Dallas, Texas

Holding his phone in one hand and his pen in the other, JR tapped against the desk as he waited for Diane to put the call through. He'd been waiting patiently for the next piece to the puzzle a young woman had walked into his office presenting, and now the time was here.

He knew some of the details but there was more to the situation, a situation that he didn't really have any business being interested in but couldn't help himself from finding fascinating.

"JR Ewing", answering the call, he exchanged pleasantries with the private investigator and then listened with great interest to the story he told.

"Between 1945 and 1950 Rebecca Barnes, previously Blake, gave birth to four children, two of those four died, the other two survived, Clifford Barnes and Pamela Barnes. The family originally lived living right here in Dallas, Braddock specifically, then later they moved to Corpus Christi, that's where Rebecca separated from Willard and the children. As far as I can tell it was sometime around the end of 1951 and the beginning of 1952 when that happened. Her history was difficult to trace over the next few months, the paperwork is all over the place, but it appears she did odd jobs, waitressing, cleaning, those sort of things, changing her name every five minutes before eventually showing up again in the fall in Houston, this time going by Rebecca Burke. It appears she put herself through a good secretarial school, graduated and landed herself a job with the brokerage firm of Wentworth and Pitts where she moved up quickly, going from one of the girls in the typing pool to executive secretary to the president of the company, Mr Herbert Wentworth, in a matter of months. One thing led to another and sometime after that, he asked her to marry him, and in March 1955 Rebecca Blake/Barnes/Burke became Mrs Rebecca Wentworth. It's all a little hazy around whether she can technically be Herbert Wentworth's wife considering Willard Barnes' wife never actually died, but for the purposes of your investigation, the woman calling herself Rebecca Wentworth is the same woman who was formerly known as Rebecca Barnes, born Rebecca Blake". Detailing additional information to that he'd already revealed, the man's investigative skills did not disappoint.

"They have a daughter, Katherine?" thinking about her, he had to ask about the spirited young lady who'd brought the information to him in the first place. Obviously, she was Rebecca's daughter, but Rebecca had had a busy few years and he was still unclear about where her fifth child fit in to the story.

"Yes", rustling his paper, looking for the details, he continued, "born 8 January 1956".

Doing the math, he laughed aloud and muttered to himself, "a senior, yeah, a senior in high school".

Responding to his comment, the man asked, "would you like to know more about Katherine?"

Chuckling, he answered, "no, I have a direct line to her".

It wasn't surprising the girl had needed his help, she was in just about the same position as Lucy would in a few years, she had a family name and wealth behind her but she lacked any sort of authority to actually get things done. Somehow, she'd shown up in his office during business hours but he imagined that about now she was sitting in math or history, listening and learning, quietly wondering when he'd call with more information.

Making a sound of agreement, he moved on, "I'll send you over my report with all the finer details and documents. Do you need anything else from me?"

Considering the question, he had to answer, "no, not at the moment". There were probably many more questions to ask but he wasn't entirely sure what they were. He had what he'd asked for but it still wasn't really anything to do with him, nor did it really benefit him in any way. The information he held was truly more valuable to Pamela, to her biological family, and to Bobby than it was to him. He'd murmured a few lines to Katherine about Pamela being important to their family, which in a sense she was, but when she'd been an active participant he hadn't wanted anything to do with her, yet here he was, involved.

Taking his word, the man made moves to wrap up the conversation, "one final thing, I'm not sure if this will be of any interest but there's a small company called Wentworth Tool and Die here in Dallas, they're under the umbrella of Wentworth Industries".

"Sounds vaguely familiar, I'll look into them, thanks", perking up, he finally felt like there was something in the story for his benefit. Ewing Oil had contracts with manufacturers but they could always use another connection. He didn't know how he'd spin it, Katherine was unlikely to be any help, but when doing business it was always good to know someone, somewhere.

Confirming again that the full report was on its way over, they ended their conversation and hung up, leaving him in the silence of his office to think everything through. Pamela had been his sister-in-law, he hadn't much liked it, but he could acknowledge how much her loss had devastated Bobby and he did truly care what happened to his brother. Pamela was gone and never coming back, but Katherine and Rebecca were very much alive. Cliff was alive too but he didn't have much time for him, he didn't know the man very well but he'd been close to Digger and that said enough. Helping the Barnes family was helping the people who'd ruined his family, but it was also helping Bobby, so maybe it was worth it, or maybe not, he didn't know yet.

Hearing his intercom buzz again, he pressed the button and listened in surprise as Diane announced, "JR, there's a Rebecca Wentworth here to see you".

Laughing aloud at the unintentional involvement he had with the Wentworth women he held the button down and let Diane know he'd be right out.

To be continued…