The detective and the hotel maid

Chapter 1

As Alec Hardy got off the train after his long journey from Glasgow, he got a taxi to the address he'd been given of the hotel the Broadchurch Police were putting him up in. Lay low, his old boss had said, keep out of trouble, let the media frenzy die down and let it all blow over. Yeah, of course it was all going to blow over – a botched case, missing evidence and a divorce to boot although the divorce had come first and was mutual. His nasty piece of work of an ex had paraded their marital disaster to the judge who had rolled his eyes at Alec, taken pity on him and granted a swift divorce, almost telling him he was well rid of her.

Not that his ex's solicitor had gone easy on him, far from it but his own had outsmarted her and he'd given the house up to be sold and she wasn't getting a penny from it, she had left him to live with another man, taking their teenage daughter, who had taken her mother's side. If she had not moved in with someone else, he would have had to support his daughter but his ex had twisted herself out of it so more fool her. He'd moved into a B&B while his fate at work was decided and he'd sold the house.

Now he had just signed to sell the house and had a rather nice amount of money sitting in the bank after the mortgage was paid off and house prices had doubled since buying the house seventeen years ago when he had married his then pregnant girlfriend who turned out to be not so loving once she had a house, a baby and his rank with a nice salary. She had reluctantly gone back to work as a DS and immediately hooked up with a flirty male DS and sneaked around behind his back for two years – until she got caught out when she lost vital evidence in a double murder case.

Still, he had put it behind him as a valuable lesson not to get your girlfriend pregnant and work with her later on, a lesson in life. Stepping into the hotel, he signed the register and noticed the hotel owner was flirting with him, asking how his journey had been and if he needed showing around the town. He politely told her he was there to work, not for a social life and would be gone as soon as he could get another transfer. The woman had pulled a face behind his back as he'd picked up the handle of his case to turn towards the stairs. He hadn't seen her but he knew what all women did when he turned them down, she would have been no exception.

He never knew what women saw in him, he purposely kept himself unshaven, that should have put women off but it seemed the scruffy look was appealing to some women so he had adopted a gruff disposition and snapped at everyone which seemed to have done the trick. Now he had to survive six months in this backwater town and hope he could go back to civilisation if he did what he was asked, stay out of trouble. That was going to be easier said than done, he had a secret to keep that only his own doctor knew about and was covering for him and if anyone found out, he was finished. He would have to face an operation sooner or later, he was hoping it would be later, the last resort when no other alternative could be found.

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It was the beginning of June and Rose Tyler had been in Broadchurch two weeks, having successfully applied for a seasonal position of a hotel maid at The Traders Hotel and the owner, Miss Fisher was nice enough and had offered Rose a single room at half rate on the top floor of the hotel and took the rent directly from her wages and plus she got three meals thrown in if she helped in the kitchen at mealtimes. She had readily agreed and had so far made a friend in the kitchen, a man called Simon, who had a boyfriend which Rose found amusing but at least she didn't have to worry about him chasing her. The other kitchen assistant was called Sally, who lived locally with her boyfriend and had invited Rose to have a meal with them on her day off. Two other part-timers came in but Rose didn't see much of them. Rose was the only maid as it was early season, she wasn't kept that busy, the hotel wasn't full yet and was told there would be extra help when it was busy.