"Well?" the chief sat back in his chair and folded his arms.
"This goes no further," Alec replied, sitting down again, his hands on the desk.
The chief nodded his agreement.
"Tess thinks myself and Rose are having an affair," Alec got right to the point, to gauge the chief's reaction.
The chief seemed to take it well, Alec thought.
"Explain in more detail," the chief then replied. "On the basis of what? Is that why she's been acting the way she has?"
"It would seem so," Alec admitted. "She has been dropping hints, ever since we met up with Rose and her mother at a pub one Sunday. That did not end well, trust me," he smiled.
"I can only imagine," the chief agreed. "That explains some of it, carry on."
How much more did the man want, Alec wondered.
"Well, also because I decided to let Rose drive me to and from work, so she can get some use out of the car but mainly because Tess can be insufferable on the way to work and has to drop Daisy at school anyway," Alec continued.
"So, that's the only proof Tess needs then?" the chief asked him.
"Does she need more?" Alec replied. "Rose and I get on well, she is very keen to learn but also makes her own suggestions on things. She will soon be ready to take the sergeant's exam."
"I expect Tess will have something to say about that?" the chief joked. "So you want me to consider moving Tess to another team? She won't take it very well you know?"
"I know," Alec told him. "Why should Rose have to suffer because of her? She is partly responsible for what happened last night, her jealousy has gone too far. Rose could have either been hurt or worse if I had not arrived when I did."
"In what way is Tess responsible?" the chief wanted to know. Then he suddenly sat forward. "You mean she arranged something? With sergeant Peters? Whatever for?"
"To get back at Rose?" Alec replied, sitting back. "She kept me occupied in my office, so I would tell Rose to wait in the car. She has been getting information from Peters, who has seen Rose and I going out. He in turn saw it as a chance to get Rose on her own."
"Why though?" the chief asked him. "If Rose turned him down when he asked her out? Has he not had enough warnings from you?"
"It seems not," Alec replied. "It will be his last one, I want him suspended or out for misconduct."
"The latter is a bit drastic Alec," the chief smiled.
"After what he tried with Rose? Why does a female officer or any female not have the right to say no?" Alec wanted to know.
"I see your point," the chief had to admit. "Let's see what he has to say for himself, shall we? If he seems to regret his actions, then I can only suspend him, with a warning that if it happens again, he's out. Sorry Alec, then it will be up to a tribunal and if it happens to be Rose again, she would have to be there."
Alec thought if he had his way, he'd kick the man out, tribunal or not.
"I'll read both yours and Rose's reports Alec," the chief continued. "Try and keep Tess's part in it out or to a minimum."
Alec thought the chief had to be joking, Rose wouldn't want to even mention it. It would be bad enough with what the sergeant had said to the both of them.
"She will have to tell part of it," Alec admitted.
"Then advise her to keep it to a minimum," the chief advised him. "Don't stand for Tess taking either of your statements."
Alec didn't need reminding of that as he got up again to leave.
"Alec," the chief called to him as he was about to open the door. "Anything you both write down today will be confidential, unless of course it goes to a tribunal."
Rose had been taken into an interview room, a WPC giving her a statement sheet and she was trying hard not to put down certain parts of what had happened the night before, such as why she was even waiting in the car for Alec. She had wondered what was going on with her boss, knowing he'd have been called to see the chief first.
Upstairs, everyone was wondering where Rose and Alec had got to, Tess knowing they had set off for work but hadn't bothered seeing if the car was in the garage or not. She'd seen a different officer on duty as she driven in, wondering what had happened to the other one.
Had Alec been serious, she wondered. Had the sergeant done something last night? If he had, it would serve Tyler right, she thought. Then, she got worried she would become involved, if the sergeant said he'd been encouraged, in exchange for him telling what Tyler and Alec got up to down there.
Rose's friends had been getting worried more about her when she hadn't gone to her desk, plus their boss was absent.
"What do you think's happened to her?" Kate whispered to Trish.
"Didn't you say goodnight to her last night?" Jo asked.
"Yes, she said Hardy was doing something, a bit out of the ordinary," Kate replied, hoping Tess wasn't about to say something.
"Do you think she got corned by the traffic sergeant?" Trish suddenly realised. "We all know what he's been like."
"Oh no," Kate gasped, suddenly realising Trish could be right. "Now I am really worried."
"We don't know that," Jo reminded them. "They could have got a callout on the way here for all we know."
"Well I hope you're right," Trish told them as Tess looked across at them all.
Alec found out which room Rose was in and tapped on the door, making the WPC look around.
"How are you getting on?" he asked Rose.
"Okay I suppose? I mean I was a bit surprised at the time," she managed to smile. "I don't think I can say much more."
"Then if you have finished, sign your statement and wait for a senior officer but remember my warning earlier," he reminded her.
He watched as Rose signed her statement then as she left, he sat down to write his own. He wondered who would get the task of interviewing them both but as long as it wasn't Tess, he wasn't that bothered. Rose had been in trouble and as her boss, it was his duty to watch out for her.
Besides being his duty, he didn't fancy facing her mother questioning why he wasn't there for her. He could interview suspects all day long but Jackie Tyler was something else when it came to her daughter. Tess should have learned not to mess with the woman if she had any sense.
He had to be careful to omit certain parts of what had happened and hoped that the sergeant wouldn't bring them up but he doubted the man would have to admit where he got the idea from in the first place. If he had enough proof Tess had given him ideas, he'd involve her in the incident but getting her to admit anything would just make things worse, especially for Rose.
Rose waited for a while before another DI and his partner called her name, a file in the man's hand.
"Take a seat," Rose was told as she was led into an interview room.
She knew the formalities as the recording was started.
"So, you had a spot of bother last night I hear," the DI smiled at Rose. "DI Hardy had to rescue you?"
Rose wondered which way to take it, was the man being sarcastic?
"I would have got rid of that stupid sergeant," Rose insisted, sitting on her hands.
"Oh, I have no doubt," the DI agreed, grinning at his female partner.
"Just how did the sergeant force the window down then? It shouldn't have been that easy for him," the DI continued.
"Blame the car manufacturers," Rose replied. "The glass is so thin at the top on that model."
"Yes, I know," the female DS agreed with her, getting her a funny look from her boss.
Rose was glad she'd not got partnered with this DI but there again, he probably didn't have a jealous wife like Tess who worked with him.
"Why do you think the sergeant choose that particular occasion to confront you like that?" the DI asked her.
"Everyone else had gone?" Rose replied, trying not to sound sarcastic herself. "I can't think of another reason," she added.
"So he'd been waiting for the right moment?" she was then asked. "Why do you think that was?"
Rose had decided he was trying to be sarcastic but she wasn't going to let him get the better of her.
"DI Hardy had warned him before," Rose reminded him of what she'd put in her statement. "I was told the sergeant had annoyed the female officers before I'd even arrived here."
"So I've been told," the DI replied, looking in the file in front of him. "So, he'd asked you out just after you arrived? Did you give him an answer?"
Rose wondered what that had to do with her almost being attacked last night, if Alec hadn't got there when he had.
"I never got the chance, DI Hardy warned him off," Rose admitted, getting uncomfortable with his questioning. "Look, I never had anything more to do with him, I was never on my own when he was working. What's that got to do with last night?"
She felt like saying she felt she was to blame for it all, that he was acting more like he was defending the sergeant.
"Sir," his DS turned to him. "DC Tyler was almost attacked last night, we've all been approached by that sergeant since he got put in charge of traffic."
"Your point is?" her boss asked her. "Has he gone after anyone else like that?"
"No Sir but that doesn't mean he wouldn't have done, if DI Hardy hadn't stopped him last night," the DS replied. "Who knows who would have been next?"
"Yes, well thank you for that Lewis," the DI told her. "Who's to say it wasn't an isolated incident and DC Tyler here was the unlucky one?"
Rose felt like telling him thanks a lot for that.
"Excuse me," Rose spoke up. "Then why didn't he back off when he was told to?"
"She has a point Sir," the female officer agreed. "If he was having a bit of fun at DC Tyler's expense?"
The grin fell from the DI's face, Rose trying not to laugh. He went back to reading the rest of Rose's statement, then looked up again.
"Okay, DC Tyler, that's it for now, you can go back to work. We'll see what sergeant Peters has to say for himself," he told Rose.
"He's not gonna get away with this?" Rose asked him as she got up. "He's a menace."
The DI held his hands up.
"That's not down to me," he laughed as he got up. "If the chief considers that the sergeant is likely to do it again, then action will be taken."
He allowed Rose to go first, leaving his partner to turn off the equipment. Rose made her way back to reception and went to the lift. It was getting on for lunchtime and she wondered if it was worth it. Where was her boss anyway? As she waited for the lift, the DS who had been in the interview room caught up with her.
"Hi, it's Rose, right?" the DS asked her. "I'm Fiona, DS Lewis. Look, I'm sorry for what happened to you last night, really I am, it could have been any one of us. Once everyone's gone, that garage is creepy. Why were you even down there on your own?"
The lift arrived but Rose waited.
"I was waiting for DI Hardy," Rose replied. "I usually wait in the office for him but he was held up, by DS Hardy so he told me to go wait for him. I caught up with my friends and went downstairs with one of them. I said all that in my statement," Rose looked confused.
"I never got chance to read it all, sorry," the other woman smiled. "We're all behind you, we can't risk that sergeant Peters does it to someone else, who might not be so lucky and be rescued."
"Thanks. Everyone in the office will be wondering where I am," Rose smiled back.
"You might be just as well go for lunch early," Fiona told her. "If you want to talk, just look for me."
"Yeah, I will but I have some explaining to do with my friends," Rose replied.
"They'll have heard by now, it's all over the station," she was told. "You've got DS Hardy in charge of your office, right?"
"Yeah, worse luck," Rose grinned, thinking she wouldn't be any earlier going for lunch now. "She's never liked me since I got here."
"Not many people do like her, apart from her friends, then maybe they're scared what she'll say about them if they leave her alone," Fiona smiled. "Don't let me keep you Rose, your friends will be worried about you. It was nice to meet you and DI Hardy's a good man to work with. Tess stopped anyone who even applied to work with him."
"Yeah, I know," Rose replied as she pressed the button for the lift again. "When's DI Hardy's interview?"
"After lunch," Fiona told her as the lift arrived. "You can't discuss your interview with him before that," she then warned Rose.
Rose nodded and got into the lift, thinking she may as well just go get a table for herself and her friends, that was if they were still talking to her, if they'd already heard what had taken place the night before.
Her three friends had indeed heard when Kate got a text from someone she knew in booking. So when the morning break came around, she passed her phone to Jo then Trish.
"No way!" Trish almost shouted out loud but stopped herself just in time and covered her mouth instead. "Didn't you go into the garage with her last night?"
"Of course I did and there was no-one around. Do you think I'd have left her on her own if that creepy sergeant had been lurking around?" Kate asked her.
"Sorry," Trish patted her friend's arm. "We all know what that man's like though," she reminded them.
"Yes but Rose never said she'd had any more trouble with him," Jo reminded them.
"Well, she wouldn't would she?" Kate replied. "Hardy's always with her now. Do you think that's why he started?"
"Well maybe?" Trish wondered. "No-one else bothers though."
"That's true," Kate agreed. "Rose is fairly new though, maybe the sergeant wasn't getting the message?"
"Well he didn't get it if he went after poor Rose last night," Jo also agreed. "Wonder what's taking her so long though, if she had to give her statement?"
"As long as it takes?" Trish grinned. "Thank goodness Tess isn't doing it."
"I doubt Hardy would let her," Kate smiled at the thought of Tess grilling Rose and trying to put the blame solely on her.
"These things can take ages, we all know that," Jo reminded them.
They went back to work, trying not to watch the door to see if Rose returned. Tess was also now worried that she'd been found out, that Alec would have worked out she'd been talking to Peters. So what if she had though, she thought. It wasn't like she'd told the stupid man to try to attack Tyler, that was entirely down to him.
Still, that was no reason for Alec running off like he had done last night, when she'd been talking to him. Why had he suddenly called Tyler? He was paying far too much attention to his DC and less to herself. He might deny it but there was something going on between the two of them.
Then she had a sudden horrible thought. What if Peters had seen herself and Dave in that corner of the parking garage? Would the sergeant try and blackmail her into getting him out of any charges that were brought towards him?
Knowing Alec, if he got his own way, he'd throw the book at the man. She had noticed when she'd left the night before that Peters wasn't in his office so had he really been trying to catch Tyler on her own? From what she'd heard, Tyler wasn't hurt or anything and Alec had locked the sergeant up anyway and kept him overnight.
She bet anything her husband had driven Rose home but stopped somewhere on the way, to console her.
In the holding cells, sergeant Peters was pacing the small cell after being offered some breakfast but he'd been too furious to eat properly and only touched the toast and coffee. He'd not been happy at the officer who had opened the hatch to collect the plate an hour later.
"What's going on out there?" Peters had wanted to know.
"They don't tell me much," the young officer had replied.
"You do know Hardy's holding me here to get his revenge?" Peters had told him. "Just because I was trying to get friendly with his blonde DC?"
"You'll have to wait until you're called," the officer had told him.
As the young man was about to close the hatch, Peters called out him.
"Those charges are false, you ask around about Hardy," he tried to convince the officer.
Just wait until he was asked why he'd gone after the young blonde, he thought to himself, a smile creeping across his face. When he next saw Hardy, he was sure the DI would be interested in what he'd seen at midday in a corner of the garage no-one went in, well except for Hardy's wife and DS Dave Harris.