"Alright, let's go along with that for a minute. Does he have a son? Nephew? With the same name, and in the right age group?" Don asked.
"We'll definitely look into that. What did you put Byron Jameson away for?"
"Serial killer. 8 children," was the terse reply. Silence greeted that.
"Then he deserved every day he served in prison," Justin said slowly.
"And then some," Don replied harshly. "What's your perp done?"
"Strictly white collar, embezzlement mostly, but suddenly decided to rob a couple of banks several months ago." Justin said quietly.
"How many months?" Don asked sharply.
"About six months. Is that when your perp got out of jail?"
Don hissed in frustration. "Yes, damn the parole system. But that's still not much to go on. Well, let's see if we can find anything more that will link the two." He turned to leave and almost jumped out of his skin when Rafe materialized in front of him. "How the hell did you do that?"
Rafe grinned, "Navy SEAL secret, sir. I could tell you..."
Don rolled his eyes, "I see why David thought you'd fit right in. Are you my escort for the day?" He took off without waiting for an answer, but Rafe didn't have any difficulty at all keeping up with him.
Justin glanced over at Tyler and grinned. It was going to be interesting.
-----
Several quiet days later, Don reflected sourly that the only information of value he had was on his new agents. Pierre's mother had recently passed on which was why he had requested a transfer out of Las Vegas. Rico Montoya's wife and two daughters were still in Baltimore, selling the house and getting ready to move to Los Angeles. Pia, the only daughter of a family of five sons had been glad to get away from New York and the extended family, and was becoming fast friends with Maggie. Siti had married an Italian man and had two children with the unlikely names of Hassan and Suraya Canterella, boy and girl respectively. Mei-Lin was quiet and shared little except that she was single and came from a large family. Luke was recently divorced, but amicably so, and Rafe had seen horrors in his stint as a Navy SEAL that he refused to talk about.
He glared at David as he came in, but David only laughed. "It wasn't my idea to take on this investigation."
Don snorted, "Do you have anything or were you just planning on conceding that you were too old for this?"
David grinned, "I have something. But it isn't much. The younger Byron Jameson is definitely the son of the serial killer you put in jail. He was eight years old when his father went to jail, and petitioned the parole board recently on behalf of his father. Byron Jameson Senior was released on medical grounds. He has cancer, and is too weak to do anything. Byron Jr. has been trying to find a cure for his father. It gets expensive, and we think the embezzlement and the bank robberies were to help cover the expenses."
"So we're ruling out the father," Colby said as he came in. "They've gone underground, probably because of the shooting. Justin and Tyler are trying to track down the son on a tip from the witness."
"The witness that Darren and Tyler were going to see that day?" Don questioned.
Colby nodded, "Yeah, apparently Junior used to live down the street from her. She recognized him when he robbed that last bank. She was standing in line talking to the teller. She recalled several names, people he used to hang out with. Tyler's hoping that something pans out from that."
"What about the other name that Charlie narrowed it down to, John Taylor?"
"We're still looking for him," was all David could say.
Don sighed in frustration, "Any other leads from the other 200 possibles?"
"Well, we ruled most of them out, alibis and such. There really were only those two viable suspects," Colby said quietly. "We should start looking at other angles."
Don looked up at the knock on his door, and quickly waved Pierre in with some concern.
"Don, I'm sorry to interrupt. I need to talk to you privately," Pierre's face was white, almost as though he was in shock.
"Pierre, no offense, but I don't have anything to hide from Colby or David," Don said gently but Pierre was already continuing.
"I'm the executor of my mother's estate, and I received this package from her lawyer today. There were two letters in it, one was addressed to me and the other to you."
"To me?" Don's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
Pierre nodded, shock still evident in his eyes, "To Agent Don Eppes."
There was silence as he handed the envelope to Don, "She mentioned some things in her letter to me, but you should probably read yours first."
"Don, if you want some privacy," Colby began, but Don interrupted him.
"No. I think at this point I'd rather you stay."
Don read his letter out loud, "My darling Don. If you get this letter, then it means that I'm dead. There are so many things I need to tell you, but first of all, I need to apologize for disappearing on you. I had my reasons and I'll explain them. But I must tell you that you have a son, his name is Pierre Sagesse. When I disappeared, Regina Wise as you knew her also had to disappear. I took on a new name, Jeanine Sagesse. For our safety, and for yours, I had to tell Pierre that his father was dead. I kept to the truth as far as I could, but I had to tell him you were dead so that he would not ask any questions about you." Don paused and looked up at Pierre.
Pierre swallowed hard, "I had no idea, I swear it."
Don said gently, "It's alright." But there were tears in his eyes.
He continued to read the letter, "I was married once, to a man who abused me. With the help of an abused women's underground railroad, I left him and took on a new identity, that of Regina Wise. A few years went by quietly, then, as you know, I started racing. That is how he found me. I had to disappear again, even to the point of having to ditch my beloved Nova. I didn't tell you before then because I thought I was safe, then when he found me, you weren't there. I had to take flight or risk getting hurt or worse. I've laid low ever since. He eventually went to prison for other crimes, but I heard that you had married, and did not want to upset the status quo. I hope that this comes to you because I died of natural causes, but if not, his name is James Brighton, and he may come after you or Pierre next. Please accept my apologies for the loss of years you could have spent with your son, but it was the best I could do. Love, Reggie."
"I'll get on James Brighton," David said as he left.
Don nodded, but his attention was on Pierre. "How did she die?"
"She was a victim of a home invasion. There had been an epidemic of home invasions, and I upgraded the security on her home, but they still got in. Everything was consistent with the other home invasions, so when the perps were caught, I didn't push it any further." Pierre was calming down. "I'm going to insist that her case be re-opened and the evidence reviewed."
"Let me know if they give you trouble over that. I want to know if James Brighton had anything to do with it. We'll go after him with everything we've got."
Pierre nodded, then hesitated, "What now?"
Quietly, Don said, "I need to talk to my wife. And Maggie."
"I understand." Pierre hesitated, unsure of what to do next.
Colby said gently, "Why don't you go home and get some rest. You have protection duty tonight, don't you?"
"Right, right," Pierre said quietly and left.
"She was in Las Vegas all this time. I can't believe I never found her." Don looked at Colby sadly.
Colby shrugged, "These underground railroads do a good job."
Don eyed Colby sharply, but said nothing. He'd heard rumors that Cameron had run an underground railroad while he was in college, but if he had, all that was left from those days was the shelter he funded.
"It's going to be hard to tell Maggie," Don said sighing, "Robin knew about Reggie, but as time passed, we put it out of our minds. I never said anything to Maggie."
"She's a strong woman, she'll be fine. Pierre's not on her team, so that's not an issue," Colby said quietly.
Don was lost in his own thoughts, and didn't even notice when Colby left.
-----
Note:
Regina Wise appeared (and disappeared) in Dirty Laundry