Divorced! Now what?
Chapter 136

Jacko POV

I received news that Hank had given Bethany the all-clear. She, Bob, Theo, and others will stay at Thomas's house today. The comings and goings at that house have increased significantly, starkly contrasting with Thomas's previous low-profile existence. How Thomas will react to this influx is still being determined, but we will closely monitor it. He has a different style of life. He is a good man, and I would hate all of this to stress out his wife, who has a newborn baby. We do not want those who are after Bethany to go after Thomas and his family.

What surprised me was hearing that Pam had just arrived there, and I wondered what she was up to. I have posted some men to keep an eye on Bethany; there is no way she is being retaken. I don't know if she is safe with Bret and Cynthia out of the picture. Or if Bret's brother will put a contract on her. I would not put it past him to do it. He could order it from jail and have someone pay the contractor when the job is done.

The trials have started. The higher-profile people are getting many lawyers involved, which will delay their case from being heard. This is fine, as we get the small fish in jail and have some of them plea bargain to assist in our case. However, we do not need any plea bargains; our evidence is solid. Bethany has three books to decode, and we are done with the evidence; I think one of our people is trying to learn the code and is doing a great job so far, having worked some of it, so I think we might be able to decode it without Bethany.

I hope so; we are not in any hurry; with all this lawyering up and delay tactics, they are giving us more time to complete the little tasks we have gained. Like all those books from Bethany's penthouse, she never knew her sister had hidden them in her things. The gun was the shocker; I think that upset Bethany the most; she detests guns because a friend of hers was shot by a kid playing with his father's gun. She lived, but the incident was enough to put Bethany off having guns in the house, unless under lock and key, like Bob's.To access the complete chapters for free, visit Job nib.com. He had tried to teach her that guns are not dangerous; it is the person with the gun who misuses it that makes the weapon dangerous. Even so, Bethany refuses to have a gun in the house. A knock on my door brought me out of my musing; I looked up, and standing in the doorway was the head of the FBI, not exactly a person I was expecting to see at my door. I stood up and held out my hand, offering him to shake it. 'Welcome, sir, what have I done to deserve your visit?' I was being cheeky, and he seemed to like it. He closed the door before shaking my hand and taking a seat. This action made me pause and look at him; he did not seem angry or agitated, so I was unsure what was happening.

'It came to my attention today that it was time to put you in the loop; Pam, as we speak, is filling Bob in on what I am about to tell you. I would appreciate it if it does not leave this office for obvious reasons once you hear what I say. I nod, curious about what he was talking about and what Pam had to do with it.

'As you are aware, Bob has been appointed to the top job with the police after the old one went on extended service leave. We are planning on a large, formal, media-filled appointment ceremony in about a week. Hopefully, it will help reduce the media frenzy of the news of the old top cop being corrupt and the station's reputation that will be tarnished for a while to come. 'I nod again; I have heard this.

'Well, I am here to tell you that he was not on long service leave, but for being corrupt, you have already done a great job, having those ten police officers suspended, and with the evidence you have and what we have, will put them behind bars for a long time, including the old head of police, who still thinks he is only going to get a good slap on the wrist and be put out to pasture.

'Is this why Bethany was targeted?' I was still trying to work out how she fit in all of this, yes she pissed off her Mother and Sister and Bret when she left Bret, and the stupid sister left all that paperwork hidden in her old school books and grans stuff, but I always felt there was something more to it than that.

'Firstly, let me tell you that Pam has been undercover for the three years she has worked under you and was answerable to me. Her reports of you and your precinct have been outstanding, and so far, the new police chief meets my standards. The reason she had called off Scott's team was that we had a team covering her, and it was our team that messed up. They did not take the threat seriously, and I have dealt with them my way. I tell you this so you know that Pam had faith that our team would cover Bethany. You should have seen her go ballistic at the men for stuffing up. It gave me a hard-on, and I have to say no one has managed to do that in a long time! He chuckled and continued to tell me about the different assignments she had been doing while working under me and how they were ready to share with us now, part of the delay as this had been a mixture of three different departments investigating the corruption in the police force, and nailed it down to one precinct, that is now had a whole team replacement and the others that are not suspect moved to a different location, for their safety.

I have forgiven Pam, and I hope Bob does too. Pam had every belief that experienced men covered Bethany. Wow, Pam was higher than me in the force and is FBI, not a simple detective. Will she leave us now her assignment is done? She fits in well here, which is why she was so good at being undercover; I never suspected her.

'When will she be leaving?' I asked. I had to get that question out there.

'She is talking to Bob at the moment. If Bob agrees, she would like to stay here and see if they can make a relationship work, but that comes down to them, and she is leaning towards working with the FBI here in this city. She has been working with them for a while now; leave it with me, but it would be best if it came out that she is FBI and she moves to their offices. How long would be enough to find a replacement? I have a few recommendations; one, in particular, is from the precinct that had the corrupt cops; he was the one who brought it to our attention. He is a good worker, and you would do me a big favor if you considered him. I can leave Pam here while he learns the ropes.' I got the message that we should be taking on this guy who stuck his neck out for the team. 'Get him to call me, and we can meet and talk; if he is any good, I will bring him in; how would you like me to tell the team the changes with Pam?'

'Tell them she is transferred to the FBI and will start when the new guy is confident to take over. That is a good idea; many try to get into the FBI because they see it as an advancement. It would not look strange for her to get a promotion, even with what happened with Bethany. She got back up quickly and had things on the move before I got into the place, and that was good work on her part. We could have lost Bethany's direction if she had not been on the ball and noticed her team stuff up.

'Give me information on this new guy!

'His name is Toby, and he has risen in the ranks; he reported the corruption to his boss, who made his life difficult, so after another year of putting up with the rubbish going on, he came to me. He was cautious about what he said, in fear I was corrupt, and my first reaction was to get Pam in here!'

'Why not at that station?'

'Because we were not sure how high up the corruption went, you have a good reputation of taking no crap from anyone; even the old police head could not get you to drop your investigation, you just stopped updating him, and your investigation grew once you kept him out of the loop, the collaboration you have done with Bob on this has been a tremendous work, showing that if the right person is running the investigation, the job runs smoother and gets results quicker.

'I would not call more than three years quicker.' I chuckled.

'No, but it could have been even longer if you had not worked together.

'Let's rap this up, shall we? Pam will be leaving here one way or another; if Bob does not want to pursue a relationship with her, she will return to me; if Bob agrees, she will move to the FBI division here. This is Toby's number. Call and get him in; he will be good for your team.

Remember not to take any crap; if I hear he is being bullied because of where he was stationed, I will not be happy. He is a good officer who had doubts of his fellow officers, changed his views, got his confidence back, and you have a keeper! The man stood, shook my hand, and left my office; every eye watched him go, including me; his presence demanded attention, and then all eyes turned to me.