Baker gets tough

The morning after Temple's summons to Baker's office, Cantwell received a similar call. He sat at his desk pondering what he could have done wrong. In his opinion, Baker would only ever want to speak to him to issue a reprimand. Despite all Temple's efforts, Tom Cantwell still maintained a poor view of himself. So it was with a degree of anxiety that he walked down the corridor to Baker's imposing door.

Baker waited to hear the knock. He allowed a full half minute to elapse before shouting "Enter." Cantwell, head down and face flushed, walked into the room and stood to attention in front of the desk.

Despite the urgency of the need to remove Cantwell from Temple's sphere of influence, Baker wanted to observe protocol and to avoid giving a seemingly arbitrary order. He eyed Cantwell for a few moments before gesturing for him to sit down. He immediately recognised that Cantwell was anxious. This would be a pushover, compared with the debacle with Temple.

"Sergeant Cantwell, thank you for coming so promptly." Baker cleared his throat and appeared to shuffle some papers. "I have had some good reports about your work."

Contrary to appearances, Cantwell was not gullible. When he heard what Baker said he was suspicious. He knew that Temple hadn't written anything about him. He had always shown him any reports and there hadn't been any for some time. He surmised that Baker was up to something. But what?

"You've worked with Inspector Temple for a considerable period of time now." Baker picked up his fountain pen and twiddled it nervously. "I think it's time for you to gain more experience by working on your own. This will develop your initiative and prepare you for promotion." He paused to see what effect this had on Cantwell. If he expected a sign of pleasure, he was disappointed. There was a look of dismay on Cantwell's face. Nothing daunted, Baker continued. "We've had reports of contraband coming into the port. Same thing is happening at Teignmouth. I want you to keep an eye on things down at the docks for a month or so. Then, I'll review the situation."

Cantwell was taken aback. True he would quite fancy a stint down at the docks. Nice easy life - plenty of off-duty. However, he and Temple had developed some sort of rapport. He had learned a lot from him. More importantly, he felt secure when he was working with him. He pondered how he should play the next move.

"We're in the middle of a difficult investigation, sir, and ..."

"I'll see Inspector Temple gets all the help he needs." He held up his hand to avoid being interrupted. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Sergeant. I'll be sending out your new rota later today. Good morning."

Cantwell sat still. Baker had uncapped his pen and was scribbling something down. He looked up fiercely and gestured for Cantwell to leave.

Walking back to their office, Cantwell dreaded breaking the news to Temple.

"I'm sorry, Gov, I didn't know how to deal with him. What should I have said?"

"Not much you could have. Let's go for a short walk shall we?"

Once outside the station, Temple felt more free to say exactly what he felt. "This is a ploy to stymie the Redbourne investigation. Baker's been got at." He saw Cantwell's agitation. "Look, this might just play right into our hands, after all. I'll keep you informed about what's going on. Let's meet at The Beacon Inn every Tuesday evening at about 8 o'clock. None of the other coppers go there. We won't be seen - anyway, why shouldn't we have a pint together. No law against it! You use our car, it's been seen around too much near Grange Farm. I'll get another one."

Cantwell looked disappointed. He had hoped Temple would have kicked up a bit more about his removal.

"I'm going to miss having your opinion on things. Still - this might just be useful to us." Temple mused.

Like a dog that's just been told he's a 'good boy', Cantwell instantly brightened. So he was going to be missed, after all. "Any betting I'll find Steele and Davey around the docks. They're sure to be mixed up with some old fashioned smuggling, as well as dodgy dogs!"

Maybe things weren't quite so bleak. He'd have a lot to tell Debbie when he got home.