In the time it has taken Ruth to drive back from the hospital and unaware of what has happened in the carpark which is still running on repeat in Harry's head, Jo having remembered how quickly HR had bundled Ben's belongings into a box, effectively leaving nothing of him behind other than a much-cherished memory of their brief away from the grid relationship, has searched Ros's desk with what she hopes is the respect Ros deserved. Only to find that behind the usual things such as her work diary, several pens and an assortment of odds and ends, along with a photograph of a smiling Adam, a well concealed envelope addressed to Harry Pearce eyes only in the event of my death.
Not though wanting to appear over eager by pestering them about their visit to the Home Secretary or ask Harry given his fingers are now strapped together as to whether or not he's still pain she gives them what she considers to be enough time to have settled back in, before in the spirit of everyone has to take their turn now, she makes them both a drink, before placing the letter on his desk, closing the door behind her and for the first time since she had accepted the job, rolls up her sleeves walks back to what is now her desk and thinks ahead to the following day and how best she can deploy Dimitri and Beth?
Had she stayed to see what Ros had written, she would almost certainly have trusted her own ability when it comes to judging people. Because in a letter which starts by telling Harry not only where she wants her funeral to be held and that on no account does she want her father to attend, but in words which are highlighted, says she regrets not having the courage to have told him whilst she had been alive that it had been both a privilege and pleasure to work for him. Before concluding that whatever the manner of her death, please would he tell her mother that it had been quick and painless.
A letter which Malcolm who within moments of them ringing him, had cancelled the room he had booked in what would have been the third hotel in his pursuit of reaching the West Coast of Wales via coastal paths, re packed the contents of his backpack into a case, dusted off his suit and added a selection of shirts and ties to include one that was suitable for a funeral and driven up from Hasting is now reading, whilst sitting in their kitchen with not only a glass of wine in his hand but an eye on what is blindingly obvious and has applied to everyone who over the years had worked with Harry, that although he has the ability to make you want to shake him at times, his absolute determination to get to the truth and punish whoever had caused the loss of one of his colleagues had never been in doubt. As is the fact that when Ruth is taking a casserole out of the oven, having previously laid the table, the man in question despite having two fingers strapped together, not held in a position to suggest that Dolby had just knocked on his front door to apologise and ask if they can be friends again, is pouring himself a glass of water with his left hand, which adds stubborn to his list of attributes which he remembers was something which he once suggested had applied to Ruth. Although whether he will attempt to shave or tie his shoe laces in the morning without Ruth's help, could Malcolm thinks close what has always been a very short divide when it comes to this couple because for all their ability to play the part that they want people to perceive, he knows them well enough to realise that since he last saw them that something has either happened or been said.
Which before breakfast the following morning whilst Malcolm had still been asleep and with a great deal more intimacy than Malcolm had envisaged, that and having slept better than he had the previous night, which had been partly down to the painkillers but more significantly that they had rejigged their pillows to support Harry's hand which had allowed him to sleep with his other arm around Ruth has been realised and then some. Which makes resisting the temptation to bury his head in her hair when she is tying his shoelaces, as he had done when she had been helping him to shower difficult but not only impossible, except unlike the last time when his body had responded to the point where the only thing that mattered was them in that moment and for Harry had been the single most erotic sensation of his entire life, going into work in the hope that Ruth and Malcolm, will together discover who gave the order to bomb the hotel is the only thing which is preventing him from suggesting that they go back to bed.
A sentiment, without the wanting to go back to bed that applies to the entire team and none more so than Jo who not having expected to see Malcolm again and certainly not under these circumstances, has made good use of the time before they arrive by setting up the meeting room as a temporary office where he and Ruth can work without being disturbed, with the added addition of Tariq who she has concluded is the ideal person to collate whatever they discover whilst employing facial recognition in the run up to the delegates arriving, to see who if anyone other than Russell Price had a link, no matter how tenuous to the late Samuel Walker.
Whilst on the other side of town Dimitri and Beth are on their way to the Radison to see what if any evidence there still is which will help them to piece together the sequence of events which had led to not only Ros, but what has subsequently been reported as ten yet to be identified bodies, plus three others who are still missing presumed dead. Something that until the military bomb disposal unit with their dogs have searched the building for evidence as to what type of bomb had been planted to have cause such devastation and to ensure that nobody is still alive under the rubble, along with representatives from both the electricity and gas companies who until they can reach the main supply lines won't give a guarantee that there isn't another potentially dangerous hazard, leaves them waiting on the side lines wearing not only protective clothing but hard hats, having already fought their way through what if anything is an even larger number of the press than the previous day, proving that what had been thank god a successful attempt to prevent a third world war had been far less newsworthy than a thirst for pictures reminiscent of an actual war zone. The upside, arriving an hour later by which time it has started to rain, in the form of a mobile canteen run by the local community church, not only allowing them to get something to eat and drink but when they are queueing, to overhear a conversation by a loose lipped couple who they presume are CIA suggesting that amongst those who are missing presumed dead is Russell Price. Just how this news will affect their own investigation they keep to themselves until the power companies declare the site safe which allows them to walk unhindered to the back of the building where what is left of the fire escape from where the Home Secretary had been airlifted is swinging at an alarming rate. Their job done they relay to Jo by way of a text, but just how much of what they have seen and heard will help Ruth and Malcolm who they are yet to meet, is an altogether different question.
Which just leaves Harry, who doesn't believe in miracles, other than the one on the day when Ruth Evershed had bounced into the meeting room spilling files over the table and ignoring the two years when they had been apart, now sitting alone in his office with the added task of deciding how best to break the news to Ros's mother that her only child has been killed, knowing that if someone were to knock on his ex-wife's door and tell her that either Catherine or Graham had been killed, her reaction compared to his past infidelities and their subsequent divorce would be surpassed on scale that would equal his own, heightens his need to get it right.
But short of inspiration and needing to buy himself some time, he leaves the comfort of his office and walks along the embankment until he finds a spot out of the wind where he leans against the wall and breathes normally for what feels like the first time in days. Only to see a small child, unmistakeably a miniature Ros, her blonde hair in pigtails flying out behind her stumble and fall. Her mother picking her up and wiping away her tears, affecting him to the point where he knows, not only that he won't be able to face Ros's mother on his own but busy or not, Ruth who is the only person who can read him well enough to step in when he himself falls has to come with him.