Crashing Waves

18

"Tell me where you were on the morning of the eighteenth November." Ellie was questioning me, and surprisingly Hardy was sat next to her.
He hasn't said anything, but he didn't need to. It was all in the way he was looking at me.

"Err, I was at work." I said, remembering the day. "It was that night Alan came home and-" I winced, the pain in my side worsening momentarily.

"Alice... he said that you drugged him and-" Alec stopped the tape, standing him up.

"This is ridiculous." He slammed his hands on the table, making both of us jump.

"Look we have to look into these allegations." Ellie said, looking at Hardy as he raged.

"He filmed me." I said, looking away, the pain in my side becoming increasingly more unbearable. "He'll have it with him."

"Why didn't you tell us that before?" Ellie asked, making Hardy sit back down.

"I couldn't-"

"You should have told us." I couldn't look up, instead I gripped his coat tighter around me.

"I'm ashamed that he did it. That he got away with it." I heard a door slam, and looked up to see Hardy had exited the room.

"Ellie you can't let him go into Alan's interview room." I said, hissing and grabbing my side.

"Why the bloody hell is this falling apart." Ellie stood up, coming over to me.

"I'm ok. Please. Check his phone. Don't let him go in there, if this goes to court he's going to plead not guilty." I knew he would, and the case against him was already shaky, but we could at least get him convicted of one charge if we could get the evidence.

"Hardy will have to see it." Ellie said, and I shook my head.

"He- He has to." He was the DI. He would have to inspect all the evidence that comes through. "Please. Just get it." Ellie nodded and left the room, leaving me alone.

"Shit." Opening his coat I saw a bit of blood on the gown, looking at it and touching it with my hand, it was fresh. I'd probably broken a stitch or two. I rested my hands on the table, standing up. I felt woozy, but I needed to get someone's attention.

"Simon." I began walking to the door before I saw Hardy walk passed, checking back to see me.
"Hardy." Grabbing my side, I heard him open the door as I fell to the floor.

"Damn it, Alice!" Hardy opened his coat that was hiding my side, seeing the small patch of blood. "You shouldn't have come."

"Like you wouldn't have done the same." I snapped back at him, opening my mouth in pain. "Jesus Hardy, just please, take me home." I said, putting my arm around his neck.
"Simon! Walker is in no condition to interview, she needs to get back to-" Hardy paused, shit, we couldn't go back to either of his places, they weren't in liveable conditions.
"Millers. Until we charge Stevens."

"Hardy no-" he picked me up, helping me walk before I became a dead weight, crumpled on the floor.

"You're going to the hospital." Hardy said, kneeling down and checking who I was.

That's the last thing I remember before waking up back in the hospital.

***

"Make sure she doesn't leave, she's still under arrest." Hardy said, letting Simon follow her in the ambulance.

"I'll keep you updated." Simon said, pulling off and heading to the hospital.

Alec ran his hand through his hair, heading back into the station and into his office, where Ellie was sat waiting.

"Did you find it?" He asked, and she tentatively nodded.

"Are you sure you want to watch it?" Ellie held the tape with it on, and Hardy took it from her. He didn't want to see it, but he needed to. He needed this for Miller to put Alan Stevens away.

"I can't be the one to charge him. But I need to know that he is definitely going away. We can't have him walk like..." Hardy paused. "The community stayed out of this. No one got involved, and we haven't interviewed anyone from Plymouth. We need solid evidence to put her away." Hardy sat down, logging into his computer before loading the disc into the computer.

"This was on his phone." Hardy looked to Miller, who now stood behind him.

"Yeah. We also found some, pictures." Ellie said, folding her arms as the disc loaded.

"Alan, what are you doing?" A shuffle of the camera happened before Alan could be seen moving back, taking a shot of whiskey. "Alan-" Stevens pushed Alice to the door, and much to Hardy's disgust, started making out.

"Jesus." He cursed, not taking his eyes off.

"Ok, Alan stop." Alice tried to push Alan off of her, but instead he took a step back. "I've had enough. I can't do this anymore."

"You can." Momentarily they left the screen, before the camera turned on its side and fell on the floor, the view of Alan's trousers dropping and Alice's muffled screaming could be heard. "You fucked your DI. Do you really think you're gonna make this stop? I own you, Alice." The camera moved again, a solid smack heard from beyond the view of the camera.

"Oh my god." Ellie said, her hand over her mouth. He'd just hit her.

"Say hello to the camera, you bitch." Placing the camera down he began moving, Alice's face in clear view of the camera, crying and trying to struggle.

"Please..." her lips bled as he thrusted and removed her top, pleading Alan to stop.

"Oh shut up." Along with holding her hands above her, Stevens pulled her hair, making her chin lift up and allowing him to attack it.
Alice was just laying there, all the light she had in her eyes gone. It's like she was just a shell of a human, a dead body.

"That's enough, I can't watch anymore." Ellie said, turning off the monitor.

"We've got him." Hardy said, leaning on the desk.

"How do we approach Stevens' allegations against Alice? Surely we can't-"

"She's back in hospital." Hardy ran his hand through his hair and then down his face, resting it on his chin.

"What? And you didn't think to tell me this? Bloody hell Alec you should have gone with her instead of-"

"I needed to see proof." He said, standing up and walking out the door. "I'm removing myself from the case, Miller." She looked at Hardy, smiling. Despite it becoming an awful circumstance, Alice's arrival in Broadchurch had done good for Hardy. He had stayed a small town detective because he wouldn't have to deal with this, yet somehow Alice found her way here, in a load of trouble. And Hardy wanted to sort all of this out for her.