Divorced! Now what?
Chapter 108

Wendy

POV

'Get up and come with me,' a guard demanded. This guard always looked down her nose at me as if I was below her. How dare she! It could have been more pleasant. Wait until I get out of here, and I will track her down and give her a lesson she will not forget for

treating me so badly.

I was taken out of my dingy cell and marched unceremoniously to an interview room. The inmates mocked me as I walked by. I wondered what was going on, as I was not expecting visitors. The lawyer said he would see me again after the trial unless there was some new development. Could he have been here and found a loophole? I was suddenly keen on getting to the meeting room and replaceing out what the lawyer found.

The guard put me in a room and left me in chains. I hate that they do that. I am not a violent woman. Why do I need chains when I get a visitor? It is so degrading, and they hurt my wrists and ankles. I tried to put the chains behind me and think about what the lawyer had, but it was not the lawyer who walked in. It was a man who was wearing a business suit and carrying a black briefcase. He put his case down, sat on the chair on the other side of the table, and opened his case, pulling out a file and other stuff. I had no idea what it was.

'Do you mind if I call you Wendy?' he asked politely. Since I came here, he was the first to talk to me, not at me or down at me.

'Not at all, and who might you be?' I asked as nicely as I could. I needed clarification about who this man was and why he was here, not my lawyer, as I had hoped.

'You can call me Ken if you like. I am a doctor and have been asked to assess you before the trial later this week! Assess? What kind of assessment?

'What do you mean assess?' I almost shouted at him and had to stop myself quickly.

'Standard practice, you will be assessed before you can go to trial.

'So, Ken, if I refuse, there will be no trial, and I will indefinitely stay here?' I shouted this time, not able to keep my temper in check.

'Not at all; if you refuse to be assessed by me, we shall send you to a place where you will stay until you are assessed. Would you prefer to go there?' he asked, starting to gather his things back up, ready to wash his hands of me just like that. I felt so insulted by all of this.

'Yes, I think I would like to go to another place to be tested, not here where I am so uncomfortable. I would have a better result in a nice place! I was surprised I found a way out so easily. I was sure I was going to be stuck there until the trial.

'I will arrange for you to be taken tomorrow. Sign here, please agree to have the assessment elsewhere.' I signed the paperwork, and Ken got up and left the room. That nasty guard came back, walked me back to my cell, and locked me away. I was excited that I had found a way to get out of here and did not need my lawyer.

I lay on my bed, feeling rather smug, and fell asleep for the first time. The surrounding noise did not bother me at all. Cynthia POV

I had not seen Mum all day and was not worried about that. We are stuck in this room most of the day and hardly see anyone unless it is for a shower or a meal, if you can call the food they give here a meal. Now that stupid ugly woman was here taking me to some meeting room. I wouldn't say I like walking in these chains, but apparently, you have to be chained to visitors. It is not so much the chains, but surely they can chain us once we are in the meeting room. The other inmates are so rude and abusive when they see you walking with them, and I wouldn't say I like being made fun of. It is also very unladylike trying to walk with them.

I had just gotten comfortable when a man walked in. I had no clue who he was and wondered if he could get me out of there. I didn't care how; just get me out.

'Hello, I am Ken. May I call you Cynthia?' He was kind and polite, and I liked him straight away.

'Sure,' I said in a sweet, soft voice, hoping my words would be seductive.

'I am here to assess you before you can go on trial,' he said, and I wondered what type of assessment he was referring to. 'What kind of assessment? Could you hang on, what are you?'

'A doctor, I can do an assessment here. Or you can go to another facility that can assess you!

'You mean I will get out of here if I am assessed elsewhere?'

'Yes.' Well, that is a no-brainer. Please get me out.

'Then I would prefer to get away from this depressing place and have the assessment done elsewhere. I said smugly. 'Certainly, I will arrange transport for you early in the morning. Sign here that you agree to be assessed elsewhere. I signed the paperwork and glanced at the header. It was at a hospital, and maybe it is where Bethany works. Ken collected the paperwork, placed it in his briefcase, and left the room, and that guard came back and took me back to my cell. I am going to get out of here, and I cannot wait. I won't tell Mother. I don't want her to be jealous.

Jacko POV

'Hello, Senior Detective Jackson speaking! I was waiting for a few calls. I had a friend of mine go to the jail to assess the two women; if all went well, they would not want the assessment done there. They are so desperate to get out that they won't even ask where they are going to be assessed.

'Jacko, you were right. They did not ask where the assessment would take place, and I got them to sign the agreement. They will be taken to the sanitarium tomorrow and placed in a locked ward until they can pass the examination. If all goes as planned, and they lose their tempers as you expect, we can get the doctors to say they need to be kept in there for the safety of the people. Ken was excited that our plan was working; we just needed them to do their part and explode at the doctors, and we would have them labeled insane, never to be released.

'Great work, you have done well, my friend.'

'You owe me a dinner.'

'Yep, name the place, and I will organize something for you,' I answered as I considered how this would work in our favor if we could get that plea done. It would help in both cases.

'My wedding anniversary is coming up on the tenth. How about a romantic dinner, like that new winery place?' Ken was still talking about his reward, and I had to bring myself back to the conversation.

'I know the place. I'll see what I can do for you and give you a callback.

I called the place, booked a time and date, and phoned Ken back. I had given them my credit card details, so their meal and drinks were from me, as a gift for their special day. I then did the next thing on my list of things to do today! The phone almost rang out before his voice came over the speaker loud and clear.

'Hey, Bob, good news. They fell for it; they signed the papers without reading them, and tomorrow, they will be going to Sun Valley Sanitarium, where you know as well as I do. They have a minimum stay of six months to prove they are not insane.'

'You have just made my day. They are off the streets for a while, and we can get the others who were involved in the accident sentenced and have the woman's charge pending. It will never go away, so if they do get out, a jail term will be waiting for them, then work on the other problem. It was good you thought about getting a search warrant when you collected those boxes. Even though you have Bret's permission to enter the house and take them away, it was better to have a search and censure, making it airtight.' Bob was excited, and I was too; it gives us more time to work on the case without having to worry about those two. Bethany is not safe yet, but she is a lot safer than yesterday.

'Yep, the paperwork is being collected now in a locked office, and only those we trust can enter; we have so much to wade through, but we are getting there. I think it will take another few weeks to make sure we have all the suspects. We have already started to get some confessions and reduced sentence agreements underway from the lackeys, who are happy to squeal at their bosses. Bob chuckled on the other side of the phone, and I am sure he is as glad about the latest little tricks we had just pulled. It was Bob's idea; he said the woman would not cope with being in jail and gave them a few days to have a psych evaluation, with the option of having it done away from the prison.

'Thank you, Jacko, what was the cost?'

'Dinner for two at the winery.

'Cheap, you are a lucky bastard. Catch up soon. Bob's chuckle was what I heard as I hung up the phone. I hope it works out with him and Pam. They both need a new start. They might think they are hiding it, but anyone who has been around Bob for a while can see he is doing better. Now he is away from that leach.