invited to the party tonight."
"She will be with me," Tess reminded him. "We won't be staying up too late anyway."
Alec thought that was a good one for her, she was always hanging on until the last minute if they'd been invited anywhere. It was like she was afraid of missing something. Then he'd realised she was just delaying going home because she was seeing Dave.
Rose had caught up with Jamie and they'd gone into the conservatory.
"Hey, getting the wedding jitters yet?" Rose teased him as they sat on the wicker sofa.
"Rose, I don't get the jitters, as you call it," Jamie insisted. "Why are we hiding away?"
"Because mum will drive us nuts if we show up early for tea," Rose told him.
"Ah, good point then," Jamie laughed as he sneaked a kiss. "Well, this is it."
"Yeah, just think," Rose had a big grin on her face. "At least my head bridesmaid arrived, I hope the others do."
"Don't worry Rose, what teenage girl wouldn't kill to have got such an honour?" he reminded her.
"Do ya know what's sad though?" Rose asked him. "The girl who got killed, I'm sure she was the one whose mother refused to let her be one of the bridesmaids. I'm pretty sure she was, we thought it funny Daisy came from the same town."
"Sorry love," Jamie sympathised, knowing all the trouble she'd gone to just to select three girls out of all those readers of that magazine.
"I hope her mother doesn't remember," Rose told him, their arms around each other.
"I wouldn't have thought so," Jamie agreed.
Cate Gillespie had remembered that she'd banned Pippa from entering that competition, then she'd found out Lisa had helped her. Ricky had wanted to know what was wrong that same morning, though he was on the verge of moving out.
"Out with it Cate, you've been acting funny the last few days. Do you know something I don't?" he'd asked before going off to work.
"How can you go to work Ricky, when Lisa's still missing?" she wanted to know. "Do you think they'd still be here if we'd not gone to that wedding?"
"I don't know Cate," he told her.
Would they have still gone next door and would he have still caught Lisa having sex with Lee? He might not have lashed out and killed Lisa by accident and would have taken Pippa home instead of leaving Claire to deal with her. He knew Claire and Lee had killed her, despite what they'd said.
"Where did you get to all that night?" Cate suddenly asked him. "I never saw you."
"You were in no state to see anyone Cate," Ricky replied. "I was there."
"You can't prove that," Cate told him.
"Don't be stupid Cate, the police have already asked you where I was, you said I was with you," he reminded her.
"What was I supposed to tell them?" Cate wanted to know. "That you were probably off chasing one of the guests or bridesmaids? I saw you sneaking that flask of yours to the wedding."
"How would you know what I was doing that night?" he replied. "Why didn't you call Lisa and made sure she hadn't taken Pippa next door?"
"She still wouldn't have taken any notice," Cate insisted. "If she wanted to see Lee, she wouldn't have left Pippa on her own, you know she was devoted to Pippa. No, she would have taken Pippa with her, probably put her into their spare room, if Claire had been out."
"Didn't Claire tell the police she was in all night?" Ricky remembered Tess saying something about it.
"I thought I could trust her, so what the hell happened Ricky?" Cate asked, filling her glass again.
"Well the police aren't doing much now," Ricky reminded her. "I heard Tess say something about going to a wedding this weekend."
"Well it's hardly likely to be that Rose Tyler's wedding," Cate laughed. Then she went serious. "Ricky, Pippa would have been going to it if I'd not stopped her."
"What?" Ricky stopped what he was doing. "Why would Pippa have been going? What did Lisa put in her head?"
"It wasn't Lisa, not at first. There was a competition in that magazine she used to get Lisa to buy her. It was to be one of Rose Tyler's bridesmaids," Cate started to tell him. "She went behind my back and got Lisa to sign for her and she won. I got a call a while back and I went crazy about it and said Pippa couldn't go."
"Why did you never tell me?" Ricky wanted to know.
"Would you have been bothered?" Cate replied. "We'd have been invited as well but I was so annoyed about Lisa pretending to be me."
"Why was there even a competition, can't Rose Tyler even get her own bridesmaids?" Ricky asked. "Pippa never even mentioned it to me."
"Would you have let her go?" Cate looked at him.
"Maybe not, if you'd already said no," Ricky replied.
"You always gave in when I said no," Cate reminded him.
"Does it matter now?" Ricky was getting annoyed.
"Maybe it would have made a big difference if I'd let her go to that wedding?" Cate wondered as she took a sip from the glass.
"We'll never know, will we?" Ricky told her as he left her to drown her sorrows again.
He went outside just as Claire was coming out of next door.
"Ricky," she called to him.
"What do you want Claire?" he asked, not wanting to talk to her.
"Have you been told anything else?" Claire wanted to know.
"Why would we when Lee's still free?" Ricky snapped.
"I told you what happened," Claire reminded him.
"Do you know how hard it is, telling the police I have no idea who left Pippa in the woods?" he asked her. "I could have talked to her, got her to believe she was dreaming it."
"How could you be so sure?" Claire asked him. "It was your idea to give her that stuff anyway."
"Stay away from us Claire," he warned her.
Claire watched him drive off, just as Lee was coming out.
"What was wrong with you last night?' Lee complained.
"I was feeling off," Claire used the excuse.
"Not another monthly? I swear you have two every month. You're not pregnant are you?"
"What? You must be joking Lee, you were more into borrowing kids than having your own," she replied.
"I was joking Claire," he grinned. "Don't have that female detective asking you questions when I'm not there," Lee reminded her.
"I can't help it if she keeps coming into the salon," Claire reminded him. "You never know, she might be having some time off. I remember Pippa was all excited about that big celebrity wedding, it's this weekend."
"So it's being televised," Lee joked.
"No, Pippa wanted to be a bridesmaid, I bet she would have won as well, it Cate hadn't been so mean not letting her," Claire replied.
"How do you know Pippa didn't enter?" Lee asked. "Maybe the detective's girl entered and she won? That would get them away for the weekend."
"You wish," Claire laughed as she got into the car.
"Who said I was giving you a lift?" Lee turned serious.
He did remember Cate mentioning it a while ago, how was he supposed to know when it was?
Daisy was trying her dress on after they'd finished their afternoon tea, seeing Rose and her family weren't stuck up at all and Alec noticing how much attention the groom was giving the bride to be that he dare not even look at her for more than a second.
He didn't even know what had come over him. He was left in the dining room with Pete, Jamie and Tony as the ladies went off.
"You both look like each other," Tony laughed as he went to sit on Jamie's lap. "Jamie's gonna be my new big brother, aren't you Jamie," he glanced up as Jamie ruffled his hair.
"You seem very happy about that," Alec told the boy. "Are you going to be a pageboy?"
"Nope, I get to hold the rings," Tony beamed. "Jamie, did Rose tell you how good I was at it?"
"Sure she did sport," Jamie replied. "We're both proud of you."
"Want to play with my race track?" Tony then asked Jamie.
"Tony, don't be rude, we have guests," Pete reminded him.
"Rose will be ages," Tony laughed. "Want to come with us?" he asked Pete then Alec.
"No, you go ahead, I have to call Jake about the final security arrangements for tomorrow," Pete told them. "That's if you don't mind Alec?"
"Sure, lead the way Tony," Alec replied, not wanting to be left on his own, the women were bound to take their time discussing dresses.
Jamie wasn't sure about Alec. Not only did they look alike apart from Alec's beard and their hairstyles but he was sure the detective was looking at Rose a bit more than he should be. No, he had to forget about it, Rose was just being friendly to the whole Hardy family. She had answered all the questions her head bridesmaid had thrown at her and Alec had been paying attention but that was all.
Rose was right, he couldn't pick a fight with every male who lined up to kiss the bride after the wedding tomorrow. Tomorrow, Rose would be all his and she would finally be giving in to him. He'd agreed they would wait for their wedding night and had bought her a very special present of expensive lingerie and matching nightwear made of pure satin and lace. He couldn't wait to see her in it and hoped she'd allow him to take photos of her wearing it.
Jackie was fussing over Daisy's bridesmaid's dress and Tess was trying to stop herself taking over. She wanted to find fault with the mother of the bride but hadn't managed it yet.
"Do I look okay?" Daisy asked Tess then turned to Rose and Jackie.
"You look lovely," Rose smiled. "Tess, can I talk to you a minute?"
Leaving Daisy and Jackie, Rose closed the room door.
"That girl who was killed, I'm sure she was almost chosen to be one of my bridesmaids," she admitted.
"Oh. Her mother never mentioned it," Tess replied.
"Well maybe she wanted to forget about it, under the circumstances," Rose told Tess. "The magazine editor rang Pippa's mother and Pippa hadn't got her permission to enter. Someone else must have signed for her."
"It was probably her cousin, they were very close," Tess revealed.
"Oh. You don't think that was anything to do with what happened?" Rose was horrified. "I mean, maybe Pippa was going to run away because the wedding was getting nearer and she wouldn't be attending."
"Rose, it's not your fault," Tess tried to tell her. "Don't think that. Things were complicated in that family, trust me."
"Well it just occurred to me, when I heard the news, that it was the same girl. Things have been really hectic," Rose admitted. "Tess, if there's anything I can do, please let me know. Will you give the girl's mother my best wishes and tell her I'm so sorry for her loss?"
"Of course I will, though whether she remembers or not," Tess replied.
"When you catch who's responsible, will you let me know when Pippa's funeral is?" Rose asked. "So I can send flowers."
"I will, I promise. We're getting new leads all the time," Tess told her. "Don't blame yourself, we have a pretty good idea what happened. Her cousin wouldn't have let Pippa run away."
"I can't imagine what the family are going through," Rose added. "What about Lisa's family?"
"They're split up, we're doing everything we can to find Lisa and we're keeping her mother updated," Tess replied. wondering why she was discussing the case with Rose.
"Don't say anything to your husband, will ya?" Rose then smiled. "I don't want him thinking bad of me for Pippa being out of the contest."
"He won't and besides, we don't talk much outside of work, we're separated," Tess admitted.
Why was she telling Rose all this? Rose reached out and put her hand on Tess's arm.
"Sorry to hear that Tess. How's Daisy taken it?" Rose sympathised.
"Fairly well, so far," Tess admitted. "We're just keeping up appearances, we both promised we'd see her be your bridesmaid."
"She'll wonder where we've got to," Rose smiled, putting her arm in Tess's.
Tony was leading Alec and Jamie into the large attic that had his race track and train set spread all around. He'd wanted more track but Pete was running out of places to expand so some careful planning had to take place. As they reached the first floor landing and crossing to the attic stairs, Alec had seen Rose and Tess talking, then Rose link her arm with Tess's.
They seemed to be getting on well, maybe it was just him Tess didn't get on with then? Who would have thought Tess would make friends with the bride? He himself couldn't find fault with the would-be groom, Rose's younger brother seemed to idolise him but the way Rose looked at Jamie, he felt slightly jealous.
He had to get any ideas out of his head for tomorrow or he'd be the head of the queue waiting to kiss the bride and would probably get a warning from her new husband. Maybe it would be worth it? After Tony had gone to bed, he bumped into Tess as he was going back downstairs, Jamie telling him to join the party just after seven thirty.
Tess had been to get changed but Daisy hadn't wanted to wait for her and had already gone.
"What did you and Rose Tyler find to talk about?" Alec wanted to know. "Did you let Daisy go down on her own?"
"Stop all the questions Alec," Tess warned him. "We were just talking, mostly about Daisy," she bluffed.
She wasn't going to bother telling him about Pippa almost being a bridesmaid. If she'd been allowed to attend, maybe she wouldn't have got herself killed. Alec wouldn't be interested anyway, it had no bearing on the case now.
"You were the one who didn't want to come," she reminded him.
"We could have set off early tomorrow," Alec huffed. "All the other guests arrive then."
"I told you Alec, it was part of Daisy's prize, don't go spoiling it for her."
He shook his head and followed her downstairs, looking around and seeing people standing in the reception area holding drinks and a few serving staff going around. It made him shiver involuntary, wondering what had brought on the vision of the Cybermen going around electrocuting everyone.
It had been a long time since those monsters had made their escape and nobody had been bothered how they'd disappeared. He'd never been here before in his life so how could he picture the scenario? The other question was, how had he also seen Rose standing in a waitress uniform for just a moment, standing next to a man who look like himself all that time ago. No, he was certain where he'd been that night – on duty and waiting for any reports the Cybermen were going to invade outside London when they'd been put on alert.
The police in London were trying to cope with widespread reports all over the capital as word had got out. He shook the thoughts from his mind when he saw Rose, in a light blue evening dress holding onto Jamie's arm as he was talking to someone. Was she even aware what effect she had on men? More importantly, what effect she had on him and he had no business letting her get to him.
He took a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and looked around for Daisy, seeing Tess had found her so he thought he'd catch up with his daughter later. Then Rose, who had got tired of Jamie talking to a friend of Pete's and was walking around called him from behind.
"Hi, glad you could join us," she told him.
Had she thought he'd declined to attend, he wondered.
"I thought this was a small party?" he asked her.
"This is small, compared to one of my mother's usual ones," Rose laughed. "You have a great daughter Alec, she's lovely. Wait until you see her in her dress tomorrow, you'll be really proud of her."
"I'm sure I will," Alec agreed. "You seemed to have lost your fiancé," he nodded to where Jamie was still in conversation.
"Sheesh, he'll be there all night, trust me," Rose smiled from behind her glass as she took a drink. "No-one can talk like he can. He's worse than a friend of mine used to be."
Rose had looked around to see if Mickey had decided to attend, she'd made sure he'd got an invitation to both events. She had told her mother she could at least invite him to the wedding, then it was up to him.
Alec wondered if the man would miss her if she wandered off. Who was he kidding, why would she wander off? Her mother was probably keeping an eye on her.
"Can I ask something?" Rose interrupted his thoughts. "It's just Jamie won't have a lot of people sitting on his side tomorrow. Would ya tell whoever's doing the seating you're on the groom's side? That's if ya don't mind?"
"Sure, I would not mind what side we sit on," Alec replied, hoping Tess would go sit on Rose's side.
"Aw, thanks. Tess told me you're separated, sorry," Rose replied.
"She did?" Alec asked, a bit surprised. "Ah, I saw you both talking earlier. I was on my way to play on your brother's racetrack."
"He roped ya in then?" Rose thought it was amusing. "He gets Jamie every time. He thinks the world of Tony and Tony him, they're already like brothers. Jamie grew up on his own and he lost his parents when he was a teenager. He went to live with relatives and he started being interested in alien stuff. It took his mind off it."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Alec told her. "I also grew up on my own, my parents used to argue a lot, even on holiday. I remember one year, we travelled all the way down to the south-west coast for a camping holiday and I used to hide away under the cliffs. I could never remember the name of the place," he admitted.
"Maybe ya might remember one day," Rose smiled. "Ya might even visit it again."
"Ah, I have to find out who killed that young girl first," Alec replied.
"Yeah, it was sad. I hope ya catch the person Alec," Rose told him. "Ah, looks like I might have got Jamie back? The other bloke must have run out of conversation, it wouldn't have been Jamie who ended it."
"It was nice talking to you Rose, all the best for tomorrow," Alec replied as Jamie joined them.
"There you are sweetheart," Jamie greeted her by kissing her cheek. "Blimey, we look a lot alike. Rose, don't walk off with the wrong one tomorrow will you?"
"No chance," Rose laughed as she looped her free arm in Jamie's. "I was just telling Alec his daughter's lovely, she looks great in her dress."
"Excuse us Alec, Rose owes me a dance. Come on sweetheart," Jamie told her as Alec heard music from another room.
"Bye Alec, enjoy the party," Rose told him as Jamie was about to lead her off. "I hope we can have a dance at the wedding."
Alec watched them walk off, arm in arm and felt even more jealous. How was he going to survive tomorrow? Now, he wished Daisy had never entered that contest and Tess actually agree to let her.
"Something wrong Alec?" Tess asked as she joined him.
"No, why should there be?" Alec replied. "Where's Daisy?"
"Talking to that blonde man over there but she's barking up the wrong tree," Tess was actually smiling.