Abuse of Power
Disclaimer: New Tricks belongs to the BBC and I make no monetary gain from this story, though if Aunty Beeb is interested, I'm fairly cheap!
Rating: T for some bad language.
/
"Where's the Guv'nor?"
Brian Lane looked up from his computer screen, the glow of the monitor reflected in his glasses, he watched as his colleagues entered the small but cosy office, Jack hanging up his coat on the peg, gently smoothing the creases out of it, Gerry threw his over the arm of the sofa, and headed straight for the kettle. It had been the latter who had asked the question. Brian shrugged.
"No sign yet. But it's only just nine.."
"Has anyone else noticed that she seems to be late an awful lot nowadays." Jack observed dryly. Gerry nodded.
"Since she started going out with this new bloke." He added, "This secret bloke who she won't tell us anything about." Gerry sounded annoyed. Jack sighed.
"As she told us, it's none of our business who she goes out with." Jack hated the fact that Sandra had opted to keep her latest love interest from them, he had always felt protective of her, ever since the feisty young teenager had broken when he had delivered the news of her beloved Father's death to her home all those years before. He had watched her bloom into a beautiful, strong and dedicated woman, who he was very, very proud of. He could understand to some extent, why,when they had first started to suspect she had a new man in her life, she had told them to keep their noses out and let her be happy. He hoped she had finally found happy, she deserved it after the list of losers she had been involved with in the past.
"Yeah, I know. But, well, we're her friends." Gerry whined. He had found it hard to keep his opinions to himself, for a while he had fancied his chances with the gutsy blonde, until he had realised that he actually really liked her, and had decided that he didn't want to risk ruining his friendship with her with a fling, not that she had ever reacted to any of his casual flirting, she could shrivel a man with one glare.
"She doesn't want us interfering." Brian chimed in, earning himself a glare from his cockney colleague.
"why does she think we'd interfere?" Gerry asked innocently.
"Because you can't help yourselves." A new voice joined the conversation. The three men looked towards the source. Jack frowned as he took in Sandra's appearance. Gerry gasped.
"What the hell happened to you?" Brian asked. Sandra was wearing a large pair of dark glasses, trying to hide the very obvious black eye, but they couldn't disguise the swollen, discoloured lip. All three men approached her. She waved her hand at them, trying to appear un-bothered, but she was obviously uncomfortable being the centre of their attention.
"It's nothing, just me being clumsy." She tried waving them away. Gerry was struggling to hold his temper in.
"That's not nothing! What happened, did the bastard hit you?" He spat. Sandra flinched slightly at the dangerous tone in her friends voice, she shook her head.
"I walked onto a cupboard door. It's nothing, really. Now, we're here to work. So get working, I've got to go up to see Strickland." She turned and walked back out the way she had just come, leaving the three men staring after her.
"Cupboard door my arse!" Gerry stated. Jack nodded.
"If I had a pound for every time I have heard that..."
"But what do we do?" Brian whispered, shaken to the core. He had seen so many victims of domestic violence in the course of his career, but he had never thought Sandra would be one, she was such a strong, in control woman. To see her bearing the marks of a victim, he felt at a loss as to what their next move should be. Gerry looked at the now empty doorway.
"I don't know about you two, but I intend to find this bastard and let him know what happens if you mess with our Sandra.
/
"Gerry, how long are we going to sit here?" Brian asked, shifting, trying to return the sensation to his left leg in the confined quarters of the back of the little blue peugeot. He looked at the dashboard clock, it was nearly eleven o/clock in the evening and it was dark as pitch and with a non stop drizzle falling outside. They were camped out just down the road from Sandra's house, the entrance to her driveway in plain sight. They had followed her home at six, and nobody had come or gone since. Sandra had been subdued for most of the day, spending most of it hidden away in her office, her head buried in paperwork. Nothing more had been said about her argument with 'a cupboard door' and nobody had asked her about her mystery man.
"I think I've lost all feeling in my feet." Jack moaned. "Why on earth did we have to borrow Esther's car, what was wrong with my mondeo?"
"Sandra might have spotted it." Gerry replied. "Not that anyone has been around to spot anything."
"Maybe she gave him the boot, you know after he...he..." Brian suggested.
"After he knocked her about." Gerry finished. He sighed. "I know, this is probably a complete waste of time, but I couldn't just do nothing. At least I feel like we're here, you know, if she should need us."
"Yeah, I know." Brian conceded, sitting back in the seat.
"What's this?" Jack sat upright, pointing to the front of the house. The porch light had come on, and the three men watched as the front door opened and a figure stepped out. He was wearing a pair of jeans and trainers and a dark hoodie which was zipped up. The hood was pulled up against the rain, which concealed his face from them, he was tall, that's about all they could fathom. He started to walk in the opposite direction away from them, his head dipped and his hands stuffed into his pockets as he walked into the driving drizzle.
"Follow him...But keep your distance." Jack said. Gerry grinned and nodded. They followed him for about ten minutes until he went into a small late night convenience store. He re-emerged a few minutes later carrying a bag. He set off back towards the house. The three men hunkered down as he walked past the car on the opposite side of the road, pausing for a moment to zip up his hoodie again. Brian put his hand on Jack's shoulder.
"Did you notice that?"
"What?"
"His hand, the knuckles on his right hand, they were grazed."
"From punching someone?" Gerry growled. He started the car and sped off. Jack looked at him in surprise.
"Where are we going?"
"He's got to go past Ridley park, it'll be deserted on a night like this. I want to have 'a word' with him."
"Yeah, me too." Brian nodded. Jack shrugged.
"Okay, but remember that some of us are on the wrong side of retirement age."
"Three on one, I think we can persuade him to leave Sandra alone." Gerry answered. He got to the park entrance and they parked up. They didn't have to wait for long. The man soon came into sight, walking at a fast pace, obviously intent on getting back into the warmth of Sandra's home. As he drew level with the peugeot, Gerry threw the door open wide, knocking the legs out from under their target. Gerry was soon out of the car, Jack followed, but was stopped by Brian who couldn't tip the seat forward to get out. Jack pulled the lever and turned back to the ambush just in time to see Gerry grab the front of the man's hoodie and land a right cross to his jaw.
"What the hell!" A familiar voice stopped them in their tracks, Gerry ripped the hood back to reveal the bloodied face of their superior officer.
"Strickland!" Gerry exclaimed. Still gripping the front of his hoodie, his fist raised for a second punch. Jack laid a hand on his arm, stopping the blow from coming. Gerry let go of the hoodie, dropping the man to the floor.
"You bastard!" He hissed, venom in his eyes. Rob Strickland just lay there in total shock, his eyes flicking from man to man, blood pouring from his split and swollen lip.
"It was you?" Brian gasped, unable to believe his own eyes. Strickland looked up at him in confusion.
"It was me who what?" He asked, his voice distorted.
"You hit Sandra." Gerry stated. Strickland's eye widened.
"No!" He insisted. "I never would..."
"Then how did she get like that." Jack asked.
"She hit her head on the bathroom cabinet."
"Oh, really. She said it was a cupboard door." Gerry said sarcastically. He raised his fist again. Rob held up his hands, trying to defend himself.
"Really!" He almost shouted. "She was brushing her teeth, I reached across her to get my razor out of the cupboard, she didn't realise I was behind her and I made her jump, as she straightened up she caught her face on the cabinet door." He blurted, "Really, I never laid a finger on her, not like that, never like that. I'd never hurt her." He insisted. Gerry couldn't contain his fury, he lashed out and caught Strickland on the temple before he stormed off into the park, Brian ran after him.
"Gerry, wait! Where are you going?"
"I just need to walk. I'll catch up with you later alright. Look mate, I'm sorry, I just need to get me head sorted. I'll see you tomorrow, probably when I come to clear my desk. I'm going to get a pint." Brian watched the figure disappear into the night, he jogged back to the path just in time to find Jack helping their bloodied and dishevelled boss to his feet.
"Oh bloody hell! Why didn't she tell us." He exclaimed, his hands on his head, Rob shook his head, an ironic smile crossed his swollen lip for a second.
"Because she was scared of how you would react. I thought she was being overly pessimistic, but now I'm not so sure. Thank you." He took the white tissue that Jack held out to him and dabbed at his lip, but the tissue was soon soaked through with blood. Brian stooped down and picked up the shopping bag, the contents rattled, he looked at his boss.
"Whatever this is, it's broken." He said. Robert sighed.
"It's a bottle of white wine and morello cherry ice cream. At least it was. Sandra's feeling a bit sorry for herself, so I wanted to cheer her up."
"How long?" Jack asked sternly. "How long have you both been hiding this?"
He could barely contain his anger, he felt as though he had been played for a fool, how come he had never seen this? He watched as the younger man leaned against the wall, his eyes closed. He sighed.
"A couple of months, maybe a bit more."
"Why didn't she tell us? Doesn't she trust us?" Brian was close to tears, he loved his job, and his friends, he couldn't bare the fact that it may all fall apart. Surly Gerry would be sacked, after all he had hit a superior officer again, twice!
"Of course she trusts you. You mean the world to her, that's why she couldn't tell you. She knows how much you hate me, and she couldn't bare the thought of you making her choose between your friendship, and her relationship with me." He gave them a wry smile, holding up the bloodied tissue. "She didn't want to cause any conflict within the unit."
"Are you going to sack Gerry?" Brian's voice was quiet, Jack gave his colleague a worried glance, he knew how much the other man would be shaken by such a massive change in the dynamic of the unit, Brian thrived on stability, depended on it even. He looked back to their boss.
"What are you going to do?" He asked. Strickland shook his head.
"Nothing. Let's just keep this between ourselves for now. Can you give me a ride home?" Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise, but he nodded.
"By home do you mean Sandra's?" He asked. Strickland nodded.
"My car is there, I stay at Sandra's more than my own place now anyway."
Brian squeezed back into the rear of the little hatchback, while Jack helped their boss peel off the wet and bloodstained hoodie, before he slipped into the passenger seat, using the rolled up garment to try and stem the blood which was still pouring from his lip and temple. The drive back was brief and carried out in silence, and they were soon pulling into the driveway of Sandra's house. As they got out of the car, the front door opened and a frantic Sandra came rushing out.
"Rob! Are you okay?" She asked, almost in a panic. Her eyes flitted around the others, before coming back to the bloodied man in front of her.
"I'm fine." He assured her. She frowned.
"What happened?" She asked, taking the hoodie out of his hands and dabbing lightly at his temple"
"Oh, a couple of teenagers thought they would relieve me of my valuables, Jack and Brian happened to be driving past and scared them off." He told her, his eyes catching Jack's. The older man nodded slightly.
"Why are you in Esther's car?" She asked, her eyes narrowing. She had been a copper for long enough to know when she was being fed a cock and bull story, but she went along with it for now.
"Long story." Jack shrugged, "You should get him into the dry." He changed the subject swiftly.
"We'll be late picking Gerry up." Brian ad-libbed. Jack caught on.
"We'll see you tomorrow. You can tell us everything then." He threw Sandra an accusatory glance, before glaring towards Robert, deflecting the course of the conversation, making Sandra blush and lower her eyes, like a schoolgirl who had been caught smoking behind the bike sheds. She nodded.
"I will, I'm sorry, I never meant to..."
"We know. Don't worry. Tell us tomorrow. Take care of him for now." Jack nodded towards Strickland. Brian held up the carrier bag.
"Shall I chuck this out?" He asked. Rob nodded.
"Thank you." He said. He and Sandra watched as the men climbed into the car and pulled away. Rob followed Sandra back inside, peeling off the soaked shirt as he went. He turned to find Sandra watching him, her eyes narrowed.
"Are you going to tell me what really happened?" She asked. He lowered his eyes.
"Tomorrow, I'll tell you everything tomorrow evening, over a romantic meal for two which I will cook. Until then, will you please believe what I just told you, let me protect you?"
"Protect me from what? Rob, please, I'm not stupid. You didn't get mugged, did you. And where was Gerry during all this? Jack and Brian in Esther's car, to pick him up. Yeah right. I didn't come down with the last shower. It was Gerry wasn't it?" It wasn't a question, Robert could tell from the conflict running across her beautiful features that she had quickly put two and two together. He stepped closer to her and put both his hands on her shoulders, he smiled, as well as he could with a fat lip which was currently throbbing like a cartoon thumb.
"Yes, it was Gerry, who, thinking you had been beaten up by your boyfriend, came looking for him to teach him a lesson. He had no idea that it was me until it was too late." He decided to keep the second punch to himself for the time being. "We're out now. They know about us, no more sneaking around like naughty children." He brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face. "Jack and Brian will find Gerry, they'll talk to him..."
"What will you do? This isn't the first time he's hit a superior. If certain people find out about this, they'll make sure you have to sack him." Her voice wavered. She knew that Gerry had a large number of enemies within the met, some who had climbed to the higher ranks, who would relish the chance to be rid of 'last man Standing'.
"There is no reason anyone will have to find out. I can work from home for the next few days, give this chance to fade." He gestured towards his face. "Look, Sandra. He thought somebody had hurt you, and he went out of his way to make sure it never happened again. I'm not going to hold the fact that he cares for you against him, and neither should you. Like it or not, those three will have your back through thick or thin. I just want to forget this happened. Please, give me this opportunity to prove to them that I'm not the bad guy."
She sighed, she had expected trouble when her boys eventually found out about her and the department supervisor, the man they had disliked from the moment they had first been introduced. Four years later and the animosity was as strong as it had ever been. She hoped that they could see beyond the facade the man used in his day to day dealings within the met, to the real man she had gotten to know over the past few months. She nodded slightly, smiling as he moved closer, their lips meeting.
"Ouch!" He grimaced, pulling back. He put his hand gingerly to his lip. Sandra did the same, before she started to giggle uncontrollably. He smiled.
"This could hamper things somewhat." He observed. Sandra leaned forward.
"I have some other ideas." She pointed out. She moved closed and whispered in his ear, her suggestions making him grin like a cheshire cat, before he spotted a flaw in her plan.
"But I didn't manage to get the ice cream."
/
Author's note. This little story has been sitting on my computer for a while. It's not my best work.