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Alec Hardy has always been an odd one, everyone at Sandbrook knew it.
Eventually when he got transferred to Broadchurch his collegues noticed something was up with him within the first 2 days.
Alec Hardy was a grumpy middle-aged workaholic Scotsman in most people's eyes, but because Ellie Miller was his partner, she had the misfortune to spend more time with him than usual small talk.
Just, there are some things that just don't add up about Hardy and Ellie is determined to figure out what his deal is.
First of all Hardy hates the sun with a burning passion like it had personally assaulted him, if you think that it's a common thing what most Scotsmen do you're not fully wrong. Still Ellie saw him eyeing the sun every damn morning so she could tell it's more than that.
What Ellie observed is that whenever Alec goes out the second the light hit him, his skin flushes to an angry, blistering red color, only to completely clear up an hour later without a trace when he's back in the office. Severe sun allergy, Ellie had decided. That would be the only logical reason for it.
Second, Hardy avoids going into people's houses uninvited religiously, for a man who doesn't give a rat's ass about social graces, it's complety illogical. He only ever goes in a suspect's house if he's specifically asked inside. She can't even smack him for it for good that's the worst part.
"After you, Miller" -he’d bark, standing rigid on the welcome mat.
"Hardy, it's a murder investigation, not a bloody dinner party! Get your feet moving!" -she’d snap, practically shoving him through the doorway. He’d tense up like he was crossing an electric fence. Conclusion severe OCD or he's undiagnosed with something else.
Not to mention the dinner incident ,one time she dragged Hardy along with her to her house so he would eat properly for once. During dinner she had put out her grandmas silverware, and when Hardy picked it up he dropped it so fast, his skin where he touched the fork was red and angry.
"I'm allergic to silver" -he groumbled while rocking his injured hand
"There's no such thing as being allergic to silver, I never heard one person being allergic to it, just admit that you're clumsy, I know it's hard for you" -she said while she passed him a stainless steel one from Ikea
Also the weirdest one is that ,he seems to love to stay until late at the office like the workaholic he is, but as the night hours rolled in, like a switch being turned on he, the man who looked half dead on his feet most days ...seemed more energetic. What is hard for Ellie to believe, even thinking about these two things in one thought is unlikely.
Unnatural for a better word. Seeing Alec Hardy with energy felt like looking at a green sky—it just violated the laws of nature.
Good for him, most blokes his age are fighting to even stay awake to some hours Hardy is up.
But what bothered her the most, what caused her countless sleepless nights...was the crime scenes...
When they stood over a body, especially a bloody one, Hardy did not show a normal reaction like any normal human being would. He didn't look sick, or disgusted, no he observed their cold, lifeless , bloody bodies like a predator whos sizing up the next meal.
It made Ellie's blood freeze and all the hairs in her neck stand up.
As a cop she knew it doesn't mean anything good, he could be a psychopath... But it wouldn't make sense that stubborn man was obsessed with justice, he would cuff himself up before he would do anything,she believed.
All of it doesn't bloody add up at all the sun allergy, the silver thing, the threshold obsession , the night activity not to mention his fucked up reaction to blood..
But after everything that man is still her partner and also a walking disaster of untreated health problems from all she gathered.