+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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Gillian sat on the bed and left her phone before her to dial Aldana on speaker. Brock rested against a chest of drawers, as far from her as he could without falling out the window. His sarcasm tried to get started about what was wrong about being alone in the same room with Gillian and a bed—nothing! That was the problem. Lucky he, Aldana picked up soon enough.
She and Russell had taken a trip to Richmond to look into the adoption agency and try to find out how they'd accepted that Irene's mother signed the papers instead of her. Aldana picked up on speaker as well, to let Russell be part of the conversation.
"We got all kinds of lucky here, Reg," she said. "And for once, we can thank politics for it. The local SAC got us in touch with the state Attorney General, and when he heard this was something dirty about Graff, he offered to help us in any way he can."
"He's the first Democrat AG in ages," said Russell. "And even when the governor is a Democrat too, the GOP still holds both state chambers. Not easy. Looks like the Tea Party's been a pain for them over the last three years."
"So?" asked Gillian, not interested at all in politics.
"The AG got us all the orders we needed in the blink of an eye," Russell replied. "So we picked up the director of the adoption agency and took her to their office to see Liam's file. She kept the part concerning the adoptive parents, but had to disclose the documents about Irene's side of the process."
"We found everything we needed," said Aldana. "Liam's birth certificate has Irene as his mother and unknown father. By the way, now we have the name of the hospital where she delivered, to see who paid for it. However, the adoption forms are signed by Irene's mother."
"The file includes a power of attorney on her name, certified by a public notary," said Russell. "It has all of Irene's personal information needed to fill it, but she never signed it. The agency director claims she had nothing to do with the process, because it was just a routine closed adoption. So we still have to interview the staff who handled it."
"What about the public notary?" asked Brock, folded arms and a focused scowl down on the phone.
"We arrested him," Aldana replied. "He lawyered up but agreed to give us a statement anyway. Looks like one day before the adoption, a GOP state senator called him for a favor: he had to sign a blank form for a power of attorney and give it to Irene's mother. Looks like the notary owed this senator, so he did it."
"We're questioning the senator tomorrow. We already have the orders to access his phone records and to search Irene's home."
"And the arrest order for Irene's mother. Busy day, Sunday."
"What time did you arrest the notary?" asked Gillian.
"About two hours ago," replied Aldana.
Gillian looked up at Brock, who set his jaw. So that was the reason behind Niki Thompson's threat—Graff had gotten word of what was going on in Virginia.
"How're things over there?" asked Aldana.
"Graff's losing it," Gillian replied. "That's making him sloppy."
"What did he do?" asked Russell, suspicious.
"Play the bully. Nothing serious, we've got it covered."
Tanya's voice came from behind the closed door. "Reg, Fred's back."
"D'you need us there tomorrow?" asked Gillian.
"Only if you're too bored," said Aldana. "We'll keep you up. Take care."
