Chapter Text
DI Hardy sat in his office, blinds and door closed, head cradled in his right hand. In his left hand he held a cell phone pressed against his ear, waiting for the ringing to end so he could leave his message. He hoped he was doing the right thing.
Miller and the rest of the office worked silently, each occasionally glancing at Hardy’s door. They had watched Hardy storm silently though the room and slam his door shut behind him more than fifteen minutes ago. While Hardy was known for his prickly volatile nature, especially during a difficult investigation, this behavior was worrying.
"Ellie is he alright in there?" Frank asked leaning against her desk. "It's just normally when a case gets bad and he gets frustrated he lets us have it."
Ellie pursed her lips, "He's fine and I think he would want us to put our all into checking Banners alibi." She said raising her voice at the end to get everyone eavesdropping back to work and giving Frank a start.
"Right, right. Of course." He said shuffling back to his own desk.
Ellie sighed. She knew this case was wearing Hardy down. It was wearing them all down to be honest, but Ellie knew Hardy was taking this one personally. He had a soft spot for kids, and this case.... The more they investigated the uglier it got. To make matters worse the piece of trash responsible for it was sitting in one of their cells, refusing to give a single straight answer and smirking at them the entire time. Ellie knew she should not assume a person's guilt, but this man made her skin crawl from the moment they first questioned him. They may only have circumstantial evidence right now, but Ellie knew they were so close to a breakthrough, she just hoped it came quickly for Harry and the town’s sake.
Just as she finished that thought Alec's door opened and the man emerged looking like he had just been given a shot of adrenalin. For the first time in over a week Ellie saw a spark in Harry's eyes. He seemed to have his drive and purpose back. He cleared throat gaining the attention of nobody as all eyes were already one him. "I've been speaking to the London offices, they agreed to send us one of their best interrogators. Until he arrives tomorrow no one speaks to Banner. Miller and I are going to retrace Banners' rout. The rest of you keep combing through Banners potential victim list I want to have as much information for the interrogator as possible." Announcement done Hardy nodded at Ellie and walked out, his energy electrifying the room behind him.
Ellie rushed to put away the witness statements she had been rereading. Once she made it outside, she saw Hardy waiting with his hands in his pockets watching the distant waves. "Do you really think some London interrogator will get our man talking when we couldn't?" She asked him as she drew level with him.
"I've seen his work. He could get a rock to admit to murder." Ellie noticed Hardy looked almost pained while saying that. "There's something else you should know, this man he...and I have history." Now Hardy looked both frustrated and embarrassed as he stared at his shoes, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
Ellie felt shocked. She thought she had figured Hardy out by now. Knowing how bad the last few days had been for Hardy she didn't want to make this anymore awkward for him than it already was, but at the same time she couldn’t help but seize an opportunity to learn more about her very private boss. She decided to limit herself to one question, "Will your history with him be a problem? Because you don't need to come in tomorrow, I can meet him." By now they were at her car, and she avoided eye contact with him by pretending to look at for her keys.
"No, I have to be here, he's only coming because...well anyway I just didn't want you to be surprised is all." Hardy said running a hand over his face. "Let’s start at the Barefoot pub, I think we can get more from the owner."
Accepting this to be the end of their conversation Ellie shelved the rest of her questions for later. Once it was over though she was going to tease Hardy about this. An ex-boyfriend who was an officer? Or an old rival? Did they work in the same unit, or did they meet during training, before then? These questions and a hundred others ran through Ellie's mind as she drove.