Her morning chat with Alec, however short it had been, had set Emma behind a little bit. It didn't help that she'd found herself thinking about him as she was showering and getting ready, slowing her movements, so she was running late as she rushed out of her flat with her hair still partially wet. She didn't bother to tie it up, the preschool was closed that day for the public meeting the police were holding to update the town and answer questions on the investigation.

Emma hurried down the steps out the building, checking her watch as she went. She still had time although she was cutting it a little closer than she liked. A brisk walk was not how she'd wanted to get to the public meeting but it seemed that was what she was going to have to go for. At least she wouldn't have to run.

"Excuse me, Emma Symons?"

Emma turned in surprise at the voice and she stared curiously at the pretty, raven-haired woman who was smiling at her.

"Yes?" Emma asked, wondering who the woman was. It seemed she had been waiting for Emma to come out as she appeared to have been leaning casually against the nearby streetlamp before straightening up.

The woman smiled and strode over, holding out her hand to Emma as she introduced herself.

"Karen White, Daily Herald."

Emma stiffened immediately. Karen noticed and raised her hands almost in surrender as she said in a friendly tone, "Don't worry, I know you probably don't want to talk to press. But-"

"Good day."

Karen was somewhat shocked by how abruptly Emma cut her off as the blonde simply turned and walked, very rudely, away.

"Wait, please." Karen called after her, hurrying to keep pace with Emma as the blonde strode purposefully away. "I just wanted you to know-"

"I don't need to know anything from you." Emma replied curtly and Karen frowned.

"It's about DI Hardy."

At Karen's words, Emma stopped and turned around. Her face was impassive but Karen took it as a sign of silent curiosity so she explained, "Look, I was assigned to report on a case he was on before and I watched it all fall apart. The family was destroyed. Because of him. He failed that family and I don't want that for the Latimers. I just want to help them and their friends-"

"You are unbelievable." Emma stated coldly.

Karen was surprised by the words - they were so similar to what Alec had told her when he'd first seen her. And then the dark-haired woman was shocked by the depth of anger and hate in Emma's eyes as she hissed, "I'm not interested in what parasites like you have to say. Now please leave."

"Now, hang on a minute." Karen frowned; what was it with the people of this town, she wondered. First Maggie, then the newsagent Jack and now Emma. They were all so hostile to her, just because she was a news journalist. "I think that's an overreaction-"

"Is it? Really?" Emma scoffed, her gaze still hard. "You think I don't know what you're really after? You think I don't know what you'd do to get a story from the Latimers? So you can get a slice of fame for a day before you move on to the next story while the lives of the people you wrote about are changed forever?"

She eyed Karen like she was the most disgusting bug that had unfortunately buzzed into her path.

"And you dare to say DI Hardy destroyed someone's life?"

Karen's eyes narrowed and she asked tersely, "Do you even know what he did?"

"No." Emma answered flatly. "But I know I don't need to hear it from you. You claim he failed a family, destroyed them; but tell me, when you reported your so-called news, did it make them feel any better?"

Karen didn't say anything and Emma turned away again.

"Didn't think so."

She stormed away, walking swiftly now more to escape the reporter rather than because she was really running late. But she didn't pay any attention to the time now; her mind was kept very busy trying to shut them out. The images. Bright lights flashed in her mind's eyes, voices shouted at her and crowded her. She closed her eyes and blocked it as best as she could when a shrill ringing almost made her jump out of her skin. Stumbling a little bit, Emma fumbled for her ringing phone, quickly switching it to mute before she answered.

"Beth?"

"Yeah, Em…" Beth's voice was faint and hesitant. It was like she was struggling to get her thoughts into words as she continued awkwardly, "I… uh, just, do you remember that man from before? The man from the cliff?"

Emma's stomach dropped; she answered carefully, "Yeah..."

"He came by the house and left me a note." Beth confessed and Emma grimaced. Her day, which had started off unexpectedly well, was just getting worse and worse.

"Beth, you have to report him." Emma said firmly although she could feel a prick of worry; a fear that Beth would cave to temptation, to her darkest desires and make a very, very stupid choice. That concern grew as Beth hesitated again.

"But what if-" Beth began and Emma cut her friend off firmly.

"No, Beth, you don't get it. I've seen his type before, they're all con artists. He's just preying on your vulnerability and Beth, you're just going to end up more hurt."

"But what if he's not?" Beth persisted as Emma walked into the school building where the public meeting was being held. Emma shook her head even though Beth couldn't see her.

"Trust me, Beth. He is."

The murmurs of the crowd made it hard for her to hear and people were calling for quiet as Alec stepped up to the front of the room and in front of the gathered crowd

"I have to go, meeting's starting, but talk later." Emma whispered as people began to quiet down and Alec cleared his throat. "Don't talk to him, Beth. Okay? Please, I say this because I care, don't do it."

Emma joined Ellie at the back of the room where the detective was standing with Joe and Fred.

"Hey, Em." Joe greeted a bit distractedly as he tried to keep Fred asleep and Emma nodded back while Ellie murmured quietly, "Hi. It's been a while."

"Yeah. You look tired." Emma whispered and Ellie nodded.

"Things aren't great." She agreed and Emma took a deep breath.

"Yeah well, there's something else." Emma informed the other woman in a low voice. "I think that man I told you about is hovering around Beth, waiting for her to crack."

Ellie glanced at her sharply but by then the official meeting had started. Emma went quiet as she listened to the general update from Alec, including that they were still looking at evidence and confirming that the hut at the top of Briar Hill was being examined as the main scene of the crime although the beach where Danny had been found was also still being searched for any clues the killer might have accidentally left behind. It was very short and then he opened the floor up for questions.

"We're all asking, you know, no offense, but, why's it taking so long?" One of the local men, Trevor, called loudly without waiting to be called on.

There were general murmurs of agreement however and Alec addressed the question as he answered in detail, "Multiple complex crime scenes, particularly at the beach. Lack of CCTV in key areas. Uh, absence of witnesses seeing Danny on the night he sneaked out. We've a lot of information still to process. We'll get there."

He looked around at the crowd where the response was mixed; some, including Liz, Paul and Becca listened intently and nodded along with understanding while others, including Trevor, continued to look uneasy or disgruntled.

"Susan Wright." A hand lifted out of the crowd and Alec gestured for her to go ahead. "How many people do you even have working on it? I heard you were short staffed."

"We have the right resources for an investigation of this size." Alec answered without missing a beat before he moved on. "Next question."

One of the local shop owners, Laurie, stood up next and he said crossly, "I've just come from the pier and there's bloody more police vans and more of the beach is cut off."

"Uh, new information came to light overnight," Alec answered politely, "and we have to examine it without contamination."

"Is that the boat that was on fire last night?" Trevor's wife called worriedly. "My brother saw it when he was out with his pots."

"Um, it's too early to talk about specific types of evidence." Alec denied commenting but speculative murmurs had already started amongst the crowd.

Emma wrinkled her nose thoughtfully before she turned to stare at Laurie incredulously as he accused angrily, "You said the tents on the beach would be coming down at any moment and they're still there, and now you're adding bloody great vans!"

"You have to understand the work that is going on there." Alec replied with a little impatience although he kept his tone very professional and calm. "Every grain of sand has to be gone through. Every cigarette butt or stray hair, shard of plastic, fingernail, toenail, piece of skin has to be tested. We will do everything we can to limit the effect on our livelihoods but my priority is to a thorough and efficient investigation."

"But low-key, we don't want the name Broadchurch to by a byword for murder like Sandbrook! It's already affecting business-" Laurie complained and Emma had had enough.

"Have some respect, Laurie!" She called across the general murmur Laurie's words had roused. "You knew Danny, we all did. He died, we can't change that, but we can be respectful as a community while the family grieve and the police work to catch the person responsible so it doesn't happen again. Let's ask questions that are relevant to the case, yeah?"

"But, Emma, come on-!"

"Nicely said, petal!" Maggie agreed loudly, cutting off Laurie's further protests. Paul also quietly tugged Laurie back down, forcing him to shut up while Alec glanced at Emma briefly. She wasn't looking at him, too cross with Laurie as she watched the man sit back down reluctantly with a glower her way that she returned.

Another question pulled Alec's gaze away just as Emma returned her gaze to him and Ellie muttered to Emma, "Thanks, Em."

"You're welcome." Emma huffed. "Honestly, how he can be complaining about business right now..."

Ellie smiled a little although she observed her friend briefly. Unlike when her eyes had been roaming the crowds, her gaze wasn't suspicious (not in the same way at least) as she watched her friend look at Alec. Ellie hadn't missed the glances Alec had given Emma, which had changed from the beady, suspicious ones he used to give the blonde woman (and everyone else for that matter). And Ellie noticed the slight unconscious relaxation of Emma's muscles when she looked at the DI, something Ellie had never seen on her friend before. She tucked the thought away with a small smile to herself: at least it looked like there was something potentially good, Ellie hoped, that was coming out of the whole investigation.

Alec was not in a good mood as he strode out of the school. The meeting had fared average, he supposed, but the stress was eating at him and clearly eating at the town. People were starting to butt in as time went on, adding their opinions, making him cross.

Alec felt someone come up right behind him and before he'd even looked over the man was speaking.

"I told you there was a boat."

"Oh, God," Alec groaned as he glanced back at Connelly who continued to follow him out persistently. "You're just what I need. Great, a boat. There's hundreds of them around here, you got lucky."

"Lucky." Connelly scoffed before he demanded, "Yeah, well, did you look for it? Eh? Does Beth know you didn't follow that up?"

Alec rubbed his face irritably and was about to either bite off the other man's head (hopefully not) or tell him very sternly but still professionally to bugger off (less fun), when a familiar blonde came storming over.

"I thought I told you that if you ever showed up around Beth again, I'd call the police on you." Emma snapped at Connelly, which Alec watched with great interest. It was obvious she had been exiting the building with Ellie when she spotted the man and had been so angry she'd come over.

What interested Alec, however, was how defensive Connelly got as he insisted, "She needs to hear-"

"Hear what?" Emma demanded. "That you think you have a message from the dead?"

"You don't believe me, that's fine." Connelly argued with a glance at Alec as the detective watched with narrowed eyes. "But I'm not lying-"

"Oh, really?" Emma scoffed. "Go on then, what's the full message? No vague descriptions, no half-assed guesses, tell me: who killed Danny?"

"It doesn't work like that." Connelly rebuffed but Emma didn't look the least bit surprised.

"No. It never does, does it?" She shot back. "Because you're a liar, a con who uses clues and the ticks of the people he's conning to narrow guesses until you are lucky enough to strike gold. But I'm not going to let you hurt Beth, she's suffering plenty enough without you."

Turning to Alec, Emma informed him, "This man approached Beth on the cliff by the beach. He upset her with claims he had a message from Danny for her and I warned him to stay away or I would report him for harassment. Since then, it seems he's been sending Beth notes at her house."

"Is that right?" Alec asked sharply, looking at Connelly sternly.

"You wouldn't take me seriously, and she deserves to know-" Connelly protested.

"No." Alec cut the man off and he fixed the man with a warning look. "I'm done with you. Last warning. Stay away from Beth and don't ever come near Emma either."

He gestured at Emma to emphasize his point; the last thing Alec needed was for Connelly to turn violent either against Beth or Emma.

"I see you again, I'm having you charged. Are we clear?"

Connelly wilted with disappointment and Alec gestured for Emma to follow him in walking away. She went with him with a dirty look at Connelly and followed Alec over to Ellie's car where he turned to her.

"You certainly gave it to him." Alec commented, looking at her expectantly for an explanation. Emma folded her arms crossly.

"I did not. I was polite because I was afraid you'd arrest me for abuse."

If it weren't for the murder investigation and the increasingly growing headaches the townspeople seemed intent on giving him, Alec might have smiled. As it was, he did peer down at Emma curiously.

"How are you so sure he's a con?"

Emma sighed. "I don't believe in God or in ghosts. But even if I did, I don't see why Beth needs to be tortured hoping she might get to talk to Danny one more time. It won't do her any good, it'll just hurt her, and I won't have that wanker doing that to her. Pardon my language."

Alec had raised an eyebrow and he noted a bit dryly, "Oliver was right. You are trouble when you lose your temper."

"It doesn't happen often, if you can believe it." Emma smiled half-heartedly but it faded quickly. "But there are certain things that get under my skin. Irresponsibility and lack of human compassion are two of them."

"Yeah, well, that makes you and me both then." Alec grumbled. "Although incompetence is another."

"Do you mean actual incompetence or is it just that you have too high standards?" Emma asked with a faint smile. "And by that, I'm hinting that I hope you're not talking about Ellie because if you are, cop or no cop, I will kick you."

"Are you always this violent?" Alec asked and Emma chuckled.

"I wouldn't actually kick you. I think. But I am quite protective of my friends, in case you hadn't noticed."

Alec glanced over to where he could see Ellie was taking a quick moment to spend some time with her son before she had to rejoin him for work.

"You know Miller well, then?"

"Known Ellie almost as long as I've known Beth, met Joe not long after." Emma answered. "Like I said, the two families are close, have been since before Danny and Tom were even born."

"And you're part of that?" Alec asked and Emma nodded.

"Yeah, Nige and I are the two singles squeezed into the mix. Mark and Joe always used to joke we should get together and complete the circle but Nige has only ever been a good friend. We're okay though, we like being the fun aunt and uncle."

Alec nodded thoughtfully and he questioned, "Nigel lives with his mum; any girlfriend?"

"Are you back to asking me as a detective now?" Emma asked with a wry smile.

He shrugged. Emma very obviously refrained from rolling her eyes as she answered, "No one serious as far as I know. Like me, he's already dated pretty much most of the women in town who he'd want to date and just didn't find the right fit. He dates a bit sometimes when the summer season's here and there are new faces but they've never lasted as long as I've known him."

"Any reason for that?" Alec asked and Emma gave him a look.

"You do realize that I'm not going to tell you if you're asking as a detective?" She said pointedly and Alec cocked a brow.

"Why not?"

"Because it's my friend's private life and you haven't approached me with your badge to make this appropriate." She said with a mostly straight face; but he saw the way her lips twitched as she fought a teasing smile.

His lips curved up just slightly. "All right, then if I was just curious?"

"Still not telling you, I don't think we're friends enough yet."

He couldn't help the small laugh, although it was more a huff of air, that escaped him at her teasing. Emma let her smile lift her lips slightly, pleased by the response she had elicited from him before she looked over as Ellie joined them.

"Hey." Ellie said, looking between them curiously. "Any problem?"

"DI Hardy was just helping me out with an annoying fly." Emma answered with a small grin at the man before she hugged Ellie. "Good luck with the rest of your work. If you're able to, we should get lunch or something soon, El."

"That would be nice." Ellie agreed and Emma waved them both off as she wandered back to Joe and Freddie to say goodbye to them as well.

Unfortunately, she was quickly replaced by someone Alec liked even less and he groaned to Ellie as Maggie and Oliver joined them.

"Will you pass on to Beth and Mark, whenever they feel able to talk, come to us, to me. They know we do things properly." Maggie insisted to Ellie, who smiled and nodded politely. Maggie then turned to Alec as she added, "And, um, Oliver has got something else to tell you."

"Well, we always love hearing from Oliver." Alec said sarcastically.

Olly chuckled in response, but he grew serious as he handed Alec a paper and explained, "Yeah, I found this, um, on Jack Marshall, who runs the newsagent's here. He was in prison before he came here. He's got a previous conviction for underage sex."

Alec frowned as he sat beside Ellie in the car. They'd interviewed Jack Marshall to no real end although Alec's suspicions were now heightened around the elderly man and were on their way to interview Paul Coates, who had revealed in the door-to-door inquiries that he had no alibi.

"Why're we relying on journalists to do our work for us?" He'd been complaining yet again as he and Ellie got out of the car while Ellie just listened, when her mobile rang.

"Hang on." She answered. "Miller. Oh, yeah that's right. Yeah, okay, so?"

Ellie stopped in her tracks and Alec glanced at her curiously as Ellie listened to something in shock before she hung up with muttered thanks. Alec waited expectantly as Ellie tried to get over her shock enough to speak clearly as she looked at him.

"Sir? You remember that background check you asked me to do on Emma?"

"Yeah?" Alec asked, interest rising immediately. He had been fairly certain of crossing her off his list of suspects (as certain as he ever let himself be with cases and especially with someone lacking an alibi) and he wondered what new information could have come up for Ellie to look as shell-shocked as she did.

"Well, thing is, something came up." Ellie admitted, looking torn and a little bit betrayed. "She changed her name when she was sixteen. And I think I know why."