Rose defends Alec Hardy

Chapter 3

Once they were downstairs they said goodnight and Alec crossed the road to walk back towards his hotel and Rose continued down the road and was going to collect some food from the Chinese and wait for him. She'd been back ten minutes when he knocked on the door. She let him in and threw her arms around him, kissing him for all she was worth. They ate quickly, it was getting late and they had so much to discuss now, they both knew this was going to change everything but not between them, it meant they'd have to be extra careful.

"Rose, I don't know what's going to happen now. All sorts of things are going to come up in the press from my past but I've told you everything, if you read anything else, you know it's not true, don't you Sweetheart?" Rose nodded and put her arms around him. "We have to be extra careful, we can't be seen out together, not until this is all over. You almost had a close call back in the office. You shouldn't have risked staying behind. Please don't do it again, Miller is hostile enough towards me, I don't want her turning against you." He kissed her and said this was going to be the last night they could meet at her flat, he'd have to stay at the hotel, he couldn't move in with her now. He said he'd have to sneak her in the side door of the hotel, he still needed to be with her.

Rose said she had something she needed to tell him, about Ellie's nephew, Olly. "I didn't think it was relevant until today but he's asked me out, more than once and I turned it down, every time. Ellie was playing matchmaker when I arrived here. I never once went out with him, I swear but if he starts digging, it may come up. I just needed to tell you. You can ask Ellie if you want, I'm sure he complained to her that I turned him down on more than one occasion. He was too immature for me. I've not been out with anyone since I came here, I'd had enough of men, my boyfriend back in London left me so I came here to start again. Dating wasn't on my list of priorities."

He said it was ok, he believed her, so they went to bed. Alec had discovered more ways than one to satisfy Rose without too much exertion, mostly with her doing all the hard work but they loved each other, it didn't matter. He'd more than make up for it when he was well again. He was going to need her more than ever over the coming weeks and their love was going to be put to the test.

Friday was a nightmare, more staff were going to have to be drafted in from other areas as enquiries and statements came in. Rose was inundated with files and she badly needed help but none could be spared. She barely had time for any lunch and no-one bothered about her, they were too busy calling for files. She was supposed to have the weekend off but was going to have to work Saturday morning at least to find new spaces to fit everything and maybe archive some older ones. It might give her a chance of being alone with Alec if DS Miller wasn't working.

Her plan failed though when she was told extra phone lines were being installed and some of the others would be working. She got home and waited for Alec's call to go to the hotel, using the side door, he'd come down to let her in. Once they were alone, they kissed for a while, then Alec laid her on the bed and told her he'd probably have to work all day Saturday but was going to take Sunday off and said he'd wait until late then come up to the flat so they could spend Sunday together. He'd had a fairly bad day, he complained about Miller again. Rose begged him not to get stressed, he needed to relax so she made him lie on his front and gave his shoulders and back a massage.

Saturday went from bad to worse. She heard one of the telephone engineers say he knew something about the case then a short while later, Alec came back in a foul mood, shouting at Ellie and went in his office slamming the door behind him. Rose was worried, she'd never seen him like that and it wouldn't do him any good. She got up and made him a drink but Ellie gave her a warning look as she was about to go in but she ignored it. She tapped on his door and went in, smiled at him and asked if he was ok. He said he was and said thanks for the drink but she remained worried the rest of the day.