Divorced! Now what?
Chapter 96

Bob POV

Walking into Bethany's room, seeing and hearing her in so much distress, was not easy for me. How Theo was comforting did little to ease my own need to comfort her, but knowing she has a good man to support her now was a huge bonus, though as a Dad, I want to be doing that. Bret was never any good for her, the wrong sort of man that she needed, but I can not say a thing about that. If you start telling your children you don't like someone, or they are not good enough for you, then you are asking for trouble with that child. They have to go down that road themselves, and you have to hope you are around to pick up the pieces if the child lets you.

Theo was not going to let go of her from his lap long enough for me to pull her into my arms for a warm hug that I so wanted to do, so I had to settle for a smaller one, and a kiss was all he would allow, before he pulled him back to him, making almost part of his or it seemed, he was in too much of a shock himself, she must have been a mess when he found her, I will have to talk to him about that later, and now he is even more protective of her.

Kitty and Hank were good for my peace of mind when they arrived. They helped to relieve some of my worry about her health. A few days ago, Hank reassured me that this would happen soon, and it worried us all, not knowing when exactly. We tried to have someone near her at all times, but today, I understand she was on her own, and Theo is beating himself up for it.

For me, at the moment, it is how much she remembers that will be the big thing, and knowing how bad she looked when they brought her here was enough to say it was going to be bad. Hank had said the broken ribs and many bruises were not from the accident and looked more like a beating. I had braced myself to hear the story, and it took all I had not to let my tears fall for my girl as my heart was torn to shed for her and my anger rose. Many paragraphs are missing. Read the complete book on Jo b ni b.c om .I wanted to replace those who hurt an already injured girl who was in no fit state to defend herself and hurt them. I have seen a lot in my years in the police force, but this was harder than anything I had ever experienced before; being my own made it so much more, and it was hard to force myself to go by the book and get them to jail.

Walking out that door after hearing the story was hard. I wanted to be the one to comfort her, but I had a job to do, so I headed to the police station to meet with Detective Senior Sergeant Jackson. Jacko, as I call him, he and I go way back to our college days, and we are good friends. He and I have been working on this case for years, working on it in our spare time, trying to replace links and piece them together. It was only when Bethany left Bret that a lot of them came to light, and she gave us many missing links, which sped up our case. It shocked me that the woman I called wife was behind a lot of this, something that started way before I met and married her, or at least thought I had married her.

Walking towards Jacko's office, I had many police officers saluting or nodding at me, depending on how well they knew me. Most of the senior officers had gotten used to me being around, and some juniors were still in shock and awe when I entered a room. Jacko's office door was open, and I stopped at it and lightly knocked, gaining his attention; he stood immediately and welcomed me in. I entered and closed the door behind me.

'Hi, want some coffee? You look like you could use some. He turned to a small corner set-up that had the makings for coffee and made us both one without me answering. He placed it on the desk and sat beside me. He turned his computer around so we could both look at it.

'As you asked on the phone, here is the surveillance footage of that tunnel, about a month's worth. I can get more if you need.' He said and started the tape from the time Bethany was taken. We sat in silence speeding the video up a little.

'Stop. There,' I said, pointing to a car that had pulled up. Four people climbed out of the vehicle. Jacko zoomed in, and we saw Cynthia, Wendy, a bodyguard, and last but not least, the Judge we had been trying to get the goods on. 'We got him. Jacko said with glee.

'Maybe, we have to see, but first, before we implicate him, let's get Wendy and Cynthia off the streets! Jacko opened up the template for statements, and I related all that Bethany had said; I think even Jacko was fighting tears when he heard the comment about hearing her rib break, and Cynthia cheered at the sound of it and egged the man to hit her there again.

'I would like you and a female officer that you trust. You need to bring some photographs for her to try and identify the man that hit her, and also of the Judge and the bodyguards, and anyone else you think might have been in that tunnel, she might recognize!' Do you think we should go now? I want this done, and we can look at bringing the trials to our city. That judge is based in the next city over. He claimed it all to go there because of where the accident was, as it was near both borders. I am sure we can get McIntyre to agree to take this and bring it to our turf; there are a lot of those involved in this based here.

Do you have a female office available?

'Yes.' With that, Jacko left his office, leaving me to look through the photos we were going to take with us, and I thought of a few more that I wanted to add to them. A lovely older policewoman followed Jacko back into the office, and he closed the door.

'We want this to stay between us. It would be best if you did not share anything you hear or see. Do you understand?'

'Yes, sir.' She said,' I think she is surprised to be here with me and to be given a place of trust.

'Bob, you can call this woman Detective Pam or just Pam when out of public; she is cool with either. I stood up and shook her hand. She was very nervous being around me. I have that sort of effect on most police officers of any rank, being at the top of the tree around here. The former head of police is on extended leave, and I have stepped up. I am not acting head, but the head, due to him never returning, and if we get enough evidence, I will go down with a few others for the small links we have found so far that tie him to the Gutter Boys.

'We are going to see a woman named Bethany. She is Bob's daughter. Please read this before we go. As we are going to have her sign this, you need to be prepared so you do not ask a question that could be a trigger! Jacko gave her the statement to read, and I thought for a moment she could cry. It was sickening to read, even for hardened police officers.

'Yep, let's go, Jacko said, and we walked out of the station as a trio. Jacko and Pam climbed into my SUV. I had more than one of these made, and I am glad I had done so. The other one is stuck with forensics and might not be worth getting back. The insurance company will have to pay a large part of the money to get another one as I had a repair or replacement policy.

We pulled up at the private hospital, and I saw Pam look at us with curiosity. She did not ask any questions, though you could see she had some on her mind. I know this is not where you would expect to replace a victim, but what better safe house than a private hospital? Bethany can do work while here and be safe.