Divorced! Now what?
Chapter 164

Jacko

POV

I heard the ambulance leave, carrying Nate away; he was alive, and that was the most important outcome of this: that we did not lose anyone. The place was full of upset and scared people, my men taking down names and writing down brief statements, not that we really needed them, because of who was at the wedding, but it is protocol, and we had to dot the I's and cross the T's.

Scott's man was quick. I acknowledged his skill and that he located the shooter almost immediately and returned fire before the shooter could take a second shot. I was assuming that, as he is a sniper, he may have been searching through the trees himself, as it would have been a place he might have chosen, a spot far enough away not to be noticed and high enough to view your targets.

We finished the interviews, and many of the scared guests had headed home; we were down to a few, hanging around to hear how Nate was doing.

Pam and Kitty were still there. Something was off between them. It was like Pam was angry at Kitty and was telling her off for something, but it was not apparent to me what. I was waiting for her to report what was going on.

'Sir, all the guests have given statements except Hank, Thomas, Theo, Bethany, Judy, Scott, Bob, Pam, Kitty, and you! He included me as a joke, but he was right; I should have made a statement.

'I can give you mine now and catch up with the others later; I am sure they are not going anywhere. His face was shocked for a brief moment, not thinking I would give him a statement, but I was here as a guest and should be treated as such. It was good that he thought to remind me of my place, or I would not have given one, not that I would not have deliberately avoided giving it; it just slipped my mind that I needed to.

After I had given my account of what had happened, I suggested they go and get Pam's and Kitty's and then leave. The two took off to find them and get their statements. I noticed the officers leaving the premises a short time later.

I looked around at the mess in the backyard. Kitty had people collect the food and would take it to those living on the streets. They will be gorging today. For some, it will be the first meal in days. There was nothing left for me to do here.

'Pam, report.' It was apparent she was not coming to me to report, so I had to go to her; regardless of her now married to the police boss, she was still under me until she officially retired. The look on her face told me she had not expected me to demand a report from her.

'What report?' She was going to play dumb.

'Report!' I say again, and she huffs.

'There is nothing to report; you have been here and seen what I have seen. What more would you like?' She retorted, I had enough of her disrespect.

'I am your superior officer, your boss. You were assigned to my section so that you can report your findings to me. As you deem yourself above me, you are now on report, and I will forward your name to the disciplinary board. Consider yourself suspended without pay, and I will report to your FBI boss how bad you are at taking orders. Dismissed! I am over this woman; she may be good at her job but is lousy at taking orders.

'You cannot do that to me. I have just got married to...

'Don't finish that, or it will be reported too. I expected her to use her new marriage as a weapon, but it wouldn't work for

me.

Pam left, storming out the front door, ranting and raving as she went. I assume she would cry on Bob's shoulder, and I will get a call from him soon.

'Kitty, do you want to explain?' I asked, looking at her suspiciously.

'Just women talk.' She replied, working on putting the dishes in the dishwasher and not looking at me. I call it a load of bull, but I can't prove otherwise.

'Have you given your statement to the officer?' Changing the subject.

'Yes, and so did Pam, even though she made a fuss about it. Now, she is married to Bob; does she think she is better than us all?' I thought the same, but I was not going to tell her that.

'I am going to the hospital to see how Nate is. Would you like to come?' I offered.

'No, I still have some guests here, waiting for news; I feel it would be rude to leave them in my home!

'I understand.' I did not point out that the girls had gone to the hospital, and it would look odd that she was the only one not there.

The walk to the waiting room was long, my head full of what had transpired throughout the day. I nodded at the officers guarding the room where Thomas and his family would be. I could hear Hanks's voice, but I had yet to hear what he was saying. The hugs and tears were to be expected, and I waited for Hank to answer all their questions.

'Hank.' He turned to look at me and smiled.

'He should live. The bullet did not hit any vital organs. He had a punctured lung, and we had to repair some internal damage. The hardest part was the blood loss. He was bleeding from so many places that the bullet seemed to bounce around inside of him, causing damage. Once that was under control, he became stable, and the rest was easy!

'When can we see him?' Thomas asked, taking Hank's attention away from him.

'He will be out for the rest of the night. You should leave and come back tomorrow morning. He will not know you are here. You all need to rest and freshen up. He will not want to see a family in a mess! 'Okay, can we at least look in on him before we leave?' Judy pleaded.

'Of course.' Hank led the way out the door, and we all followed. I did not need to enter the room; I could see all I needed to do through the window. Bob stood beside me, taking long, deep breaths. 'We need to talk. He said at last.

'Here or somewhere private?' I was not sure where this was going.

'Private,' he said, and I nodded. We did not say another word. I led him out of the building and climbed into my car. He followed me in his car, and we went to his office. I was sure fewer eyes would be watching us, and he had a nicer office than me. If he was surprised we were at his office, he did not say. His office was dark, and no one was walking around. He did not have his office at the busy part of the main police headquarters. He could enter from the underground car park by a private elevator to his office. Once upstairs, we entered, and he switched on the lights as he went. I made a beeline for the coffee pot and made us both a drink. We still had yet to say a word. We were both deep in thought.

He threw me some rubber gloves to put on and pulled out a black book from his pocket.

'You know who the sniper was?' Bob asked softly.

'Yes, I have been informed of who it was, and I have yet to hear how he fairs. I believe he is in critical condition and still in the theater on my last update.' I did not think this was what I needed a quiet office for, or the gloves.

'I sent Scott up the tree to retrieve a duffle bag. The bag contained some guns, ammo, and a few bits and pieces. Bob put his hand into his pocket, pulled out a black book, and handed it to me; it was in an evidence bag. 'Do they know you have this piece of evidence?'

'Yes, I had the office log it.' Bob was calm as he picked up the coffee and started to take a sip, but I got a feeling he was not as calm as he appeared.

I opened the book and started to flip through it. There were names and phone numbers, and their purpose was beside the names. It all looked like good evidence until I found out why Bob wanted this quiet.

'Do you know if he knows?' I asked, looking at Bob with shock.

'If I go on my gut instinct, I would say no, he may have helped without knowing. Incidentally, I have yet to show this book to anyone. When I opened it and found it, I put it in the evidence bag and put it in my pocket, where it had been burning a hole until I could talk to you. This is going to devastate him and pull the family apart. Could you please do an interrogation and find out why? I

I cannot seem to be a part of this, and I am too close.

'I hear you. Do you want this book back? So you can put it in evidence!

'No, you keep it and inform the evidence department you have it in your possession; I am very concerned that the wrong person will read it before we find out the truth."