She had almost moved in the library on the twelfth floor of New Scotland Yard to work on Hadiyyah's case. But days had turned into weeks and weeks into months. Barbara was exhausted and her daily work as a detective sergeant was suffering as a result. She had difficulties to focus on a task, she lacked attention when interviewing witnesses, her analysis was less pertinent. When Lynley had talked to her about that she had denied it and they had argued fiercely. Lynley put the official investigations before every other matter.
Barbara had once again found shelter in the library to have a look at some pictures from the CCTV of Waterloo Station when Dorothea Harriman appeared in front of her. Neatly dressed, her hair combed with taste she was the embodiment of the ever efficient and professional secretary. Barbara felt herself blushing with shame at the thought of what she was wearing: a green blouse that had seen better days over creased black trousers too tightly fitted, complete with her trademark red high-top trainers. She had never given much thought about personal grooming and it was even worse since Hadiyyah had been missing.
- Detective Sergeant Havers, Acting Superintendent Ardery would like to have a word with you in her office now.
- I'm coming, Dee, Barbara replied.
- She insisted you come with the files you're currently working on, added Dorothea gesturing at the pictures displayed in front of Barbara.
Shit, Barbara cursed inwardly. She was supposed to work with Lynley on the murder of a wealthy octogenarian woman. All the clues were leading to the old lady's husband, a gigolo in his early thirties who had a beautiful and young mistress and who was, it seemed, all the more in a hurry to inherit from his rich wife that his mistress was pregnant. Ardery would never ever believe that the pictures Barbara was working on, which were all of Indian-looking ten-year-old girls, had anything to do with this case.
Barbara took her time to gather the pictures and put them in a manila. Her heart was pounding so strongly she was sure Dee could hear it. She tried to steady her hands but the secretary noticed her tension and added:
- Detective Inspector Lynley is already in her office.
Lynley? What the hell was he doing there? Was he so mad at her that he'd gone to see Ardery? For a brief moment Barbara pictured the scene: a very upset Lynley complaining to Isabelle ('cause it was Isabelle for him, he'd laid her long enough to use her forename, right? she reflected bitterly) about her lack of professionalism. And Ardery: You're right, Thomas, this is absolutely unacceptable. But as she stepped into the lift Barbara realized the absurdity of her fantasy. Lynley had let her know that she ought to be 100% focused on her job but he had done so when no one else was around and furthermore he had covered her more than once when she needed to flee from the office or when the Human Resources Department had inquired about her ever growing overtime work. Yes, he indeed had covered her and maybe that was the reason why he had been summoned to the superintendent's office, Barbara reckoned.
As soon as she entered Ardery's office, Barbara knew her latest assumption was the right one. She could feel the tension between the acting superintendent and the inspector. Ardery was sitting upright on her chair behind her desk while Lynley was standing by the window, arms crossed, looking at the street.
- Ah, DS Havers. It's so kind of you to come and join us, Ardery said ironically. Please take a seat, she added gesturing towards the chairs in front of her desk.
Barbara dumped her shoulder bag on the floor and sat down without saying a word. She knew that she could not prevent her voice from trembling just yet and she was firmly decided not to let Ardery hear it.
- Thomas, we can resume our talk.
When Lynley turned around Barbara met his gaze. His eyes were saying: Sorry. He had a brief sad smile and sat next to her. He crossed his legs and put his hands over his knee his left hand covering the right one.
- DS Havers, DI Lynley've just told me that you have now gathered enough evidence against Mr. Engelworth to arrest him for the murder of his wife. I'm happy to hear that.
Barbara swallowed hard and managed to mutter a "Thank you, Ma'am" almost inaudible. What was the meaning of all this, she wondered. From Lynley's attitude, she was sure Ardery hadn't summoned them to congratulate them on a job well done. The superintendent went on:
- I am glad you got this case over with so rapidly. I must admit DS Havers that I have noticed how you've worked enthusiastically. All your working overtime, all your search in the archives…Thomas, you really should have asked for the assignment of an additional resource rather than having Barbara work so hard. DS Nkata was available I reckon.
- I did not deem it necessary to get Nkata involved. Havers did well even if her research took longer than I had expected.
Lynley's voice was steady and calm. Only his right hand clenched into a fist was betraying the fire burning inside him. His posture was open and relaxed as suited a man with his education but was no clue to his thoughts. Barbara marvelled at his composure and blamed herself for having doubted him. He was once again covering her, deliberately lying to their superior. How could she ever thank him enough? To what end will she be willing to go for him? The answer that popped into her mind was too disturbing for her to contemplate there and now. Ardery had resumed talking:
- Truth is sergeant Havers has spent a huge amount of time in the library, indeed. As a matter of fact you were still there a few minutes ago, weren't you Barbara? Mind sharing with us what you were working on?
Barbara felt a chill going down her spine. She put on her best poker face and tried a bluff.
- Actually it was a wrong track. Nothing at all. One of the witness thought he had seen the suspect at Waterloo's station but there's nothing on the video footage. Ma'am, she added as an afterthought.
- But you do have some photographs, Barbara. Let's have a look at them together. Three pairs of eyes are better than one.
Later, when she was able to think about what had happened without feeling the urge to yell or to tear to pieces everything that felt under her hand, Barbara realized that that was then she had made a mistake. Instead of immediately reaching out for the manila in her shoulder bag and showing the photographs while trying to make them fit her story, she had glanced at Lynley. Oh, so briefly. So lightly. But explicitly enough for Ardery to understand exactly what it meant What should I do?, and then all hell broke loose.
- Sergeant Havers! Do I really need to remind you who's the higher ranking officer in this room? Do I really need to remind you that, at the end of the day, I am your superior? When I ask you to do something, anything, sergeant, you comply. You follow my orders, sergeant, not inspector Lynley's. Show me those pictures, sergeant! Now!
- Isabelle.
That was unexpected: Lynley using her first name at work, in front of someone else. But she wouldn't let him destabilize her.
- No, Thomas, no. Enough. If you think, both of you, that I've not noticed your making a fool out of me, you're grossly mistaken. Since I've been here you've kept on disregarding my authority. There was just no way to rein you in. Right from the start, during this case in the New Forest, Barbara, you've acted against my orders and Thomas has covered you. And then, it's you, Thomas, who's disappeared God knows where to work on God knows what case. And I look like the fool of all fools when I realize that you've talked Barbara into working on that case and that she wouldn't let me know what's going on because she'd rather have her head chopped off twice than betray you, Thomas!
Barbara blushed heavily and lost herself in the contemplation of her hands. Ardery went on:
- And now, there you go again! Except it's the other way round. Now it's you, Thomas, who's deceiving me, who's lying for her. Enough, now. This must stop! I've had just enough of your double act. You've been working together for what? Six, seven years? Now's the time you move on to something else.
Barbara straightened in her chair and looked up but before she could say anything Lynley spoke.
The inspector had listened to Isabelle's burst of anger without batting an eyelid for he reckoned that part of the blame was well deserved but the implication of the last sentence and Barbara's reaction inclined him to speak before his partner added fuel to the fire.
- I admit I went beyond my prerogatives on several occasions to let sergeant Havers follow a trail I knew you didn't want her to follow. But I did so because I thought she may actually have been on the right track. And I have not been disappointed for, each time, her intuition had led us to the murderer. I understand your reluctance to let Havers act, a priori, completely freely as you've been working with her for a short period of time, but I've been her partner for 6 years now and I completely trust her for digging up the clues that will lead us to the murderer. And, at the end of the day, that is what is expected of us, isn't that? Catch the murderer, and find enough evidence to secure his or her conviction. As to that case I couldn't tell you about, may I suggest that you talk to assistant commissioner Hillier about it? I cannot tell you anything without his approval but, please, rest assured that what Barbara and I did on this case was supervised by Sir David himself.
Barbara raised an eyebrow when she heard Lynley give Hillier the full Sir David treatment. She knew Lynley's strong antipathy towards the man because she felt the same.
- Speaking of Sir David, Thomas. I have talked to him and made clear that I intended to proceed to a few changes in the teams DI-DS. I need all of you to respect my authority and I cannot let a duet like yours defy me constantly.
- We do not defy you Isabelle.
- Of course you do! You're acting as if you had nobody to report to. Even DI Stewart has come to accept my leadership but you and Havers keep doing as you please. This must stop. I reckon, and Hillier agrees with me, that your cooperation has been successful but with the time you somehow came to think and act as it if were you two against the rest of the world. This being said, you are good coppers and I am sure your experience could be beneficial to other detectives. That's why, from now on, you won't work together anymore, and you'll be assigned new partners.
- Isabelle…,Lynley begun.
- Rubbish! Barbara thundered jumping on her feet. We're a bloody good team! Maybe the best team of the whole CID! There may be some stains on our records but I'm damn sure we've the best resolution rate! We work well together. Hell, he's the only inspector I work well with!
- It's time for you to grow sergeant! You cannot expect to work with the same partner your whole career. You've learnt a lot with DI Lynley as you'll learn a lot more working with another DI. This will be good for your career, trust me.
- What's wrong with you? Can't you just let me be? Whatever I do is never good enough for you! First you wanted me to change the way I'm dressed, then my haircut wasn't stylish enough, now I've not the right partner…
- I am mentoring you, Barbara. I am concerned about your career. I believe there are much more than meet the eyes in you but the way you look and the way you act are detrimental to your career.
- So you want me to be like you? Is that what you want? But I don't want to be like you and I'll never be like you even if I had plastic surgery 'cos the clothes don't make the man, or the woman for that matter. And by the way, you are not my mentor! You're not the role model I look up to! My mentor, here he is! –pointing to Lynley, and my role model, and my friend when we're at it!
- And here's the root of the problem, Barbara. You two are so close now that you don't give a damn about the other officers. You're like a couple!
- Isabelle…, Lynley pleaded dreading the way the conversation was turning but, then again, Barbara reacted more quickly than he:
- Bloody hell, don't tell me you're jealous! I'm not the one he used to bang!
Lynley winced. Ardery stiffened in her chair, and glanced coldly at Lynley:
- You told her? I should have guessed you would…What else did you tell her?
A relationship with a subordinate could put her career at risk but Lynley knew far worse about her and she was now afraid of what he might have told Havers.
- Let me put this straight, Isabelle. I have not told Barbara anything, he stressed out the last word. She just knows how to put two and two together and she reads me like an open book. She's rather percipient, you know. That's what makes her a good cop.
- Do you intend to use this information, sergeant?
- What?
Barbara was stunned. She had rapidly guessed that Lynley and Ardery were lovers but she had never thought about using this information against Ardery. First, because she wasn't of the blackmailer type, and second because Lynley was involved too and she'd never want to hurt him.
- I'm not a bloody grass! What you do and with whom you do it is none of my business as long as I don't take the blame for it. But I've got the feeling that you've hold a grudge against me since the beginning and it's only getting worse. You've complained about my look and now you're saying that I'm too close to the inspector in a way that implies a more personal relationship. Is that why you don't want us to work together anymore? To move me away from him? So that my irresistible sex-appeal won't stand in your way? I thought it was over between you but maybe you'd like him going back inside your knickers?
- Watch your words, sergeant! You're walking a very thin line. Inspector, do you want to say something?
Lynley sighed. He had forced himself to remain quiet and still during all the argument between the two women and now his head was pounding and his fists hurt for being clenched too tightly. He was caught between two lines of fire and he knew that they wanted him to choose his side, hierarchy or friendship, except it was not that simple. Both women he cared about and didn't want to lose their friendship. But he couldn't deny the feelings he had about Ardery's decision. True to his education he asked Ardery for a private talk not wanting to confront her in front of Barbara but when she drily rejected his request he resigned himself to speak.
- As I told you, I admit that sergeant Havers and I have gone too far on several occasions and I am truly sorry about that. I reckon that you've not been given permanent tenure to the post of superintendent yet and that your ability to manage the team will be of the utmost importance during your performance appraisal. I want to assure you that it has never been our intention to undermine your authority. To be perfectly clear, I don't want the job. I've been proposed the post before and even acted as superintendent for some time but I made it clear that it was temporary. So you see I have nothing to gain from your dismissal. That being said, however, I must say that I don't understand your reason for ending my collaboration with sergeant Havers. As she had stressed, our solving rate is testimony to the fact that we are an efficient team. Superintendent Webberly had built our team for he thought we could learn from each other and work effectively together and he's been proved right. We do complement each other. We trust each other, respect each other. We bring to the investigation two different views and this enables us to have a broad comprehension of the facts that is key to solving the case. Furthermore we have demonstrated our ability to work with other police officers or departments more than once. And you know that first hand because that's how we met.
- I wouldn't say that it went so smoothly, inspector.
- That's true and it was rather due to my own behaviour than to Barbara's. All this to tell you that I don't understand your decision. It feels like your punishing us. On a professional ground, for I can't believe this is not strictly professional, we may deserve the administrative equivalent of a slap on the wrist but breaking up our team on the pretense that we're threatening your authority does not make sense. You're overshooting. I know you've had a hard time with the team upon your arrival. Most of the officers were missing Webberly and resented your taking his job and the rest was just resenting your taking the job for they wanted it for themselves. But you can't force your leadership on the team by treating us unfairly or heavy-handedly, and you know that.
- I'm taking the risk, inspector Lynley.
- Come on, you're clever than that.
- I appreciate your high esteem of me, thank you, but I've made up my mind and there's no turning back. You're not going to work together anymore. So get yourselves used to it or consider changing job.
And on those last words, she dismissed them.
They went out silently and a bit stunned, and retreated to Lynley's office. The implicit threat of being sacked had unsettled Barbara. She couldn't afford to lose her job. She sat heavily on the chair in front of Lynley's desk and let out her anger and frustration.
- That bloody cow! Who the hell does she think she is?
- Well, the guv', I guess. We need to adopt a lower profile for some time, Barbara. She's got Hillier's blessing on that.
- 'Course she has! This bastard would be only too happy to have one good reason to sack us! He just can't stand how you and your hereditary title cast a shadow on his precious knighthood and he's been longing to sack me since the incident with Barlow. God, I still don't know how Webberly managed to convince him of not giving me the boot then.
- That's why we have to be cautious, Havers. Especially you. Hillier knows your record. He knows that, before our partnership, you've had trouble working with the other DIs. Even with McPherson it didn't go well. Damn and blast, Barbara, Angus is such a nice fellow and he doesn't want to work with you anymore.
- I know…My charm's been totally lost on him.
Lynley smiled: Havers' mood was improving. She was shifting from anger back to her sarcastic self.
- We have no choice, Barbara. We've lost this battle. That does not mean we should enjoy that. But, how's the motto? Live and fight another day? Well, that's exactly what we should do. And the first step is to be absolutely beyond reproach. So tame down a bit and work genuinely with whomever you'll be partnered with, as you did with me…
- Nice little sergeant Havers…
- and we might be able to reverse the situation and work together again, as a team.
- I wonder…
- What?
- If they someday change their mind, would you still want to work with me?
- I couldn't imagine a better partner, Barbara.
- Not even Winston?
- Not even Winston. So will you do ourselves a favour and not get sacked?
- I'll try. But if I end up working with Stewart that'll be a real challenge! What about you? Think you'll cope?
- I'll cope, Barbara. And so will you.
