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somethinglikethatyeah83 · 2 years

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HE GOT AWAY: Alec Hardy

Pairing: Alec Hardy x Reader

Warnings: Threatening, mentions of death, knifes and you get stabbed. Broadchurch stuff, I guess? Set during the Danny Latimer case so massive spoilers for season 1

Summary: You know who Danny's killer is, but only because he comes to have a word with you...

Word Count: 2.33K

Alec wasn’t home, still in the office. I’m still off after having Violet but Alec had wanted to get back to work as soon as possible for the Danny Latimer case.

Which I think I’d just solved.

Joe Miller stood in my kitchen, a place I felt as a sanctuary, holding an eight inch knife pointing in my direction. I didn’t know if I would be able to step in this room again after tonight, if I got out alive. Joe, though, was nervous. Completely and utterly unstable as he shook in front of him. His interrogation against me was evidently unplanned, as I recognised the handle from my kitchen drawer. But his stance was wary, which meant I had a chance of getting out alive.

My gun was in the living room, on the highest bookshelf so Violet couldn’t get to it, but still in reach of me, just in case anything happened. I couldn’t get to it at the moment, though. The last time I used it must have been a good 6 months ago, and I couldn’t even remember if it had any bullets in it, but maybe that was for the best. A scared still hormonal mother with a gun? Never a good idea. And maybe just the notion of getting shot would be enough to get Joe to cave. If I could get a hold of it.

“Joe-”

“Shut up!” He shouted, shaking the knife at me. He had tears in his eyes and that fearful look that scared me. He could do anything and I wouldn’t be able to stop him.

“Don’t make this mistake.” I warned, holding my hand out in front of me, a good distance. “You’re unstable and scared- I don’t blame you-”

“Scared and holding a knife, do you really want to take that risk?” He threatened, feet glued to the wooden floor, but staring at me with an intensity that only a murderer could have.

“Put the knife down, Joe.”

“Why should I?”

“Remember I’m with the police. I’m married to the detective inspector and best friends with the DS, your wife. You kill me, here, tonight, everybody is going to know. Alec will leave no stone unturned until he finds my killer and when he finds you, which you know he will, he won’t be merciful.” I tell him, watching as his face dropped and it clicked in his head what he was doing. Clicked that what he was doing made no sense at all. “You already have Danny’s life on your conscious, do you really want mine?”

He was so close to caving. To handing the knife in and letting me take him down to the station. But then the phone rang, my mobile sat on the counter, lit up with Alec’s number.

Joe’s face hardened. “Answer it, put it on speaker. Act normal.”

I reached down and answered it, hearing the chatter of the office, Alec’s voice calming me even though he had no clue that a murderer was in our kitchen, threatening to kill me.

“Darlin’, was there anything you wanted me to pick up from the shops on the way home?” He asked, from over the phone, in a moderately perky mood compared to how he would be if he knew.

I stuttered, stumbling over my words and the nerves took a hold. Joe’s stare for worse. “We need tomatoes for dinner.” I told him, saying the first thing that came into my head because there was a murderer in my kitchen.

There was silence over the phone, but only for a second. It would probably be the last thing I said to him. I probably wouldn’t make it out here alive and he would have no clue. I’d die here tonight and leave Violet without a mother, Alec without the love of his life, the one person he can tell everything and anything.

What would Ellie think?

I hadn’t even thought of her. Her husband was a murderer, and she had no idea. Her husband, the father of her children, Tom and Fred, was a murderer. None of them had any clue. And if I didn’t get out here alive tonight, no one would ever know until Alec found out. Joe would walk free.

“You alrigh’, love?” Alec asked from the other side, his voice high and laced with worry. He knew something was wrong, and Joe would make me pay the consequences for that.

I swallowed, steadying my voice, my eyes still staring at Joe to make sure he didn’t move. “Yeah, perfect. Violet’s already asleep upstairs so we’ve got the evening to ourselves.”

“Lovely. I’ll text you when I’m on my way. Love you.”

“Love you too, Alec, so much.” I tell him, and I could almost hear the smile on his face as he says goodbye again, and ending the call.

I flip my phone over quickly, turning to Joe again who still has the knife pointed in my direction. He’s still scared but he’s managed to mask some of it. Definitely still unstable, though, and I still might have a chance to let him cave.

“You’re really going to kill me?”

“Why shouldn't I?” He negotiates, taking a step closer to me, which now has my back against the door. I want to stay as far from him as possible, but if he steps closer there’s nowhere else I can go. “You know what I’ve done. You’ll get me arrested. If I get you out the way, Tom and Fred will still have a father. Do you really want them to lose me?”

“Do you want Violet to lose her mother?”

“She isn’t my kid!” He shouts, making me flinch. He can’t control his anger, the tears of frustration falling from it but also a higher chance of another murder here tonight.

I took a deep breath. “How would you feel if you lost Ellie, huh? It’s the same situation, Joe. How is she going to react to you killing Danny and me?”

“She’ll never find out.”

“You know she will.” I shook my head, swallowing and watching as he got closer. Closer to giving in. “You can’t just refuse it. You can either spend your life riddled with guilt for Danny and I, or you can go with grace and get better. Settle your mind.”

“No.”

“All you have to do is come with me. I’ll take you down to the station. You can confess and serve the time you deserve.” I negotiate, knowing I was helping. Knowing I was so, so close to getting him to cave. I had a chance to get a murderer off the streets tonight and I was as sure as hell going to do my best. “You killed a child, Joe, there’s no escaping that. You can at least go with some dignity, instead of making it worse.”

“No!” He shouts, his whole body shaking with fear, and confusion, and I know he knows I’m right, but he’s fighting it out of fear. He doesn’t want to go, and I don’t blame him, but he deserves it.

He shakes his head, slowly taking small steps towards me. Each step has my heart rate speeding up. This was it. I was going to die tonight and there was nothing I could do about it. Alec and Violet would be left alone, without a mother and a wife.

“Joe, don't do this.

“You can’t stop me!”

“She can’t.” Alec’s voice came from behind me. I hadn't even heard the door. “But I can.”

But it wasn’t quite enough. Everything happened too quickly after that for me to keep track. Joe grabbed my wrist and spun me around so I was facing Alec, and the cold metal of the knife was held up against the sensitive skin of my neck. Alec had his gun pointing at Joe, who I could no longer see, but feel his hand on my wrist.

“Joe, don’t do this.” Alec warned, eyes darting between Joe and I. “Killing a police officer is worse than murdering a child, the time you’ll spend in prison will almost double.”

“That’s all I’ve been hearing from her, ain’t it? For the past half an hour.” He sounds disgusted when he refers to me, looking at Alec.

“Put the knife down.”

Joe didn’t say anything. The tension was too thick, the air was warm and the anger that spilled from Alec was worse than I’d ever seen it before. This could go either way, one would end up with me dead, or a murderer in prison. I knew which one it would be immediately.

And there it was.

An excruciating pain in my abdomen, blood in my ears and dripping onto the floor. There was muffled shouting, a deep Scottish shout and some smashing that resembled that of glass, I wasn’t paying attention. But it didn’t matter. All the chaos didn’t matter, not anymore. Because a murderer was getting away because I’d let him. Joe was getting away.

“He’s getting away…” I murmur, reaching my hand out to the window. It all felt so far away now.

Alec was above me, though, I knew that much. I could just about feel his hand in mine. “You’re going to be fine. Bob’s called an ambulance, we’re going to get you to a hospital.”

He was getting blurry, though, and slowly further and further away from my reach. I knew I was about to black out but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. Joe was getting away and I was about to die. Alec and Violet would be left alone.

“He’s getting away…”

I could hear the heart monitor, and when I tried to move, a dull ache still throbbed in my abdomen. The smell of sheet vinyl and cheap PPE plastic overwhelmed me, but at least it told me where I was; a hospital.

At least I was alive.

Part of me knew that wouldn’t let me die in our kitchen that night, but most of me knew that chances were I wouldn’t. Joe probably only just missed a vital organ, and I still could have died from blood loss.

But I didn’t. I was alive. I was alright. Alec and Violet still had a wife and a mother.

And there they were, sitting right next to me in the hospital bed.

He sat bolt upright when he saw my eyes open, Violet cradled in his arms, sleeping softly. It was obvious the second I looked at him that he hadn’t had a wink of sleep for however long I had been out.

“You’re awake.”

“I’m alive.” I told him. “That’s more important.”

Alec nodded, shuffling closer to me in the hospital chair he’d been given. I reached out for him to pass my Violet but he shook his head.

“They’ve said you’re not allowed to hold her until the wound has fully healed. And no pressure on it at all, so when you sit down you have to sit up straight. And no work until it’s fully healed, too.” He lectured, evidently worried for what my reaction would be.

No work and no daughter? Now that was just cruel.

“Shit, seriously?”

“I’m sorry. As soon as you’re allowed, I’m sure she’ll be clinging to you.”

I shrug, looking over at her in Alec’s arms. She was so cute, asleep. Not knowing that her mother had nearly been murdered. By someone that had held her, someone that knew her. I hadn’t even thought about it.

“Joe. It was Joe.”

“Aye, I know.”

I looked up at Alec who had a nervous look in those gorgeous eyes of his. “How could we have missed it? How could it be someone we know so well?”

Alec shrugged. “I don’t know.”

It was time to ask the question I’d been avoiding. “Have you told Ellie?”

“No.” He shook his head. “She wasn’t in the right frame of mind after she heard what happened to you and I wouldn’t want to make it worse. She had to be told in a civil place, where she can’t do anything to harm anyone or herself.”

“I can’t believe he got away.” I started unconsciously tapping against the hospital blanket I was shrouded in. I couldn’t believe that I had let him get away. I thought I’d either die in the room or a murderer would be off the streets, it hadn’t occurred to me that he could have ran away.

And what would Ellie think? She would find out soon enough and I really don’t think she would be able to handle anything like this at the moment. Tom and Fred would lose their father and Ellie would lose the man she thought she could trust the most.

“Don’t blame yourself.” Alec murmured, holding Violet with one arm and taking my hand in his spare one. “There wasn’t anything you could have done.”

I leant back against the pillow. “I know, I just- he was right there. If I’d had cuffs on me I could have arrested him there and then but I wasn’t at work. I don’t even think the gun has bullets in it.”

“If it hadn’t been for you, if you hadn’t kept him busy we wouldn’t know it was him. Now we know who to look for. We’ll find him soon.” Alec assured, squeezing my hand.

I looked up at him and smiled. He sent a soft smile back as my thoughts started spiraling again. “How did you know I was in trouble?”

Alec laughed slightly, a fond smile on his face. “You told me we needed tomatoes. You hate tomatoes. I knew you only would have said that as the first thing that came into your mind. I knew you were in danger.”

“Thank goodness you know me so well.” I smile. “I love you.”

Alec grinned down at me, nodding. “Love you too. And we’ll catch him, promise.”

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