Father's Day
Doyle flicked the windscreen wipers on to whisk away the thin film of raindrops that had accumulated as he sat in traffic. Bodie, beside him, sighed yet again craning his neck to see what the hold up was.
"It's just the volume of vehicles." Doyle informed him, as equally as fed up yet trying to remain calm but this was coming at the end of an unusually quiet week where they had had nothing much to do. Now, full of unexpended energy and frustration and heading into C.I.5's headquarters for the last day of the week both men hoped it would bring about what they classed as 'real work'.
Falling into silence as the vehicle made slow progress down the busy street Bodie gazed wistfully out of the side window, his attention caught by a colourful banner placed at an angle across a shop window. It proclaimed 'Father's Day-Sunday'. He regarded it thoughtfully. He'd never had a father, well not one that had ever been in his life; he'd no idea who the man was, whether he was even still alive, not that he cared. He wondered, as he did occasionally, if he would have turned out any differently had he had the input of a paternal figure in his life. Learning at an early age that he was to be on his own in this life he didn't think he'd actually turned out too badly especially as he'd also been paid scant attention by his mother.
As life had continued Bodie only allowed a few people to get close to him and those that he had had either disappeared for one reason or another or had let him down. It only served to make him even more cautious and subsequently not many knew the real him. The man that sat beside him now was someone that did. It hadn't always been so but little by little Bodie had given small fragments of himself away until the trust between them was now complete and absolute.
Bodie stared at the banner again as the car drew level with the shop. There was another man in his life worthy of his trust, a paternal figure though what George Cowley would think about that Bodie didn't know! He was fairly sure however that he sat, somewhat precariously at times, somewhere in the older man's affections and he liked to think that perhaps Cowley thought he was the son he'd never had.
Doyle's attention wandered from the line of cars before him to find out what had finally silenced his irascible partner. He followed the path of his gaze to the shop front and knew where Bodie's thoughts had settled. He'd not been told a lot about his early life, it didn't seem there was much to know. But what he had gleaned had appalled Doyle. He'd often thought that if he could give Bodie even half of the idyllic childhood he had had himself he would have done so in a heartbeat.
Doyle suddenly felt Bodie grab his arm.
"Pull over!" Bodie ordered.
"What?" Doyle recognised the sudden wicked twinkle in the eyes of his friend.
"Pull over! Quick!"
"Please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking?"
"Yep! I'm thinking what you're thinking I'm thinking!"
"He'll kill you!" Doyle swung the Capri out of the line of traffic and parked against the curb.
"We don't have to put our names on it." Bodie was already out of the car.
"You're going to get Cowley a Father's Day card and not sign it? What's the point? And what do you mean 'we'?"
Bodie strode ahead of him into the shop and moved swiftly up and down the aisles of greetings cards until we found the selection for Father's Day. When his protest that they'd be late went unheeded Doyle gave up and threw himself into the task. Once Bodie had an idea in his head there was no shifting him.
"How about this one?" Doyle held up a card.
"Nah." Bodie didn't know exactly what he was looking for but knew he'd know the right one when he found it.
"And no soppy verses either." he instructed.
"There's one here with a golfer on it. Cowley plays golf."
Bodie's eyes brightened. "What's it say inside?"
"Nothing, just 'Happy Father's Day.'" Doyle passed the card to him for approval.
"Perfect! Come on." Bodie led the way to the front of the shop to pay only mildly registering disappointment that he was served by a tall gangly youth and not his attractive female colleague.
"So," Doyle asked as he slid back into the driver's seat. "What are you going to write in it? Love from Bodie and Doyle?"
"Love? Hardly." Bodie pulled a face and then began rooting around the glove compartment for a pen. "No, I thought 'From your two admirers.'"
"Sounds more like a Valentines message."
"Does it?" Bodie asked worriedly.
"Do you want him to know its from you...us?"
"Dunno." Bodie was suddenly despondent. "Dunno what I was thinking. Stupid idea." He threw the card with its pale green envelope and the pen into the glove compartment.
"No, it isn't." Doyle attempted to salvage the plan. "And as you've made us late you're not going to give up now. Get the card out and get writing. The admirer's thing is fine. And if you don't want him to know it's from you then disguise your writing."
Reluctantly Bodie did as he was told and then tucked the card inside the envelope as Doyle pulled the car into the yard at C.I.5's headquarters. "Are you just going to give it to him?" he asked.
"I've been thinking about that," replied Bodie thoughtfully. "Let's pay a visit to Betty and Sally."
Once inside the building the two men climbed the stairs to the secretaries office. Bodie leaned against the door frame with folded arms.
"Morning ladies."
Betty had seen that look before. She knew he was up to something. "What do you want?"
"Now is that any way to greet your favourite C.I.5 operative? Who says I want anything?"
Doyle couldn't help sniggering. "You're losing your touch, mate."
Bodie ignored him. "I was just passing and wondered if you had any files or reports you wanted taking in to Cowley. Thought I could save you a trip if you did."
The two women stared at each other in puzzlement trying to work out what he was up to. Sally picked up a small bundle of files and handed them to him with some reluctance. "You might want to hurry up as he was in here earlier and he's not in a good mood." she told them both.
"Is he ever?" Bodie quipped, taking the files from her and following Doyle out into the hallway. He pulled out the card and placed it among the files close to the top. Knocking on the door of their boss's office the two men were called in.
"Morning, Sir." Bodie beamed disarmingly at his boss.
"You're late!" George Cowley barked at them.
"Yes, sorry about that, Sir. Doyle's fault, driving too slowly. Like an old lady he is sometimes."
Doyle looked at him in utter amazment as he took a seat at the desk. Bodie placed the files in Cowley's 'In' tray and the Scot eyed them with suspicion.
"But you still found time to visit my secretaries."
"No, Sir. They called out to us as we were hurrying past. Told us you were waiting for them. We could hardly say no, now could we?"
Cowley stared at Bodie who turned in his seat to grin at Doyle hoping to have this confirmed but Doyle sat there wondering just how Bodie always seemed to think on his feet so quickly and how he himself seemed to be always the one to carry the blame.
"Have you been drinking, 3.7?"
"Not recently,Sir, but if you don't give us some proper work I think I might be forced to."
"Yes...well...I'm afraid 'real work' as you call it is in short supply."
"Have all the criminals gone on holiday, Sir?"
"Seems that way, Bodie."
"Any chance of me and Doyle having a holiday then, Sir?"
"No." Cowley turned his attention back to the matter in hand.
"Didn't think so." Bodie slunk back into his seat.
Cowley handed Doyle a sheet of paper. "Just a few leads for you to follow up first and then you are to relieve Woods and Perryman. If there is no movement at the house they have under surveillance after a couple of hours then wrap it up and report back here. Understood?"
"Yes, Sir." Doyle passed the sheet to Bodie who hid his disappointment at the continuing lack of action.
"Good. On your way."
Bodie got up and laid his hand gently on the 'In' tray. "You have a good day, Sir."he beamed at his boss before turning away. Cowley caught Doyle's eye. "Is it me or is he a bit odd today?"
"It's him and it's not just today, it's every day. At least you don't have to work with him. I should be paid extra for that you know. I don't suppose..."
" No. On your way 4.5." Cowley dropped his gaze again.
George Cowley sighed, leaning back in his chair to rub tired eyes. It had been a long week made worse by the lack of progress on the few ongoing cases he had and the lack of any new information of potential threats to the country's security. He viewed the amount of files on his desk and in his trays. Funny how they never seemed to go down, he mused. His eyes suddenly caught the edge of a piece of pale green paper sticking out among the buff coloured folders and he tugged at it. Turning the envelope over in his hands in puzzlement he eased open the unsealed flap to reveal the card.
"What the devil...? Happy Father's Day? That's obviously got in here by mistake." Cowley stared at the picture of the golfer about to take a swing at the ball. Was this meant for him? He flipped open the card and read the message in a hand he didn't recognise.
"Your two admirers?" Cowley looked at the picture again and then the let a small smile spread across his face surprised at the warmth of feeling that seemed to fill his very soul. He hadn't imagined that any of his workforce should have thought of him in such a paternal way.
"Och, those wee rascals!" He placed the card on his desk and got up suddenly to grab his coat from the hook on the back of the door and stepped into the hallway.
"I'm going out for about half an hour." he paused briefly at the door of his secretaries office, a wide smile on his face and then he hurried off down the corridor.
"Was he...?" Sally asked.
"Smiling? Yeah." breathed Betty as the two women gazed at each other in disbelief.
Bodie pondered aloud as he handed Doyle a cup of coffee poured from the thermos flask. "I wonder if he's found it yet."
"The card? Dunno." Doyle peered through the binoculars trained on the window of the house opposite.
"Hope so. Hope it cheers him up. He's been tetchy for weeks now."
"I think he's as frustrated as we are by the lack of action. He needs to get out more, stuck in that office day after day."
"Talking of getting out,Ray, let's call it a day. There's been no sign of life since we've been here and Woods and Perryman had nothing to report either."
Doyle glanced at his watch. "Yeah, come on."
Bodie sparked into life with more enthusiasm than he had shown all day and he quickly gathered up their things.
Back at C.I.5's headquarters the two operatives bounded up the stairs and a splash of colour caught Bodie's eye as they passed the secretaries office.
"Who's been buying you flowers?" he asked, looking at the huge bouquet of expensive looking blooms in vases on the desks of both Betty and Sally.
"You'll never guess." replied Sally. "Cowley."
Bodie and Doyle stared at each other in amazement. "Cowley?"
"Yes, and we've had cream cakes too. I don't know what's got into him, he was in such a bad mood this morning. He's never done anything like this before."
The two men turned and stepped back into the hallway.
"What's going on with Cowley? Is it his birthday or something?" Bodie asked.
"No idea. I don't even know when his birthday is." Doyle leaned against the wall in thought.
"This is serious, mate, I've missed out on cream cakes."
"Thinking of your stomach as usual. Of course it's always possible he's saved you one."
Bodie's eyes brightened in anticipation and, as he began to set off in the direction of his boss's office, he sensed Doyle lagging behind.
"What's up?" he asked impatiently, seeing the look of deep thought on Doyle's face.
"I think I can hazard a guess as to what might have happened. I reckon he thinks the Father's Day card is from the girls." Doyle noted the sudden look of alarm from Bodie."Well, it was amongst their files and paperwork." Doyle reasoned as he fell into step with his crestfallen partner. "I told you to sign it."
"I know, but I didn't really want him to know it was from me...us but yet I did. Does that make sense?"
"No."
Once inside the room Bodie was quick to scan it for any sign of a cream cake with his name on it. He was disappointed. Everything appeared just as they had left it, Cowley deeply engrossed in his work...except...the card seemed to be taking pride and place in the centre of his desk.
"So," said Cowley eyeing his approaching men. "Nothing doing at the surveillance then?"
"No, Sir. I think the gang have long gone." Doyle told him.
"Doesn't surprise me. Seems to be par for the course this week. It's been a complete write off." Cowley put down his pen and Bodie and Doyle watched the older man's grey eyes alight briefly on the card, his whole face softening.
"You two get yourselves off home. I've nothing more for you today."
Bodie stared at him. "You're sending us home early?"
"Is that a problem 3.7?" Cowley smiled at the man before him.
"No, Sir, just you've never..." Bodie felt Doyle tugging at his sleeve. Time to make a swift exit before the old man changed his mind. But Bodie found himself strangely spellbound by Cowley's whole, and somewhat unfamiliar, demeanour.
"Good. Of course, if you're not doing anything around seven o'clock this evening we could always..." Cowley paused to gaze meaningfully at Bodie before he stressed his next word. " 'admire' a wee Scotch or two at the Club. You too Doyle. After I've had a couple of rounds of golf."
Bodie's heart leapt as he read in those warm grey eyes the realisation that the Scot had indeed known the card was from him. He'd known all along.
"I'd like that very much, Sir." Bodie's voice was but a whisper. Cowley nodded as the wave of understanding swept his operative. Doyle heard the fondness in his partner's tone. The men before him both seemed to have got what they needed and it was something more than cream cakes and Scotch. Perhaps the week hadn't been a total write off after all.