Divorced! Now what?
Chapter 128

Pam POV

It had been a long day, first going to Thomas's house and now this. It was good to see Bob, even if it was just for work and all business. He looked good in his sportswear and seemed relaxed until we reached the office, where the gun was produced, instantly changing everything. Who owned the gun?

Has it been used?

My mind went crazy with questions, and I looked at Bethany and then Bob, but neither was giving anything away.

The atmosphere was charged with emotion as Bethany read the journal out loud. She is the only one who can decipher it, and I empathized with Bob's predicament. I desperately wanted Bob to come with us and help sort this out, but I understood he was already too close by association, being his ex-wife and daughter.

As we heard the journal being read, Bethany's voice was slow and steady, and it was as if Bethany had removed herself from reading it, being her sister's journal, to be any other sort of book. If it were me, I would have had difficulty not letting my emotions take

over.

That poor girl, as a child, had nowhere to turn to. Why not turn to Bob? I have no idea; maybe Wendy had threatened her or something. Nonetheless, Bob is going to blame himself for the things that happened to Cynthia as a child, and when he learns what drove her to become the bitter, twisted killer she had become and that she was a cold-blooded murderer.

I called it a night. It was late, and we were all tired. I volunteered to drive Bethany home. Her bodyguards had been sent home hours ago, and I saw no reason to have them sitting outside the police station. We have enough police around to protect her. 'Do you want something to eat? I can do a drive-through if you are hungry! I offered Bethany as we buckled up in the car. 'Just my bed, if you don't mind.' She looked and sounded exhausted. It did not take long to reach her building, and she climbed out and turned back to me before closing the door. 'Do you need me to read some more?'

'Yeah, I will come and get you later.' She nodded and closed the door; I waited till she reached the doors of her building before taking off. Something made me look in my mirror at her building, and I nearly froze. A large van had pulled up to the front, and the men had hit the security guard, knocking him to the ground, while the other was trying to drag a fighting Bethany back to the van. I did a U-turn and raced back, but I was too late. By the time I was around and drove to the building, they had her in the van, and I nearly had an accident, turning to follow them.

'Dispatch, code red, code red.' I called out.

'Talk. What is the red?' The calm voice spoke back over the speaker.

'Victim, been kidnapped outside her building, Black van, registration number blacked out, heading south along Battle Street. Get your eyes in the sky and back up. Link to traffic cameras. Let's get these guys! I drove after the van for nearly twenty minutes but got cut off when I tried to go through a red light; even with my lights and sirens on, some people were still oblivious to what was happening around them.

'Dispatch, Did you see where they went?' I asked the person in dispatch.

'We have them as they go through controlled intersections.

'On my way back to you, I need to broaden the area so they cannot escape,' I said, rushing back to the precinct and bursting into the communications room.

'Are you still on them?' I blurted out as I entered the room.

'They are somewhere in the warehousing district.'

'I will call Jacko and most likely Bob. I leave the main room and go into my private area; I can control and see everything from here. I picked up the phone and called Jacko first. I had my headphones on so I could use my hands and type away, bringing up more cameras to hunt them down; we had access to many cameras, but few in that area. Jacko was not impressed, and I expected to get a dressing down when they could. Now, the more brutal call. A groggy Bob answered the phone, his voice husky from sleep, and under any other circumstances, I would have found hearing that voice sexy.

'Hello.'

'Bob. They took her, Bob, right from under my nose; I am so sorry, I have failed you and her.' I almost sobbed. 'What? Who?' I heard the covers pull off and rustling, and I assumed he was getting dressed. 'Bethany. I told him what happened, and after he calmed down, he ordered me to send him a chopper.

Things got a little crazy for a while; when Jacko arrived in the precinct, he was like a raging bull, barking out orders as he went. He gave me an angry look through the glass but did not come to the office, opting to go to the main screen and start a grid search of his

own.

Soon, he had men converging on an area he thought they were, and the chopper overhead had his beam of light on the area, searching; there was no sign of the van; it was well hidden.

'I am going out there! Jacko picked up his keys and left the room. I understood his need to be at ground zero. He was that sort of man. I am better at doing camera and sensor searches in the office, which I am good at. It took some doing, but I found a warehouse with a camera that saw the van go by.

'Van seen near Bluey's warehouse, driving south-east.' I told the dispatch and Jacko, and I am sure Bob was listening too. I looked at the grid at the place where the warehouse was and followed the line of the street. I knew of another building where I could log into their security camera and pull it up; there was no sign of the van coming down the street; it had to be in one of those four warehouses.

'Van last seen between Bluey's and Lacy's. It has not left that block. I felt they had hidden the van in one of the warehouses.

It was in the area that Jacko had pointed out and was headed to.

Bob stayed in the chopper and joined the eyes in the sky, lighting up a larger area for the searchers; they were checking the four warehouses and for any way to get into the sewer tunnels that ran under that part of the area. I could hear him giving the pilot. Instructions. From the view on the screen, he was as good, if not better, than Jacko, and that is saying something, considering he has yet to learn about our city and some of the places criminals like to lurk.

'Found the van. I can see it in the loading dock. Jacko's angry voice came over the speaker, and I noted where the van was found and where the tunnels were.

'There should be an opening to the sewer system at the back of that warehouse. I wonder if it is on their property or just behind the fencing. I spoke about the sewer opening as if we were still going with that being their destination. I had hoped that it was accessible and that we wouldn't have to call the building's owners to get permission to enter it; I doubt they would give it, and we would need to get the judge out of bed.

Then I heard a voice I did not expect to hear over a police radio.

'Bob, I know where they are taking her if they have gone into the sewers. Theo was on the chopper with Bob; I should have known they would have him on board. I could hear him but not make out what he was saying.

'Send a group to the old quarry; if they are on foot, it will take them at least an hour to get there. Bob ordered, and several radios answered.

'Copy!'

I could not work out who had taken her. We had all the heads in jail, awaiting trial, and I didn't think they could blame all this on Bethany. This is more personal than the people we have jailed; only the first lot of people that were involved in the accident and k********g would place her in danger, and I doubt now that they are convicted that they would bother doing something to her now; they would wait till they got out of jail. Most of those who we have in prison would want to see her suffer, not hear about it later. Could this be the start of the vengeance against the sister? But that makes no sense either, as the media knows little about the details of the arrests so far. I was at a loss as to who was behind all of this.