Chapter 12: Renee's Past Exposed

Chapter 12: Renee’s Past Exposed

At Jack’s House

Grace finally fell asleep in the guest bedroom. Renee, Jack, and Bobby are talking in the living room. Jack asks Bobby to send agents in unmarked vehicles patrolling his neighborhood and provide round-the-clock protection for Renee and Grace.

Renee: You saved both our lives tonight. I don’t know how to thank you, Jack. (smile)

Jack: I’m just glad I was there. You can thank me by telling me who you think would want to hurt you. (smile and raise eyebrows)

Renee: I don’t know what you mean, Jack. I work for the embassy and I’ve never had a problem before.

Jack: I know you’re scared. It was an ugly and terrifying experience for you and Grace to go through tonight. But you must know something.

Bobby: I’m with Jack. There must be a reason why someone would target you. Tell us so we can find whoever did this and make him pay.

Renee: I have been getting some threatening phone calls late at night for the past week. I thought it was a kid playing a practical joke. But the last call said; “Your time is coming”. Then whoever it was hung up. And now my apartment looks worse than a hurricane aftermath.

Bobby: I’ll get records from last week from the phone company. Maybe it will give us something to go on. Jack, you want me to stick around here? (smile)

Jack: Thanks, Bobby. I think Renee will feel more comfortable talking to me about her problems if you’re not here. (smile)

Bobby: Gotcha. We have agents guarding the perimeter. I will head back to the bureau. See if Myles and Dimitrius found any leads. Stay safe. See you tomorrow. (smile)

After Bobby leaves, Jack goes to the kitchen and makes a pot of coffee. Jack won’t be able to sleep a wink tonight. Renee comes in and sits down at the table. She starts to cry, Jack isn’t sure what to do except hug her and tell her that everything is going to be alright. He lets her cry on his shoulder until she falls asleep.

Jack: You just have to trust me. I swear I’ll protect you and Grace with my life. But first you have to tell me what you know. (smile)

Renee: I do trust you, Jack. But Grace’s safety is my first and only priority. (smile)

Jack: But you have to understand that I can’t help you and Grace if I don’t have all the facts.

Renee: Okay. I’ll tell you what little I know. I think someone at the Italy embassy may be doing something illegal. At this point it is just my suspicion. I saw a man with one of my co-workers, Monica Davenport. There was an incident where I saw the two of them together. He was holding something very glittery in the palm of his hand. He put it away in his pocket as soon as he saw me enter the office. I don’t know if there’s a connection between what I saw and what happened tonight.

Jack: What does Monica Davenport do at the embassy? (curious smile and raise eyebrows)

Renee: She works as a secretary for George Perkins, the U.S. Ambassador to Italy.

Jack: Can you describe the man you saw with Monica?

Renee: He is tall, dark hair; brown eyes, broad shoulders, in his mid-40s, and has a mustache. He had on a dark tailored Italian suit. That’s all I can remember. Will this help your investigation?

Jack: That’s a good place to start. Is there anything else you want to tell me? (smile)

Renee: I know that you have a girlfriend. But I have to tell you that I’ve missed you a lot. I just thought you should know that, Jack. Now I’m going to try to get some sleep. See you tomorrow morning. Goodnight, Jack.

Jack: Okay. You and Grace are safe now. I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you and your daughter. I promise. Goodnight, Renee. (smile)

The next day at the bullpen

Jack left Renee and Grace in the conference room while he goes to meet with his team.

Jack: Morning all. Did we get a ballistic match on the bullets, anything at all to go on from last night?

D: The bullets were too fragmented; the lab couldn’t identify any of them.

Myles: The neighbors are too scared to share any information with us. But we were able to lift a fingerprint off of a wineglass.

Bobby: I checked with the phone company and went through last week’s log. It looks like whoever called Renee was smart enough to use a synthesizer to distort his or her voice.

Jack: So this wasn’t a random target. Someone wanted Renee out of the way. But I still can’t figure out who and why. Lucy, get me a full dossier on Monica Davenport, phone, voicemail, financial records, her daily routine, friends, anything else you can think of. Tara, go through the database and see if you can find a match for Monica’s mystery boyfriend.

Sue: Anything I can do to help with the case?

Jack: Not yet. But I am requesting surveillance tapes from the Italy Embassy. When we get the tapes, I want you to go through them and give me a detailed transcript of everything that is on there.

Three hours later, at the bullpen

Tara: Jack, I think I found something. But you’re not going to like it.

Jack: What are you talking about? (raise eyebrows)

Tara: The fingerprint that was lifted from the apartment belongs to Rebecca Zoe Curtis. Only the real Rebecca Zoe Curtis died in a car crash in Illinois 3 years ago. And the social security number that Renee used was issued only eighteen months ago.

Jack: Renee wouldn’t lie to me. There’s got to be a mistake in the system. (confused expression on his face)

Tara: There’s more. I came across a picture of a little girl that bears an uncanny resemblance to Grace. Only her name is Kim Stewart. Her father is Simon Stewart, son of Roger Stewart.

Myles: Roger Stewart owns Novel-Tech Enterprises, listed on the Fortune 500. One of the most powerful computer software companies in the country.

Tara: That’s right, Myles. As I was saying, the database shows that a little girl was kidnapped in Florida 4 years ago. At the time of the kidnapping, Kim was almost 2 years old when her mother took her. Roger Stewart has a reward of $150,000 for any information leading to Kim Stewart’s return to her home in Florida. But the police never solved the case.

Jack: Are you saying what I think you’re saying? It’s preposterous. There is no way Renee would kidnapped Grace or any child for that matter.

Tara: Jack, you know as well as I do, the FBI keeps an up to date database full of missing children in order to reunite them with their parents. And I knew you wouldn’t believe me. So I use an age photo enhancement technique. I took Kim Stewart’s baby picture to see if there’s a match with Grace’s current picture. There is no doubt in my mind that Kim and Grace are one and the same.

Bobby: If you’re right. That means that Renee if that is really her name has been lying to Jack about everything. Maybe last night was a ruse.

Myles: Maybe Tara and Bobby are right about this. And maybe you’re too close to this investigation to be objective.

D: All we have are maybes. We need to find out for certain. I say we call the Florida PD and get them to fax all their reports on the kidnapping of Kim Stewart, her parents, everything that have on the 4 year old case. Once we have all the files and we go through it with a fine-tooth comb. Then we will know for sure if Renee is lying or if she’s telling the truth.

Jack: Dimitrius is right. You all do that. Keep me posted, whatever you find out. Tara, do you have a picture of Kim Stewart and her father, Simon Stewart?

Tara: Yeah. I have it right here. What are you going to do with it?

Jack: I’m going to ask Renee about Simon Stewart. See if his name rings any bell for her. One more thing, any luck finding Fernando Bottcelli?

Sue: Not yet. But I told Howie to let us know if he hears anything on the streets.

Jack: Good. Come get me if Howie pages you. Lucy, I need you to keep Grace busy while I have a serious discussion with Renee.

In the conference room, mid-afternoon

Jack opens the door, smiles at Grace, and looks at Renee who is sitting at the table. Lucy takes Grace to another room to play with her dolls. Renee looks like she is a million miles away.

Jack walks over and sits down next to her. He is holding a manila folder in his right hand, inside is a picture of Kim and Simon Stewart. He hopes Tara is wrong. But he has a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that says maybe Tara is right. He has to find out the truth from Renee.

That is the only way he will believe whether or not she really did kidnapped her own daughter. In his heart, he doesn’t believe that Renee would do something malicious like kidnapping a child. But Jack reminds himself that he hasn’t seen Renee in twelve years. Maybe he does not know her as well as he thought he did.