Lewis specifically said he wanted no visitors, and so Hathaway was not allowed to see him after that. Laura was equally cut off and even Mack stopped by the station to gripe about not being allowed in.

Hathaway's work life had become a weird mix of glory and misery. He was practically a folk hero among the rank-and-file for finding the criminal and once again saving Lewis with one hand while, with the other, keeping Knox from fouling up the whole case. Yet the entire station also knew Lewis had cut him off from contact. Whatever they knew or speculated about the two men, everyone agreed that this was just not how you treated your workmate.

And Knox had become impossible. He not only filed multiple RDAs daily regarding Hathaway, he had begun to file them with Assistant Chief Constable Swanson regarding Innocent. He filed a grievance with the Federation, claiming Innocent was usurping his authority, and they began an investigation as well. Hathaway's report of the David Harvey case was turned back for rewriting four times, each time inflating the role Knox played in the collar. Innocent began granting some of Knox's requests for reprimands, and Hathaway's employment record was no longer the model of perfect behavior of which he had been rather proud.

On Friday, they began an investigation of a series of carjackings from petrol stations near the A40. As five o'clock neared, Hathaway grew eager to get his weekend started. A couple of days away from the place—and from Knox—was just what he needed. He thought about asking DC Macklin out for a drink after work.

But that plan was blown away when Knox made sure Hathaway had plenty of tedious fact-checking to do to keep him busy all weekend, tracking vehicle numbers and partial license plates and comparing witnesses' descriptions of the carjackers.

On Monday, Hathaway presented his written conclusions, outlining the evidence and predicting that the two carjackers were a pair of older men known for their numerous criminal enterprises and with a history of intimidating witnesses and victims into silence.

Knox waved it off without reading it. You know, Sergeant, I thought about this case over the weekend—" his tone implying that Hathaway had not "—and I'm sure it's those two punks, the ones that just quit school this fall. I'd like you to go pick them up. Let me know when you have them in for interviewing."

Hathaway stared a moment too long.

"Well, go on, Sergeant, go get them. Why do you feel you need to challenge every order I give you?"

"Sorry, Sir, I was just amazed by your thought process. I'd never have figured it out quite like that."

Hathaway made the arrests almost apologetically. And he had to sit in on the interviews while Knox grilled each of the boys—outwardly sullen but clearly terrified—all about incidents in which James was sure they played no part. At one point, Knox struck one of the suspects, and then looked at James, challenging him to say something. Hathaway saw little point in satisfying the man and he showed no reaction outwardly at all.

Every night since being assigned to Knox, Hathaway would go home feeling as if he had been beaten up all day. He would drink himself to sleep and wake up feeling more miserable than the night before. He realized he hated his job and, by extension, himself, and he cursed David Harvey, Charles Knox, Jean Innocent, Robert Lewis, and James Hathaway equally for burying him in this Hell.

* * *

The next day, Hathaway got a call from the Crown Prosecutor's office. Fortunately, Knox was at lunch and Hathaway was free to speak his mind.

"James, it's Blair Crandall. I'm looking at these two kids down here for carjacking and I can't believe it's your name on this report. I can't charge these guys with no evidence, you know. What were you thinking?"

Hathaway had gone to school with Crandall and they worked well together when their jobs required it.

"It's this new governor, he's an idiot. Can't solve a crime for anything. And he reprimands me on every little thing. I hate this, Blair. I hate working here."

"What happened to your old guv?"

"He's out on medical leave, he got shot. They can't tell yet, but he might end up paralyzed from the waist down."

"Wow, that's rough. So you're stuck with this clueless guy?"

"Only until Inspector Lewis comes back."

"When will that be, exactly?"

Hathaway didn't answer. Maybe never.

"Meanwhile, James, your reputation is going down the toilet. Bad arrests, professional reprimands. By the time this guy gets done with you, there won't be anything left of your career."

"Thanks for the encouragement, Blair."

"You gotta make some kind of move, pal. Can't you win him over with charm, like you used to do to all our instructors?"

"Ugh. It'd be like charming an earwig. I don't know if I could manage."

"Well, it's your life. Meanwhile, I'm letting these two kids go, so you can work on finding the real criminals. Cheers."

* * *