Bloodline (Sue Thomas FBEye)

Bloodline - Chapter Twelve

Jack was in a windowless room of the Hoover building with A.D. Turner, overseeing an operation involving hundreds of agents in the four corners of the country, and he wouldn't be back home until morning at the earliest.

With her baby sleeping in her crib, a reasonable mother would be in bed, dreaming, not pacing her new home, but Sue couldn't help it. She was worried— worried someone she loved might get hurt.

In the last few days, to diffuse the tension of the upcoming operation, she and Jack had made plans for the holidays. There would be no trips to Ohio or Wisconsin, only a quiet week at home with Belle during which the grandparents would be invited to visit. She hadn't talked to her mom and dad in months, and they were probably wondering how much longer she'd stay undercover. Time had come to return her mother's call, but not over the phone. A camera was attached to Jack's computer. With any luck, he would have downloaded Skype. Her mother had bragged about how she could see her grandchildren every time she called Sue's older brother, and Sue needed to see her mom in order to tell her what she wanted to tell her.

Skype was open, and Jack hadn't logged out. Using his username, JackAtHome, she sent a message to her mother. Minutes later, a window appeared on her screen, asking Sue if she accepted the call. Jack had faced her dad, it was Sue's turn to face her mom.

"Hello, darling. It's an interesting username you chose. Are you done with your secret assignment?"

It was weird to see her mother talking to her as if she were sitting in the same room as her when they weren't in the same state.

"There was no secret assignment."

"But... I thought... Jack said..."

"Tell me about Catherine, mom."

In normal times, Sue wouldn't have breeched the subject so bluntly, but she was tired and worried and pregnant.

On the screen, it looked like a glitch had frozen her mother's image.

"A long time ago, I found her birth certificate in a trunk." More than fifteen years later, she needed answers, and she prayed her mother was ready to provide some. "She was my twin sister, mom. Talk to me."

Tears glistened in her mother's eyes.

"I shouldn't have left that trunk in the attic. It was my fault you found out... my fault she died. Why do you bring her up now?"

"She was a part of me, like my baby is a part of me. I need to understand what happened to Catherine, to fill that gap inside me."

"Baby?" For what appeared a long time, her mouth opened and closed without making sense. "Are you... did Jack get you pregnant? Was it why you wouldn't answer my calls?"

"Yes, I got pregnant." Sue silently chastised herself for giving her mother a diversion. "Jack and I went to the mountains so I could get some rest from work, but things went wrong while we were there. Belle was born seven weeks early and... and it feels like my life has become a roller-coaster ride."

"Belle? Is that... is that the baby's name? She's not... You didn't lose her... did you?"

To watch her mother worried about Belle brought tears to Sue's eyes.

"No, I didn't lose her. Isabelle is tiny, but she's fine. Would... would you like to meet her?"

This wasn't how she'd planned on introducing Belle to her grandmother. When her mother nodded, Sue went to pick up the infant.

"Sorry to wake you up, honeybell, but grandma wants to see you."

Bella opened her eyes, took Sue's pinky finger's into her mouth and went back to sleep. She needed to get Jack to buy her a pacifier next time he stopped by the drugstore.