+18 - eps 28-32 - On the sixth installment of the Blackbird series, Cassidy sends Gillian and her team with Brock and Russel to Tampa, Florida, to look into the death of a girl while winter storm Jonas beats the East Coast. But this seemingly ordina...
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Tanya had taken the time to make a very simple slide show, so the others wouldn't get lost with the different names. She plugged her computer to the plasma and showed pictures as they took turns to add to the story, in order to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.
Gillian was the first to speak. "William Graff came to DC from Farmville, Virginia, on a sports scholarship. His younger brother John joined him here three years later, also on a sports scholarship, when William was about to get his Law degree. While William graduated and went back to Virginia to start his political career, John stayed here and studied Economy. Only two years later he got his first job as accountancy junior on Perry Corp, the communications company."
"That's the company where he's CEO nowadays," said Ron.
Tanya nodded. "Yep. He married Perry's only daughter and heir three years later."
"Irene's mother?" asked Fred.
"The one and only. Daddy Perry's wedding gift was a nice house with three extra rooms for all the children they planned to have."
"How d'you know that, T?" asked Russell.
"You really wanna know?" replied Kurt.
The girl went on. "With so much spare room, they took in William. By then he worked for one of Virginia's GOP Senators, but didn't earn enough to pay the rent of a decent place and keep up the lifestyle he needed in order to keep climbing in the party."
Gillian noticed the look Aldana and Hank traded. "What is it, lads?"
"Dawson was Senator Graff's therapist for many years," replied Hank. "He says that Graff was already dating his wife when he moved in with his brother. Anyway, having a girlfriend didn't stop him from getting into his in-law's pants."
"Irene's mother was William Graff's lover?" asked Brock, to be sure he'd heard it right.
"Graff ended it when Irene's mother got pregnant," said Aldana. "Then he moved out of his brother's place and got engaged."
"Pregnant, you mean...?" asked Gillian, controlling her shock.
"Irene's older brother," replied Aldana with a meaningful look.
"That's another DNA test I'd like to run," said Ron.
Hank nodded, agreeing. "Dawson said that both Graff and Irene's mother were never sure about who's the father of Irene's brother."
"Nice family," grunted Fred.
Aldana looked up at Gillian again. "I'm thinking of what Irene wrote about the night her mother found out she was being abused..."
"It should be me," said Gillian.
"Irene's account suggests her mother and William Graff still got together now and then," said Brock to the others.
"What about John Graff?" asked Ron. "What kind of blind idiot is he? Is it possible that he didn't know what was going on between his brother and his wife?"
"He's been working sixteen hours a day for the last twenty years," Kurt replied.
Fred frowned. "Seriously?"
Kurt winked at him. "His payroll is really something, and it may explain why he spends so many hours at the office."
"Spit it out," said Gillian.
"He's had the same personal assistant since he joined the company's board, fifteen years ago, and this man always stays working late with Graff. Always. And the team of aides working directly with Graff are all men. Young hunks, to be accurate. When they turn thirty, they get promoted to other departments of the company on managing posts and new hunks take their place in the CEO's staff."
"Oh, well," said Russell. "That explains why he gives a damn about what his wife does."
"So, let's sum up the situation," said Fred. "John married the heir to save face and get the company. His wife sought comfort to her loneliness with brother William, who wouldn't refuse. When she got pregnant, William thought he'd better stay outta trouble, so he moved out and got engaged."
"And rumor has it he kept cheating on his wife after they got married," said Tanya. "The man just can't keep his pants up. After landing on the Hill, he turned to young aides and campaign volunteers. They say his office was a parade of girls."
"Really, T, where the hell did you find that?" asked Russell.
"At least five girls sued him for harassment over the last eight years. He paid them off and the whole thing went down. But it's still there, if you know where to look."
"You scare me."
"Thanks."
"T, did you happen to find pictures of those girls?" asked Gillian.
Tanya displayed three photographs of blond girls in their very early twenties.
"Damn me if they don't look like Irene before she dyed her hair," grunted Ron.
"There are rumors of a couple of underage girls, but I couldn't confirm it," said Tanya. "Anyway, looks like he likes them younger as years go by."
"Tell me about it," growled Hank.
"Wait a minute," said Russell, sitting up. "If the father's a gay in the closet, there's no way he abused Irene."
