9

Chapter 130 Death Notification

"

Time felt like it was standing still. Ava thought she was going to go crazy with all the waiting. They had no way of knowing how long it would be before Hale turned up at their doorstep, so they couldn't go back to sleep even if they were capable of doing that. There was nothing to do but wait.

After more than three hours, the call from Nick finally came telling them the Chief of Police wanted entry through the gates. Jax told Nick to send him to the main house and he'd be right down.

"Ava, I need to do this alone," Jax said.

"Are you sure you don't want me with you?"

"No, I'll be fine." Jax promised, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before walking downstairs and opening the door just as Hale was about to knock.

"I thought you would be at your house," Hale said.

"No, Ava and I are staying here for awhile."

"I need to see Mr. Becker. I have some news for you. You may want to have your wife here as well."

"Come on in," Jax said letting Hale into the house.

"TB is in Chicago in the middle of a trial. Let's go upstairs to the office to talk."

Hale nodded, hiding his surprise. Jax didn't ask why he wanted to talk to him. Hale suspected that Jax knew what he was going to tell him, but what was strange was Jax wasn't even trying to hide it.

He was going to have to tread carefully. This whole situation was a mine field. The mayor was brutally attacked and killed and her son was the most dangerous man in Charming. The city could run red with blood if he didn't handle this right.

Hale believed that if he hadn't gotten to Clay before the MC did that day they arrested him, Clay would have just disappeared buried deep God knows where. He'd at least gotten Clay alive to county lock-up. Clay's death in custody was on San Joa and Jax who he was sure put a hit on him.

Jax led him upstairs past Tig who had taken over guard duty from Opie and led him into the room he and Ava used as their office before their move. It still had files and boxes of correspondence.

"This is my and Ava's office at the house." Jax explained as he sat on the desk and motioned to Hale to take a seat in a visitor's chair.

"Surprised you aren't staying at your house," Hale said.

"We're safer here at the moment."

"Noticed all the bikes out front. Having a late night party?"

"The guys are here protecting Ava and me."

Hale nodded. Jax surprised him again. He did not understand this new more open honest version of Jax. It made him uneasy as hell.

"I have some bad news about Gemma. There's no easy way to say it. She was assaulted, beaten and killed. We found her in an old abandoned house."

"How did you find her?" Jax asked.

That was the moment when Hale knew for certain that Jax knew about Gemma's death before he told him. There was no surprise. Jax hadn't even bothered to pretend to be shocked at the news. And strangely, there was no grief. This whole Gemma murder was taking a very strange turn.

"That's the interesting part. We got an anonymous call otherwise who knows when she would have been found."

"Lucky break. How about we not play games and I help you out?" Jax suggested.

"Off the record?"

Jax raised an eyebrow and gave Hale a look at his stating the obvious.

"What do you think? I can't officially cooperate, but off the record, I will do whatever I can to help you get the guys that hurt Gemma."

"And you aren't going after them yourself?"

"No. I need your word that my name won't appear anywhere in any report when I give you this information."

"I have to do a report saying that I made the death notification. I can leave it that I expressed my sympathy and that's it."

"Fair enough. First, you need to know something about Gemma and me. When Unser died, he left me a going away present; proof that Gemma knew Clay killed my father. I confronted her. She eventually admitted it, but said that she stayed with Clay because he threatened to hurt her if she didn't. She also said that she didn't tell me the truth because she was afraid I'd kill him and get locked up. I kicked Gemma out of my life, fired her from TM and ended any role she had with the MC that day."

The news took Hale completely off-guard. He wasn't surprised that Clay was behind Jax's father's death or that Unser had information about it. He was stunned that Jax kicked Gemma out of his life. He never saw that coming. Gemma had been more smother than mother. It must have been devastating for her when Jax kicked her out of his life.

"That's why you aren't going after the guys that hurt Gemma."

"Yeah. She was dead to me the second I found out."

"Must have made it awkward when she married your father-in-law."

"No shit. I think part of her marrying TB was to force her way into my life."

"Despite the bad blood between you, you must want to see the animals that hurt her brought to justice."

"Let's get something straight; there is no justice. There are trials and verdicts but it's all fake justice. Someone kills a guy and gets two years, someone else kills a guy and gets twenty years. Where's the justice in that? Doesn't sound fair to me.

"I do want the bastards that hurt her caught and punished, but I can't be part of it. On Friday, Gemma came to me at TM in her capacity as mayor and told me I needed to do something about Zobelle. She'd just come from his store and had a talk with him. It hadn't gone well, so she was threatening him with the law and the MC."

"What did she expect you to do?"

"That was my problem. I know Zobelle needed to be handled. He's bad for Charming, but we dug into him a little and he's smart. We have to take a more thoughtful approach. We were still in research and development mode. I didn't have a plan yet. What about you? What was The Law going to do?"

"Same. Gemma ordered me to deal with Zobelle. I can't arrest people because she tells me to. Like you said he's smart. He hasn't violated any laws. My hands are tied."

"Tonight or rather Sunday evening since it's technically Monday morning, we were having our annual party. It was near the end. Ava had already left and I was leaving in a few minutes when Zobelle drove up. He stayed for a few minutes before I kicked him out. As Zobelle was in his vehicle and getting ready to leave, he told me he had my old lady, was going to have her gang raped, ripped up inside, but he wasn't going to kill her just make her wish she was dead. He drove off. A couple of people that heard him were just at the party and aren't friends of the club, so they'll talk to you. You're going to want to write their names down," Jax said and waited while Hale pulled a small spiral notebook from his uniform pocket. Jax gave him the name of three people who heard Zobelle's threat.

"I'll talk to them and verify the threat."

"That shouldn't be a problem. I assumed he was talking about Ava. I was too far away, but a couple of the guys that were closer jumped on their bikes and tried to follow Zobelle. I tried to call Ava but no one answered. Opie and Chibs don't work for TM anymore. The work security for TB. Opie located Ava's phone at the house using a tracking program and sent security to our house. She wasn't there but her phone was, so she'd forgotten her phone. We had no way to find her," Jax said. The muscles in his jaw tensed and his hands clenched into fists as he recalled how he'd felt when he thought Ava was being hurt.

"Where was she?"

"We sent out word to the friends of the club to look for her. Less than ten minutes later, we got a call from the bakery. She'd stopped in to talk to one of the crow-eaters who worked there. We escorted her back and decided that we would stay in the main house because it's got an alarm system. Our house doesn't. Part of the MC came with us to provide security and the others are at the clubhouse to protect it. I don't know that Zobelle won't try to destroy our clubhouse. We have to be prepared for anything."

"Did you ever think he was referring to Gemma when he said he had your old lady?"

"No. I don't use that term to apply to Gemma. Never have, so it never crossed my mind. We get back here, but I can't sleep. I was talking to Opie when I got a call from Gemma. She told me that she'd been attacked by four of Zobelle's guys. She told me where she was and that she was alone. Opie and I went to go get her. I decided that I would get her and either take her to the hospital or back here, but that's all I would do for her. I wasn't going to let her back in my life or send the MC after Zobelle.

"The street was deserted. That's a pretty desolate area. Ope watched the door while I went to get Gemma. The only light was from the flashlight of her phone. I followed it and found her dead. I left. Ope and I went back to the clubhouse. I got the guys from the house to come to the clubhouse and we had a meeting. I told the guys about Gemma and told them that we would take no action. We're in the planning stages of dealing with Zobelle, but it isn't going to be a quick process."

Hale thought over what Jax told him and was shocked. It actually sounded like Jax was telling him the truth. This was definitely a different Jax.

"How much time do I have before you act?" Hale asked.

"A couple of days. Those shitheads that work for Zobelle aren't smart enough to commit the perfect crime. They had to have left DNA. That's where Zobelle screwed up. If he'd gone after Ava, we wouldn't be able to call the police. It would be an MC matter. That's where we can catch him off guard. He never expected the police to get involved."

"I wonder what made Zobelle decide to kill her."

Jax shrugged. He'd had three hours to get his story straight and he was confident that he'd thought of everything and this wasn't the first time he'd lied his way out of a situation with cops.

"I'm guessing she threatened them maybe with the police, Zobelle's guys report back to him and he decides not to take the risk and kills her. He just didn't know that she'd called me. If that hadn't happened, she would have decomposed in that house. Who knows when she would have been found?"

"So you were behind the tip?" Hale didn't need confirmation, but he wanted to see how Jax would handle the question and whether or not he'd lie.

"Yeah," Jax admitted readily. "I couldn't bear the thought of her being eaten by rats and mice. I had the tip called in. Also I figured there would be forensic evidence that would link Zobelle's crew to what happened to Gemma."

"It's strange they let her have her phone."

"Gemma said four guys attacked her. Three guys were with Zobelle at TM. I'm guessing there was only one guy watching Gemma. She might have been able to hide her phone or they gave her her phone so she could call me. They think that we'll keep the attack secret. They decide to kill her and they think that we'll follow the outlaw code and go after them for killing Gemma and not involve the cops. Zobelle didn't know that Gemma had been disowned."

Hale thought that over for several moments. It made sense to him. Gemma could have hidden the phone before the attack started or they might have given it back to her. The one part that bothered him was the gun. It was sloppy for the gun to have been left at the scene, but criminals, even smart ones, made mistakes in the heat of the moment. When adrenaline starts pumping mistakes get made.

"If we can get something linking the crime to Zobelle, we will be able to get him the hell out of Charming," Hale said thoughtfully.

"I know that Zobelle has some kind of protection. I don't give a shit who is protecting him. TB has a hell of a lot of influence. He will demand that his wife's attackers be punished and he's got powerful friends. Look at what he did for me. If you are getting any push back about going after Zobelle, you let me know and I'll talk to TB."

"OK. I'll keep you updated on what is going on and I'll talk to TB once you tell him about Gemma. Obviously, we won't release the name until you tell me that TB knows."

"As soon as Ava tells her father, I'll have her call or text me and then I'll let you know."

"Back on the record. I'm going to say that I have concerns about your safety, Mr. Becker's and your wife's and offered you police protection."

"Which I am officially declining. Dark Tower is going to be here in an hour or two. They will protect Ava and TB. The MC will protect me."

"Got to cover us for liability reasons," Hale explained.

"I get it. If there's anything else you need to know, just give me a call. I'll do whatever I can to help you."

"Thanks."

Hale left feeling a little dazed by this new cooperative Jax. He was relieved that he didn't have to worry about the Sons hunting down Zobelle for a few days.

He shook his head. He couldn't help wondering if Jax was playing him, but why would he do that? Could he be hiding something?