Summary:
Barbara meets James Hathaway and helps to interview a child witness to a crime in Oxford. James is impressed with how easily she is able to get information from the child and tells her so. James then lets slip that he, DI Robbie Lewis and Dr.Laura Hobson have placed bets on her. Barbara is somewhat amused by that but one of the bets requires her to explain her relationship with her DI.
Author's Notes: Usual Disclaimer -- Not my characters; I'm just borrowing them from their originators.
Chapter title reference:
Make new friends, but keep the old.
One is silver and the other gold.
— Joseph Parry
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
When Barbara awoke the next morning, the mild headache from the night before hit her like a freight train. She rolled out of bed just to sit down on its edge again, head in her hands. Slowly she rose to her feet and staggered to her bathroom. Two paracetamols taken with a full glass of water, along with a steamy hot shower helped her feel vaguely human again. It was only then that she remembered Tommy was sleeping on her couch.
Barbara took her time dressing as she tried to figure out how to swallow her embarrassment over the pass she had mad at Tommy the night before. The fact that he would rather sleep on her tiny sofa rather than with her really hurt. She felt like such a fool. She remembered a time years ago when he had leaned in as if to kiss her and she had turned away. She decided that if he could overcome that awkwardness and still be her friend, she could get past this embarrassing situation, too. Pulling on her blouse and buttoning it, she stepped into the hallway. "Let's get this over with!" Barbara encouraged herself.
"Tommy! Rise and shine!" Barbara called out to him as she came into her lounge. Her eyes settled on the empty couch. Barbara turned and stepped into her kitchen. Tommy wasn't there either. "Coward!" She muttered.
On the countertop, Barbara saw the two champagne flutes they had drank from the night before. As she washed the delicate crystal, tears filled her eyes again. The memory of buying them a few months earlier played across her mind and heart. She and Tommy had been spending so much time together — their outings ranged from the random pint to dinners at both posh and not-so-posh restaurants, to the opera and Broadway shows, and, on the day before she purchased these champagne flutes, a picnic on the bluffs overlooking the Cornish coastline. The picnic basket was outfitted with every delicacy and all the accoutrements anyone would want. Two crystal wine glasses had been included and Tommy told her they were Waterford crystal and family heirlooms. In her usual way, Barbara scoffed at using them to drink wine from at a picnic; wasn't " Lord Asherton afraid of them being broken? Shouldn't they be saved for special occasions?" Tommy had laughed and said anytime he was with Barbara was worthy of using any and all of his heirlooms, that just being with her was a special occasion. Shortly after that, Barbara had seen the two expensive champagne flutes and purchased them with the idea that she and Tommy would someday use them for a special occasion or even just a London picnic. She had thought last night was that special occasion — if Tommy thought they should drink champagne at her Chalk Farm flat, they would do it in style, and she had planned from the moment he knocked on her door to tell him she loved him. Barbara sighed and put the crystal glasses in the back of her cupboard. At least they had used them once.
The drive to Oxford wasn't bad so she made it before lunchtime according to her stomach clock. Barbara went straight to the office to meet up with her new squad. Chief Superintendent Innocent made quick work of thanking Barbara for taking the role of Acting DI and informing her they were in a bit of a lull crime-wise, but she was sure that DS James Hathaway would quickly get her up to date on what they were working on. She walked Barbara to Hathaway's Desk where he was looking at mugshots on his computer.
James Hathaway glanced at Barbara and then back at his computer before turning back towards her for a second look. The second time, his eyes took in Barbara from her toes to head. He then settled his gaze on her eyes as he slowly rose to shake her offered hand.
Barbara knew Hathaway from previous trainings and events but she honestly couldn't remember any other time the two of them had conversed without their respective DIs taking the lead. Both of them had a tendency to be reticent in groups, so this first solo hello was at best awkward.
Chief Superintendent Innocent made sure they knew the hierarchy as she gestured towards Barbara, "James, let me reacquaint you with Acting Detective Inspector Barbara Havers. Barbara, this is James Hathaway; he's to be your Detective Sergeant while you are visiting here from the Yard."
The two shook hands as the chief stepped away, "Alright then, I will leave you two to it."
Both Havers and Hathaway seemed to be waiting on the other to speak first. Finally, the DS spoke, "Well then, let me show you to your office, Acting Detective Inspector Havers."
Barbara looked at him to see if she could read any irony in his address to her. What she saw were incredibly blue eyes the crinkled a bit at the side as he smiled at her. "At ease, Hathaway, surely we can dispense with titles when it's just the two of us." She smiled back at him.
"I'll consider it, Ma'am," he replied, still smiling. "Really, though, shall we dispense with the "acting" part of your title? I can't imagine you introducing yourself at a crime scene as an acting DI. I think it would rather cause the locals to lose confidence."
"And you? Do you have confidence in me as your DI, Hathaway?" Barbara asked him.
James smiled again, and Barbara saw the smile hit his eyes before it made it to his lips. "Indeed, Detective Inspector. You must know, your reputation proceeds you!"
"Oh, dear!" Barbara laughed! "Please don't believe everything you may have heard!"
James started counting on his fingers, "Let's see: Top score in recent years on your DS exam. Top score this year on your DI exam. Highest closing rate at the Yard, ever, but you do share that accolade with your partner DI Lynley."
Hearing him mention her DI, Barbara held up her hand to stop his recitation! "Ok, Detective! Enough! I can tell you've done your homework. Look, I haven't eaten lunch and I've just traveled here on a breakfast of coffee. Do you have a local where we can get some food and you can fill me in on our case assignments?"
An hour later, the detectives sat at an outdoor table on the pub's veranda which overlooked a canal. Barbara and James ate their lunch of fish and chips, and drank a pint. Barbara was finishing her chips, which she thought were quite good, while she summarized what James had told her about their case load. "So your 1st priority is finishing a report on a domestic murder, perp apprehended yesterday. Make sure his confession is logged, both the verbal and the one in writing. Next, helping the locals with their efforts to break up a bike theft ring — high-end commuter bikes used by students and local professionals have been going missing from colleges at Oxford, businesses and residences. Do we have stats on the number of bikes missing, say for this past month, and how that compares with the same month in previous years? Any witnesses, or physical evidence collected at the site of any of the thefts?"
James had been nodding his head in silent agreement until she asked about witnesses and evidence. "No physical evidence. The thief, or thieves, are careful. They must wear gloves so if they leave a wheel and lock behind, there are no prints. We have one witness, a nine-year old boy who has given us a very good description of the person who stole a bike from a local solicitor's office bike rack."
"A nine-year old child just happened to be at a solicitor's office when there was a theft there? Odd. Are you certain he saw a person or was he excited by the police presence and just wanted to say he saw someone?"
"Well, we ruled out that the boy was lying because he was the one who sounded the alarm. When he realized the bloke was stealing the bike, he jumped out of the car and yelled bloody murder and tried a tug-of-war over the bike with the thief. The thief had enough at that and cold-cocked the lad. Knocked him clean out."
"Why would a kid try to take on an adult thief? I think I want to meet this lad."
The boy, as it turned out, was "Not nine, but nine and a half. Practically ten, really." He informed DI Havers, after shaking her and DS Hathaway's hands. The serious faced youngster went on to introduce himself as, "Reginald Stephan Bertram Tompkinson. Only my mother and the awful older boys at school call me Reggie. Please address me as Reginald." His brow above his bright blue eyes frowned, as if he expected them to tell him no.
"Of course, Reginald it is!" Barbara replied. She went on to explain to Reginald that she wanted ask him a few questions and hear what happened when he got into the tussle with the bike thief. She explained that she was going to to record his responses as they talked, if that was alright with both him and his mother. The blonde-haired child first looked to his mother for approval. Once she silently nodded at him, he began his story.
"I was waiting in our car with our driver while my dad took his divorce papers to the solicitor's clerk. He was gone quite some time and I was bored and annoyed. It's my dad's second divorce so he must know how it all works now. At any rate, I was so bored, I finally started looking out the window and counting men with briefcases vs men carrying backpacks. My hypothesis was that in that area of Oxford more men would carry briefcases than backpacks. Dad calls that area Solicitors' Row so I expected there to be more professionals than students."
Reginald paused to see if his words were being followed by the adults. All three nodded in unison at him.
Reginald rubbed his hands together as if he were warming them up as well as warming up to his topic. "Right then. As I was watching, I saw this man just standing on the corner. He was not well dressed like a solicitor nor was he dressed like a student."
Barbara interjected, "Reginald, thank you again for assisting us with our investigation. Now, please describe the man you saw stealing the bike to us — what did he look like, what was he wearing and was there anything that stood out to you about his looks?"
"You mean like scars?"
"Yeah, like scars, or tattoos, or even an unusual physical trait, or hair color or haircut."
"I didn't see it at first, but after I pulled his stocking cap off, I saw that he was bald and one ear was, erm, all squished up, like it had been folded over on itself too many times."
Detective Sargeant Hathaway sat up at this. "Reginald," he said, quite gently Barbara thought, "you didn't tell us about pulling off his hat or about his ear when we talked before. Is that what happened? You didn't say he was bald either."
Reginald rolled his eyes. "You and that police artist only asked me what were his clothes. I told about the hat and the artist drew him how he looked when he was wearing it. No one asked about his hair either, except to ask if any could be seen sticking out of the hat. I said no."
Barbara stifled a laugh. "Sure, he's bald then, yeah? With a squished up ear?" Reginald nodded yes.
Reginald went on to tell about seeing the man cutting through the tire frame to remove the lock. He said he told his driver to stop him, but the driver said he wasn't paid for that. "I was so angry watching the man steal the bike that I told my driver to get out and stop him. But he just laughed — haha — and said he wasn't paid for that! Lazy sod! Without thinking I jumped out of the car, yelling, 'Stop!Theif!' But no one stopped him. He was carrying the bike away so I grabbed it and we pulled the bike back and forth between us. He finally let go and I fell down. But, I was still holding onto the back wheel of the bike. He tried to pry my fingers away and one hand did come off. That's when I grabbed his stocking cap and pulled it right off. I guess that's when he hit me. That's how I got this black eye." Reginald sat back proudly in his chair as if to signal he was done.
"Thank you, Reginald." DI Havers began. " I have one more question for you. Where do you think he was carrying the bike off to?"
"Oh, that's an easy one." The boy grinned. "He was going to put it in the black utility van parked by the corner. At least I think he was. The side door was open and I could see other bikes inside of it."
Barbara saw James palm his face. She suppressed a smile and replied to Reginald, "That does seem logical, Reginald. You know, you would make a good detective someday with your powers of observation!"
"I know." Reginald sighed. "But dad says I need to be a solicitor or a fiduciary."
Barbara said she thought he was a smart lad and would be good at whatever he decided to become. Then she stood and shook the boy's hand and thanked him and his mother for their help. As she and James walked out to his car, James offered Barbara a thanks for getting fresh clues from Reginald. "You are quite good with kids; my research about you didn't say that!" He teased her.
Barbara laughed at his comment, " You're wrong. I am actually just good with toffs, even young ones, apparently. I've had my practice with Inspector Lynley, that's for sure!"
"Oh, damn." James laughed and groaned a little.
Barbara looked at him, surprised, "What?"
"I owe Robbie a fiver. He said you wouldn't make it through the end of the day without making a reference to your DI. I said it would be the end of the first week."
"Why you bloody tossers! And here you had me thinking we were going to get along! Just for that you can write up our report from the recording and I will have the fun of pursuing our new leads." Barbara was still smiling.
James grinned back. "You know, Laura laid a bet, too! She's convinced you and your DI are partners both at work and after hours."
"James, seriously. You Oxford lot need to take a sensitivity training or two. You can't go around placing bets on your coworker's lives, habits and, erm, extracurricular activities, so to speak. Tell Laura to pay up, though." She smiled somewhat ruefully. "Thomas Lynley is just a friend. Just a good friend." And as she said the words out loud to James, Barbara believed them.
Once she was sure of her voice again, Barbara added, "Oh, and, Hathaway, find that missing hat." They drove back to the station without talking.
Author's Note: Isn't it nice to see Barbara making new friends?
