Chapter 28:

"What did you guys find out?" asked Myles as the 4 agents and Savannah entered the bullpen.

"Nothing much," D responded. "She didn't have much to say. I have the gut feeling that Karoline's death has nothing to do with her ex-husband, but he could've been involved somehow with the whole scheme. However, we found out some interesting things about Karoline, and she did freeze up a bit when we mentioned Sue having been raped." Bobby cut in,

"She almost freaked out a bit. And as for Karoline, she hasn't seen her since May. Apparently Ivy doesn't get along well with the folks but her sister does, and since Ivy left home, she's had nothing to do with any of them. But, in May, Karoline showed up at her door asking for money. Ivy said she wasn't pregnant."

"She was pregnant – we saw her probably about 2 weeks afterwards at the pre-natal class. She was definitely showing." Sue said, as Jack nodded and added,

"So, where do we go from here?" Dimitrius spoke up,

"I think we need to locate Karoline and Ivy's parents. Apparently they were a big cause of the rift between them. Now, I don't know what James has to do with this, but I think there's more to it than we know. I think it's the best start we have. I also think we should get a DNA sample from Ivy and try and match it to the body found. See if there aren't 7 alleles in common – confirm that the body is in fact Karoline's."

"One more thing." Sue said quietly. Everyone turned to her. "There's someone else that may be able to help us. Christine Johnson."

"Where have I heard that name?" Tara said quietly, looking at Sue.

"She was a former victim of James. Raped in 1998. He got away because she dropped the charges. She might be able to help us. Maybe she's somehow connected to the Grenon's and Cakeman's." Dimitrius nodded. "I'll look her up."

"Maybe Tara should…" Jack started.

"No. I'm one of the team. No one needs to baby me – if anyone should talk to her it should be me of all people." She answered quickly and stubbornly.

"You sure?" Jack asked. She nodded and gave him a reassuring smile.

"I think we'll both understand each other. I may be able to get her to talk." She answered and headed back to her desk to start working.

---

Sue did find Christine Johnson. It took awhile, with her last name not being very unique, but with help from Tara, she was able to locate her. She was currently living in Maine, and when Sue called her, she offered to come down to Washington to meet up with her in 2 days. She was more than willing to help with the case.

The petite woman walked into the bullpen, early afternoon, hesitantly, unsure of what to do. She was pretty, with shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes. She looked a bit older than Sue, but not by much. Sue immediately shot up from her chair and strode over to meet her.

"Christine Johnson?" The woman nodded and smiled softly.

"It's actually Christine McGill now, but please just call me Christine."

"I'm Sue Hudson. Thank you so much for coming by." A few of the other agents came over to say hello, minus Jack, Myles and D who were in a meeting.

"It's nice to meet you all." She said quietly, her voice soft. Sue turned to Lucy and smiled,

"Luce, would you mind watching the girls, while Christine and I talk? They just ate so I won't be surprised if all they do is sleep. Savannah might be up though…" Lucy nodded and grinned,

"Of course not." As she went over to Sue's desk and sat down in front of the girls. Sue turned back to Christine and led her out the door, talking all the while.

"Sorry, I didn't introduce you – those are my two daughters. Savannah and Sophia. My husband works here too. Maybe he'll be back once we're finished and I can introduce you." The woman smiled gently,

"I would love too. Beautiful children. How old are they?" Sue just smiled. It was always interesting trying to explain their ages.

"Savannah is 3 months, Sophia, 4 months." Sue noticed the look of confusion on Christine's face and quickly explained. "Sophia's adopted."

"Oh. I see. Wow, two babies - that must be a lot of work. I don't have any children myself. One day maybe." Sue ushered her into the empty boardroom, and they both sat down.

"Well, they're both a handful but I wouldn't trade my family for the world. I just wanted to tell you how happy I am that you came to talk to us."

"I must say, your phone call was a bit of a shock, but intriguing. I read in the paper that James had been arrested and is in jail now for attacking some woman. I'm glad he finally got what he deserved. I read that the FBI was involved – is that why you want to talk to me? About what happened with James? Is the woman alright that he hurt?"

"Well, the reason we want to talk to you doesn't directly involve James. And yes, she's alright now. She's actually sitting right in front of you." Christine looked shocked. She hadn't expected that.

"You?" she whispered. Sue nodded, with a grim smile.

"A man named Greg Halstern kidnapped me. James was his accomplice. Did you know Greg? Did you even know James?' Christine began her story.

"Ivy Grenon, well Ivy Cakeman was my best friend since we were little. I was the maid of honor at her wedding, and we were both like sisters. Ivy had long estranged herself from her family, and I had been an only child and my parents had died in a car crash when I was 15. I thought James was an okay guy, but after a few months of them being married, he started acting weird. Not coming home. Ivy was afraid he was into drugs, but he was so secretive about it, we could never tell for sure. He got angry, easily, so neither of us wanted to witness his wrath if we said anything."

"Did you ever meet Ivy's sister, Karoline?" Sue asked her.

"A few times. Sometimes she would come to her house ever so often, sometimes looking for money or a place to stay. Trying to get her to talk to their parents again. Karoline really didn't like me. I'm not too sure why, but her parents weren't thrilled with me either. Weird people."

"Weird? How so?" Sue asked, with confusion.

"They placed a lot of value on social class. My family wasn't super poor, but we weren't rich either. Ivy came from a very rich family, but that meant she wasn't to associate with anyone lower than her. Which meant me. We started hanging out in secret. I always thought she was different than them. She left home when she was still young, and we moved in together. Then she met James, they got married. I met my husband, we got married. We lived not to far away from each other…. Everything was fine until one day James showed up at my door unexpected…" Sue noticed her eyes watering up and braced herself for the story she already knew the ended to.