Title: Intimidation
Chapter: 4 - Isolation
Fandom: The Doctor Blake Mysteries
Author: Ceindreadh
Characters: Matthew Lawson, Charlie Davis, William Munro
Rating: 15
Spoilers: Seasons 3
Summary:
Word count: ~ 2,700
Disclaimer. I don't own the characters, I'm only borrowing them, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Note – I know nothing about the procedures for police disciplinary hearings, so apologies for any inaccuracies.

Charlie looked at his watch for the tenth time in as many minutes. He was sitting in a corridor in the Melbourne police headquarters, waiting for Munro's hearing to start. He'd spent the night at his mother's house, in part to ensure that he would be on time that morning, but also to explain to her in full just what this hearing was about, and more to the point, what the possible consequences would be for him if the hearing went Munro's way.

"I don't think I'd lose my job over it," he'd done his best to reassure her, "But with Superintendent Munro and his friends in charge, well, at best there wouldn't be much chance of me rising through the ranks."

"And at worst?" Mrs Davis had asked quietly.

"At worst they could try to force me out. Maybe transfer me to the far end of the state or shame me into resigning." Charlie had looked his mother in the eye, "It's a risk I'll have to take, I can't just stay quiet and let Munro get away with it. I have to do what's right."

He hadn't slept much that night, tossing and turning as he mentally reviewed the official statement that he was going to make at the hearing. Lawson had told him that it wasn't necessary for him to appear. "I'm the one who has signed off on the complaint; I'm the one they were after in the first place. This is my fight and there's no need for you to put your neck on the block as well."
But Charlie knew that he had to step up and make a stand. Maybe this would be enough of a penance to ease his conscience over having been part of the reason that Lawson had been replaced and later demoted. "It's not your fault" Lawson had told him on more than one occasion. "If it hadn't been you, they'd have found somebody else."

"But they didn't," Charlie had said, "They told me it was the right thing to do and I believed them."

So now he was sitting there, waiting for the hearing to start and his opportunity to right some wrongs. He was almost looking forward for the chance to face down Munro...the only problem was, it looked like he was going to be doing it alone.

Charlie hadn't been too worried when he had arrived at the venue. He'd arranged to meet Lawson an hour before the hearing was due to start, and having allowed himself ample time to cross the city, he found himself waiting outside the building for the Inspector. But the minutes ticked on and Lawson didn't show. "Maybe he's running late," thought Charlie as he paced up and down. "There could have been a serious crime reported that he needed to deal with, or maybe he just got a flat tire on the way."

Charlie had waited for half an hour before finding a payphone. He tried Lawson's house first, but wasn't surprised to get no reply. He was surprised however when he tried Blake's house with the same lack of response. "C'mon Mattie," he said out loud. "Surely you're up by this hour even if the Doc has been called out." With some misgivings he disconnected the call and hesitated for a few seconds before dialling Ballarat police station. To his relief, the call was answered by Constable Simmons, rather than Sergeant Hobart. But Charlie's relief was short-lived as Ned told him that no, there was had been no sign of the Inspector or even Doctor Blake that morning. "Wasn't the Boss supposed to be in Melbourne with you today?" Ned had asked. "Yes, he is," said Charlie, thinking quickly, "I just wasn't sure if he was calling in to the station first." He made his excuses and hung up the phone.

As he made his way to the hearing room, Charlie briefly wondered if maybe Lawson had changed his mind about testifying. "Maybe he figured it was a waste of time trying to get a conviction and decided to shoot through." Charlie dismissed the idea angrily, "No," he told himself, "If the Boss *had* changed his mind, he would have said something, he wouldn't hang me out to dry like this."

The sound of a door opening at the end of the corridor made Charlie look up with a hopeful smile on his face. The smile faded as he watched Superintendent Munro make his way down the corridor, accompanied by a well-dressed man who could only be his legal representation.

Charlie stood as Munro approached him. "Ah, Sergeant Davis," said Munro, managing to make the title sound like an insult. "I see you haven't changed your mind about going through with this foolishness. You do know it's still not too late. All you have to do is withdraw the complaint. I'm a forgiving man, I won't hold a grudge, and there'll still be a place for you at Ballarat station once I've been reinstated."

Munro's voice was as confident as if he'd already heard a verdict returned in his favour. A chill went down Charlie's spine as he once again wondered whether he was doing the right thing. Munro continued speaking, "After all, you were clearly put under undue pressure by Lawson and probably coerced into making a statement which you didn't think through properly. Nobody in the force will think any less of you for speaking up against him now."

If Munro had stopped talking at that point he might have won the day, or at least given Charlie pause for thought. After all, he'd spent much of the last few days arguing with himself over the whole matter. But Munro had added, "And it wouldn't be the first time you'd exposed his shortcomings as a police officer."

The words cut Charlie to the quick but steeled his resolve. He looked Munro straight in the eyes and with a steadiness in his voice that surprised himself, Charlie said, "And I will regret that to the end of my days. Matthew Lawson is a fine man, an honourable man and an outstanding police officer. He's worth ten of you and your friends and I will stand by him and every word of my statement and his...Sir." He almost spat out the last word and took some small satisfaction in noting the brief look of wariness, no, almost of fear that flashed across the other man's face.
The look was gone in a second, to be replaced by a smug smile. "Too bad Inspector Lawson doesn't seem to be standing by you."

"What have you done?" said Charlie. "What have you done to the Inspector?"

"Me? I've been in Melbourne all week," said Munro, an air of injured innocence. "I haven't seen Lawson since he removed me from my position. Don't blame me if he's finally seen the error of his ways but was too much of a coward to face the music. It's just a pity he's going to drag you down with him. By the time this hearing is over, you'll be lucky if they trust you to direct traffic." He turned and walked away.

Charlie sat down heavily, a sick feeling in his stomach as he realised he had just burnt his boats. If Munro was cleared and reinstated in Ballarat, there was no way that Charlie could work under him. Worse than that, with Munro's connections, Charlie knew he would be lucky to even be kept on the force.

A light touch on his shoulder made him look up hopefully, but his face fell as he saw the committee clerk. "Sergeant Davis. The committee is ready to come to order, but we don't appear to be able to locate Inspector Lawson. Do you know where he is?"

Charlie shook his head, "No, but he will be here. Can you ask them to wait a few minutes?"

"I'll do what I can, but they have a lot to get through. I'm afraid if the Inspector doesn't arrive soon, we'll have to proceed without him."

"He'll be here," said Charlie, with more confidence than he felt. "He'll be here."

But ten minutes later, there was still no sign of Lawson as Charlie followed the clerk into the meeting room. Three senior police officers were sitting behind a long table at one end of the room; they were the committee that would decide Munro's fate. Beside the table was a chair where the witnesses would read their statement. Munro and his legal counsel were sitting behind a table facing the committee, and there were a few rows of chairs for potential witnesses, police clerks and interested observers.

Charlie's heart was pounding as he took a seat in the front row as far away as possible from Munro. He wiped his hands on his jacket and looked around him, hoping against hope that Lawson might have been waiting there, leaning against a wall just watching the proceedings. It was a vain hope. Charlie sat up straight as he watched the committee speak among themselves.

"It's not as formal as a trial," Lawson had told Charlie a few days earlier, wanting to make sure his younger colleague wasn't overwhelmed by the proceedings. "At this stage it's more like an evidentiary hearing. The committee is charged with evaluating the allegations that have been made against Munro and they have to decide if there's enough evidence to show merit to those allegations. Any written submissions will be entered into evidence, and if necessary the committee will seek testimony from relevant parties." Lawson had cleared his throat before continuing, "The fact that it's not a courtroom shouldn't make you drop your guard. Munro will have his legal representative with him, as stipulated by the police union, and his job will be to tear our report and our testimony to shreds."

"Just like any good defence counsel," Charlie had replied, "I have taken the stand before. I testified in a criminal case before I was transferred to Ballarat."

Lawson had shaken his head, "At least in a criminal trial you've got the Crown prosecutor on your side. And hopefully a judge whose sole interest is justice. But here you'll have the committee members as well, and they'll most likely have their own agenda. A mess like this won't help anybody's career and some of them will probably have made up their minds about this before they've even seen a scrap of evidence. But the charges have been laid and they have to follow procedure."

He had been clearly speaking from experience, Charlie had realised with a pang of guilt.

"I'll make it up to you, Boss," he told himself as he sat and waited. Whatever had caused Lawson to be delayed, Charlie knew that he would expect him to step up in his place. Lost in his thoughts, Charlie almost missed the clerk, Howard he thought his name was, call the session to order and introduce Superintendents Allan, Brown and Cole who were presiding over matters.

"Gentleman," continued Howard, "I have placed before each of you a copy of the charge sheet as set out by Inspector Lawson of Ballarat police station. The Inspector has also produced a detailed report on this matter which will be read into evidence. We will also be hearing testimony from both Inspector Lawson and Sergeant Davis, also of Ballarat Police Station.

So far, all according to plan, thought Charlie. Clearly he would have to read Lawson's report into evidence, but by the time he was finished, surely by then the Boss would have arrived.

"However, the police clerk's office has only recently come into possession of another document which I believe ought to also be placed on record." Charlie sat up a little straighter as Howard continued. "Although it is not an official document, it appears to have been written by the original complainant and it retracts his earlier complaint in full."

"NO!" The word escaped Charlie's lips involuntarily and he found himself on his feet. "Sir, that's not possible." There was an immediate buzz of conversation among the audience.

Allan rapped on the table for silence, "And you are?"

"Charlie Davis, Sir, Sergeant Charlie Davis, Ballarat," said Charlie, almost stumbling over the words as all eyes in the room turned to look at him.

Allan looked at his notes, "Ah yes, the co-complainant. And do you also wish to retract your statement? Because I'll have you know that the Victorian police department takes a very dim view of people who waste police time."

"Sir, yes Sir...I mean, no Sir, I don't wish to withdraw my complaint...and I can't believe that Inspector Lawson wishes to either. That must be a mistake."

Allan gestured to Charlie to approach the committee. He did so on leaden feet. A glance at Munro showed him that the man had a smug look on his face, which contrasted with the varying looks of surprise and curiosity that seemed to be evident on pretty near every other face he could see. "He knew this was coming," thought Charlie, even as he sat down on the witness chair. "He knew." He took the document that Howard handed to him and skimmed through it quickly, his horror growing with each paragraph that he read aloud to the committee. There was a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as he came to the end and realised that Lawson had effectively spiked his own guns and Charlie's too. Every piece of evidence that they had carefully collated had been explained and dismissed. Every action of Munro's had been re-cast in a positive or at worst a neutral light. The only small note of consolation, for Charlie at any rate, had been Lawson's confirmation that his young colleague had been ignorant of any conspiracy and had been manipulated into making the complaint.

"You agree that this changes matters," Howard said to the committee when they'd also had a chance to peruse the document.

"Sirs," said Charlie, "I know how this looks, but Inspector Lawson wouldn't have written this."

"You've worked with the Inspector for some time now," said Allan, his voice less harsh than it had been, "Is this his writing? His signature?"

Charlie nodded dumbly.

"And do you also wish to withdraw the complaint? It's clear from Lawson's statement that you were influenced, manipulated somewhat by a senior officer."

Charlie swallowed hard, knowing that he'd been thrown a lifeline. This was it, his final chance to salvage his career, if not his dignity. All he had to do was say yes, and he could walk away. And then he saw Munro and he vowed to himself to wipe that look of triumph off his face, even if only temporarily.

With a steeliness in his voice that belied his fear, Charlie spoke up, "Sirs, I do *not* wish to withdraw my complaint. I don't know where this statement came from, but I do not believe it came from Inspector Lawson." The look of anger on Munro's face was almost worth it thought Charlie.

"So be it," said Allan. "I call this committee to order. Both statements will be placed on record, followed by testimony from Sergeant Davis."

Charlie steeled himself as Griffin; Munro's legal counsel approached him.
"You have a habit of turning in your senior officers, Sergeant Davis. First Inspector Lawson, and then Superintendent Munro," said Griffin. "Almost a pattern of disloyalty, one might say."

"No Sir," said Charlie, firmly. "I've always been loyal to the Victoria police force and I will always stand up against corruption, no matter what the rank of the officer involved."

"So you're saying that Inspector Lawson was corrupt when you reported on him earlier this year?"

Charlie shook his head, "I reported on his procedural shortcomings. I wasn't the one who made allegations of corruption against him."

"But you regretted those reports, didn't you? In fact, I put it to this committee that Davis's guilt over his actions with respect to Inspector Lawson made him easy to influence in the matter of these clearly false accusations against Superintendent Munro. Furthermore, I believe that charges should be laid against both Lawson and Davis for conspiracy to convict an innocent man."

"Save your dramatics for a courtroom, Griffin," said Allan, "However I do agree that Inspector Lawson has some serious questions to answer. That is if he ever deigns to grace us with his presence."

"I can answer any questions right now if you'd like." Lawson's voice rang around the room and as one the occupants turned to the doorway where the Inspector was standing.

to be continued