It was a long time before the family were calm enough again to at least continue the discussion that needed to happen. By that point, Ellie was making tea for everyone along with Liz while Chloe was standing in the kitchen doorway. Emma had moved beside Beth, taking her friend into her arms to help soothe her as Mark remained somewhat shell-shocked on the sofa beside his wife.

"Was it an accident? Did he fall?" Beth asked at last when she could speak, lifting her head from Emma's shoulder.

"We don't know yet." Alec replied heavily. He'd been watching all of them silently, waiting for them to be the first to speak and paying close attention to all their interactions. "Can you think why he might've been up on the cliffs last night or this morning?"

"He wouldn't have been." Beth mumbled.

"Well, obviously he was." Mark muttered and Beth snapped, "He didn't have any reason to be."

Emma patted Beth's head while Alec took a deep breath before asking his next question.

"How was Danny over the past few days?"

"He didn't kill himself, if that's what you're suggesting." Mark bit out but he cut himself off as Beth made a small, angry noise. He glanced at his wife, who answered Alec a little less aggressively.

"He's been just..." She breathed deeply. "Normal."

There was a beat of silence before Mark repeated, "He wouldn't kill himself. He knows he can talk to us about anything."

Chloe shuffled back to sit with her parents, sniffling and wiping her nose as Alec questioned, "And you last saw him when?"

The distraught parents exchanged looks, clearly wishing they had done more as Beth answered, "I looked in on him about nine o'clock last night. He was lying in bed, reading."

Alec stared at her for a moment before he asked, "Anyone see Danny this morning?"

The entire family shook their heads.

"No." Again, Beth was the main one to speak. "He was up and about before anyone else, he's got a paper round." She took a haggered breath. "But he didn't turn up for that. Jack, I spoke to him, he runs the paper shop."

Beth tagged on the last bit for Alec's benefit; no one local needed to be told who Jack was. Alec observed the family with sympathy but kept his tone professional as he asked, "Any signs of forced entry or disturbance around the house?"

"No, nothing." Mark whispered; it had been the first thing he'd checked when he'd gotten home.

There was a beat of silence and then Mark said abruptly, "I want to see the body."

Both Beth and Emma looked over at Mark in shock, but he was staring at Alec determinedly.

"You might be wrong about it being him. So I want to be sure. I want to see."

Beth started shaking again in Emma's arms and Emma tugged her closer, placing her head against Beth's as she tamped down on her own seemingly never ending tears.

Ellie took Mark to the coroner's to see the body and Alec took the time before SOCO arrived at the Latimer house to examine the place, particularly the boy's bedroom.

It wasn't hard to tell which one was Danny's: there were only three bedrooms on the upper floor and even if it hadn't been immediately obvious which belonged to a pre-teen boy, Danny's name was stamped onto the door. Alec slipped on gloves before he stepped into the room, taking a slow and careful look around. It looked fairly normal with pictures and awards put up on one wall while a few sporting trophies sat on the cupboards on the other side of the room. The bed looked undisturbed and Alec was tempted to say the boy hadn't even slept in it the night before which seemed to rule out the possibility he'd been abducted.

Alec looked back at the doorway and he noticed the markings along the white paint. He stopped to examine the lines and names marked in pencils and pens, showing the growth of both the boy and the daughter. Clearly, the family had been living in the same house for years, the daughter had looked about fifteen and the first marking of her height started when she was only two years old.

Alec turned back to the room and looked out the window - it looked to the back of the house, toward the garden and behind that a large field that looked big enough for a school team to play football on. Alec sat heavily on the bed and looked around again before he noticed a shadow by the door; glancing over, he met the eyes of the grieving mother. She looked absolutely haunted but Alec knew that didn't necessarily mean much: murderers were known to be capable of mourning their victims especially if they knew them personally.

The mother turned and walked unsteadily back down the stairs just as Alec heard a car pulling up in front of the house. He followed Beth down the stairs and he reached the hallway just as Ellie and Mark returned from the coroner's. Mark looked tired and it was clear he'd been crying: his eyes were red and slightly swollen. Alec examined him briefly before he nodded at Ellie to head back out the door.

"I can go too, if you'd like." He heard a feminine voice say from the living room as he was leaving.

Alec paused in the front door, making Ellie bump into him, as Beth answered pleadingly, "No, no, please can you stay? I just don't want to be alone right now."

"Of course."

Alec glanced back into the house where Mark was going into the living room. He couldn't see the others but he knew who Beth had been talking to. His mind weighed down with heavy thoughts, Alec walked out of the house, ignoring the questioning looks Ellie was shooting at him.

At the station, Alec brought together the team for the first debrief. Currently there was only a pitiful white board with the boy's school photo and a couple basic notes to present to the group; they had a long way to go but Alec trusted they would get there. They had to.

"Was Danny Latimer abducted? Did someone gain access to the house, if so, how? If it wasn't forced entry, who has the key?"

He stopped pacing and looked at his team, who were scribbling notes furiously.

"We need to collect any CCTV from a mile radius around the house. Miller," Alec looked to Ellie, where she was leaning against the table just to the side of the presentation. "Family, who are they and where were they?"

"Uh," Ellie took a moment to gather herself, surprised at being called.

"Beth had Chloe, their eldest daughter, when she was fifteen and Mark was seventeen. Mum and daughter were at home watching telly, they say they didn't leave the house until school the next morning. Dad was out on an emergency call-out, he's a plumber, he got in around three. Neither parent thought to check on Danny. Um, Gran lives nearby, she was in all evening, the other Gran lives in Wales."

Alec gave Ellie a brief, curious glance before he informed his team, "Until we're ready, all of this remains confidential. No gossip. You understand?"

He made sure he saw nods from all his officers before he dismissed them so they could start working. Alec knew the Chief Super was waiting for him, he could see her standing at the edge of the room watching him, but he had a question for his DS.

"What about the other one who was there with the mother?"

"Other one?" Ellie repeated with some mild disgust, giving him the evil eye, and Alec sighed.

"You know who I mean. The woman, blonde hair, looks about the same age as the mother."

"Yes, I do know who you mean." Ellie sounded cross but she explained, "Her name is Emma Symons, she's a family friend."

"Why was she there?" Alec asked and Ellie looked at him like he'd grown two heads.

"Probably because Beth asked her to stay like I'm sure you heard. They're very close normally and they found Danny's body together; Beth probably wanted someone to help anchor her."

"Background?"

"What?" Ellie asked incredulously and Alec repeated impatiently, "Background, on Symons."

"Emma is a teacher at the local preschool. The kids love her, she's great with them and always has been. Thirty-two years old, moved to Broadchurch about ten years ago. She was fresh out of uni at the time; came here originally because her godfather was very ill. He died a couple months later."

"Where'd she come from?"

"Uh, went to uni in Australia but she was raised in London."

That explained her accent, Alec thought. Not much else though.

"Long way to come for an ill godfather." He commented before walking off and leaving Ellie to stare after him incredulously.

After an annoying meeting with the Chief Super, who'd tried to pull him off the case because of Sandbrook, and talking briefly with the newsagent Danny apparently worked with, Alec made his way with Ellie to the coroner for the initial findings.

The results weren't good, but Alec supposed they never were when it was a murder.

"Traces of domestic cleaning fluid on the skin." The coroner reported grimly. "Cause of death was asphyxiation. He was strangled. Bruising to the neck and the windpipe, and at the top of the spine. Pattern of bruises suggest large hands, I'd suggest a male. It… um, it would have been brutal. The angle… suggests he would've been facing his attacker. He would've known."

"Any sexual violence?" Alec asked, glancing to the monitor where they could see Danny's body laid out on the slab.

"Mercifully, no." The coroner answered.

"Time of death?" Alec checked.

"I'd put it between… 10pm Thursday night and 4am Friday morning."

"Thank you." Alec muttered, closing his folder and shaking the other man's hand. He then made to leave but the coroner stopped him hesitantly.

"We don't get these around here." Despite his uneasy start, the coroner's eyes were unwavering and his lips pulled into a firmly unhappy mask as he stared at Alec. "Make sure you find them."

Alec just turned back around and left. As Ellie unlocked the car doors, Alec asked abruptly, "Does that Emma Symons have a husband or a boyfriend?"

"What?" Ellie asked, startled and a bit annoyed by his curt tone and questions. "You're not trying to make a move on her?"

Alec shot Ellie a look that was a mix of incredulity and disgust. Ellie felt a little bit offended on behalf of her friend at his insulted expression.

"Why would I do that?" Alec demanded. "No, I mean, is there someone connected to her that we'd want to prioritize for questioning?"

Ellie was still glaring a little bit at him but she answered firmly, "No, Emma's single and has been for a while."

Alec frowned and looked out at the surrounding area one more time before he climbed into the passenger seat, and Ellie growled before following suit and getting behind the wheel.

Emma patted Chloe's head as the girl lay on her bed, crying quietly while Emma sat on the edge beside her. Beth and Mark were in the hallway outside, both handling their grief separately for the moment as they took some needed time alone, unable to reach out to comfort anyone as they tried to make sense of their own internal turmoil.

A sharp, policeman's knock startled them all and Emma stood to follow Beth down the stairs to answer the door. Alec and Ellie stood waiting, Ellie's face lined with the same grief Emma felt while Alec's expression was grim.

"May we come in?" He asked. Beth nodded numbly and she stepped aside to let them in while Emma went back up to fetch Mark and Chloe.

The group gathered in the kitchen this time as Beth had gone in to look for her mother and Alec and Ellie had followed her.

"We have some preliminary findings." Alec announced gravely once everyone was before him. "We are treating Danny's death as suspicious."

Beth and Liz gasped, the elderly woman clutching her heart and closing her eyes against her tears. Emma pulled Chloe close as the girl started to cry again while Mark took a shuddering breath as Alec continued apologetically.

"We think he may have been killed."

"I should've checked on him before I went to bed." Beth gasped. "If I'd checked-"

"Beth, this is not your fault." Ellie interrupted firmly. "Whatever happened, this is not down to you."

Alec sent Ellie a wary and almost reproachful look but it was mostly missed as Emma also soothed, "Ellie's right, Beth, you can't think like that. This is no one's fault but the person who did that to Danny."

"I promise, we will find the person responsible." Alec added in a quiet but honest tone.

"Oh, my God." Liz whispered while Chloe pushed out of Emma's embrace and strode out of the room tearfully. Liz collapsed onto Emma, who hugged the poor woman tightly as Beth started to sob and Mark took his wife into his arms.

"You have my word." Alec promised.

"Our little boy." Beth wailed.

Emma turned her head, biting her lip against her tears as she held Liz while the woman tried hard not to cry as well as she listened to her daughter's heartbroken sobs. She met Ellie's eyes as Ellie watched them all sadly, and a few tears slipped free from Emma's eyes as she saw her own pain mirrored in her friend's eyes. She hoped Alec was right; she hoped they would catch the person who had done this to all of them.

Emma stared unseeingly at the teapot. She could hear faint rustles and low thuds as the police forensics team that was searching through the house moved about. Alec and Ellie had left shortly after delivering their news, needing to return to the station to make do on their promise of finding Danny's killer. The words left a bad taste in Emma's mouth; for all the ache in her heart, she still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that there was someone out there who had actually killed a child. That Danny was truly gone.

"Is that a fresh pot of tea, Emma?"

Emma looked up at Liz's voice and she nodded.

"Yeah. You want some, Liz?"

"Yes, please."

Liz reached over but Emma lifted the teapot for the other woman and poured a steaming cup.

"Thank you. For staying here for us. For my Beth."

"I wish there was more I could do." Emma answered shakily before she looked at the older woman. "I'm so sorry I can't do more."

"No, no. You're doing more than we could ask for."

Liz shook her head firmly and Emma stared back at the other woman for a long, silent moment.

"You don't have to be strong in front of me, Liz. You're entitled your pain too."

"No." Liz shook her head again. "I have to be strong. For them."

Emma watched Danny's grandmother with pained eyes, her heart aching for the woman like it ached for Beth and Chloe and Mark. Like it stung with her own grief. But Liz clearly didn't want to talk further on the subject so Emma asked instead, "Is Chlo still upstairs?"

"Oh, is that where she went?" Liz murmured and Emma shrugged.

"I just assumed… I think she might want to be alone." Emma sighed.

"We're going to take Danny's computer away for examination." One of the officers, Brian, said as he came into the living room, addressing Beth.

"Will they get it back?" Liz demanded.

"Sure, as soon as we've finished with it." Brian promised.

"It's got all of his stuff on it." Beth mumbled, looking a bit upset.

Emma looked up as she heard feet pounding down the stairs, frowning, while Brian answered Beth, "We'll be as careful as we-"

"Why have you released his name?"

Everyone stared at Chloe as the young girl stood in front of the surprised officer, holding out her phone demandingly as she turned to her mother next.

"Did you agree to that?"

"What?" Beth asked and Chloe explained heatedly, "It's on Twitter. From the Broadchurch Echo. Daniel Latimer."

"Why've they done that?" Beth gasped, looking to Brian.

Brian looked uncomfortable but he replied professionally, "Well, you need to talk to the officer in charge."

"Nobody told us this was going to happen. Aren't they supposed to consult?" Beth snapped before something occurred to her. "And how'd you know anyway?"

Beth looked at her daughter, who flinched a little bit before she admitted sheepishly, "I've got a Google Alert on "Broadchurch" and "death"."

"For goodness sake, Chloe!" Liz protested and Chloe snapped sharply, "Well, it's a good job I have, otherwise we wouldn't have known!"

Emma decided it was probably best to step in; especially as she was starting to feel quite angry herself.

"Who wrote it?"

"What?" Chloe asked, looking at Emma, and the older blonde repeated, "Who wrote the tweet?"

"Olly, why?" Chloe griped and Emma pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Because Olly is likely to have posted without consent." She refrained from mentioning she wouldn't have put it past the young man to run onto the damned closed beach itself if he thought he could get a scoop. "He's not likely to have published it with police approval without someone telling you guys first."

"You sure?" Beth asked, her skepticism keeping her tone sharp. Emma nodded.

"Think about it. Aside from it being illegal not to inform you, why would the police release the news on bloody Twitter first? It's not exactly professional. They would have done a press release or an official statement first; who uses Twitter besides keyboard-happy twits?"

"I use Twitter." Chloe snapped and Emma looked at the girl pointedly. Chloe folded her arms but she didn't argue the point anymore while Emma dug into her pocket and pulled out her own mobile.

Meanwhile, at the station, Alec was out for blood.

"For God's sake!" He burst out as soon as he'd basically smashed his way into the station he'd thrown the door open so harshly. "Bloody Twitter!"

He strode to stand in front of his office, in front of his entire team of detectives, and he thundered, "These people's lives have been destroyed and now our incompetence has made it worse! Think what we have to do now to rebuild trust there!"

He glared at each and every one of his officers, hands on his hips.

"Who told the journalist?"

Ellie meekly raised her hand, and Alec stared at her with a look mixed with disbelief and anger as she confessed, "I think it might have been me."

"Your nephew?" Alec asked in a deadly quiet voice as realization washed over him.

"He said he'd seen Danny's sister leaving something at the beach." Ellie explained. "I didn't tell him anything. I told him not to publish. He's a little shit."

Alec just shook his head at her as Ellie finished off contritely, "I'll read the riot act and I'll explain to the family."

Alec couldn't even find it in him to scold her, he was too angry. He turned into his office. "Go away."

Ellie swore several times, pounding on her car boot in the police garage where she'd escaped to following Alec's dismissal, before she called the Latimer house.

"Hello?"

"Em?" Ellie asked and she heard her friend sigh in relief.

"Ellie!"

Ellie heard a shuffle and Emma asked off to the side, "It's Ellie, do you want to take it?"

Ellie waited for the phone to switch hands before she apologised profusely, "Beth, I'm so sorry, Olly published without consent-"

"How did he find out?" Beth asked tiredly, sounding emotionally drained and Ellie was again fighting not to track down her nephew and cut his balls off.

"He saw something on the beach and guessed correctly." Ellie explained, not wanting to land Chloe in hot water if she'd snuck out without her parents' knowledge. "Beth, I-"

"It's fine, Ell." Beth sighed but she didn't sound angry. Just tired. "Em guessed it was probably as much."

That made Ellie pause in surprise.

"What? Em did? How?"

Alec was exhausted, not so much physically as emotionally, as he returned to the Trader Hotel where he was staying. It had been an extremely long day and he knew they were only going to get worse. He was only even back to change his suit in order to do a press conference later that night.

So he was less than pleased when the owner tried her hardest to politely but insistently ask whether he could give some information about the beach closure. He had to decline several times before she seemed to finally let the matter drop. He was even less pleased, however, when she mentioned he had visitors waiting at the bar and he saw who they were. The older woman, Alec didn't recognize, but the (he censored his own descriptive thoughts) young man he unfortunately did. Unlike when they had briefly crossed paths earlier that day, however, Olly appeared contrite as Alec walked slowly over. He almost looked like a scolded puppy as he stood with his hands behind his back and his head ducked awkwardly.

"Well, go on." The older woman insisted, hitting the young man slightly to press her point.

Olly sighed but turned to Alec and he apologised, "I was, um, wrong to post that news. I'm sorry."

The older woman who was either his mother or his editor shook her head from beside the boy, her entire body language showing her anger with the young man as she looked at Alec.

"I should hang him by the bollocks from the town hall spire." Maggie Radcliffe muttered fiercely, looking at Alec as she spoke.

"Okay, I said I was sorry." Olly muttered back at her."I already got a thorough chewing out from Emma and she's damn scary when she's mad. Plus, you know she doesn't forgive easily."

That got Alec's attention although he didn't give anything away as Maggie sniped back under her breath, "And good on her too for it, petal."

She then returned her attention to Alec as she said more professionally, speaking from her position as the chief editor of the Broadchurch Echo, "All reporting on this will come through me now. The Echo works with the police."

She dipped her head slightly, anger slipping as sorrow and sympathy entered her now as she added quietly, "I'll speak to the Latimer family. Give them our apologies."

Alec observed her before his hard gaze returned to Olly. Olly ducked his head a little bit more and Alec warned, "Stay out of my way."

Olly nodded and Alec left, not looking back at the pair who watched him go.