Chapter 31

FBI offices
1 Center Plaza
Boston, MA

October 2011

Tally had clung close to Spencer on the ride from the airport. The area around Watertown had all been comfortingly rural, lots of fields and barns and some small warehouse-type businesses on the road to the airport. Boston was an entirely different experience.

They pulled in to the parking garage and took the elevator up to the offices, an experience that had her grabbing on for balance. While Hotch spoke with the Agent-in-charge Spencer intended to take Tally off to a quiet corner, maybe a conference room somewhere. But she had a mind of her own. She was still wrapped in his sweater, it very nearly trailed like a cape as she took a wandering path through the office to go look out the windows. "Boston." She said as he came up beside her. "I'm in Boston."

"You are."

"The Old North Church, the State House, the USS Constitution." He had expected her to be afraid. There was so much out there, so many large buildings, cars, people, colors and sounds and smells. It should be overwhelming. But he had forgotten how fierce she could be. She turned to him with eager eyes. "I want to see."

"Ummm..." But she already turned and was heading for the elevator lobby. "Wait, we need to stay right now."

"Why?"

"They said to stay put."

"Who is 'they'?"

"Ummm..."

"Because the last I heard we were free, which means we don't have to mindlessly obey anyone." She headed back to the elevator lobby.

"What's going on?" Morgan asked.

"I made a mistake."

"Oh?"

"I mistook Uncle Tom Syndrome for actual submissiveness. Tally, please? We need to meet some people who should be here soon. If need be we'll make a special trip back here if you want."

"Oh." She let the elevator go. "Thank you for asking. Yes, I would like that, I want to show the children what Boston looks like now." Instead of going downstairs she made her way back to the windows. "What is that, please?" She asked, pointing to some tents in the plaza down below.

"Ummm..." Spencer turned to one of the agents who worked there. "Green market?" They nodded. "It's a Farmer's Market or Green Market. Farmer's from around the area bring in their day's harvest to sell."

"Ooo." She looked closer. "Do they have those in the Capitol?"

"Yes, a number of them. I'll show you when we get there." Well, she had grown up on a farm

"Good." She remained staring out the window.

Spencer watched her for a long moment. "You're not interested in going someplace quieter?"

"No. There's far too much to see."

In the meantime Hotch and Rossi headed for one of the interrogation/meeting rooms. Waiting for them was a smaller man with close cropped curls and what might be nervous energy. "Dr. Fleinhart?" Hotch asked.

"Yes." Dr. Fleinhart replied. "I'm surprised; I haven't consulted for the FBI since I left California. What can I do for you today?"

"We want to talk to you about the Talitha Jensen case."

The smaller man's eagerness quietly ebbed, leaving him saddened and drooped. "Oh. Oh, Tally. Have you found her?" He didn't have the hope one would have if they were asking after a missing person. No, he was asking if they had found her body.

Hotch preferred not playing his cards too soon. "We need to know about her parents."

"I knew Monica and Berjur well. We were colleagues for a number of years, close friends for most of them. I was honored that they asked me to be Tally's godfather. It's terrible what happened, the whole family."

"I know this is difficult, but is there any chance they used a sperm donor."

For a moment Dr. Fleinhart looked confused, but then anger overcame him. "Is that what this is about? Is that who did this?"

"Who?"

Dr. Fleinhart thought about it a long moment, then sighed and seemed to give in. "I don't suppose it matters anymore, all of the principals have gone to the next plane of existence after all. Monica and Berjur adopted Tally."

"There's no record of that." Dave said.

"It wasn't exactly legal." Dr. Fleinhart replied. "Actually it wasn't at all legal. Dr. Aofie Murphy was her mother. Don't worry about looking for her; she died after returning to Dublin a number of years ago. She was a grad student at the time Tally was born."

"Why illegal?" Hotch asked.

"Because of the father; Aofie became pregnant when she was at this conference for financial mathematics, she claimed she was drinking at the reception and woke up in this man's bed; she had no recollection of what happened. We assumed he slipped her something, but there was no proof. It was her word against his and he was...very powerful. A major donor. You know..."

"That would be a difficult situation."

"Yes. Well, she found out she was pregnant and she was terrified that if he found out he would insist on an abortion, which went against her belief system. But she also knew she didn't have the wherewithal to raise a child. And Monica and Berjur had been unsuccessful and were looking at adopting, so it seemed the perfect solution. Aofie waited until she was far enough along to make an abortion impractical and then went to the father and said that she had a solution, she didn't need money, she didn't need time, she just needed his signature and she'd be out of his hair. None of us expected that he would sue for custody."

"Custody?" Dave asked.

"Exactly. You would think that admitting to paternity would be admitting to rape but he said he would say that she had a drinking problem and was unfit to parent and so...well, the more we looked into him the less any of us were willing to have him raise a child. His belief system was archaic, his politics cruel, his reputation...but he could afford better lawyers than the entire mathematics faculty could even if we pooled our funds."

"So everyone knew what was going on?" Hotch asked.

"It was an open sort of secret. We have a lot of those, you do enough government work and people just know. Monica and Aofie found a midwife willing to help, she made note of Aofie having a miscarriage to throw this man off, and then when Tally was delivered she filled out the birth certificate listing Monica as Tally's birth mother. I mean technically illegal but they were all working in everyone's best interest. And all of the principals were happy with it, Monica and Berjur adored Tally, they gave her everything she needed and Aofie finished her dissertation and went home to teach, content in the knowledge that her daughter was safe and loved."

"It sounds the perfect set up." Dave said.

"It was, until Tally was taken." Dr. Fleinhart said with a sigh.

"Would you be willing to testify to all of this in court?" Hotch asked.

Dr. Fleinhart considered and nodded. "I suppose so. I don't know why I would have to, everyone is dead. Surely the statute of limitations has expired."

"Do you remember who Dr. Murphy accused at the time?" Hotch asked.

"Donald Parsons. Head of Liberty Investments I believe. Why does all of this matter?"

"Because we found Talitha," Hotch said.

Dr. Fleinhart sighed. "Monica was estranged from her family, but Bejur was close to his. They were buried on the Faroe Islands, near his home. I'd like to bring Tally there."

"I'm sure she'd like to go." Dave said, as he nodded to the glass behind Dr. Fleinhart.

Dr. Fleinhart turned and his jaw dropped. He slowly rose from his chair and went into the main room. "Spencer?" He asked. "Is this?"

Spencer's smile brightened. "Larry! I haven't seen you in too long. Yeah I, um, I guess I found her."

Dr. Fleinhart turned to the small woman standing beside him, "Talitha?" He asked in wonder.

Tally cocked her head and looked at him. "I think I remember you." She said. "I remember you used to take us for ice cream in your very special car. We enjoyed that very much."

"We did." Dr. Fleinhart said. He looked up at the others. "A 1931 Ford Model A. I can't believe you're alive. What...what happened?" He asked Spencer.

"Have you been watching the news lately? That island up north..."

"The slave farms? Oh dear..."

"No, we're all right."

"Are you sure?"

"Reasonably."

"Oh." He looked back to Tally. "I don't suppose, I'm sure it's impertinent, but, may I hug you?"

"Of course." Tally said. And with that their family grew by one.