Dr Hobson walked down the hospital corridor to where Lewis sat outside of the patient's room. Hobson was used to Lewis' moods by now, but she had never before seen such a grizzled scowl on his face. "Cheer up, Robbie. It could be a lot worse."
"I'm only glad that it is Pamela Carson lying in that hospital bed and not our Lizzie." Lewis said. Armoured response had felled Graham Lawrie's bookbinder confidant as she was about to attack sergeant Maddox. Maddox had escaped unscathed.
"I'll need to confirm it in the lab, but I am certain that the hammer Pamela Carson was using today is the same one used against Mark Travis-possibly against the other three as well. In any case, Graham Lawrie could use this to exonerate himself."
"Whose side are you on here, Laura?"
"Yours, Robbie. You don't ever need to ask that. I'm just giving you the facts."
"This is just too convenient for Lawrie. First the lab failed to follow procedures, then Maddox digs up an alibi for him for one of the killings, and now we catch someone else with the murder weapon? He's suddenly got the advantage, Laura. I have to find more evidence that links him to the original crimes!"
"Robbie, you need to trust James to sort it out this time."
"But I did NOT get the wrong man, Laura; I am sure of it!"
The timbre of a new voice disrupted their tête à tête. "All evidence to the contrary, Lewis." Lewis and Hobson raised their heads to find the sycophantic journalist Hugo Blayne once again. "The conviction was overturned about a half hour ago. Seems like Lawrie's proved his innocence."
"All it means is that Lawrie is more dangerous than ever. I will prove that if it's the last thing I do." Lewis raged.
"Robbie, you can't lead a one-man crusade against Graham Lawrie." Laura admonished.
"You should listen to your girlfriend. You have no idea what is coming next." Blayne said.
"Is that a threat?"
"No, it's a heads-up. Look in this evening's paper." Those were the parting words from Hugo Blayne who then scampered off to chat up a nurse for information on Pamela Carson's condition.
"I wonder what that means," Lewis said with disgust.
"He's probably just writing a story on Lawrie's release." Hobson said.
"Bugger." He muttered. Hobson rubbed his leg supportively, though he seemed not to notice.
"You should go home, Robbie. I have to go back to work for a bit, but I'll be home as soon as I can. Are you going to be OK?"
He nodded; Hobson gave him a kiss on the top of his head and left.
When Hobson came home from work, Lewis was reclined on the sofa, scowling angrily at the ceiling fan as he clutched the newspaper.
"Robbie," she began. "In all the time I have known you, I've never seen you so obsessed." She went to the credenza to uncork the bottle of wine they'd started the previous evening. After pouring a glass of wine, she swatted his leg to make room for herself on the couch. She tried to hand him a glass of wine and whispered something about needing to let it go.
"No." Lewis reacted forcefully, brushing her hand away and spilling some of the wine.
"What on Earth has gotten into you, Robbie?" Hobson asked incredulously.
His hands trembled as he handed her the newspaper. "Bloody hell," she said as she perused the page. "This is rubbish. Completely beyond the pale."
Not only did the forensic laboratory fail to follow proper procedures, but the police investigation into Graham Lawrie's involvement in the murders was headed up by Oxford's own Keystone Cops. Detective Sergeant Allison McLennan would soon thereafter be dismissed for improper conduct, though it wasn't until years later that the public learned of her extorting money from suspects in cases she had investigated. McLennan's immediate supervisor Detective Inspector Robert Lewis was in a sorry state himself, battling the bottle following the death of his own wife. A source close to the investigation states that DI Lewis was drunk more often than he was sober. It's little wonder that this pair of detectives missed Graham Lawrie's alibi for the murder of PC Mark Travis.
Hobson took Lewis' hands into her own and they sat on the couch for a time. He tried to explain, but coherent words failed him. "A source close to the investigation? What source? Who would say that? I wasn't that bad, I swear it. I drank, I mean, yes- I came undone when Val died. I couldn't bear to be at home at night without her; I needed the brandy to sleep. I was a crap father, I know. But it didn't affect me work. Really. I always did me job; you were there, Laura. You couldn't see it- the drinking, I mean- could you?"
Hobson hedged his question. "I don't remember; it was so long ago, Robbie." She said, choking back the memory of a hazy inspector in a fugue. She'd had too much experience in the past with friends denying their alcoholism. She knew it would be pointless to confront him about it now, so many years after the fact when he was on the other side of that mountain. But Lewis himself had enough interrogation experience to know when someone was holding something back.
"Right." Lewis got up off the couch and went upstairs.
"Robbie…" she started, but he waved her away.
"I need some time, Laura."
Hobson took the wine glasses back to the kitchen and gulped down the remaining wine. Once, Lyn had shared with her dad's new partner what that time was like. As a widowed father assuaging his grief in a bottle, Lewis had been neither abusive nor apathetic; he was merely hapless- incapable of boiling pasta without spilling dried shells all over the stove top. Hobson sighed at the memory that was not her own but pained her nonetheless.
If spirits were out of the question to perk Lewis up, Hobson would have to resort to the heavy artillery: egg and chips. She began to peel potatoes as Robbie continued to brood in the bedroom.
An hour or so later, Hobson tiptoed into the bedroom and sat down on the bed, patting Lewis' stomach. "I made you egg and chips." Lewis consented to come down for dinner, grateful for Hobson's peace offering, but he barely made eye contact as he pushed the food around his plate. Having finished her own small helping and moved on to salad, Hobson began to remove Lewis' plate.
"Hey, I'm eating that!"
"Are you? You could have fooled me." Hobson knew from their previous quarrels that the best way to get Lewis' attention was to cut off his food source.
"Fair enough. I'm sorry, love. I guess I just don't have much appetite tonight."
"I'll clear this up while you get your jacket. We're going for a walk."
After ambling for an hour or so out of their subdivision towards the center of town, Lewis at last found solace in his stroll with Hobson. Walking with Hobson eased his mind as it had for years, even before they were a couple. I'm not lost anymore; I have Laura by my side. She was always there to set him to rights- even as he slept- 'roll over, Robbie; you're snoring' sprung to his mind. He squeezed her hand and shared his epiphany.
"You know, Laura, you were right earlier, about Lawrie being an obsession for me. I… I was in a dark place back then, and then this case happened. And suddenly, I had something to focus on. As horrible as it sounds to say it about such an atrocious crime, this case saved me, brought me back from my own demons. Searching for the killer- me, McLennan and all of our mates. I was connected again, part of a team. I'd been adrift ever since Val'd passed. And when I caught Lawrie, I felt that my life was worth something again. I didn't think that I'd ever feel good about anything ever again. I was still sad that I didn't have Val to be proud of me, but at the same time, I had a purpose again. I'd had a problem with the drink, but I got past it because of this case. And the conviction helped me earn that plum assignment in the BVI; I needed to leave for a while, clear me head. As heinous as these crimes were, there was something more in all of this- something beyond good and evil. I got me life back- even if it still took me a few years to be ready to be with someone else." He paused. "I'm sorry, Laura."
"You've nothing to be sorry for, Robbie."
"No, a bonny lass made me egg and chips, and I let them get cold. I am an old fool."
Hobson giggled. "But you're my old fool. And I will stand by you no matter what happens with Graham Lawrie." She gave him a squeeze.
"Sod him and the investigation; I have everything I need right here." He kissed her tenderly and then the two turned and started back towards their home as the sun set on Oxford.
Next- Some Innocent damage control!