Why couldn't he stop thinking about her? Jamie finally got home but used the excuse he'd lost track of time, which Rose had to believe. They set off the following morning and were soon checking into the hotel and Rose wanted to go explore the pier and the rides at the end.
"We should have brought Tony," Jamie remarked as most of the rides were closed until later in the afternoon.
"Maybe another time we can just come for the day?" Rose wondered, disappointed she had to wait to go on the Ferris Wheel.
She thought that was just typical of him. He spent far too much time with her younger brother at weekends. He should be concentrating on having kids of his own. The weekend didn't go too badly, they went off the following day then were preparing to leave on the Monday morning.
"If you're going to be unpacking and doing the laundry, I may as well go to work," Jamie decided. "I don't want to get in the way."
Rose knew he was like The Doctor, he didn't do domestics very well and she'd had to train him to work the washing machine more than once.
"Fine but don't work late again, will ya?" Rose asked him.
"Don't worry about it Rose, if I'm not back, I have a lot of work to do," he replied.
Was work becoming more important than her or thinking of starting a family? While their love life was really good when they got to bed, she wasn't sure why he always seemed to hold back but put it down to him being tired.
Alec hadn't had a very good weekend. He'd had problems with a man claiming to have been contacted by the murdered boy and had thought maybe he was justified calling Torchwood so he took a gamble when he got back to the office of calling Rose's work number but was told she wasn't available.
He thought maybe she was busy or seeing her parents and didn't want to try her personal number. Why she'd given it to Daisy, he didn't know but he had sneakily got it from his daughter on the pretence of having it were Daisy to accidentally delete it.
It wasn't any better for him on Monday morning, having his DS do a briefing to new staff, which he thought wasn't very inspiring and told her so afterwards.
"Don't do that to me again," Ellie Miller complained as he made himself a drink.
"Well you wanted to be in charge," Alec reminded her. "What time is Mark Latimer coming in?"
"Why did you call him in?" she wanted to know. "Do you know what it's doing to the family?"
"He won't give his whereabouts for when his son was killed," Alec replied. "That worries me that he can't remember who he was with."
"He's confused, what do you expect?" Ellie asked him. "He got confused with the night he was working late."
"Well, to change from working to going out with a mate whose name he can't remember is strange," Alec told her. "Tell me when he arrives."
He went back to his office and started to find Rose's number in his contacts. Would she be annoyed and tell him to call Torchwood? He backed out and dialled the number he'd found for the reception, asking if they had anyone who could deal with psychics.
"Yes, we have agents who deal with them," he was told. "What can we help you with?"
Alec explained what they'd been told by the telephone engineer on Saturday and that if he had any more trouble, he could call for someone to deal with the man.
"Then if you call back, we can have someone with you in a few hours. Just give us the details," the woman told him.
"Thank you. I don't suppose Miss Tyler deals with this kind of thing?" he asked hopefully. "I know her through my daughter, who was one of Miss Tyler's bridesmaids."
"I'm sorry, Miss Tyler is on leave until tomorrow but she doesn't deal with your kind of problem. I can tell her you called when she gets back," the woman suggested.
"No, leave it for now. I'm sure your agents can deal with the problem," Alec decided.
No, he didn't have the courage to call her after all. What was wrong with him? It wasn't like he was asking her on a date or anything but calling her because something was beyond him seemed trivial. Ellie knocked on the door to tell him that Mark Latimer was downstairs and in an interview room.
"Are you making this formal?" Ellie wanted to know, looking displeased with him that he'd dared to include the boy's father as a suspect.
"If I have to," he replied, pressing the lift button and Ellie thinking he was being lazy since they were only going down one floor.
"Had you heard of that psychic before?" he asked her as the stepped into the lift, pressing the ground floor button, twice Ellie noticed.
"Why would I? He's not a local," Ellie replied. "You do know the town consists of more than the harbour?"
Alec shook his head as the lift arrived in reception and Ellie got out first. The interview with Mark Latimer didn't go well, with him being detained while they went off to see Nigel Carter, whom Mark had called earlier to give him an alibi, since he'd been with the local hotel owner on the night in question, in the back of her tiny car.
Ellie had gone inside to calm Nigel's mother down while Alec tried to get the truth out of the man. Ellie soon learned Nigel was making up a story to cover for his boss.
"Stop messing about Nigel," Ellie faced the two men who were going head to head. "Your mother said you only went out for last orders."
"I think you had better come with us," Alec told Nigel.
So, not only had Alec to deal with the phone engineer, he had to deal with a cover-up and couldn't call Torchwood over this one. When Mark was detained overnight for not being willing to say who he was really with, he finally got back to his hotel, wishing he had someone to talk to.
He bet Rose would understand his problem. He hadn't wanted to lock the boy's father up but he'd had no choice. The chief had questioned him about it but he'd persuaded her he needed to get to the truth and it was only about who was where on the night in question.
Jamie had buried himself in his work, not really in the mood for it but it was better than facing Rose. Yes, the weekend hadn't been too bad but he knew she'd had other things on her mind, like planning a family and Alec Hardy, who by the sound of it was having a rough time. He'd accessed the police website to get more news than the public did and knew if Rose had done the same, she'd pack up and go to help the detective.
Why had the man's daughter been chosen as a bridesmaid, then been invited to stay the weekend? Maybe he should just go and leave her to it? He could go to a hotel tonight, then go get his stuff when Rose set off for work the next morning? He needed to think about this and he didn't think he could just come out and accuse Rose of having her mind on Alec Hardy and not him.
Jackie would take Rose's side so there was no point in talking to her and Pete would also take Rose's side. He packed his stuff from his desk and left just after nine before security threw him out, probably on Rose's orders. He handed his ID in at the desk, not that he usually did but the man behind it said nothing.
Getting into his car, he stopped to locate a nearby hotel and made sure they had vacancies. He would decide what to do in the morning so checking in and getting his key-card, he entered the room and lay on the bed.
When Jamie didn't return by nine, Rose started to call him to see where he was. All she got was his recorded message, Jamie ignoring it when he saw her name come up. She waited another two hours, then decided to go to bed, thinking he really was stuck at work and forgotten to get himself home. She was sure he'd wake her up when he crawled into bed.
The next morning, Rose really did wonder where he was and tried calling him again but thought he would probably be using the facilities at Torchwood to freshen himself up but when she got there, he wasn't at his desk so she called Jake to ask if he'd seen him.
"He didn't go home?" Jake almost didn't believe her. "Sorry, I've not seen him this morning." Then he realised what had been in the papers the last few days. "He saw the news then?"
"Don't you start Jake," Rose told him. "He mentioned it a few times over the weekend and ya know we went off for a few days."
"Tell me you never went there," Jake had to laugh.
"Stop it Jake, it's not funny," Rose scalded him.
"Sorry. I can put out for anyone who sees him to tell him to switch his phone on?" Jake suggested.
"No, it's okay, I'll give him a bit longer Jake. He's probably sulking if Alec Hardy's in the news again. What is it with him?" Rose wondered.
"Ya know it's the jealousy bug Rose," Jake reminded her. "You'd best tell Pete that there could be a problem or do ya want me to tell him?" he offered.
"No, it's okay, I'll go up and see him and Jamie had better be here when I get back," Rose replied.
She went up to Pete's office and his secretary told her to go right in.
"Had a good weekend?" Pete greeted her as Rose helped herself to coffee.
"Yeah, apart from a certain person deciding to hit the headlines," Rose sighed as she sat on the leather couch.
Pete got up to join her.
"Come on Rose, what's going on?" he asked her. "Is Jamie that jealous?"
"I thought he was over it Dad," Rose replied.
"I saw Alec coming from the direction of your room that morning," Pete revealed.
"What?" Rose was concerned. "What do ya mean by that Dad?"
"Calm down Rose, I was just saying," Pete defended himself. "What if Jamie found out?"
"Dad, Alec was only looking for Jamie and Tony, mum had sent him to get them," Rose explained.
"See, you could have said," Pete smiled and squeezed her hand when she put the coffee mug on the table.
"What was I supposed to say that morning?" Rose asked him.
"Never mind, I doubt anyone saw Alec apart from me so Jamie couldn't have found out," Pete replied. "What about later? I noticed Alec was watching Tony during the service. Was there anything else?"
Rose dare not admit Alec was talking to her in the conservatory. What would he make of that if he was already suspicious, she decided.
"Just later, we were messin' around taking photos with Daisy and Alec came to find her," was all she would admit. "Geez, Jamie couldn't have been jealous of that, could he?"
"I don't know Rose, really I don't. Look, if Jamie's not around by this afternoon, I'll get some agents on it. I was going to call you anyway, it seems Alec Hardy called reception over the weekend and yesterday. Seems he has a problem with a local telephone engineer who thinks he was contacted by the dead boy."
"Seriously?" Rose tried not to laugh. "Has anyone gone down there?"
"No, not yet and don't get any ideas Rose, it's not your field of expertise," Pete reminded her. "I did ask the weekend staff and apparently on Saturday, he called your work number. Did you give him it?"
"He may have got it from Daisy," Rose admitted. "Why would he call me on a Saturday?"
"You tell me," Pete smiled. "Does Jamie have a reason to be even more jealous?"
"Dad, how was I to know Alec was gonna get my number from Daisy?" Rose asked him. "Why would he ask for me?"
Pete thought it was fairly obvious but Rose couldn't see it.
"Rose. Are you sure you have nothing else to tell me?" Pete asked her again. "You may as well admit anything, if you want me to help you. There has to be a reason Jamie would go missing."
"We don't know he's actually missing Dad," Rose told him.
"If he's not answering his phone to you," Pete replied. "Tell me Rose, did something else take place that day?"
"I was in the conservatory when things were winding down," Rose started to tell him. "Alec wandered in, looking for Daisy and we talked for a few seconds, then he left."
"Why couldn't you have said that?" Pete wanted to know. "Rose, if you're going to be secretive, no wonder Jamie's jealous."
"Dad, Jamie came in a few minutes later and said he'd seen Alec leaving," Rose revealed.
Pete shook his head.
"Rose, you knew Jamie was already jealous," he reminded her.
"I told him Alec was only looking for Daisy. Then we went to where the disco was and joined her and Jamie was taking photos," Rose told him. "I thought Jamie was over it, then Alec was in the news."
"Sorry but it seems to me that Jamie's just cooling down instead of arguing," Pete suggested.
"I hope you're right Dad," Rose leaned on his shoulder. "I really thought it was because Alec looked like him."
"It may have started out as that," Pete replied. "Goodness knows what it is now. Why don't you go home? I'll get someone to drive you."
When she'd collected her things, an agent was waiting to drive her home, another car following them. She wondered if she should call Alec and ask him why he called her and that she wasn't the person to help him. She should forget about him altogether if she had any sense but something was stopping her.
She thanked the agent and went up to the apartment, narrowly missing Jamie. She didn't think of checking the bedroom and if she had done, she would have seen most of his clothes were gone, not that he had much in his wardrobe anyway.
She finally went to bed, after pacing up and down with her phone in her hand, hoping Jamie would call even if it was just to say he'd be back in a few days.
Alec of course had no idea what was going on. Then a few days later, he'd had to warn the psychic about bothering Beth Latimer when she insisted he listened to the man. He'd had Ellie checking up on the man and while she was telling a distraught Beth, he spoke harshly to the phone engineer.
"Get in your van and drive away and do not bother the Latimers again, do you understand?" he asked the man.
"I needed you to listen to me," the man repeated.
"Leave now before I call someone who can really deal with you," Alec promised, tempted to make the call right now.
Then the man looked at him.
"You've been here before," he said to Alec.
"What does that mean?" Alec wanted to know.
"Just that and she forgives you, about the pendant," the man replied.
Alec thought everyone knew about his last failed case so he brushed the man off, grabbing his arm as the man protested.
"Pete here is going to escort you to your vehicle, don't let me catch you around here again," Alec warned him.
He got his phone out, still tempted to call Rose but called the main reception instead. He gave them what he knew about the phone engineer and he was told they would investigate and get back to him.
By Thursday, Rose not returning to work, she packed a bag and drove to her mother's, Jackie greeting her.
"Pete told me some of it Rose," Jackie sympathised. "What happened sweetheart?"
They went to the family room, one of the staff bringing them some tea.
"Jamie's totally crazy because Alec Hardy's been in the news, that's what Mum," Rose told her. "Why did he have to walk into another murder? I didn't even know he'd moved until he hit the headlines."
"Rose, I saw the way Jamie was at the wedding," Jackie reminded her. "Ya know Jamie didn't like the way Alec looked like him."
"Ya sent Alec to find Jamie and Tony Mum, remember?" Rose replied. "Did ya think it was a good idea?"
"He was looking lost, I was just making him feel useful," Jackie defended herself.
"Well that depends how Jamie took it, doesn't it?" Rose asked her, Jackie blushing. "Can I stay a few days? I don't wanna be on my own."
"Yeah, 'course ya can, Tony will be all excited, well except for Jamie not being here. He's out with his nanny, he'll be back soon."
"I'll take my things to my room then. Dad's had agents tryin' to find where Jamie's gone but maybe Alec can help, with being in the police."
"Rose, he's got a murder to solve," Jackie reminded her.
"I know that Mum but he said if ever I needed anything to call him," Rose admitted.
"Well having Alec trying to find Jamie ain't gonna help," Jackie laughed.
Rose went upstairs and retrieved Alec's number, wondering if her mother was right. She hoped Alec had solved his other problem so he could help her with hers. Alec had just got back to his office and fished his phone out of his jacket pocket, getting a surprise when he saw Rose's name.
"Rose. It's very nice to hear from you," he answered when she said hi, "What can I do for you?"
"Alec, it's Jamie, he's been missing since Monday night, we've tried everything to find him. Can you help me?"
"Rose, I have a murderer to catch and the press and my chief are on my back," he told her, regretting it immediately. "I'm sorry, it's just getting to me. I already called Torchwood to get a psychic out of the way."
"Yeah, I know. Please Alec, I don't know what else to do," Rose told him.
"Okay, I will try to get away on Saturday, I can come up there, if you want?" he gave in.
"Thanks, I'm at my mum's. I hope Torchwood can help you and if there's anything else, ya can talk to Pete while you're here."
"Rose, was Jamie off, when he saw the news?" Alec wanted to know.
"Only the usual," Rose tried to laugh it off.
Alec already knew why the man had gone missing and wished now he'd stayed in Sandbrook.