Sam checked that Phil really was gone before responding to Jo. "Hugh came to see me yesterday, while you were at the shop." Jo opened her mouth to interrupt but stopped as Sam held a hand up, "I know I should have told Phil but just hear me out, please?" When Jo closed her mouth and crossed her arms in front of her, Sam took a deep breath to continue, "he told me he's not behind the attacks on Joey. At first I was sceptical but he had a note identical to mine – all apart from the message on it. His said 'For The Sins of the Father'. He thinks this is Ciaran O'Rourke's way of exacting revenge on him for his daughter's condition. The girl was pregnant with Hugh's child when she had the accident – Hugh seems to think that O'Rourke considers it justice if Hugh loses his son as recompense for that. The note combined with him mentioning Ciaran O'Rourke – I can't take the chance on not taking him seriously. No one at the station will listen though, just like they didn't when I tried to tell them Hugh was behind Abi's abduction. I can't risk my grandson's life because they're too blinkered to see the bigger picture."
"Did you ever stop to consider that it might all be part of Hugh's plan to yank your chain? That he might be playing you like a puppet and framing O'Rourke while he gets at you through your family? Let's face it Sam, it wouldn't be the first time he's implicated someone else in an investigation to prevent anyone from looking too closely at him. You need to come clean to the DCI if no one else about meeting with Hugh." Jo drew a hand through her hair, wondering what she would do if Sam refused, whether she could risk her shot at true happiness in the name of the law.
"I need some time to look into this O'Rourke guy, find out where he is, what he's doing. If it comes to nothing, I'll speak to Jack." Sam rose from her chair beside Joey's cot.
"And if you do find anything out, find that he's involved, will you still speak to the DCI then? I might not be a stickler for the rules like Suzie, but they are there for a reason Sam. Bending them is one thing, working completely outside of them is a different matter altogether. If they find out you've met with Hugh and not arrested him, you do realise you could be looking at a conspiracy charge? You could be locked up for aiding and abetting a fugitive, where would that leave your family? Where would that leave us?" Jo tried desperately to make Sam see sense.
"We'll just have to make sure they don't find out then, won't we?" Sam fixed Jo with a determined glare.
"I wouldn't be too sure they don't already know. Phil didn't come down here just to pass the time of day and apart from asking about you having contact with Hugh, there wasn't much else he seemed interested in. My advice to you as a friend and as an officer would be to come clean."
"As a friend? What are you saying Jo? That if I don't tell Jack, there's no future for us as a couple?" Sam hissed, eyes flashing dangerously, striding over to stand directly in front of Jo, who shifted uncomfortably.
"I don't believe in mind games or emotional blackmail Sam. At the end of the day, no matter how deeply I care about you as my partner, you are also my best friend and damn good police officer. All I am saying is don't throw your job away because of some misplaced sense of guilt about not being able to protect Abi from Hugh last time around. Trust your colleagues to have learned the lessons following Abi's abduction, trust that they will be open to other possibilities. It's not that much of a stretch to consider Hugh having upset someone so much they'd want to do anything in their power to make him pay. You don't owe him the anonymity of investigating his claims behind their backs. If you go ahead and you end up being fired and prosecuted, to all intents and purposes he has won the ultimate battle then by destroying everything you've worked so hard to achieve. Don't let yourself be blinded Sam, please." Jo pleaded, holding Sam in place as she threatened to walk away. "If it makes you feel any more confident, I'll get the doctor's to sign me off as fit to work and investigate Hugh's claims myself. I'll even be right there with you when you talk to the DCI, by your side, backing you up every step of the way." Sam considered Jo's offer, knowing that she was trying to hammer some sense into her. With a small smile, Sam conceded defeat.
"Ok fine. As soon as Abi gets back we'll go to the station and talk to Jack, tell him everything I know."
"Sam, I'm surprised to see you here. Jo, good to see you looking so well." Jack greeted the two women, hoping that Sam had reconsidered her stance on the Hugh issue.
"Thanks Guv, I'm feeling much more like myself again. So much so in fact that I'm hoping to be back at work next week." Jo admitted squeezing Sam's hand as she felt a tremble run through the petite woman.
"Don't rush it Jo, take as long as you need. Anyway, what can I do for you?" The tremble increased, Sam clinging onto Jo's hand desperately as she realised just how much trouble she could be in for withholding information regarding Hugh's whereabouts. Haltingly, she recounted what she had told Jo, sparing no details in her admission to her superior officer. As she finished her speech, Jack wordlessly withdrew an envelope from his desk drawer, shaking the photographs it contained onto his desk. Jo and Sam both looked over the pictures, an indignant rage taking over the diminutive blonde.
"You've had someone tailing me? What did you expect me to do Jack, hunt Hugh down and murder him?" Jo grabbed hold of her fiancée as she threatened to storm out of the office, arms encircling her waste preventing her escape.
"These arrived on my desk this morning. That was the first I knew of your whereabouts. I had no reason to have you followed Sam and I hoped when I saw these that you would tell me about your meeting with Hugh. These photos were not taken by any of my officers and I think it is safe to assume that had they been taken by any officer on any force, we would have had a visit by now from the DPS. So, we have to consider that someone else is keeping tabs either on you, or on Hugh – or both of you. There is the possibility that Hugh has orchestrated this in order to cause you problems but I don't feel we can ignore the possibility that this Ciaran O'Rourke is behind all this in some sort of quest for vengeance – and from the message on Hugh's note, that is looking worryingly feasible. The thing that troubles me most is that whoever took these pictures knows where you live Sam – that is information that could prove dangerous in the wrong hands. Is there anywhere else you can stay until this is resolved? If needs be we can take you into protective custody." Sam's head snapped up at the mention of being taken away from her job for the duration of the investigation, her body tensing against Jo's arms still wrapped around her holding her in place to prevent her from dashing from the room.
"Whether they know where I live or not, I have never previously been a target. If it is O'Rourke behind this, he isn't interested in me. It's Joey and Abi we need to protect, I can look after myself. Besides, if we want to draw Hugh out of the woodwork, I need to be where he can contact me. He said he'd be in touch." She insisted, refusing to consider her own life at risk.
"I can't force you to do anything you don't want to do, but if O'Rourke is behind all this, he has already proven that he cares very little about innocent bystanders, firstly with the bomb which could have caused untold number of casualties and then with the fire which did claim numerous lives." Jack pressed, wondering if Jo would be able to persuade the feisty blonde to reconsider. He looked to the brunette imploringly.
"As long as Sam stays where she is, we have a chance of catching this guy, Sir – but it might mean that for a while we have to sever contact with Abi and Joey." Jo turned to her lover as she voiced the proposal. "We'll stay at home but Abi and Joey have to be protected, which means going somewhere no one can find them, not even us. If we don't know where they are, neither of us can be used to get to them. The question you have to ask yourself is how much do you want to catch whoever is behind this, be it Wallis or O'Rourke. Do you want it enough to put yourself and Abi through not seeing one another? It could take weeks, months to ensure their safety, time when you wouldn't know where they were, if they were ok. You might miss Joey's first words, maybe even his first steps, or God forbid it took that long but possibly even his first birthday."
"It's better than the alternative. I can't keep waiting for the call from a hospital somewhere to say that one of my family has been killed because of a vendetta between two sick and twisted men. Missing a short period out of Joey's life is far from ideal but it is preferable to not having him at all, or having to bring him up because his mother was killed. I have to do this Jo, all this is because of me in the first place. If I hadn't knocked Hugh back, if I hadn't made him feel so strongly about my rejection, Abi wouldn't have been pregnant by him in the first place and Hugh wouldn't have a son for this O'Rourke character to fixate on. Now Hugh has made contact we me, let's not waste this opportunity. Jack, I want you to arrange for Abi and Joey to be moved to a safe house somewhere; I don't want to know where and I don't want any record lying around. The less I know about it the better. Take Abi's mobile phone off her, I don't want her being able to contact me or Jo – you'll have to make sure she understands she can't talk to anyone. I don't need to tell you she's headstrong, she'll resist even if she does know it's for her own good. I want someone with her though, someone she trusts." Sam spoke rapidly, the words firing out of her mouth like bullets from a machine gun, knowing if she stopped to consider her decision she would fall apart.
"I'll organise it immediately. Do you want to call her, speak to her before she's moved?" Sam shook her head; the reality of saying goodbye would undo her and crumble her resolve. "Ok, go home, get some rest. You both look exhausted."
"I meant what I said before Sir; I'll be back at work next week and I want to be onboard with this investigation." Jo spoke earnestly guiding Sam towards the door.
"That might not be such a good idea Jo, you're too closely involved." Jack protested.
"Not really Sir. If anybody questions it, I don't remember my relationship with Sam." Jo offered Jack a way out, all three of them knowing that she would be working the case whether she had his permission or not. "And I know it's not strictly professional but Gary Best has a good rapport with Abi, maybe we could see about him staying with her. I honestly think she'd settle better if he was with her. Plus I know I'd sleep easier, he'd lay his own life on the line before he let anything happen to her or the baby." The brunette suggested gently, leaving Jack to mull it over as she escorted Sam from the room.
"You get off on all this cloak and dagger stuff don't you?" Abi teased Gary as they drew up outside the plain looking house that was to be home for the foreseeable future.
"What this? Nah, it's all going to be really dull and boring. It's just precaution, make sure no one has another go at the little man." Gary did his best to reassure Abi, seeing that there was a spark of anxiety behind her humour, chest puffed out with pride at having noticed such a small thing without having to have it spelt out for him.
"If that's right then why can't I keep my mobile phone?" The teenage mother grumbled scowling at their driver who had insisted she hand the offending article over before they left the hospital.
"As long as it's turned on it can be used to trace where you are. It's for your own safety. Think of it as a holiday." Gary smiled, the grin quickly fading in the face of Abi's sceptical expression.
"So what's this then? Butlins?"
"Let's just get inside shall we." Gary mumbled dejectedly, thinking that Jo owed him big time for getting him into babysitting the DI's daughter, who was every bit as stroppy as he remembered her being.
Jo handed Sam a glass of red wine before stepping into the steaming, sud-filled bathtub. Settling herself against the side, she gestured for the blonde woman to join her, Sam accepting the invitation readily.
"I've missed this," she sighed contentedly as she nestled into the gap Jo had created for her, one leg draped either side of Sam's body and arms wrapped casually around her waist. "I'm not too heavy am I?" The feisty blonde was conscious of Jo's ribs still causing her discomfort from time to time.
"Not a chance, you're perfect." Jo whispered into her ear, kissing her way down the slender neck onto an exposed shoulder, grinning at the goose bumps raised in her wake. Sam allowed her head to drop back onto Jo's shoulder, opening up more of her flesh to the tender ministrations, feeling one hand creep higher to caress her breast. Both women became lost in the moment, relishing in the feel of skin against skin and rekindling the connection that had been threatened by Jo's accident. Twisting her head to the side, Sam captured Jo's lips with her own, feeling the tantalising press of Jo's hardened nipple jutting into her back.
"Don't stop on my account, ladies!" Neither had heard his stealthy approach, shrieking at the intrusion into their private moment.