"Reunion"
by Andra Marie Mueller
Part ThreeSee part one for summary, author's notes & disclaimer
****************************************
ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA
Scully and Doggett arrived at the home of Danielle and Nicholas Wynmore, the couple who had witnessed Scott’s accident, and walked up to the front door. Scully rang the bell, and Doggett knocked twice on the door. A dog began barking from inside the house, followed by a masculine voice saying “Down, Bruno!” and a moment later a man of about Doggett’s age opened the door, his left hand holding the collar of a brindle Great Dane.
“May I help you?”
Scully and Doggett withdrew their badges as the latter said, “Special Agents Scully and Doggett with the FBI. Are you Nicholas Wynmore?”
“I am.”
“Doctor Wynmore, if you can spare a few minutes, we‘d like to ask you a couple more questions about what you and your wife saw the night Scott Caldwell was killed,” Scully requested.
“My wife isn’t home at the moment, but I’ll be happy to answer any additional questions you have,” Wynmore said, and stepped aside to allow them entry. “Please, come in.”
As Wynmore led them into the living room, Bruno positioned himself next to Doggett and promptly butted his head against the agent’s leg in a bid for attention.
“He’s usually not so friendly with strangers,” Wynmore remarked. “You must be a dog person.”
Doggett shrugged as he gave the large canine a brief pat. “I wasn’t until I met my wife,” he demurred, “but she’s always had dogs that weigh more than she does so I learned to like them.”
Scully hid a smile at his use of the present tense when referring to his marriage to Jessica, and settled herself on the couch as Doggett settled next to her, and Wynmore sat in a chair across from them.
“What can I do for you, Agents?” Wynmore asked.
“Accordin’ to the statement you gave Alexandria P.D.,” Doggett began, “you and your wife saw a man crawl out from underneath the other car before the police and ambulances arrived.”
“Yes,” Wynmore confirmed. “We had just called 911 on our cell phone and were walking toward the entangled cars to check for victims when we suddenly saw a man rise up from the ground on the opposite side. Given his proximity to the crash, we assumed he was the driver. He was rather slim, no more than thirty or so, and he glanced at the wreckage for maybe ten seconds before turning and walking away into the night.”
“Did you try and stop him?”
“No. He was obviously unhurt, and I was more concerned with helping anyone who was trapped in the cars.”
“Can you be more specific in your description?” Scully asked.
Wynmore frowned. “I wish I could, but we only saw him from a distance and it was raining quite heavily.”
Scully reached into her pocket and withdrew the picture of Billy Miles, holding it out to Wynmore. “Is this the man you saw that night?” she asked.
Wynmore took the picture and studied it for a moment before handing to back to Scully. “It could have been him,” he allowed. “There is a resemblance, but as I said the distance and weather conditions made it impossible to get a clear look at him.”
“Of course.”
Scully and Doggett rose to their feet as the former said, “Thank you for your time, Doctor.”
“I wish I could have been more helpful,” Wynmore responded.
The agents bid farewell to Wynmore and made their way back to Doggett’s car. As they climbed inside, Scully addressed her partner. “So do you still think it was Billy Miles they saw that night?” she prompted.
“It’s a bit too coincidental not to have been,” Doggett answered. “Doctor Wynmore admitted that there was a resemblance and said that the guy was obviously unhurt. And Jessica’s Superman analogy notwithstandin’, there’s only one ‘person ‘ that I know of who could’ve been behind the wheel of that car and walked away from the crash.”
“Assuming for the moment that it was Billy,” Scully replied, “we still don’t have a reason for his involvement. Why would Billy and/or the people controlling him want to kill Scott Caldwell?”
“I don’t know, but I damn well intend to find out.”
“What are you going to tell Jessica?”
“I wish I knew.”
Scully smiled. “You still care about her,” she observed.
“She was my wife and the mother of my son, Dana,” Doggett reminded her. “Of course I care about her.”
“Are you still in love with her?”
Doggett gave her a sideways glance. “Why is everyone so interested in my relationship with Jessica?” he asked with friendly exasperation.
“Maybe because she represents a part of you that no one ever gets to see,” came the quiet answer. “Once upon a time you obviously loved her very much, and given how closely you guard your feelings that’s a testament to the kind of woman she must be.”
Doggett was quiet for so long that Scully assumed he was annoyed at the intrusion into his personal business, but just as she was about to change the subject and save face, he broke the silence.
“Jessica was eleven years old when I first met her,” he began, the affection in his tone evident as he spoke. “Scott and I had been roommates at Syracuse for about two months, and when my family had to cancel our plans to meet for Thanksgiving that first year, I accepted Scott’s invitation to go to Virginia and spend the holiday with his. Knowin’ that his family was wealthy, I was expectin’ them to be a bit on the snobbish side, but from the minute I met Elizabeth Caldwell, she was nothin’ but gracious and friendly. She went to track down Jessica, and a few minutes later this huge dog comes trottin’ into the living room, followed by a very pretty little blonde girl with the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. I was there for four days, and by the time Scott and I left, it was obvious that Jessica had developed a crush on me. Scott said she even told him that she was gonna marry me when she grew up.”
“From the mouths of babes,” Scully said.
“Exactly. In any event, Jessica began writin’ me whenever she wrote Scott, and the next thing I know I’m pen pals with my roommate’s kid sister. She was smart little thing, though, and as she got older, her letters began to change. She was more serious, and wrote about mature topics like current events and politics. I saw her off and on over the years when she and her mother came to visit Scott, or when I went home with him. She missed our graduation when she came down with the flu, and by then was busy with school and her friends, so I didn’t see her again until she invited me to her high school graduation. At that point she was eighteen, and after the ceremony when she came over to where I was sittin‘ with her family, I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. She was one of the most attractive women I’d ever seen, even bein’ so young. My reaction to her scared the hell outta me, not just because of the age difference but because she was still the kid sister of my best friend.”
“Did you tell Scott how you felt?” Scully asked.
“Not a word, but knowin’ me as well as he did, he could tell that there was something different about the way I treated Jessica after that. Even Jessica could sense the change, but neither of them ever mentioned it to me. Shortly after we got our degrees, Scott and I joined the Marines and eventually would up bein’ sent to Beirut. That was a pretty bad time for both of us. Jessica continued to write to us, and I found myself lookin’ for her letters every month. She never actually said that she still harbored any romantic feelings for me, but there was a tone in her letters that told me more than words ever could. When I was hurt and given an honorable discharge, Scott asked his mother to make arrangements to get me sent home on a private plane. I wasn’t in much of a condition to be sociable and wasn’t up to a plane ride full of curious passengers.”
“I imagine not,” Scully replied. “Sometimes people’s sympathy and curiosity is worse than your original experience.”
“Like when you lost Mulder,” Doggett said.
“Yes.”
“The day I came home I walked into my parents’ living room and discovered Jessica sittin’ on the couch. And I got the same slammed in the gut feeling I had at her graduation, only this time it was stronger. She was almost twenty-two then, and had matured into the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. She’d just gotten her degree from Richmond University and had arranged to spend the summer working for Atlanta P.D. so we could spend some time together. She wound up stayin’ through Christmas, and by that time I knew I was in love with her.” He paused a moment to smile at the memory. “I remember when I finally got up the nerve to tell her. Jessica looked at me, smiled, and simply said, ‘its about time’. We were married eighteen months later.”
“Was your son’s murder the reason you divorced?”
“It was what got the ball rollin’ so to speak,” Doggett allowed. “About three months after he died, Jessica and I decided to separate. We were hurtin’ so bad we barely spoke to one another, and when we did it usually ended up in an argument. So we thought maybe a little time and distance would give us a chance to heal. But right about the time I was ready to ask her to come back, I got the divorce papers.”
“You could have contested them,” Scully said.
He shook his head. “I wasn’t willin’ to make it an issue if it was what Jessica wanted. I called her the day I got the papers, and we had the first civil conversation we’d managed in almost two years. There were some laughs and some tears, and after an hour on the phone we decided to call it at friends. I never expected to see her again.”
“Yet nearly three years later she went to the trouble to track you down and personally invite you to her brother’s funeral,” Scully pointed out. “And don’t tell me it was only because of your friendship with Scott, because she could have just as easily called or sent you a formal invitation in the mail.”
Doggett sighed. “Jessica has asked me to give her a second chance,” he revealed. “She told me that she still loves me and that she wants to give our relationship another shot.”
“From what you’ve told me about her that doesn’t surprise me,” Scully replied, earning her a curious look from Doggett.
“What makes you say that?”
She shrugged. “It’s rather simple, actually. She’s harbored feelings of one sort or another for you since she was what - eleven years old? And you’ve shared the best and worst moments of your lives. A bond like that doesn’t break, John. It may get stretched pretty thin from time to time, but it never truly disappears. And its worth fighting for.”
He shot her a sideways glance. “So you’re sayin’ I should reconcile with her.”
“I’m saying that maybe its time to admit to yourself that you still love her.”
“I never said I was still in love with her.”
Scully smiled. “You didn’t have to.”
*******************************************
Scott had worked in the heart of Alexandria at Caldwell & Grant, the law firm founded by his father Edward Caldwell and Edward’s partner, Alan Grant. Jessica and Mulder had exchanged casual conversation during the ride to Scott’s office, and by the time they reached the law firm, a tentative friendship was forming between them. As they walked toward the main reception desk, the lieutenant could feel the curious looks from her brother’s former colleagues, wondering about her presence there. The receptionist at the front desk knew Jessica well, and flashed her sympathetic smile as she and Mulder passed by. Reaching the office that had belonged to Scott, they approached his former personal assistant.
“Hello, Jessica,” she greeted. “I’m so sorry about Scott.”
“Thank you, Mary.”
“How are Sarah and the children holding up?” Mary asked.
“Rather well under the circumstances,” Jessica responded.
Mary glanced curiously at Mulder. “I don’t believe I know you,” she said.
“My name’s Fox Mulder; I’m with the FBI.”
Mary shifted her gaze back to Jessica. “The FBI?”
“Agent Mulder is helping me with a case I’m working on,” Jessica explained. “Would it be possible for me to get access to Scott’s old office for a few minutes? There are some personal items in there I need to retrieve.”
“I was told that all of Scott’s personal effects were delivered to his home the day after the accident,” Mary said.
“Who told you that?” Jessica asked.
“Mister Grant,” Mary answered. “He said that one of your detectives had already been here to retrieve Scott’s things and he’s asked everyone to stay out of the office until a decision is made about who will take Scott’s place.”
Jessica and Mulder exchanged a look. This was curious, indeed.
“Is Mister Grant available?” Mulder asked. “I’m sure he’d be willing to let Lieutenant Doggett check the office to verify that all of Scott’s personal belongings have been accounted for.”
“Unfortunately he had meetings outside the office today and isn’t expected in until late this afternoon,” Mary told them. “But as you said, given that Jessica is Scott’s sister, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”
Mary pulled open one of her desk drawers and withdrew a pair of keys, which she handed to Jessica. “These are the keys to Scott’s office and his filing cabinet,” she said. “Make sure you lock everything back up when you’re done and return the keys to me on your way out.”
“I will, Mary,” Jessica promised. “Thank you.”
Using the keys provided by Mary, the two let themselves in and began a cursory search of the room. Sure enough, the office had been cleared of all of Scott’s personal effects. As Mulder crossed over to open and search the filing cabinet, Jessica seated herself behind Scott’s desk and began pulling open the drawers. In one of the smaller ones, she found a stack of the personal stationery that had been used for the cryptic note she had received that morning. Taking out a sheet, she rose to her feet as she spoke to Mulder.
“I’m going to check something,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.”
The lieutenant walked out of the office as Mulder continued to rummage through Scott’s files. He reached the last of files and was about to close the drawer when he noticed another file wedged behind the rest, as if it had been shoved in hastily instead of in its proper order. Reaching into the drawer, he pulled it out and glanced at the label: DOGGETT, JESSICA CALDWELL.
Why would he have a file on his own sister and why would it be shoved into the back of the drawer? Mulder pondered silently.
Casting a quick glance at the door to ensure Jessica was still absent, he flipped open the file and swiftly scanned it. Most of it read like a standard personnel file, with documentation regarding her family history, education and employment history, and a brief mention of John and Luke Doggett. It was the last paper in the file, however, that caught his attention. It was folded in thirds and showed signs of wear, as if it had been read multiple times. It was a photocopy of a document entitled “Certificate of Adoption” dated May 2, 1964, and it bore Jessica’s name.
“The plot thickens,” Mulder muttered aloud.
Just then he heard Jessica’s voice in the hallway and he quickly refolded the paper and stashed it in his coat before shoving Jessica’s file back into the filing cabinet as she reentered the office.
“Did you find anything?” she asked.
“Not a thing,” Mulder lied. “Where’d you go to?”
She handed him the paper she was holding. “This is the same stationery that was used for the note I got this morning, and I asked Mary to type a couple of lines so we could compare the type set.”
“Good idea.”
“Well, since we seem to have come up empty, we’d better go. It would probably be best if Alan Grant didn’t get back from his meetings and find us snooping around.”
“I’ll second that,” Mulder said, and motioned for her to precede him out of the office. They returned the keys to Mary and headed for the elevator, and Mulder waited until they were inside before posing a question to Jessica. “Mind if I ask you a personal question?”
“Not at all.”
“How did the daughter of Elizabeth Caldwell wind up married to John Doggett?”
Jessica smiled. “I don’t know if that’s a compliment to me or an insult to John,” she said wryly.
“I meant Agent Doggett no offense,” Mulder assured her. “It’s just that I’ve known him for close to two years, and he’s a pretty private guy. I’m curious as to how he managed to marry a member of such a public family.”“John and my brother Scott were roommates at Syracuse,” the lieutenant told him. “Scott brought him home for Thanksgiving that first year, and for me it was puppy love at first sight. Over the years we became friends through our respective relationships with Scott, and eventually we fell in love. Shortly after we were married, we moved to New York to accept positions with NYPD. Ten years later we separated after our son’s murder and I moved to San Francisco, while John stayed in New York and took a job with the FBI. That was the last time we saw one another until I came to the office to tell him about Scott’s death.”
“Until you did, some of us were beginning to wonder if there was an ex-Mrs. Doggett,” Mulder revealed. “The only secret he guards more closely than you is what his middle initial ‘J’ stands for.”
She chuckled. “I can understand why,” she allowed. “John has never been one to advertise his personal business, and given why we parted company, I doubt I was on his list of favorite topics.”
“He doesn’t seem too unhappy to have you around again.”
“I hope not. But even if he were, he’d never say it. John may be a little rough around the edges, but inside he has the softest heart I’ve ever known, and he is the most inherently honorable man I’ve ever met. Most people seem to think that he somehow bettered himself by marrying a pretty little rich girl; what they don’t understand is that I’m the one who was privileged to have been his wife.”
The agent gave her an assessing glance. “You’re still in love with him.”
It was a statement, not a question, but nonetheless Jessica responded, “Yes.”
“Does Agent Doggett know?”
“He knows, and on that note the subject of my relationship with John is officially closed.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
*****************************************
FBI HEADQUARTERS
Shortly thereafter, Jessica had dropped Mulder off at the Hoover Building and returned to Alexandria. She had left the note and newspaper article with Mulder, so he could have them analyzed for fingerprints and compare the typing from her note to the one she’d asked Mary to type for her. After dropping them off at the evidence lab, Mulder made his way back to the office and found Scully and Doggett already there.
“Any luck with the eyewitnesses?” Mulder asked.
“Not really,” Doggett answered. “Doctor Wynmore said that the person they saw could have been Billy Miles, but even with the picture Scully showed him he was unable to make a positive ID.”
“Well as much as I hate to admit it, Agent Doggett, I’m going to agree with you on this one. Given the condition of the car and force of the collision, Billy Miles is the only being I know who could have been driving the other car.”
“You and I agreein’ on somethin’,” Doggett remarked. “Wonders never cease.”
“Where did you disappear to?” Scully asked.
“I was in Alexandria with Lieutenant Doggett,” Mulder answered. “She received an odd note this morning on her brother’s business stationery that was accompanied by an old newspaper article about the kidnapping of a baby girl several years ago. The note seemed to intimate that the kidnapping was connected to Scott’s death, and it said ‘Dead men tell no tales’.”
”Who sent it?”
“That’s what we were hoping to find out by going to Scott’s office.”
“Any particular reason she invited you to go with her?” Doggett interjected.
Mulder glanced at him. “Because the baby girl that was kidnapped was my sister,” he revealed.
“Samantha?” Scully prompted.
“No; it was my younger sister, Christina. She was born when I was seven, but according to my parents died of SIDS when she was about two months old. Yet the newspaper article states that she was actually kidnapped.”
“Any idea why your parents would lie about what happened to her?”
Mulder shrugged. “Maybe they felt they were protecting us, but then again they weren’t exactly pillars of honesty to begin with.”
Scully and Doggett exchanged a look at the obvious bitterness in his tone, but neither commented on it. Instead Doggett asked, “So did your trip to Scott’s office uncover anything?”
“Only another mystery,” was Mulder’s reply, and reaching into his coat, he withdrew the copy he had taken from the file on Jessica. “I found a file on Jessica stashed into the back of his filing cabinet, and this was the last paper in it.”
He handed it to Doggett, who quickly read it over before his face contorted into a confused frown. “This doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “Jessica’s not adopted.”
“According to that she is.”
Scully took the copy from Doggett and reviewed it herself before commenting. “This could have been forged,” she suggested.
“Maybe that’d be possible if we were talkin’ about somebody else,” Doggett countered, “but Jessica’s a Caldwell. Very few people in this country have the resources and/or the stupidity to mess with them. If someone was creatin’ false documentation about Jessica, her parents would have known about it.”
“Perhaps they already did,” Scully responded. “If this is genuine, than obviously the Caldwells were involved.”
“Fine; let’s just say for the sake of argument that Jessica is adopted. Why wouldn’t she know about it? And even if for whatever reason her parents never told her, why didn’t Scott? He adored her, and there’s no way he would have kept somethin’ like this from her.”
“Assuming he even knew himself,” Mulder replied.
“How could he not?” Doggett retorted. “Scott was seven when Jessica was born, Mulder; that’s old enough to know that babies aren’t dropped on the front porch by a giant stork.”
“Where there’s a will there’s a way, Agent Doggett,” Mulder said. “If the Caldwells did adopt Jessica as an infant, then they could have found a way to bring her into their home and present her to Scott as their own child without arousing any suspicion in him.”
“I think we should shelve the rest of this conversation until we’ve verified whether or not this adoption certificate is valid,” Scully interjected. “Right now we should be concentrating on uncovering who sent Jessica the note and the newspaper article, and whether there really is a connection between them and Scott’s death.”
“The lab said they’d have the results of the fingerprint analysis in about an hour,” Mulder said. “In the meantime I’m going to contact the Bureau’s field office in Boston and find out if there’s a record of Christina’s kidnapping.”
“Boston?” Doggett repeated.
The other man nodded. “Yes. We were living in Martha’s Vineyard when Christina die…disappeared.”
Doggett looked thoughtful.
“Does that mean something to you, Agent Doggett?” Scully prompted.
“It means somethin’ to Jessica,” Doggett responded. “Boston is where she was born.”
Scully and Mulder exchanged a look before the former asked, “She wasn’t born in Virginia?”
“No. Her family was vacationin’ in Boston when Elizabeth went into labor, and I’ll give you three guesses as to what the date was.”
Scully glanced down at the copy on her desk. “May 2, 1964.”
“Exactly.”
“That can’t be a coincidence,” Mulder stated.
“Unfortunately it’s beginning to look like this adoption certificate is valid after all,” Scully replied.
“I’d be interested to know if there’s a connection between Christina’s kidnapping and Jessica’s adoption,” Mulder said. “Maybe there was some kind of black market for baby girls around that time and Jessica and Christina were victims of that.”
“Let’s not get carried away, Agent Mulder,” Doggett cautioned. “While I have to concede that it looks like Jessica was indeed adopted, I find it difficult to believe that the Caldwells would’ve gotten her from anywhere other than a legitimate adoption agency.”
“Then why not tell Jessica the truth? It obviously made no difference to the Caldwells that she wasn’t their biological daughter, so why did they think it would make a difference to her?”
Doggett had no answer.
**********************************************
As always, he was seated in a wheelchair in the center of the darkened room when the other man arrived. Thankfully, however, this time he was not smoking.
“Is it done?” he asked.
“Yes,” the younger man confirmed. “The first piece of the puzzle was delivered this morning.”
“How did she react?”
“She went to the FBI to show it to Agent Mulder, and they paid a visit to her brother’s office.”
“Did they find anything there?”
“According to my source, the only thing missing from Scott Caldwell’s office was the copy of Jessica Doggett’s adoption certificate from her file.”
He smiled. “That is excellent news. If the other pieces fall into place as quickly as the first one has, we should have the issue of Lieutenant Doggett and her connection to Agent Mulder resolved by Christmas.”
“When do you want to reveal the next piece of the puzzle?”
“Let’s wait a day or two and see what the lovely lieutenant and the agents can uncover on their own. It will make it so much easier if they do the work for us. In the meantime, I think its time to alert the senator that old ghosts are going to return to haunt her.”
“Consider it done.”
***************************************
WASHINGTON D.C.
Elizabeth Caldwell was in her office reviewing the draft of her speech for an upcoming fundraiser when her private line rang. Stifling a sigh of annoyance at the interruption, she reached over to pick up the receiver.
“Elizabeth Caldwell.”
“Good afternoon, Senator,” an unfamiliar male voice greeted. “Please accept my sympathies on the death of your son.”
“Who is this?” Elizabeth asked.
“Who I am doesn’t matter. It’s what I know that should concern you. And I know that the beautiful woman you raised as your daughter is not your biological child.”
Elizabeth felt her blood turn to ice. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” she hissed, her voice no more than harsh whisper.
“Oh, but I do. New England Medical Center, Boston, spring 1964…is it coming back to you?”
“Who are you?” she demanded again.
He ignored the question. “Dead men tell no tales, Senator; your son’s ‘accident’ assured that. But now your daughter and her friends at the FBI are poking their nose into places where they don’t belong, and they will eventually uncover your little secret. Be ready, and be warned.”
Without giving the senator a chance to respond, the mysterious man disconnected the call, and an ashen Elizabeth stared at the receiver for a long moment before replacing it in its cradle with a trembling hand. After taking a moment to regain her composure, she picked up the phone again and quickly dialed, and after two rings a man’s voice came on the line.
“Alan Grant.”
“What the hell is going on, Alan?” Elizabeth demanded.
“Elizabeth?”
“Yes. I just received an anonymous phone call from someone who claims Scott’s death wasn’t an accident and that he knows Jessica is not my biological child.”
“Of course Scott’s death was an accident,” Grant assured her quickly. “Jessica’s own department is handling the investigation, and she certainly would have told you if something unusual had turned up.”
“Fine, but what about Jessica not being my child?” Elizabeth pressed. “The only people still alive who know about the adoption are you and I. Yet this man knew exactly when and where Edward and I obtained Jessica. How the hell did some petty piece of slime get his hands on that information?”
“I don’t know but I promise you I will find out and handle it,” Grant said.
“You’d better, Alan,” Elizabeth snapped. “Because if Jessica finds out about this, the first thing she’s going to do is take what she knows to John Doggett. And if the FBI gets involved, we’re both going to go down.”
She slammed the phone down without giving Grant a chance to respond.
*************************************
On to Part four
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