Praise was being heaped on him from all around. He hadn’t beenquite sure what reaction he would get from the others but this was far betterthan anything he could have expected. It just went to show how hated GideonSummerfield was by all of them.
Nonetheless, he had no idea what the backlash to his actionsmight be and he didn’t fancy hanging around to face any potential retaliationfrom Summerfield. What he had done amounted to sexual assault, even though nobodyin the room full of police officers had made any attempt to arrest him. However,Somerfield could have friends in high places and might be sending for thecavalry right now.
Making his farewells, he left the conference room to a standingovation, walked straight to his car, got in and drove.
He couldn’t risk going home, it would be better to just disappearfor the day. The sun was shining in the clear blue sky and it looked like it wasgoing to be a beautiful day. As he reached the main road at the end of the lanethat led to Greenland’s, he saw a sign that read ‘Bournemouth 30’.
That was good enough for him. He would go and spend a niceday by the seaside, book into a hotel and enjoy some quality time on his own.
He reached into his coat pocket and threw his mobile phoneout of the window. He wouldn’t need it where he was going. Happy and contented,he put the radio on to catch the end of Ken Bruce on Radio 2 and cruised ondown the A35 towards his day in the sun.
Friday I’m In Love
July 1994
It was Thursday teatime and Kent was walking into the town centre,mentally preparing himself for his fourth trip back through time.
The angel had been delighted with Kent’s performance on theprevious day, so much so that he had been barely able to stop laughing on hisreturn to the rooftop.
“I can quite honestly say, in all my years of doing this, nobodyhas ever done anything quite like that before,” he had said, promptly bursting intohysterics.
He had been pleased by the angel’s reaction. He might havepowers beyond Kent’s comprehension, but it showed that it had a sense of humour.He was glad that it hadn’t been disapproving; it made him feel more justifiedin his actions. Whoever or whatever the angel was, it certainly seemed to haveplenty of human characteristics.
Now, twenty-four hours after his return, Kent was eagerly lookingforward to his next trip. His successful act of revenge against Summerfield hadspurred him on to go back and sort out another injustice.
He was aware that he was running out of days to play with andwas going to have to start getting selective about what he was going to do. Hehad seriously considered going back to 1998. That was the year he had beenhounded out of London’s Metropolitan Police after the sexual harassment chargethat had been pinned on him by P.C. Leanne Palmer.
The two of them had been up for promotion to sergeant. Kent knewthat he had been by far the better candidate. At that time he was anenthusiastic young officer, a far cry from the jaded and inefficient D.I. helater became. Competent, keen and fit, he seemingly had a bright future infront of him.
By contrast, Leanne was lazy, vain and unreliable. Shefrequently turned up late for work, and when she got there preferred polishingher nails to doing her paperwork. When she did turn up, she spent most of thetime acting like a diva. She worked out regularly and had a body that attractedplenty of admiring glances from the men in the office. Her fiery red hair andcome-to-bed eyes meant there wasn’t much she couldn’t get away with.
Kent was no exception. Still naïve and impressionable, helacked the life experience to see her act for what it was. At the time he hadrecently broken up from a two-year relationship with a girl he had planned tomarry. Those plans had spectacularly bitten the dust when he found out she hadbeen sleeping with Glen behind his back. Under the circumstances, he was easyprey for what Leanne had planned for him.
The night before the interviews for the promotion, Leannehad unexpectedly asked him out for a drink. From the outset she flirted outrageouslywith him and it wasn’t long before he was willingly lured back to her flat withthe promise of some serious fun between the sheets.
Everything had gone well until shortly after they had got intothe bedroom and started fumbling at each other’s clothes. As soon as he had achievedthe not inconsiderable feat of unbuttoning her bra with one hand, all hell had brokenloose. Inexplicably she had started screaming, then shouting at him to get offher. Then her flatmate, whose existence Kent had been completely unaware ofuntil that moment, had rushed in accusing him of rape.
He had been really shaken by the incident, convinced he haddone nothing wrong. It was as if someone had flicked a light switch in her head,turning her from a passionate seductress into a banshee screaming blue murder inan instant. He had left hurriedly, muttering feeble apologies and fearing repercussionswhich were not long in coming.
The next day he had turned up at the station as usual, stillshaken and feeling completely unprepared for his interview. Of Leanne, therewas no sign but Kent was in a state of near panic all morning, fearing theworst. His feelings were well-justified. When he was called into the panel hesoon discovered that it wasn’t the promotion that was to be discussed. It was adisciplinary hearing.
She had filed a written complaint against him, backed upwith a statement from her flatmate. In short, Superintendent Charlton who waschairing the panel told him that his application for the sergeant’s job wasbeing withdrawn. Furthermore, Leanne had agreed not to press charges provided thatKent agreed to be transferred to another force. He was left with no choice butto comply and that was the end of his promising career with the Met.
The incident haunted him for a long time afterwards. Yearslater, he achieved closure of a sort when it came to light that Charlton hadbeen implicated in a major
