Summary:

DI Havers has a fantastic first day at work. James Hathaway collects on his bet from Dr. Hobson and also gets a warning from her about his apparent interest in his Acting-DI. Tommy surprises Barbara with a phone call but finds the call upsetting on a variety of levels.

Chapter 3: The Way to a Woman's Heart

Back at the station, DS Hathaway made quick work of writing up the report of the latest interview of Reginald Stephan Bertram Tompkinson, age nearly ten. He shook his head as he noted the three new clues available to them based on his DI's interview: suspect was bald, had a deformed or damaged ear and the suspect's getaway vehicle may be a black utility van. He also made a call to evidence processing and found out a black, longshoreman-type, stocking hat had been bagged by SOCO. Hathaway felt bad the boy had been knocked out by the suspect, but since the physical assault was on a minor, both the assault and theft had been treated as a major crime which allowed the team in white coveralls to process all physical evidence. He decided to drop the hat off at Dr. Laura Hobson's lab in person on his way home. He had five quid to pick up from her anyway, since Barbara had convincingly confirmed that she and Thomas Lynley were, in fact, just work partners.

James spent the rest of the afternoon gathering CCTV footage of the area looking for black utility vans in the area at the time of the crime. When it was nearly 5:00 pm, he knocked on DI Havers' office door.

"Come in, Hathaway!" Barbara called out to him. She greeted him with a smile and, not for the first time, James Hathaway lost himself momentarily in her beautiful green eyes. He smiled back and then cleared his throat as he stepped into her space.

"Ma'am," he addressed Barbara. "Report is filed of our interview with Reginald. Also, from available CCTV, I've catalogued a list of twenty-one black utility vans that were in the area at the time of the crime."

"Twenty-one, yeah?" Barbara frowned. "I was hoping there would be less, but twenty-one shouldn't take us long to vet."

The DS frowned, too. "I was hoping that, as well. Unfortunately, no CCTV cameras pointed to the crime scene, or the street corner directly beside the solicitor's office. I had to look at camera footage from adjoining streets. I've assigned the list of vans to an evening shift detective constable. She should have all the pertinent information for us to go over in the morning. If it's fine with you, I will take the hat out of evidence and deliver it to our Dr. Hobson on my way home; maybe she can find DNA or narrow down its origin for us."

"That's fine, Hathaway. I'm heading out myself. Inspector Lynley has loaned me his flat for the month so I want to get settled in there this evening." Barbara shared. James just stood there looking at her. "Is there anything else, Hathaway?"

James realized he had lost himself momentarily in her eyes again and had been standing there silently. He shook his head as if waking up. "No. Ma'am. No, Ma'am. Erm, I know you must be tired tonight, but perhaps we can share a meal after work another night to celebrate your working here. Perhaps Dr. Hobson can join us." James included Laura Hobson in his invitation as an afterthought.

Barbara's smile grew. "That sounds wonderful. Please tell Laura I look forward to seeing her."

;) ;) ;) ;)

James Hathaway was glad of the opportunity to drop in on Dr. Hobson. He was concerned about his friend and boss, DI Robbie Lewis and wanted to see how he was after knee surgery. Laura & Robbie were domestic partners and he knew Laura could fill him in on Robbie's recovery. He also couldn't wait to share what Barbara Havers had said about her friend (friend!) and boss, DI Thomas Lynley.

When he walked into her lab, Dr Laura Hobson, beamed at him! She and Robbie both adored James Hathaway; he was an incredible copper and person. They both thought Jame's was gifted intellectually, kind, funny in a quirky way, and he was enough younger than them both that they referred to him as their "work son" but only when he was out of earshot. Laura greeted him, "Hello, James! What brings you here? Not anticipating a murder, I hope. I planned on leaving soon to check in on Robbie at the physical therapy rehab center. We are hoping he will be released to home tomorrow!"

"Oh, good! He must be doing well then! No, no murder, or anticipated future murder to bring to you," James grinned as he replied. "I've only brought you a humble hat that I hope you can use your powers of divination on to lead us to a suspect in those commuter bike thefts."

"Well, I certainly will try. Tomorrow though, ok? Unless the boy knocked out is not recovering? I do want us to collar the brute that would hit a child."

"No, Reginald is quite well. I'm thinking the shiner he got will only serve to help his reputation at school, especially with the older boys. By the way DI Barbara Havers interviewed him a second time today and we came away with three new clues and the fact that the hat belonged to our perp! You should have seen Havers in action, Laura. It was like watching a master chef or a symphonic conductor! She seems to have an instinct about what to ask and how! And with a child witness, nonetheless!"

"James, you sound like her fan-boy!" Laura laughed at him.

"I might be!" He laughed, and then, thinking about her amazing eyes, he felt his neck color. "Oh, I've invited her to dinner one night this week. I don't suppose you would want to join us?"

"No, not this week. I will be nursing my beau, I'm afraid. I will pop in and out to check on him during the work day because he should be able to walk with crutches once he comes home, but by evening he will need some TLC. You'll be on your own with Barbara, I'm afraid." Noticing the blush rise from James neck into his face, Laura cautioned, "Careful there, James. You know Barbara Havers is, well, quite devoted to Tommy Lynley."

James laughed and shook his head. "So you say, Laura. However, I say you owe me a fiver. Haver's told me today, quite clearly, that she and Lynley are just friends. She also told me that she recommends we all take an HR course in workplace sensitivity." He smirked.

"James! You did not tell her we made bets on her personal life, did you?!" She shook her head disapprovingly at him.

"What can I say, Laura. She makes people want to tell her things," he replied and felt his face go red again. He headed for the door to leave.

Laura stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Really, James, be careful. She is your supervisor right now, if only an Acting-DI."

"Yes, Mum." James patted her hand and left the laboratory.

:0 :0 :0 :0 :0

Barbara lay back in the claw foot tub in the ensuite bathroom of Tommy's flat. When he texted her early in the day with address, he also told her not to expect much of the place as it had been purchased by him as a student and was used as an AirBnB now, but the two bedroom/two bath flat was twice the size of Barbara's flat in London, had a canal view from the back, protected parking and a kitchen a master chef would approve of. Not really wanting to talk to him yet, Barbara had replied to his text with a simple "Ta" and a thumbs up emoji.

Relaxing in her bath, Barbara allowed herself to think about Tommy and the unfortunate ending to the night before. She was surprised that she didn't feel as embarrassed as she had that morning. She decided that was the benefit of having a long term friendship like she and Tommy had. She also knew that if they ever talked about what happened, she could legitimately blame her pass at her boss on the buzz of half a bottle of champagne and bottle of beer.

The hurt from Tommy's rejection was harder to push aside, though. She knew Tommy wasn't immune from the temptation of the occasional one-night stand. That he easily deflected a chance to hook-up with her left her feeling a new level of hurt. She knew she was attractive. Despite her reputation as a frigid nun at the Met, she was also not immune to the occasional one night stand. She'd had enough offers of a second night to know that she was appealing to the opposite sex, some of which she found quite attractive, too, and so sometimes a one night stand became a two night stand. She'd had to also politely decline enough offers for a third date after some of those second hook ups that she knew it was possible to start a relationship with some of those blokes, if she had wanted to do so. She was not chancing anyone becoming too attached though, and turned down all the third dates, primarily because of her feelings for Tommy. A couple of nights of fun was one thing, but an ongoing relationship with someone other than Tommy just wasn't what she was looking to have. As she sat in her bath, she began to wonder what she may have missed out on by turning away men who seemed to want a longer relationship with her.

Getting out of the bath, Barbara wrapped up in an incredibly soft, oversized towel and sat on the king-sized bed to apply lotion. Her damp hair was wrapped up in loose terrycloth hair wrap. She started smoothing lotion on her legs when she heard Five for Fighting singing "Superman (It's Not Easy)" on her cell phone. Taking a deep, calming breath, she answered the call, "Havers!"

"Barbara!" Tommy tried to sound normal. "How are you! It's Tommy!" He immediately felt silly identifying himself — of course she knew the cell phone call was from him.

Barbara opted for sarcasm when she responded, "Inspector, is that you?! I thought perhaps the queen was calling!" When she laughed, Tommy let out the breath he had been holding and laughed, too.

"Sorry," he replied. "It's just a lord calling, I'm sorry to say. How are you, Barbara? How was your first day in charge of a team?"

"It was fantastic, Sir!"

Tommy harrumphed and interrupted her, "I thought we had agreed you should call me Tommy now, Barbara."

Barbara felt her throat tighten and tears pricked her eyes. She forced herself to answer him, "Well, it doesn't come naturally to me but I will try. Let me tell you about my day. "

Barbara talked Tommy through her day and the cases on her desk in Oxford. Like usual, the DI made insightful suggestions about how to proceed. Most of the suggestions Barbara had already thought of, but his idea that the suspect's deformed ear may have been inflicted on him in the box ring was very helpful. Barbara thanked him, "Great idea about his ear! Thank you! That will help me narrow down suspects."

"You're welcome. And how are you liking your coworkers, Barbara?" Tommy asked her.

"Oh, they're grand! The chief super seems very hands-off, which I like and my sergeant, you know, James Hathaway, is a good copper, I think. He doesn't need much direction, is very intelligent, is low-key funny and is quite welcoming. He asked to take me to dinner later this week. I do think he is quite nice! I have to admit, I had forgotten how tall he is — he's taller than you, I'm sure. I think we will be good short-term partners."

Tommy sat scowling for a moment unaware why he felt upset. "James Hathaway sounds a bit cheeky to me. It doesn't seem appropriate for a sergeant to ask their DI out to dinner, I should think. And really, Barbara, I don't recall he was that tall. I'm 6'1" anything taller than that is inconsequential, most would say."

Breathing in slowly to hide her annoyance, Barbara snapped back at Tommy, "The DS thought it would be nice to celebrate my joining the Oxford team with dinner out accompanied by himself, and Dr. Hobson." She chose not to say anything about Tommy's whiney comment about her compliment of James' height. She knew Tommy was ridiculously possessive of her as his sergeant and wouldn't want to appear lacking, in any way when compared to her new work partner.

Barbara brought the call to a close, "I hate to say goodnight but I need to get dressed in my pajamas and dry my hair. I love your towels, by the way. Your "student" flat is quite posh and well equipped — thank you for loaning it to me. Goodnight, Sir!" Barely waiting for him to respond, she hung up.

As he said goodbye and heard the line go quiet, Tommy's thoughts were warring between thinking of Barbara having dinner with James Hathaway and the fact that he had just conversed with her for thirty minutes while she was wrapped only in a towel. Those thoughts were interrupted, though, when he realized she had never called him Tommy once during the call. Sighing, he got ready for bed thinking that James might be a good detective asking Barbara out for dinner, even if they would be chaperoned in effect by Dr. Hobson. After all, the way to Barbara's heart certainly included her love of good food.

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Author's note: Jealous Tommy is easy to imagine and quite fun to envision him sizing up any competition for Barbara's affection. The next chapter is full of angst!