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It's when Ellie's considering giving money to Lucy that she realises she has to do something. Her boss is going to be discharged tomorrow and going with him is any good chance of finding the killer. Ellie takes a deep breath.
She quickly checks to make sure Joe's still asleep then she takes her phone and sneaks down to the kitchen. She dials Alec's number and waits. Sure enough, Alec picks up immediately.
"Hello?" he answers, with an awful imitation of a Broadchurch local.
"I think we need to frame Joe," Ellie says.
Alec drops the imitation. "What?"
"Listen, you're on your way out tomorrow, we're not any closer to finding the killer," Ellie explains quickly. "Nigel and Joe look similar enough, Susan could've gotten confused."
"Hold on," Alec says. Ellie can hear some typing. Oh, that bastard, he swore he'd leave work shortly after her. "We don't have much, no forensics, how would we ever do it?"
He's actually considering it. Ellie leans back against the counter in relief. "I'm not sure... Do you think Brian could keep his mouth shut?"
"Not a chance. We can't trust anybody, Miller." Alec sighs. Ellie can imagine him taking off his glasses and rubbing at his eyes. "Okay, I have a friend who could fake some messages."
"Messages?" Ellie looks nervously at the doorway of the kitchen. She can't hear anyone coming down but this conversation was far too risky to be having.
"Emails, text messages." Alec shifts from where he's sitting. "Hold on, I just got an email back."
"Is it about the case?" Ellie asks hopefully. Alec doesn't answer. There's a long silence. Then an exhaled Shit. Ellie closes her eyes. "Look, my sister said she saw something the night Danny died. I could get her to say she saw Joe, she'd be perfectly willing."
"She did?" Alec sounds very distracted. "We could pull her in, ask her questions."
"She won't say anything until I give her money."
"No, we can't do anything to mess this case up." Alec taps his fingers. "Ellie, just forget about this now, yeah? I know what we need to do."
"You do? What's going to happen tomorrow?"
"We'll pull Lucy in," Alec says hurriedly. "And I'll interview your boy some more."
"I tried looking around his bedroom but couldn't find his computer. Joe said he'd ask him tomorrow."
"That'll work." Alec sounds like he's pacing the office now. Ellie bites her lip, were they really going to go through with framing Joe? "We'll get Nigel in too, best to cover our bases. You'll interrogate Nigel, shouldn't have you with Lucy."
"Sounds like you have tomorrow all planned out."
Alec lets out a short chuckle. "Oh, I don't. It all depends on..." Alec doesn't continue. Ellie waits a few minutes but there's nothing.
"You've got everything done now, go get some sleep," Ellie orders Alec. There's a pause.
"Miller, just..." Alec takes a deep breath. "Why did you call me?"
It's a good question. They've been avoiding using these secondary phones ever since Ellie started her vacation and Alec came to Broadchurch. First because it'd be hard to hide another phone when staying in hotels and second because of what happened with Danny. Alec had determined it'd be best they avoid this until the case was solved.
Ellie looks up at where Joe would be sleeping then back down. "We had a bit of an argument."
"Really?" Alec's surprise was understandable. They rarely had arguments, not that Ellie would've told Alec about any they had.
"I just felt like Joe wasn't taking this seriously enough, I suppose."
There's a pause then Alec sighs. "It's nearly three, you should go and get some sleep. It'll be a big day tomorrow."
"You're leaving the office now?"
"All right, I'm leaving."
Ellie laughs a little. "Good night, Alec." She can practically see Alec making a face at that.
"Night, Miller."
Alec hangs up and Ellie brings her phone down. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, everything would be all right, as right as it can get with a death.