I think there will only be 3 more chapters! Hope you are enjoying this strange twist. Please review and/or follow so I know you're interested in hearing more...Enjoy!
Weller found Borden in his office. He had gotten even more agitated on the short walk over to the doc's side of the 4th floor.
"Agent Weller, is everything alright?" Borden asked as a greeting.
Weller began pacing back and forth in front of Borden's desk, which anyone who had worked with Kurt knew was never a good sign. "That's not her." He said forcefully.
"What do you mean? Are you referring to "Jill"?
"Yes, that person who was sent to us is not Jane."
"Agent Weller, she has no recollection of her time here even though she only left us few days ago. Of course she is going to seem like a different person; that's only natural."
"No, Doc, you don't understand. What I mean is that person who is currently in Patterson's lab is not the same person. I mean, I get that looking at her she looks exactly like Jane, her voice sounds the same and she is covered in the same tattoos but…" Weller didn't finish his sentence as the craziest thought entered his head.
"Agent Weller, remember the case we had with the soldier who had similar traits. According to his mother who knew him, she said his personality had changed as a result of the injections. We could be seeing a repeat of that side effect manifest itself here."
"I may be able to buy that argument, but there are a few little things and one, well, something else."
"I'm afraid I'm going to need a few more details to help you figure this out."
"Alright. We went to the armory and she was very tentative when it came to handling the weapons. Last time, Jane handled everything like it was second nature. Then we were in Patterson's lab and she was able to decipher an error in the code in a matter of seconds of looking at the monitors, when before Jane had trouble navigating through websites. Plus Zapata brought her coffee from her favorite deli and she hated it."
"Well, those are certainly curious differences but I'm not sure…"
Weller cut him off before he could finish. "That's not the biggest thing." Weller started as he took a seat across from Borden's desk. "Can we keep what I'm about to tell you between us?"
"Of course. We'll consider this part of our weekly meeting."
Kurt dropped his head in his hands and paused before continued. "From the moment Jane came to us, there was something. The first time I sat down next to her in the interrogation room I felt this…I don't know how to explain it but there was also this like pull or something towards her. Whenever we were alone or in close proximity I would feel it. There were times when I felt it difficult to maintain a professional relationship with her. I mean…nothing ever happened between us, well not nothing but I don't think I ever crossed a line physically…but emotionally…I just…"
Weller stopped mid-sentence and blew out a breath in frustration. "I guess that is one reason I pushed for her to be Taylor even when Patterson found evidence to the contrary. It was the easiest way to explain how I felt, otherwise how would it be possible for me to be so drawn to a complete stranger immediately?"
"If you're looking for an answer to explain love at first sight, Agent Weller then I'm afraid I can't help you."
"What, no, I'm not saying that. I'm not in love with Jane."
Borden held up his hand to stop him before he could say anything more. "Agent Weller, in here we have always maintained an honest exchange. I pass no judgement and maybe you aren't even fully aware of the depth of your feelings for Jane but I think that it is safe to say that you and Jane had a complex relationship and it was far more personal than with the other members of the team."
Kurt nodded and Borden continued. "And you're concerned that you aren't feeling the physical connection with Jill that you did with Jane and somehow that means that Jill and Jane aren't the same person."
"I know it sounds crazy but I'm telling you it's not her." Weller said shaking his head. "I've made a lot of mistakes with her, us, everything…but every fiber in my body is telling me that is not her."
"Well, we do know that Jane was sent to us from an unknown organization," Borden began to surmise, "And from the information that she learned from her conversations with Oscar this Sheppard person scoured the foster care system and orphanages to recruit. So, for what you are saying to be true, he must have found a set of twins and trained them and then tattooed them at the same time to set them up for this mission."
"Yes, I know that sounds preposterous but I think it's more than possible. The only thing I know for certain is that is not Jane. So the only logical explanation is she is Jane's twin sister."
"If that is indeed the case, Agent Weller there will be some physical differences that we can use to easily prove or disprove your theory."
"Fine. Let's get them started." Weller said as he stood up.
Weller and Borden walked down to Patterson's lab and discreetly filled Patterson in on Weller's theory. Patterson's mouth dropped open at the theory that Jill was in fact not Jane. But she agreed to run the tests and see where the evidence took her.
Patterson and Jill headed down to the 2nd floor for the tests and Weller headed back to his office. He was trying to work out what it meant if Jill and Jane were different people. That would mean that Jane was still out there. Someone had her and he needed to move quickly to get her back. "I will find you, Jane" he whispered out loud to his empty office.
Jane had become noticeably anxious after viewing the photos Rich showed her. "We have to warn Kurt!" she cried. "Sheppard could have sent her to hurt him and team. Please, call him or something so he knows not to trust her."
"Jane, we cannot tip our hand just yet. This person showing up could work to our advantage. From what I have been able to find out, she arrived just like you did; left in a bag in Times Square with no memory. Even that idiot Pellington would never think about shipping her off to Quantico to stand trial for your alleged crimes with no memory. She is the walking definition of reasonable doubt." Rich explained.
"So we just sit here and wait?"
"Not exactly. I have to work a few things out but I think we can get Patty to pass a message to Stubbles without giving too much away. Remember, he will do anything for you but he will prefer to work within the rules he has to follow. So we need to give him and option that allows him to do both."
"Exactly!" Exclaimed Boston.
"What we really need to do is find Sheppard and destroy this organization." Jane mused.
"That will be easier said than done but make no mistake, I will make sure you stay safe AND get your happily ever after." Rich replied.
"Can you also please make sure Kurt and the team are safe?" she pleaded. "He is my happily ever after."
Rich nodded and after much discussion, the three of them had devised a plan they thought may accomplish everything they needed. Per Jane's insistence, the first step would be notifying Weller.
Through a complex routing system a text was sent to Patterson's personal cell phone, directing her to a dating site with the login of Peppermint Patty. At first she thought it was a viral marketing program for singles but the "Peppermint Patty" moniker stuck with her. Only one person had ever called her Patty. She ran to find Weller.
It was getting late in the day and the 4th floor was almost empty. She was able to clearly see Weller in his office alone and didn't bother to knock. She startled him and he looked up and almost shouted, "Patterson, what's going on? What did you find out?"
She was a bit out of breath and just held up her finger to give herself a minute before responding. "We just finished some of the preliminary testing. Jill's fingerprints match the fingerprints that are currently stored in the database as Jane Doe and an initial DNA testing shows a match. What's weird though is I did a complete body scan of Jill's tattoos and compared them to the scans of Jane's and there are definitely differences. They may not be able to be seen to the casual observer but the laser scans show various degrees of placement on her body."
"So what are you telling me, Patterson?"
"Well, just like when we thought Jane might have been Taylor. There is evidence that may support it but there is just as much evidence to question it. The fingerprint database could have been compromised much like the evidence locker in Clearfield was when they were able to switch Taylor and Jane's DNA. And speaking of DNA, identical twins would have identical DNA according to all the standard tests but there is a lab in Europe that can isolate the DNA make up of identical twins. I have sent samples of Jill and Jane's DNA to that lab but it could take up to a week to get that information."
"You ran all the way down here to tell me that?" Weller asked.
"What? No, I ran down here because I got this on my private cell phone." Patterson turned the phone to show him the message on the screen.
"I don't understand? Why are you showing me a dating site ad?" He asked.
"It's not that," she explained. "I thought it was odd too at first but then I reread it and there is only one person who has ever called me Patty. I think this is a message from Rich Dot Com."
"Then you need to log in now!" He commanded. Weller swung his laptop around to her at the other side of the desk. She quickly went to the site and logged in with the sent credentials. One message was flashing in the inbox.
Precious Patty,
I have the original painting…you have a replica. Not sure if you have figured that out yet. The original cannot be returned yet because some people still want to destroy it and I won't let that happen. I have a plan to return it but will need some inside help to make sure it is not damaged in the process. I think it will take a few days to work out the details but don't worry, I am taking excellent care of it while it is in my possession, although it really belongs under the covers of a warm fluffy bed with Stubbles.
Check back tomorrow.
Weller felt his skin turn red as he read the second to last line. "Rich Dot Com has Jane," Weller said surprised at the smile that came over his face.
"What are we going to do?" questioned Patterson.
"For right now, we are going to keep this between us." Weller replied. "My guess is Sheppard sent us Jane's twin so he could buy himself some time to search for Jane himself. I don't like it, but the fact is Jane is probably safest with Rich and we need to keep pretending that Jill is Jane. We need to find everything we can on that drive you found at Mayfair's to help us clear Jane so she can come back without Pellington trying to prosecute her. Then we will find a way to destroy Sheppard."
Patterson nodded.
"In the meantime," he continued, "Why don't you have Jill stay with you instead of the safe house. She will probably be more comfortable there and you two may find you have a lot in common."
"Whatever you say boss." With that, Patterson headed out to find Jill and go home for the night.
Weller sat back in his chair and felt the best he had in last few days. Maybe, just maybe he could make amends for falsely arresting Jane and get to a happily ever after.