FBI Offices Parking Lot – Tuesday 11:30am
'He'll know'
'Who'll know what?' Ellie looked confused
'Jack'll know why it's taken us so long to get here'; Danny knew he sounded smug but couldn't help it. It had nothing to do with his certainty that Jack would know why it had taken them so long to arrive at the office, and everything to do with how she made him feel; like he'd just won the lottery jackpot when he had no recollection of buying a ticket.
She was laughing as he continued, a thoughtful look replacing the smug one; 'interesting……I never realised that taking a shower could take so long………..or be such fun'
'Really…?' she looked and sounded as if she didn't believe for a second that was the case, she continued 'you're trying to tell me that you've never...' before she could finish Danny pulled her to him and kissed her quickly before letting her go, laughing at the surprise showing on her face and how she quickly looked around to see if there was anyone else in the parking lot.
He pushed the button to call the elevator. A quick look around had showed him that there was no-one around, and he had no intention of wasting an an opportunity to kiss her again; he slid his arm around her waist and pulled her toward him. She went without protest, returning his kiss with a passion that left his toes tingling.
The opening of the elevator door caused them to break the kiss and look around guiltily, both relieved to see an empty car. Danny pulled her in, pushed the button to send the car to the 12th floor, and promptly started kissing her again. The car came to a halt and they broke apart, both laughing, as the door opened.
Martin and Sam were sat at the conference table doing paperwork and both looked up as Danny and Ellie arrived at their desks. Danny noticed the look they exchanged and the grins on both of their faces before Sam's face took on a slightly more serious expression.
'Hey, how are Rafi and Nicky doing?'
Danny perched on the edge of his desk and shook his head; 'There's been no change with Rafi. They're doing more tests and we should have an update later today. When I've done this report I'm going over to see Sylvia and Nicky. I spoke to her earlier; she said he's doing as well as can be expected but she asked me to wait until this afternoon to see them.'
Sam nodded and glanced at Ellie as she dropped some papers and a notebook onto the conference table and sat down. Martin leaned over, staring at the cover of the notebook. Danny took the final seat at the table noticing Martin's interest; he lent forward and could see that Ellie's notebook was covered with sketches and doodles.
'Hey, these are great, you've got real talent' Martin sounded impressed
Danny grinned at Ellie; 'you must get that from your Mom'
She stared back at him, her face frozen. Danny frowned, wondering what had caused the reaction; Martin telling he she had talent, or his mention of her Mother. Before how could decide, or indeed say anything, Martin spoke;
'Is your mother an artist then?'
Danny watched in surprise as he saw the frozen look replaced with one he could only describe as panicked, before she managed to answer
'Yes, she was' her tone was abrupt; Danny saw that Sam had noticed too and was looking curiously at Ellie
'Would I know her?' Martin finally looked up from staring at the notebook, a smile on his face. Danny saw Ellie force a smile in return as she hesitated for a moment, staring at Martin, then, slowly
'You might, she used the name Isabella Dupree'
It was Danny's turn to feel stunned now even as he saw the looks on both of Sam and Martins faces. Even he'd heard of Isabella Dupree……..
'There's a major exhibition of her work showing at the moment………I went a couple of weeks ago' Martin was staring at Ellie in astonishment
She just nodded, looking awkward and then picked up her notebook and opened it, giving the impression that she considered the discussion over.
Sam glanced at him, her eyebrows raised but Danny shook his head; this was news to him as well.
Martin continued; 'she painted my grandmothers portrait……it was years ago now but I remember it used to hang on the wall above the fireplace.'
The pen that Ellie was gripping suddenly broke, sending shards of plastic everywhere. She jumped up, sweeping the bits together and placing them in the bin before she looked at Martin
'It's a small world isn't it'; her voice sounded strained to Danny's ears and he was even more convinced now that this was a subject she wanted to change. From the look on Martin and Sam's faces they had realised that something wasn't quite right too. Ellie sighed and then offered them all a weak smile
'Sorry, she only died at Christmas……….and we had a lousy relationship. I'm just not good at talking about her' she shrugged apologetically
Martin smiled at her; 'hey don't worry about it, sorry to bring it up'
She looked as if she was about to say something more but before she could Jack appeared;
'Good you're both here' he glanced pointedly at his watch, a slight smirk on his face. Danny glanced at Ellie; their eyes met before she looked away quickly obviously trying not to laugh. He guessed she was recalling their conversation in the parking lot.
'Danny I need your report asap; Ellie, I need to see you in the office as soon as your report is finished' with this Jack turned and walked away
'Guess we better get these damn reports done then' Danny looked at Ellie as he spoke; he would have sworn she looked relieved.
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Jacks Office – Tuesday 2:00pm
Jack looked up as the door to his office opened and Ellie walked in carrying two mugs of coffee. She handed him one
'Thought you might need this'
He smiled his thanks and indicated that she should sit down as he picked up the file containing the reports they had all filed.
'Thanks for your report. I've sent a copy up to Van Doren and one to the OPR for whoever it is we have coming in tomorrow to conduct this witch hunt' he chose his words deliberately and saw her stare at him in surprise
'Witch hunt?'
Jack continued to watch her carefully as he spoke; 'Sure, have you ever heard of them coming in so soon on a case like this one?'
She shrugged, staring at him thoughtfully; 'well no, but I suppose an agent was held hostage so….' she pulled a face and waited for him to continue.
He pulled out her file, extracted a report and handed it to her
'Have you seen this before?'
She glanced at him quickly before looking at the report. She looked up, a frown on her face; 'sure, it's the report that jackass from Washington wrote after the Bellamy kidnapping. He was pissed at how everything went off and this was his attempt to cover his sorry ass. You asked me about it last week'
She looked at him, her expression suggesting she couldn't see why he was asking her about this again
'When we spoke last week you didn't mention about the report from your Chief of Station' Jack was still watching her and now saw real confusion cross her face
'Well why would I, it was in the file, you can read'; she sounded irritated now
'It wasn't in the file'
Ellie frowned; 'what do you mean it wasn't in the file…..why the hell would it not be in the file?
Jack ignored the question for a moment as he continued; 'well it wasn't in the file, but what was in the file was a memo outlining the row you had with Victor a couple of days before you transferred here'
She stared in disbelief at him; 'I was told that nothing was happening about that, not even unofficially'
'Well, there was a note in the file. You can imagine what I thought; you'd avoided an OPR investigation and a censure, so I rang Ed Williams. He told me that he'd been told that you and Victor are or have been, having an affair'
Jack didn't know what to expect when he said this and he was prepared for most things including her throwing something at him, but what he wasn't expecting was for her to laugh at him……….well, maybe in disbelief but certainly not as if she found this the funniest thing she'd heard in years.
He stared at her as she struggled to get herself back under control again. Once she had regained a modicum of control she spoke, although he could hear the laughter just below the surface
'Victor and I……….an affair…………….oh god, how funny is that'
Jack stared at her, but she didn't continue, just stared back, a grin still plastered across her face
'You're not bothered that people think that you have been having an affair with the Deputy Director?' he could hear the disbelief in his voice
The laughter had faded from her voice now although she still looked highly amused by the whole thing
'Well, yes a bit but as I'm NOT having an affair with him…...' he saw her shudder slightly, 'I'm not particularly worried, no'
'Even though someone went to the trouble of doctoring your file so it would look as if you were? Hoping, I imagine, that it would come out whilst you are in the New York office, working with his son…..'
At this Jack saw the laughter fade from her face; 'Hmm, that wouldn't have been good would it……….mind you, might have been funny watching Victor talk his way out of it' her voice had changed; now she sounded as if nothing would give her greater pleasure than watch Victor squirm
'What is it he did to you……why did he tell me that he had 'caused you enough damage in the past' and that he can't tell me anymore until he's spoken to you and to Martin'
Jack spoke bluntly, watching her carefully for her reaction; her face which moments before had still shown amusement at the thought of Victor having to try and explain the situation away now changed to one of genuine surprise
'He said that…….about the damage he had done and that he needed to speak to Martin?'
Jack nodded impatiently. She pursed her lips
'Well I'll be damned……Victor Fitzgerald developing a conscience' she looked up at Jack and her face had changed again, a hard unforgiving look on it, 'I'll believe it when I see it and I won't be holding my breath'
'Well he's flying in tomorrow afternoon specifically to sort this out...you know a rumour like this could wreck his career.'
She shrugged, the expression on her face suggested that she didn't give a damn about Victor or his career;
'You don't expect me to feel bad about that do you? He's wrecked far more than a career in his time'
Jack sighed; 'Look, all I know is that this is a bomb waiting to go off and a lot of people could get hurt if it does, including Martin and Danny, and I don't want that. I know you don't know me well but I can help if you'll let me'
She stared at him for what felt like hours before she slowly nodded her head and just for a moment Jack thought she was going to trust him, to open up and explain what the hell was going on, but...
'I'm sorry; it's not that I don't trust you but I want to wait until I've had a chance to hear what Victor has to say tomorrow...' she paused and for a moment she shifted her gaze from him and stared sightlessly at the wall behind his head before her eyes snapped back into focus and met his stare again; 'it's just that it doesn't just affect me and if Victor does want to tell Martin, then he should hear it first...'
Jack stared at her feeling more frustrated than he could remember in a long time. She was staring back at him, a serious expression in her eyes and he could see that she had no intention of saying any more to him.
She stood up; 'look, there is some stuff I need to do and we don't have an active case so is it OK if I get off?'
He sighed and nodded his head. She paused at the door
'I appreciate this must be frustrating for you but I promise I will explain everything after I've seen Victor'
He watched as she left his office and headed for the bullpen. A minute later he saw her heading for the elevator. He sighed, hoping that after tomorrow things would be clearer
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Martin's Apartment – Tuesday 7:00pm
'So, Chinese or Pizza?' Sam looked over at Martin who was still rummaging through some papers in a drawer
'Huh?' he looked at her, confused
'I asked if you wanted Chinese or Pizza…………Martin what are you doing? You've been searching for something for the last 20 minutes?'
Martin went back to searching through the drawer; 'I'm sure that I didn't throw out the catalogue from the Isabella Dupree exhibition………..hah, got it'
He turned and flourished the catalogue under Sam's nose as she stared in disbelief at him
'Why do you want that?'
Martin was flicking through the catalogue and didn't reply. Instead she heard a grunt of satisfaction as he found what he was looking for. He held the catalogue out to Sam
'Look at this picture, who does it remind you of?'
Sam took the catalogue, feeling confused, but looked at the photograph Martin was pointing to. It showed a woman with fair hair smiling into the camera. Sam stared at it for a moment then shrugged her shoulders
'No-one, it doesn't remind me of anyone' she looked down and read the caption
Isabella Dupree, aged 35
She stared at Martin; 'Ellie's mother. She's very pretty but they don't look at all alike………..I guess Ellie takes after her father……..what?' the expression on Martin's face stopped her
'Ellie and I had a conversation about family resemblance last week…………she told me that she took after her mothers side of the family'
Sam stared at him, wondering why Martin was as bothered as he clearly was; 'well maybe she looks like an aunt or something…………..' she stopped again as Martin reached for a box and started rummaging in it
'My mother sent me a load of old photo's that she found after my aunt died'
'Bonnie?'
'No, my father's sister, Helen. She never married. She died late last year from cancer. She was the family hoarder and my mother helped clear everything out. Helen asked that I should get a load of old family photos…….I think she thought I was the only one who was interested in them……….' Martin was routing through the box until he emerged clutching two photo's
'Here, look at this one'
Sam looked at the photo in her hand; it showed a woman standing between two men. They were all smiling at the camera. She looked at Martin
'That's Ellie's mom standing next to your father and…….I'm not sure who…'
'My grandfather……..look on the back. It's when she painted my grandmother. I checked Ellie's birth date as well. It's around the time her mother would have fallen pregnant with her.'
Sam stared at him, still not sure what he was getting at. He held out the next photo
Sam stared at the photo of a woman who must have been in her late 20's. Her hair was lose and she was smiling happily at the camera; Sam looked up at Martin, aware her jaw was hanging open
'That could be Ellie……….'
'Well it's not, it's my Aunt Helen'
Sam gaped at him; 'You think that, that………your father and Ellie's mom……….'
'I think Ellie is my sister'