Die Hard (Sue Thomas FBEye)

Chapter Three

"Granny? You want to talk about Granny?"

"Your mom's mom," Jack confirmed. "Is she still alive?"

"No. She passed away when I was fifteen. I remember her funeral. So many people came. She touched so many lives." Random memories flooded Sue's mind. "Granny and mom shared a strained relationship. That theme seems to run in the family," she said, referring to her own tense relation with her mother. "I loved her, Jack. When mom and I fought I'd go see her and she always listened... really listened."

She bit her bottom lip, hoping to stop her eyes from getting misty. Jack gently caressed her back.

"It sounds like she was a great woman."

"An amazing woman," she corrected, nodding in agreement. "She was a war widow and she raised my mother by herself. It wasn't an easy feat back then."

Even now, Jack thought, being a single mom wasn't easy. He could only imagine the hardship the woman endured.

"She never remarried. For the longest time, she ran a shelter for disadvantaged women. That was how she called them."

"Where?"

"In Ohio somewhere... I think. Though I don't remember her living anywhere else than at the retirement village nearby our house. She was in her mid-eighties when she died."

"Physically, did she look like you?"

Sue vigorously shook her head. "As a young woman she had fiery red hair and green eyes. She was kind of stocky. I was almost a head taller than her as a teenager. But she had huge heart, Jack."

"Just like you, angel." Reaching forward, he kissed the top of her nose and was rewarded with a smile.

"With her... I didn't feel different. Why did you want to know about her?"

Jack hesitated. How was he supposed to tell Sue that the woman who shaped her childhood wasn't who she thought she was.

"Jack? Something wrong?"

"Could you grab my jeans on the floor?" he asked since she was on top of him. "There's a picture in one of the back pockets."

She leaned over the side while his hands firmly held her waist. When she repositioned herself, she had the picture secured in her hand.

"Who is the elderly woman?"

"It's an aging image of the mystery woman." Jack was fairly certain could rule out the twin theory since the woman didn't look like her deceased grandmother. "Sue... according to the DNA result... she is your grandmother."

"My what?" She had to have read him wrong. The woman didn't resemble any of her grandmothers.

"Your maternal grandmother," he specified.

She shook her head in denial. "Jack. This isn't Granny."

"Is it possible that your mother was adopted?" When she broke eye contact, he lifted her chin. "Sue, it doesn't make Granny any less your grandmother."

"I know." A deep sigh rocked her chest. "It's just... unexpected, I guess. In a way it would explain the resemblance." She examined the photo some more. "Mom would have been very young when her mother died. Do you think Granny told her and my mother kept it secret?"

"I have no idea, angel."

"The ring, Jack. Could the technician decipher it?"

"Anna and Carl, 1944."

"Carl... Carla... that's too much of a coincidence that my mother shares his name, is it? Do you think the woman was Anna?" Having no idea what to think, she speculated out loud. "Where do I find the answers, Jack? Do I even want answers?"