Chapter 6

Returning to his desk, Jack sat down to go over the folders he had stacked there, hoping for some clue that would lead them to Jordan. Before he could get started, his attention was drawn to Sue's desk where Tina sat on the tall blonde's lap, her little body turned towards excitedly talking. He smiled to himself as he watched them having their own private conversation. They look so natural together, he thought to himself. It was hard to believe they'd only met a few hours before.

Tara's voice calling his name right beside snapped him out of his admiring of his co-worker and her young charge. Turning, he looked up self-conscious into the face of his computer expert. Seeing the worried look on her face, his embarrassment was soon forgotten.

"What is it?" Jack questioned. "Did you get a hit on the pictures?"

"No, the program is still working on that," Tara waved her hand distractedly back at the computer on her desk. "While I was waiting I decided to look up some information on Tina…specifically Tina's mom."

"Well?" Jack prodded, when she stopped talking.

"I found something," she stated simply. She took a breath before continuing, "Tina's mom, Melissa Anderson, died 11 months ago in Fairfax County, Virginia."

"And?" Jack knew Tara wouldn't come over to his desk with something they already had found out from Tina and confirmed with her guardian, Ms. Roberts.

"The death wasn't accidental. Tina's mom was murdered," she whispered, not wanting Tina to hear.

Bobby had walked up just then and heard the last bit of the exchange. "Well, well. This is turning into one surprise after the other," he said, keeping his voice down too. "Any chance they caught the drongos who did this?"

"No, but the homicide was linked to a Joey Brady," Tara continued quietly. "Joey Brady was a hire gun for none other than Marcus Montega. They never could get enough evidence to convict Brady with Tina's mom death so he walked."

"So all roads lead back to Montega," Bobby surmised sarcastically. "What does he want with the little shelia over there?" he asked, cocking his head in that direction.

"I don't know, but this is where it gets interesting." Tara quickly replied. "Would anyone like to guess who Melissa Anderson's father was?" After a pause, she continued, "Melissa's father was none other than Rick Michaels."

"Rick Michaels…you can't mean, Jordan's father?" Jack said in disbelief.

"I can and I do," Tara acknowledged. "They had different mothers, but both our Jordan and Tina's mom, shared the same father."

"Well, that sheds some light on why Jordan was so involved with Tina, but I still don't understand why Tina would be in a foster home if she had Jordan and her family," Bobby wondered.

"Actually, Jordan and Melissa may not have known about each other," Tara continued. "At least not until recently if my information is right."

"Would you like to share that information with the rest of the party?" Jack asked mockingly.

"Oh, well…um…when Melissa's parents split in 1973, Melissa stayed with her mother," Tara explained. "Michaels married Jordan's mom a year later and her mother remarried two years after that. Melissa grew up here…"

"And we know Jordan grew up in Georgia," Jack interrupted. "So maybe the sisters didn't know about each other."

Approaching the conversation, Lucy interjected, "Until recently anyway." Pulling some papers from the file, she was carrying. "Jordan began visiting the foster care agency where Tina was placed about 4 months ago. The director said she was very specific about the child she was looking for…age, girl, and recent ward of the courts."

Taking the papers Lucy offered him, Jack glanced over it briefly before stating, "Well, there's definitely a connection between Jordan and Tina. Now we need to find out if there's a connection with Montega. Something about all of this just doesn't make sense." His co-workers agreed. "And a good place to start might be Melissa Anderson's old house in Chantilly. According to this, Jordan took possession of the house 7 months ago."

"Don't look now, Sparky," Bobby remarked, glancing over in Sue's direction. "I think someone has been eavesdropping on us."

Jack turned and met the determined glare in Sue's eyes. With Tina back on the floor playing with Levi, Sue had seen the entire conversation. I GO, she signed forceful. Though reluctant, he knew not to argue with her when she got this stubborn look on her face and nodded in agreement.

"Lucy, Tara, can you look after Tina?" Sue asked. Not waiting for an answer, Sue leaned over to Tina and assured the girl, "Jack and I will be back soon. We're going to see if we can find Jordan."

A sad look came over the girl's face, but she stood up and, giving Sue a tight hug. Putting her tiny hands on each side of Sue's face, she looked her in the eyes and, sounding more mature than she should for her young age, sternly said, "Be careful…and come back."