A/N: Thanks everyone for your comments and your patience... I hope you'll find Baxter's encounter with Dave and Tess satisfying enough... it might not be the last ;-)

CHAPTER 31

After Hardy was transferred to the cardiac ICU, Baxter left the hospital. Hardy was in good hands with Dr. Abbott around. She had promised to call him immediately if anything should change. Now, he could turn his attention to frying different fish.

He inquired into DS Henchard and Thompson's whereabouts at the station. He wasn't sure what he wished for - catching them together or individually. When he was informed that they were both out, his face turned red with pent up anger. Tess was first on his agenda.

The phone rang a few times and then went to voicemail, thwarting his need to yell at her to the unsatisfying task of leaving a demand for an immediate call back on her machine. His mobile was dangerously close to being chucked out the car window. He took in a deep breath and let it out, then dialed Thompson's number, only to be greeted by the sergeant's chipper voice message.

For fuck's sake. He hit the steering wheel with his flat hand. If it wasn't already extremely frustrating to be unable to get a hold of his senior staff, the thought of them together made him sick.

His phone went off and Tess' name lit up the screen. Again, he breathed deeply, composing himself. He needed to keep it professional.

"Baxter here," he growled.

"Sir, sorry I missed your call. You wanted me to ring you back?" There was trepidation in her voice. She wasn't dumb, at least not in that respect, and probably knew that Hardy must have told his boss by now.

"Where are you currently, DS Henchard?" He purposefully kept it formal.

"I'm driving back to the station, sir," Tess answered curtly.

"I will meet you there. When you get back go straight to my office and wait for me. Do not talk to anyone, do not touch any paperwork or work on anything else. Do you understand?" Baxter ordered.

"May I ask why?" came Tess' annoyed reply.

The nerve this woman had. His voice got lower with the suppressed anger. "DS Henchard, it would behoove you to not test my patience at this point in time. You very well know why and we will discuss details in person. Consider yourself suspended until further notice."

She was silent on the other end.

"Is DS Thompson with you? And don't you dare lie to me, it will have dire consequences." There was no doubt in his voice that this wasn't an empty threat.

"Yes, sir. He is with me," she admitted begrudgingly.

Baxter sucked in some air. He wanted to punch something so badly. Falling back on his many years of experience, he pulled himself together in order to not lose it right there and then.

"I see. Put him on," he ordered sharply. There was a muffled back and forth and then Thompson was on the line.

"Sir?" His voice was trembling.

"I expect you to come back with DS Henchard. Go and wait in DI Hardy's office for me. Do not talk to anyone, do not work on anything. You are suspended until further notice. We will discuss details when I get there," Baxter barked in the phone.

"Sir, what if DI Hardy is in his office?" Thompson sounded like he was going to start crying any minute. Hardy was right. He was a wimp.

"Trust me, he's not going to be there," Baxter snarled at Thompson. The image of Hardy's still and pale body flickered through Baxter's mind. Suddenly all the anger was gone, replaced by sorrow and grief over what had happened to his friend.

"Put DS Henchard back on." The phone was passed over. Baxter scrubbed down his face.

"If I don't find the two of you where I told you to go or if I have any indication you were not following my orders, this will be the end of both of your careers. Have I made myself perfectly clear?" Baxter's voice was as cold as ice.

She hesitated a moment with her answer. Oh, how much he hoped she would dare to talk back and he could rip her apart like she had ripped apart Hardy. But she didn't do him that favor.

"Yes, sir. Perfectly clear. We will be there in ten minutes." The defiance in her voice was palpable.

He hung up the phone without saying anything else. God help them, if they were not at the station when he got there. He put his car in gear and drove off to deal with this absolute clusterfuck.

He decided to take on Thompson first. When he swooped into CID it was suspiciously quiet. His staff was smart enough to realize something was up. He assumed they all had at least some idea that they had a major breakthrough the day before. And they all probably noted that their DI was now missing the second day in a row which was an unprecedented event.

He confirmed that Tess was waiting in his office before he walked to Hardy's door. He barged in without knocking, startling a very pale Thompson. His DS jumped to his feet.

"Sit!" he ordered while taking the spot behind Hardy's desk. If his friend couldn't be here to take down this piece of shit, then he would do it for him.

Thompson perched at the edge of the chair, one leg nervously bouncing up and down. Baxter let him steep for a while, simply glaring at him. He then leaned forward, putting his fingers together at their tips.

"Here are the rules, Thompson. I'm going to ask you some questions and you will answer truthfully and directly. If you want to preserve any chance of staying on the job, you better do as I say." Baxter didn't leave any doubt of his seriousness in his voice.

Thompson nodded obediently, growing a shade paler.

"Which one of you decided to go to the hotel instead of bringing the evidence straight back to the station?"

When Thompson stayed mute, Baxter yelled at him, "Answer! And don't try to protect her. Trust me, she's not the most loyal person, but you would know, wouldn't you?"

Thompson hung his head and quietly replied, "It was Tess. She was so excited she'd found the pendant. She really wanted to celebrate before going home to Ha –" Thompson stopped himself from mentioning Hardy when he saw Baxter's expression of sheer anger.

Baxter balled his hands into fists. Between clenched teeth, he continued, "Who left the bag with the evidence in the car?"

"We both didn't think of it. We were… distracted." Thompson's pale face turned dark red.

"By what? The lovely color scheme in the parking garage?" Baxter's words were dripping with sarcasm. He wanted him to say it, admit to the adultery and the utter breach of conduct and professionalism.

Thompson knew he had lost. "No, sir. Tess and I were snogging at the time and we didn't think of the bag."

Baxter hit the table with his flat palms, rising to his feet simultaneously. Thompson jumped on his chair spooked by the sudden outburst. Baxter was shouting now and didn't care if the rest of CID could hear him.

"For fuck's sake, Thompson!"

He breathed heavily with the effort to control himself. He could barely restrain the urge to grab Thompson and punch him in his sorry face. It took him a few minutes to be able to continue. Eventually, he sat down again.

The contempt that he felt was evident in his tone and choice of words. "Maybe if you had thought with your brain instead of your cock, a child murderer wouldn't walk free."

Thompson opened his mouth to say something but was smart enough to remain silent.

"You're suspended until further notice for breach of conduct and losing vital evidence. I'm inclined to make it unpaid but your family should not suffer from your stupidity and disrespect for your work as police officer. Get out of my sight before I do something that I will regret later."

Thompson couldn't scramble out of the door fast enough. Baxter was still breathing hard. He waited a few moments until he trusted himself not to look like a raging lunatic while walking through the main office to face Tess. Thompson had been easy, the real task was still ahead of him.

Tess was sitting comfortably in the chair, not giving any signs of dreading the conversation to come. She dared to greet him with a smug smile. He had all the intention of wiping that off of her face.

In his overwhelming anger, he had finally reached the eye of the storm and was calmer than he had been since he first walked into his office this morning to find Hardy. He needed her to admit to things of her own accord and she wouldn't be as easy to crack as Thompson.

He didn't greet her when he took his chair behind his desk. He made a point of keeping his face and voice neutral, an effort that cost him a lot. All he really wanted to do was scream and yell at her for what she had done to his friend. And even as her boss he felt the strong urge to give her the bollocking of a lifetime and then sack her.

"DS Henchard, you were entrusted with vital evidence for the case you're currently working on. You were under instructions by your SIO to take said piece of evidence back to HQ. As of this moment, this evidence has not reached the forensics department. What is your explanation?"

Baxter was hiding behind formalities, knowing that would draw her out. It had worked.

She snorted. "What game are you playing at? I have no doubt that Alec had nothing better to do than come crying to you."

She sure knew how to push his buttons as well. Baxter's fury was back. So much for the eye of the storm. He clenched his hands and desperately tried to keep it together. If he were to leave the path of professionalism, she would win.

"DI Hardy reported the evidence as lost. I am more than interested in investigating the circumstances under which this happened. So, I'm asking you one more time to provide an explanation." He kept his voice level, surprisingly able to hide his true feelings.

She raised an eyebrow. "What did he actually tell you?" She sounded less secure than only a moment ago.

Gotcha. Baxter smiled slyly. "Let's just say, I feel invested in hearing your side of the story to be fair to all involved."

He could see her contemplating what it might have been that Hardy had told him. He felt pleased that he was able to use her smug belief she could outsmart people against her. He had always disliked that about her. She rubbed her hands together and Baxter's smile turned into a grin. She was getting nervous. Time to deliver the next punch.

"DS Henchard, I have already spoken to DS Thompson who was known to be in your company when you left the site of the search. He was very forthcoming with his version of events."

That finally wiped that smug smile off of her face. It was a low blow but Baxter had no qualms about it.

She frowned. "What? Why would he do that?" She sounded hurt.

And although it had been Baxter's intention to use her feelings for her colleague to get her talking, it still made him angry to see that she'd care more about what Thompson said than Hardy. Angry enough to rub it in deeper.

"Seems he's not the most loyal person out there. Not surprising though, considering… well you now."

Baxter chose to trail off and leave it to her imagination what he was considering. Maybe not entirely professional but worth seeing her struggling with it. It was his turn to don a smug smile.

She was getting angry. "I'm not so sure that you're truly interested in hearing my side of the story. You've always been on Alec's side ever since I've known you."

Baxter had enough. The rage he'd been bottling up the whole time was bubbling over. "Of course I am, someone's gotta be. And clearly it ain't you," he threw back at her, his voice getting louder.

"Oh wow, that's where you're coming from. Poor Alec, who needs a friend. Ever considered that he only needs someone to indulge his self-centeredness? Because if it doesn't have anything to do with him, it's not on his radar. He even forgot Daisy's birthday. So much for being the great father he pretends to be," Tess spat out the words, losing all pretense.

Baxter was taken aback at her contempt for the man she had shared her life with for almost two decades. A man who was more dedicated to his daughter than most he had seen. He didn't want to get sucked into a personal argument but he couldn't hold himself back from defending Hardy.

"Oh shut up, Tess. That's not what happened and you know it. He forgot the bloody party, not her birthday. And it's not like you helped him remember it either. In fact you used it against him and drove a wedge between them. How desperate for attention are you to use your own child as a weapon in your petty fight?"

She squinted and her mouth was twitching. "Really? You're so fucking righteous, you and him both. He's only got eyes for that girl anyway, he stopped looking at me a long time ago. I guess he should have though, maybe he would have noticed something. It's a miracle he ever solves a case, because when it comes to seeing what's directly under his nose he's rather incompetent." Tess was livid, yelling just as much as Baxter had.

"So that's your excuse then for shagging your colleague while you're still married to the man," he snapped back at her.

She snorted. "That's none of your fucking business."

"It most certainly is, when it leads to you screwing up and losing vital evidence in the process," he countered.

That shut her up. But only for a moment. "Dave didn't remember to take the stupid bag either."

Baxter huffed. "You sure are quick to throw him under the bus. Can't own up to your mistake, can you? He said it was your idea to stop." He added with disgust, "To celebrate yourself and your great accomplishment of finding evidence in a place that your 'incompetent' husband thought to look for in the first place, mind you."

She jumped up from her seat. "I don't have to listen to this."

Baxter got up equally as quick and barred the door with his body. "If you think you can walk out of here without making a full statement about what happened, you're very wrong."

"Who the fuck do you think you are to block my way?" s he barked back at him and tried to shove him aside.

He would never have thought he'd ever feel the urge to punch a woman, but the physical contact was riling him up. It cost him extreme restraint to not engage in any more violent behavior than merely brushing her hands away.

"I'm your fucking boss, Tess. That's who I am. And as such I'm telling you, you're finished with this shit. If you're not giving me the full story right this moment, the next thing I'm going to do is call DPS to open up an internal investigation. I don't give a shit that you're Alec's wife and that he will get dragged into this and that his career will probably take a hit as well. He would be the first to agree to my actions, and you know why? Because he's got integrity and a backbone, something you never had. Because he always takes the fall for his team, something you lot don't even know about him. You're nothing to me, Tess. Nothing!" He spat out the last words, contempt not hidden any more.

She glared at him for a few long moments. Knowing she had lost, she finally slumped onto the sofa.

"Fuck it. It's all over anyway." Her voice was still angry, but maybe, just maybe it was anger at herself. She sucked in a few breaths and continued, her voice irritatingly calm.

"We stopped on the way back. At a hotel, so we could have some privacy and enjoy ourselves. And yes, if you want me to say it, we were having sex. It was my idea, but we both didn't think of the bag in the back of the car. They rang our room because my car alarm was going off. When we got there the evidence bag with the pendant was gone. I dropped Dave off and drove to the station. I waited for a bit then I called Alec to tell him to come and meet me there."

She hadn't looked at him once. She was wringing her hands, staring at the floor.

Baxter didn't hold back with his disgust for her actions. "This is on you, Tess. I've seen a lot of misconduct and lapses in professionalism in my time, but this is on a different level. You didn't only ruin yours and Dave's career, but also Alec's, and what's more important the case. And if this bastard walks free because of your inability to reign in your adulterous need for an afternoon shag, then I guarantee you your career is finished."

She was still fighting back. "Are you threatening me? Because if you are, I might throw in the mix that you let your DI work on the case although you knew he was sick. How's that for screwing up the case?" Her viciousness was dripping of her like a snake's venom of its teeth.

Baxter suddenly became very quiet. "You knew he's ill? And you let him go on like this?" He couldn't believe what she had said. How could she have cared so little about him?

She shrugged. "He chose to. That's his business. He said he was taking care of it and that you knew about it. If he wants to be stupid about it, it's his prerogative."

Baxter flipped. "God damn you, Tess. You know very well that he's shit at taking care of himself. That's why he needs his family. To help him. Even your daughter knows it. What kind of a person are you to leave him hanging like this?" He was shouting by the end.

Angry tears were stinging his eyes. He forced himself to calm down, although he welcomed the heat of this fury burning through him.

"Oh, get off of your high horse. You're such a fucking hypocrite," she snarled back at him. "You knew and you let him work instead of taking him off the case. Did he tell you the same horseshit about being unable to let the families down? Is that how he convinced you? I'm sure he didn't tell me everything, because he never does. He's such a stubborn arse about things like that."

Baxter felt defensive. He had to admit she did have a point there. "I didn't know how ill he actually is until yesterday. He said he was taking care of it, told me about his doctor's appointments. After I found out, I was going to take him off the case first thing this morning. Never got around to do it though," he ended, regret lacing his quiet words.

The image of Hardy curled up in his office ghosted through his mind. He sucked in a deep breath and plopped down on his chair, scrubbing his face down with his hands.

"Ed, where is Alec?" she asked quietly. Her tone had changed. The anger and contempt was gone, replaced with worry. "I left him here last night and he never came home but he wasn't at the station this morning either."

Baxter sighed. "He's in hospital, Tess."

"What? Why?" She sat up straight, eyes wide, making Baxter wonder if she could actually be truly worried.

He hesitated, not wanting to share the truth with her as he felt she had lost her right to know. But then he thought of Daisy. His voice was hollow when he answered.

"Alec was in my office this morning. He was rather out of it. The arrhythmia was making his heart go to shit and I barely got him to A&E across the street. They –"

"What do you mean his heart was going to shit?" Tess interrupted him. "And what arrhythmia? He told me they were still figuring out what's wrong with him." She seemed genuinely shocked by the news. It was painful to admit it, but it was dawning more and more on Baxter, how deceitful Hardy had been about his health issue.

"I guess whatever he tried to tell you was quite far from the truth," he sighed and found her eyes. She looked scared, a different person from merely minutes ago. It was hard for Baxter to reconcile the gaping disconnect between her vicious lashing out and now this obvious concern. It made it easier to share though.

"Tess, Alec has a serious heart condition, some form of arrhythmia. He missed work yesterday in order to undergo urgent pacemaker placement. They couldn't do it though, because his heart wasn't able to tolerate the procedure." He watched her face grow paler with every word. The urge to point out that she was shagging another man while her husband recovered from a life-threatening intervention was strong but judging from her expression, he didn't need to. Her meek display of remorse didn't make any of it less despicable and he despised her for her actions.

His tone more and more accusatory, he continued, "He was supposed to rest at home but I guess you had a different idea. Had to drag him out to his office, didn't you? Did you cry over your own misery to make him come?" he spat, unable to hold back. She flinched at his stab and he felt a deep satisfaction with her reaction.

"You had impeccable timing, striking him when he was most vulnerable. Gotta give you that, Tess, when you go for the punch you make it count," he hissed, losing himself in his contempt and sorrow. He didn't care that maybe some of his accusations were unfair as Hardy hadn't told her the truth. It didn't matter because she should have seen it if she'd only looked.

She opened her mouth, but he silenced her with a daggered stare. She dropped her gaze, shoulders drooping.

"After you left him there, he must have had an attack. When I found him this morning, he was in bad shape, barely able to talk, struggling to breathe. I took him to South Mercia A&E. By the time we got there, his heart had stopped and it took them almost five minutes to get him back. He's in the cardiac ICU now. He hasn't woken up yet."

His voice was trembling by the end of his story and there were tears in his eyes. He didn't care though if she saw him like this. Hardy was more than just his DI, he was his friend. Her face was pale, a hand covered her mouth and she was crying. After all that had transpired, Baxter found her reaction surprising.

Without a word she stood up.

"Where do you think you're going? I'm not done with you yet." He put all his authority in his words and she stopped.

"I'm going to see my husband, if you don't mind," Tess replied sharply.

The words set Baxter off and all the worry, anger and emotional roller coaster of the morning got the better of him. She wasn't going to play the loving wife card to get out of his office.

With his voice low, he growled, "In fact, I do mind. What I'm going to say next, I'm telling you as Alec's friend, not as your boss or in any way related to this job, just to be perfectly clear about it. You have lost your right to be at his side. You could have been there and you threw it away. When he needed you, you chose to close your eyes and take the easy way out. Whatever half-brained things he told you, it was convenient to not pry further and so you didn't. What you did and the way you told him, basically killed him and if you dare to go anywhere near him, I will personally make sure that you will regret it."

He had gotten up while talking and moved into her personal space, with every intention to convey the threat not only verbally but physically. She glared at him, folding her arms over her chest, attempting to brace herself against his onslaught.

He continued, his voice eerily calm. "The only reason why I even told you is because of Daisy. She needs to know what's going on with her father, especially if things should get worse. You might want to wait until he wakes up before talking to her, because I strongly believe it would be important to him to tell her himself. But you're her mother, so I can't tell you what to do. I hope you will make the right decision and give him the chance to explain himself properly. And that includes whatever is going on between the two of you as well. If I should hear that you bad-mouthed him to Daisy trying to explain away why you chose to cheat on your husband of almost fifteen years, I can't guarantee for my actions. Have I made myself clear?"

She didn't say anything or move.

"Answer me!" he shouted at her.

"Yes, you have. Fine. I won't say anything to her yet. What do you want me tell her though about her father not coming home? Any instructions for that?" she replied sarcastically.

Baxter scoffed. "You're unbelievable. I'll leave that up to your imagination. I have faith in your abilities to make up reasons why a person might not be home, considering how well you've been hiding your affair. I will let you know how Alec is doing."

He moved away from her. "You're dismissed."

Before she opened the door, he addressed her again. "And as far as the case goes and your job. You're suspended until further notice. Do not touch anything that has to do with the case. As all of you are out of the picture, I will take over the investigation and see what I can salvage. I expect you to leave the premises promptly without making a scene or talking to people. That's an order."

She nodded in acknowledgement and left without another word. Baxter was utterly drained. This was worse than any nightmare. His best detective and SIO was fighting for his life, struck by heart disease that he had kept a secret and would have made him unfit for duty, his adulterous wife and colleague had jeopardized the most profiled case his department ever had to deal with, and he didn't even want to think about the fall out if the killer in the end were to walk free. He dropped his head on his desk, resisting the urge to repeatedly bang it against the wood. And he had thought yesterday had been a long day. He couldn't have been more wrong.

A/N: This chapter, just like the previous one and Tess' confession, was written quite some time ago and has been on my mind all the while writing the story leading up to these moments. Baxter might be speaking for many of us and whoever wants to chime in, please feel free. At least this time I don't have to hand out tissues [I'm saving them for upcoming chapters ;-)]