Within minutes of Knox's arrival, Hathaway was in trouble for having assigned an officer to guard Lewis's room. "You are not to be making assignments without my approval, I thought I made that clear." Knox squinted at him. "I don't care if he is your boyfriend, I'm the one making the decisions in this case."

"What?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Sergeant. It was not my choice that you were assigned to this case. And take DC Macklin off completely, I simply cannot work with her."

At the first chance he had, Hathaway made a surreptitious visit to Innocent's office.

"Oh, Hathaway, I need see you. Yes, come in. And close the door, please."

One thing Lewis had taught Hathaway was not to speak in Innocent's presence until she had her say. So he remained standing, waiting.

She waved pink slips of paper at him. "I have here four requests for disciplinary action filed against you since yesterday. All involve alleged insubordinate conduct toward DI Knox. Of course I will not take action, the man is completely out of bounds on this, but can you please just try to keep your head low and your mouth shut?"

Hathaway looked miserable. "I am doing my absolute best, Ma'am, but I'm not sure I can continue to put up with him. He contradicts everything I do, micromanages even the smallest decisions. I might as well not do anything. It would save him filing all those RDAs." He hesitated.

"And?"

"And he's making slanderous accusations concerning Inspector Lewis. And myself. I'm sure I don't have to spell it out."

She sighed. "I can't stop him from name-calling, Hathaway. He's been hostile to Lewis ever since I took you away from himself and assigned you to Lewis. All of this just proves how much I need you on this case. Just do what you have to for him and try to do what you think is best without crossing him. Feel free to tap me if you need to. I'm on your side, okay?"

There was a knock at the door, and her sergeant came in with another pink disciplinary request and handed it to the Chief Super.

Innocent scanned it. "Assigning a guard to Lewis? Good idea. I'll put in my direct order to make sure that one stays in place."

Hathaway gritted his teeth through the rest of the afternoon. He had no leads on David Harvey, and was not allowed to assign any constables to the search. By five, Knox had left and Hathaway was getting ready to shut down for the day.

His office phone rang. It was the front desk sergeant. "Sergeant Hathaway, there's a Ben MacInnes here to see you." In the background, James could hear, "Oy, Sarge, I said, tell him it's Mack, ya pillock."

Chuckling, Hathaway grabbed his coat and went to the front to welcome Mack. James took him outside and they both lit cigarettes. Mack explained how he couldn't exactly remember Hathaway's name but figured the desk sergeant would know who Lewis's bagman was.

"So, what's happened, bonny lad? I can't reach Robbie at all since Friday. And there's all this crime scene tape at his flat. Doesn't look so good."

Hathaway related the events of the past three days. He could not keep the frustration out of his voice, and Mack proved more sensitive to his tone than James expected.

"I used to be a copper meself, you know, so I know how it is, like. You're stuck with this great radish of a governor who's running the investigation all wrong, like, and you get disciplined every time you try to get it right, right?"

"Well, the Chief Superintendent sees it my way, so I'm not getting disciplined yet."

"Aw, well, if you've got the Chief Super on your side, then here's what ya gotta do, lad. You do what you have to for your guv, and then, on your own time, like, you do what you need to for Robbie, right? You can't tell me you're partners with Robbie and not familiar with working behind the governor's back to get something done proper, like."

"Yeah, but there's too much, I can't do it all myself."

"Well, then you gan recruit, man. This radish, does anyone much like him?"

Hathaway shook his head.

"And Robbie. Do people like him?"

"Just about everyone likes him."

"So they'll do it for him, no matter what they think of you. Plus, they probably all feel sorry for you getting stuck with the radish. And your Chief Super will look the other way because she's with you, like. You just ask your mates and they'll step up, I guarantee."

"Thanks, Mack. I'll give it a punt."

They went together to the Radcliffe, and Mack strode to Lewis's room with Hathaway as if he was fully authorized. The PC on duty recognized James and let them in.

Mack seemed to deflate when he saw his old mate looking so frail and helpless. He surprised Hathaway by going to the head of the bed, tenderly kissing Lewis on the forehead, and whispering something into his ear.

Doctor Adams entered the room and spoke to Hathaway. "According to Doctor LaPeer, the bullet hit his lower thoracic spine. His nerves do not currently function from about the waist down. The spinal cord is intact but in what we call spinal shock. We can't tell at this point if he will have no functionality, partial functionality, or if he will become fully functional after a month or so. It will be at least a week, until the shock abates, before we can make that determination."

Hathaway read between the words. "You mean, he'll need, what, a wheelchair for at least a couple weeks?"

"It could be less time, but certainly not less than a week. Most likely he'll need quite a bit of help right after he is discharged."

Mack was paying attention, too. "What, you mean nothing below his waist works right now? He can't take a leak or a dump or get his rod up for a canny nurse? And that might be permanent, like?"

"I'm afraid so, yes."

"Aw, that's no way for him to be."

Doctor Adams continued. "The good news is, his lungs are doing much better tonight. We'll try taking him off the ventilator tomorrow. If that goes well, we can decrease the sedative. It's possible he'll be awake by this time tomorrow night."

After the doctor left, Mack added, under his breath, "Aye, but will he want to be?"

* * *