The Ruse
Synopsis
What would it be like to have someone decide that your child was too good for you?
A young man by the name of Jesse Evans grows up, gets married to the girl of his dreams, goes to work in his home town and ends up meeting a girl that sparks some sort of interest in him, not romantic but he has no idea what.
The girl is tall, lanky and somewhat simple minded. Her hair is blond and frizzy. It's clean and kept but still somewhat fly-away. Susie is smart in a simple sort of way. Acts as though she's been sheltered from society all her life. She's very naïve and almost doesn't recognize people she's met just a day ago.
One day Jesse invites his mother to join him for lunch at his place of business. They meet in the Cafeteria and sit down with this girl named Susie. Jesse introduces Susie to his mother and is about to tell his mother a little about her, when his mother sees her and goes nuts. His mother flips out. She begins to cry… frantically, she points at the girl as she backs up. The only thing his mother knows to do is turn and run.
Susie acts as if nothing has even happened. She doesn't remember who Jesse is let alone the frantic behavior of his mother.
Toward the end of the day, Jesse asks his boss for the rest of the afternoon off and drives to the home where he grew up, where his mother, divorced, still resides. He knocks, no answer, he enters, no one seems to be home. He moves around the house calling out, "is anyone home?" No answer. He finally nears his mother's room and can hear her crying.
When he enters her room, his mother is frantic and doesn't know what to say to him, knowing that he'll probably just tell her that she's being mental. She explains her frantic behavior to him. That the girl that he introduced to her at lunch, Susie, is in fact… her long dead daughter.
Of course he doesn't believe her and does in fact tell her that she's being mental. When the girl, Jesse's sister Susie, died many years ago, she, his mother, suspected that something wasn't right and for years after and had bouts of imagining that her daughter was still alive. They watched her die. They'd buried her. They were there when she was taken to the hospital. A supposed autopsy was performed, diagnosis, heart failure. A condition the young girl had supposedly been born with. They, Jesse's mother and father, were told that she wouldn't live. Susie lived until she was four. She died in 1970. Jesse was eight and was hardly old enough to understand what had happened. And he had another brother, what was the big deal?
Fast forward twenty-five years. Jesse meets this strange girl, who to fill his position in the file room when he left after going to law school, to move up to a more prominent and more affluent position. The girl of his dreams finished school a year later and they get married. Linda got pregnant with their first and life went on as usual until that strange day.
Jesse was close to his old boss and that was how he had met Susie. When Jesse left the job, Pepper needed someone to replace Jesse. It wasn't a difficult position and Susie, being simple minded, was pretty safe doing the job. His old boss, Pepper, was the perfect boss, old, light hearted, jolly, care free and worked well with anyone he met. Everyone loved him. Susie worked out fine. Pepper was glad to be able to give her a job and treated her like a daughter.
Jesse and his co-worker Bob, had sat down to lunch with her several times. She couldn't remember that she'd even met Bob they day before, let alone remember Jesse's name. It was amusing but they were both nice guys and didn't let her simple mindedness bother them. Jesse had questioned her a-couple of times. She didn't seem to remember much about her life prior to going to work where Jesse worked. Jesse put it to the back of his mind assuming that she just couldn't remember because she couldn't remember much anyway.
Jesse had often joined his mother for lunch being that they didn't live far from each other. They usually went out someplace. Jesse was strapped for time one day and asked his mother to meet him in the company cafeteria for lunch. She agreed. That was when Jesse introduced his mother to Susie. That was the first day, of the rest of his life. A mother knows her daughter, even if she hasn't seen her for twenty-four years.
Jesse's parents were divorced about a year after Susie's death because of the whole situation. Jesse and his brother fared well all things considered. Jesse got through high school, joined the Army, stayed for six years, got out and went to school. He spent six years in school, four of which was just ordinary college, getting his Bachelors degree, and then two more years of Law School in Chicago where he eventually passed the bar and became a Lawyer. Jesse's brother was considerably younger but ended up going to college as well before becoming a no-mad and living like a hermit in the mountains.
Linda, the girl Jesse married went to school in Indiana and became a linguist specializing in German, though she could speak several different languages. She graduated the following year. Linda was smart and convinced Jesse to get a DNA test to prove to his mother that Susie was not his sister, her daughter, and his mother would hopefully come back to Earth.
Some how they convince Susie to agree to the test. Their blood is analyzed over a period of about a week. Jesse and Linda are eating dinner one night when the doctor who authorized the whole thing, called. Linda answered the phone.
Now in the mean time, Jesse's wife Linda, went into labor. His boss recognized the nesting signs that Jesse was explaining and alerted Jesse to the fact that she was about to go into labor, which she did shortly thereafter. They had a beautiful baby girl that they named Jessica Evans.
Jesse wondered if what he told Linda that night threw her into labor. She assured him it was not, she was due any time.
"Jesse, the DNA test was positive." "What?" The doctor reiterated, "The DNA test was positive, you were a match, the DNA test proved that you and Susie are brother and sister
"Linda goes over to Jesse, she puts her arms around him. "Susie and I are brother and sister."
A girl who died twenty-four years earlier was in fact, his mothers daughter. And furthermore, what happened? How was it that Susie is alive after all this time. How and who could explain that?
Jesse gets in touch with a private investigator by the name of Londa Jeffers. She peaked his interest because she had investigated similar cases in the past but hit dead ends
Londa is suspicious and after thinking, and with some prompting from Jesse, decides to investigate the case.
_ _ of the FBI opens a new case, they give it a number originally. But upon investigating deeper, he renames the case to… The Ruse.
The investigation brings out people involved years ago. Some are stand-offish. Some are honest but end up dead or commit suicide.
Hitler, Cuba, the Russians and History come into the case. An organization established during WWII is brought up. They are all introduced to a place called Plum Island and soon, the Ruse and its parties are pulled back into action. Cover-ups, attacks, and Jesse's Military skills come into play. Someone wants them to stop looking. Which prompts them to look even harder.
And all because some people think that other people's children, are better off with the better off.
But something else comes up. It involves the use of children as human guinea pigs. All becomes resolved after several battles. But the climax comes when they enter the court room. The judge reveals all and tells a story about how all this had come to be, starting with Hitler and WWII.
The actions of the story the Judge tells are put into play in black and white. The people currently involved are taken down and arrested.