Over the last few days Judson had followed some of his leads trying to find the lawyer Ellie Miller had been working for at the time of Gabe's birth. It had proved more difficult than he had anticipated. Ellie had been doing odd jobs for several lawyers without actually being on their official pay roll. Almost all of them had turned out to be somewhat shady and highly qualified for any not quite legal activities.

After several days of bad luck it seemed like today was going to change everything. Judson had just exited the elevator on the 15th floor of one of the more exclusive office buildings in downtown Boston and was approaching his destination, when the door to that particular office suite opened. The recognized the stature of the man that stepped out immediately and was able to disappear around a corner before the other man spotted him. Now there was no doubt in his mind that he finally had found the right lawyer – the man coming out of the office was no other than Senator Patterson.

After the Senator had entered the elevator Judson waited another 5 minutes to make sure he wouldn't come back and cross his path. When he was sure he left his hiding place and entered the suite.

The receptionist looked at him expectantly, "May I help you?"

"I would like to speak with Mr. Jameson!"

"Do you have an appointment?" she continued to probe.

"No but if you tell him I am here regarding Gabriel Patterson, I am sure he will talk to me!"

She gave him a skeptical look but finally picked up the phone and relayed the message to the person on the other end. Judson was unable to hear the response but when she at last hung up, she just said, "Would you please follow me, Sir, Mr. Jameson is going to see you at once!"

She led him down a long hallway until she stopped in front of one of the doors and knocked. The voice from the inside, that told her to enter sounded kind of uneasy. She opened the door and let Judson step into the office, then she closed it again behind her.

Judson looked around in the office that was very expensively decorated but sure didn't speak of very good taste. The man that now approached him from behind his desk seemed to blend in this environment like a chameleon into a tree; he was dressed just as expensive and tasteless. As he reached out to greet Judson, the beads of sweat on his forehead became visible and the nervousness in his voice was obvious.

"What can I do for you Mr.…., ah what was your name?"

"Judson Cross!"

The other man paled even more and it took him a moment to regain his balance.

"Mr. Cross, what brings you here?"

"I think you know what brought me here!" Judson wasn't willing to play games, "I know you are working for Senator Patterson and have been for a long time. I want to know about the Gabe's 'adoption'!"

"I don't know what you are talking about!"

"Cut through the crap, you know exactly what I am talking about! You arranged the adoption and I think Gabe has a right to know who his real parents are!" Judson knew it was a long shot to get Jameson to confess to anything but he at least wanted to give the other man a chance to come clean on his own.

"Mr. Cross, if I ever had connection to the Patterson family than it was just as a consultant. Why would one of the most established law firms in Boston need someone like me to do their business? Also, I should be kind of tough for you to prove there even was anything like an adoption!"

He now had a smile on his face that was just trying to hide his anxiety. Judson, who observed him closely, could see the sweat now was running down the sides of his face and his eyes shifted from one side to the other without any specific focus point. Yet ever so often his gaze would go to a certain picture on the wall to just as fast turn away from it again. 

Judson had to suppress a grin. The guy was sleazy but he sure wasn't a very good actor. In a second he had given away what Judson had come to find out. Now he just had to come back at a better time and bring Mac.

"Well Mr. Jameson, you are probably right, it would be difficult to prove anything. But I am not done with you, I will be back!" He turned around, leaving a surprised Jameson behind.

++++++

October 30th, 1978

Susan Flaherty stepped into her apartment letting the door slam closed behind her. She slipped the shoes of her feet and walked or as she herself would describe it – waddled - over to the couch. With some effort she sat down and put her aching feet up. Trying to look at them, she found it difficult with her now well rounded abdomen in the way. It had been a tough day, just like every other on lately. It weren't just her feet, it also was her back that hurt and she also seemed to run out of energy a lot faster now than she did in the past. While she had enjoyed being pregnant before, now she could hardly wait for the baby to come. Every day seemed worse than the next and she knew she had at least two more weeks till her due date. And the anticipation was almost killing her. Although she still had no idea what sex the baby was, there was something in her that told her that it was a boy.

Trying to take her mind off her discomforts she started to stroke her belly, talking to the little being that inhabited it. How many times she had done this throughout the last few months? It had been at least daily, sometimes more often. It just made her feel closer to her child and took away the feelings of loneliness she experienced from time to time. She would talk about his father, the plans they had started to make for him and how she was going to keep all the promises she had made.

"You are going to have a wonderful life; I will make sure of this. Never will you miss your daddy because I will tell you about him everyday and you will know him like he is right beside you!" She smiled, "You are my little life saver, an angel sent from heaven!"

She stopped for a moment suddenly caught by a surprise thought, "That's it, why in the world didn't I think of this earlier. My little angel, I will name you Gabriel. Yeah, I think your dad would like this Gabriel Brenton Flaherty. And for the remote chance that you might be a little girl, it would be Gabriella Hope!"

Again she smiled; she was going to give her everything for this child because she knew without it she would have not been able to bear this life any longer.

++++++

Present Day

Mac had told Judson about what she and Mary Sue had found in Gabe's medical reports when he picked her up for the little excursion he had planned for this evening. She hadn't been surprised when he had brought the car to an abrupt halt at the side of the road. The redness of his skin and the fire in his eyes spoke more than words. Holding on to the stirring wheel, she could see the tenseness by the shaking that went trough his body. It took him a moment before he had relaxed enough to face her.

"I swear I will get him for this. He is not going to get away with it this time. What else is he going to do to Gabe?"

At that moment Mac was glad she wasn't Senator Patterson because the lightning bolts shooting from Judson's eyes would have certainly killed him.

"Judson, I know how you feel and I promise you, we will get him for this!"

"Don't promise me, promise Gabe. He is the victim her. Not enough that he had to suffer from his so called father's deception on an emotional level, now he has to endure all the physical consequences also! We just have to find him!"

Mary Sue is staying on it!" Mac assured him, "We will not give up until we have found him. He is out there somewhere and someone knows where!"

Judson stirred the car back onto the road and they continued their journey. It took about 20 Minutes until he pulled up in front of the building that contained Thomas Jameson's law practice. As both of them exited the car it became visible that they wore coveralls that had 'Jim's Janitorial Service' written on the back. Mac had done her homework and made sure that the two regular janitors assigned to the lawyer's office had been reassigned to a different area for tonight. She also had made sure they would have the right passes to get into the building after hours.

It had taken her several hours to get them just right but now it turned out that her efforts paid off. The security guard just waived them through, although he had never seen them before.

Together they took the elevator up to the 15th floor. After they exited Judson took the lead towards the office suite that was their destination. It took Mac only seconds to pick the lock of the entrance door. Slowly she opened, making sure they weren't observed. After entering she turned on the light and locked the door from the inside. Anyone walking by on the outside could think that someone had forgotten to turn of the light.

Judson was already on his way to Thomas Jameson's office and Mac followed without delay.

"It has to be behind this picture!" He pointed towards the picture that Jameson had repeatedly looked at this morning. Mac went over and took the picture off the wall. Slowly she lowered it to the floor and turned her smiling face toward her friend.

Judson returned the smile, "I told you it would be there!" He said looking at the safe that had been hidden behind the picture.

"This should be easy!" Mac grinned as she checked out the locking mechanism, "I have done this a million times!"

Although it turned out not quite as simple as she had thought, it took her only 4 minutes until she had figured the combination out and was able to open the safe. She opened it with another triumphant smile and with a wave of her hand invited Judson to come closer.

"Voila, here you go!"

As he slowly went through the files the safe contained Judson could feel his hands shaking with anticipation. This could be what they had been looking for, the key to the mystery that weight so heavy on their youngest team member. Looking carefully through all the papers he finally realized that there wasn't anything in there that was of any importance to them. Disappointment overtook him and his shoulders slumped as he put them back into their place.

"Nothing, nothing at all, I could have sworn there would be something in here!" he said, his voice expressing all the disillusionment he felt.

Mac, who wasn't quite ready to give up yet, moved closer to the safe and stuck her arm up to her shoulder into it. Feeling around with her hand, she finally let out a "Got it!" and pulled out a thin sheet of metal from the back. Eying the secret compartment, she saw that it contained a large envelope. Opening it, she pulled out a folder. The anticipation she felt when she opened the cover almost killed her. Glancing at her partner she could see that he felt the same way.

It was immediately clear that it contained the medical records of a woman by the name of Susan Elizabeth Flaherty. Reading on, it also became clear that this must have been Gabe's mother. Everything was in here all the details of Gabe's birth and how he had been torn away from his mother. Mac had to stop to let her mind catch up with what she had just read. Looking up, she saw that Judson had paled.

"You're okay?" she asked with slight worry in her voice.

It took her friend a moment to respond, then he said, "Yeah, this is just so unbelievable!"

"I know, I just don't understand what the whole purpose behind this was!"

"Power or money or maybe both, the bad thing is we still have no real proof that this is talking about Gabe and there are also no adoption papers here!"

"But we know this is about Gabe, that this woman here is his mother!" Mac protested.

"We know it but there is no mention of Senator Patterson or even an adoption!" Judson explained.

Reluctantly Mac had to agree that he was right, they knew what they wanted to know but still had nothing in their hands to use against the Senator. 

"Let's make copies of this and then get out of here before we get caught!" she suggested, already on her way to the reception desk where she earlier hat noticed a copy machine. She returned a few minutes later, handing the now closed again envelope to Judson. Carefully he replaced it in the secret compartment and Mac inserted the metal sheet again. Then they put the other files back in place and closed the safe. Before leaving the office, both looked around making sure that everything was as they had found it.