Undercover Mystery Sister

     Every day Pat prays for the safety of others in the Police Departments everywhere. Then there is breakfast and coffee, and then the part Pat dislikes the most - getting dressed!

Black slacks, white blouse, and ankle holster. Before the blouse, she must put on a bullet-proof vest and a shoulder-holster as well. Ugh! She feels like she weighs ten extra pounds! Her Badge gets clipped on next and then the black shoes and Jacket!  

    Pat is to report to the Chief of the Police Department. She often goes all over the United States on her assignments. After this assignment she may be called to California, New York, or Chicago! Today, she is in Boston.

   “Hey Pat, how’s it going?”, The Chief asks.

   “It’s going!

   " I've seen the man in question, Jerry. But first we have to catch him, doing something illegal before we can bring him in!”

    The Chief says, “You could pick him up on suspicion, but that might not stick!"

   “True Chief. I was thinking, I might try to get his attention. “Okay, let me know how it goes," Jerry

   “Okay Jerry." Pat says.

Along with her police work, Pat had other things she was working on. She has been wondering about certain things, for years. She is being led to finding her real birth mother. Hints had been dropped over the years. Pat’s mother is in a nursing home. 

    “Hey Mom, how's it going?”  “Oh, okay, and how is your work going?” “It’s going alright Mother.”

"I have something important to tell you. I’ll write it down. It's complicated and if anything should happen to me …”, Mother said, trailing off. "I love you Mom." “It'll be in my night stand drawer." I have to get going Mother. I’ll see you next Sunday,”  Pat says.

  The next morning, as Pat drives to the B.P.D. parking lot, her thoughts are on what her mother may have meant. “Can’t think about this right now!”, Pat says to herself.

   “Pat, what’s up, and how is your mother doing?, Chief Jerry asks, as she enters his office.

“I have a plan and Mom is doing fine.”

“Good for your Mom, and what’s your plan?”

"Here's is the plan, when I get to the dorms today, I'll be dressed in a housekeeper’s uniform. As you can see I dyed my hair.” “I noticed,” Jerry says, laughing!

     Pat chuckles too, and continues, "The rest of the plan is to go to the main road for a break, and stand there, say he walks by at his usual time, I catch his attention, and so on. “Sounds good, and be careful!,” Jerry says. 

“See you later, Jerry,” Pat says on her way out.  

The man in question walks right by Pat. Pat says to him, “Hey, you have a nice day!”, trying to get his attention. He turned then, but he looked a little frightened, as his eyes fell on Pat’s work badge. Pat went on, saying, “You want to go out for lunch sometime?”

He replied, “Well, I don’t really do well with official looking folk!”

“Oh, I’m not as official as I look, I’m only a housekeeper,” Pat lied. “Oh, I guess. When?”, the man asked. "How about today at 2:00." “Okay, see you over there,” he said, pointing toward a Pizza shop. 

“Okay, I’ll see you then," Pat said, as she hurried up the hill to get her work done.

By 1:30 Pat is punching out of work. She pulls off her work badge, and throws it in her bag. She must drive out the main gate, to get to the road to meet the man, whose name she'll soon learn.

“Hey, you showed up, thanks!”, He said as Pat entered.

“Yep, as I said I would. What are you hungry for?”, Pat asked, smiling.

“Well, I don’t even know your name," He said.

“I’m Pat and you are?”, Pat replied.

“I’m Gene. Hi Pat. And as for what to eat, how about a Cheese Steak,” Gene said, as he slid into a booth.

“Sounds great. I’ll be right back,” Pat said.

After placing their order, Pat walked back and sat down. “So, Gene, what’s on your mind?”, Pat asked.

“Well, I don’t really know where to start” Gene said.

“Here comes our lunch!, “Pat says.

“Oh great, I'm hungry!”, Gene says.

After taking a bite of her sandwich, Pat says, “After we are done here Gene, I really need to get home. What are you up to tomorrow?”

  “Not much, Why?”, Gene asked.

“ Just wondering. I have an appointment at 6:00”, Pat said.

    “I’ll be, walking on the sidewalks. I work the second shift at the factory”, Gene answered. 

   “Okay, how about meeting here again tomorrow?”, Pat said, trying to keep him in her confidence. “Tomorrow is fine, and thanks for lunch”, Gene said. “Okay,” Pat replied.

    Pat had to get to the Chief’s office by 6:00 pm. So far, she had the man’s name, where he works, and although he hadn’t said which factory, Pat could guess, there was only one in the town. 

    Shortly after Pat’s stopping back home, she noticed the time had just flown by.

    Chief Jerry and Officer Mark met Pat at the B.P.D. doors. Jerry said, “Hey Pat, you know Officer Mark?"

  “Yes, Jerry.” Pat replied.

   “Let’s get into the office, so we can chat”, Jerry says.

    Once in the office, Pat began with, “Wow, I have some good stuff for you! First we have a name, it’s Gene, second we know where he works,” Pat rushes on. “Slow down a bit Pat, I have to write all this down," Jerry says.

“Okay, now here's where we have Officer Mark come in,” Jerry says.

    “Tomorrow I’m to punch in at the college, as Security. I'm going to watch while you're across the street with Gene", Mark puts in. “Okay see you at 6:00 tomorrow,” Pat adds.

“Yep, see you then Pat,” Mark replied.

As Pat punches in at the office,the next morning, Mark is up in the Security office. Pat and Mark must not be seen together, at any time on campus. 

     Shortly after Pat begins work, she is vacuuming the hallway of the girl’s dorm. The time of morning is 8:50. She bumps the door to room #5, knocking it open. Inside, she sees a girl sitting on her bed. “Oops sorry,” Pat says, and closes the door.

The young lady is not supposed to be in her room, at this time. Pat goes on the alert. She heads down to the Office. Here, she inquires about the girl and finds out she had called that morning, to let them know she wouldn't be attending classes.

Okay, Pat thinks to herself, but then asks to speak with the young lady’s Dorm Master. “Sure, hold on Pat, I'll have her come to speak with you," the secretary says. 

     The secretary is not aware of Pat’s undercover position. When the Dorm Master arrives, she asks Pat,” What is your position here, Pat ?"

Pat answers, “Housekeeper." “Okay then, what is this about?", Mrs. Abram asks.

     As Pat looks at Mrs. Abram’s name badge, she says, “Mrs. Abram, I was vacuuming the hallway of the girl’s dorm, and I knocked the door open to room # 5, and I saw, a young lady in there. I was wondering why she was there at the time of 8:50 am."

     “Okay then, when you found out from the secretary, why was I called?," Mrs. Abram asked.

    “Mrs. Abram, is there a private room where we can speak about this?,” Pat asks.

   “Yes, come this way,” Mrs. Abram says.

   "Right in here,” Mrs. Abram says.

    “Mrs. Abram,” Pat begins, as she reaches inside of her uniform pocket, for her Police Badge, “I am an Undercover Police Officer and I'm concerned for this young lady, as I saw her, she had what looked like a shot glass in her hand!” 

   “Oh, this is a surprise!,” Mrs. Abram says, trying to process the new facts.

   “We will look into the matter further,” Mrs. Abram says.  

   "I will allow you to go with me to see this young lady. Are you available now?,” Mrs. Abram asks.

    “Yes, let’s go, but remember I'm a housekeeper, not a cop! I may get some flack from her, so go along with me on anything I say or do.”

    Mrs. Abram knocks on room # 5’s door. 

   “Ah, yes who is it?,” the young lady asks.

“It’s Mrs. Abram,” Mrs. Abram answers. “Oh, hi Mrs. Abram, how are you today?”

 “I’m fine, and how are you feeling Jackie?,” Mrs. Abram asks.

   “Oh, I feel better,” Jackie answers.

   “I have one of the housekeepers with me, can we come in and talk with you?,” Mrs. Abram asks.

   Jackie says, “ Yeah, okay."

Mrs. Abram and Pat enter the room.  As Mrs. Abram keeps Jackie occupied on one side of the room, Pat goes to Jackie’s bed. She catches a glimpse of the shot glass. 

Jackie is not so naïve, that she doesn’t notice what's going on, she suddenly stands up and says, “What are you doing? You have no right to be in my room!”

   “Calm down Jackie, It’s okay!,” Mrs. Abram says, trying to console her. 

   “No, it's not okay!, Get out of my room!,” Jackie shouts.

   “Jackie, I'm sorry, I’ll go,” Pat says, backing out the doorway, with a shot glass behind her.

    While Mrs. Abram finishes talking with Jackie, Pat is on her way to the office.

    Mrs. Abram enters the office, later, and says, I saw what you picked up from under Jackie’s pillow.” 

 “So, her name is Jackie. What is her story then?,” Pat asks.

“Well, she is saying, that you knocked her door open on purpose,” Mrs. Abram replied.

“Okay, Mrs. Abram, may I asked you a couple of question about Jackie?,” Pat asks.

   “Well, you know because of H.I.P.P.A., it all depends,” Mrs. Abram answers. 

Here’s the first question, who are Jackie’s parents?” Pat presses on.

   “I may have to go higher up to find out how much I'm able to tell you,” Mrs. Abram replies.

    “Okay, let’s do that now. Where do we go?,” says Pat.

    “The Head Principal is the next step. He is across campus, in the Main Office. But, first let me call a Cab-Buddy for us. This campus is 2 miles long!”, Mrs. Abram says. When the cab pulls up, Pat is surprised to see who the driver is!

    As Pat and Mrs. Abram get ready to get out of the cab, Officer Mark, doesn’t say a word and he smiles.

   “Here we are ladies!,” Mark says, pulling up in front of the Main Office. “Thank you!,” Mrs. Abram says, as she hops out.

Then, just before Pat hops out, she gives Mark a wink and whispers, “Thanks Mark!”

    The Head Principal was able to give Pat the information she needed, after hearing about her line of work with the Boston Police Department.

   Jackie is the daughter of a wealthy woman, who was divorced from Jackie’s father, when Jackie was just 7. The whereabouts of the father is unknown. Pat was also told that Jackie's mother would be notified of the incident. Jackie’s mother is very caring , and would do anything to help her daughter!

Pat looked at her cell-phone, to see that it was 1:15. She had just enough time to get to the time clock, and get down to see Gene.

"I already ordered mine. What are you having today, Pat?" Gene asked. "Just two slices of pizza today Gene, and thanks," Pat replied.

"Long day!", Pat replied, sitting down. "Can I ask you something before we eat, Pat?" Gene asks. "Sure!", Pat answers.

Do you know any of the kids who live up there?" Gene asks, pointing across the street. "No, not really. They are in classes when I clean. Why?" Pat asks.

Gene says,"Pat, can I trust you with a secret?" "Sure, I am a great secret keeper. What it is it, Gene?" Pat replied. "Well, my ex-wife and I had a daughter 17 years ago. I was mean to them. She will not let me see my daughter, even though I have cleaned up my act!" Gene stated, with tears in his eyes.

What is your daughter's name, if I may ask?" Pat asked. "I haven't seen her in quite a few years!", Gene went on, oblivious to Pat's question. "I see," Pat said, trying to help him.

Gene never did tell Pat his daughter's name. Pat wouldn't see him again until the following Tuesday.

As Pat punches in the next day, she is stopped at the time clock by the Head Principal. "You have the day off Officer Patricia. Come with me, please. I spoke with your Chief this morning. I know him well!"

Once in the office, Pat is surprised to see Jackie, Jackie's mother, Jerry, and Mrs. Abram. Jackie's mother,Pat,and Jackie go into another room first, and then, the rest follow.

"We are going to have to go to court," The Principal states. As he is saying this, everyone looks toward Jackie to see her reaction. All of the adults had gotten together the day before. They wanted to give Jackie the opportunity to tell the truth.

"Jackie, it is very important that you tell the truth here today!" Her mother said. "Well mom, I'm sorry!" Jackie states, and hangs her head. "This woman is not a housekeeper, she is a Police Officer," Jackie's mother continues.

"Really, I'm so sorry! I will never do this again, I promise!" Jackie cries!

"Okay, now you may go to your room Jackie," Mrs. Abram says.

Jackie goes with her mother. "Officer Pat, Jackie has been told not to tell anyone about you, so your cover isn't blown!" The Principal says.

"That went very well and thank you all!" Pat says, as her and Jerry head out. On the way back to the precinct, Pat gives the scoop on Gene, to Jerry about the day before.

"I think when this is over, I'm going to take a long vacation!" Pat states. "Sounds great Pat!, Jerry replies, laughing.

"Ah, Gracie, it's Sunday already!" Pat says to her cat. "I'm going to go see Mom. I'll be back. I love you."

As Pat pulls into the nursing home parking area, she sees a man coming toward her. It is the head of Administration. He leads her to his office to inform her that her mother is in hospital.

Pat quickly catches a cab to the Boston Memorial Hospital.

She looks in on her mother, who is sleeping peacefully. She had a mild stroke, the doctors said. Pat leans over and gives mom a kiss on the forehead. Then she heads home. On the way home she decided to stop and see if the letter, her mother spoke of the Sunday before, is in her mother's nightstand drawer. It is and she takes it home to read. After reading the letter, Pat says to her cat, "Oh my God, Gracie, your name-sake, my step-grand mother - Grace, is my sister! I never knew!"

Pat went to see her mother in hospital again the next day. She was awake, eating her breakfast. She is going to be okay!

  “Ah, to get home and out of this uniform!” Pat thinks to herself, while driving her Mustang down Route #70, towards home. 

    As Pat pulls into her driveway, she sees Mark sitting there in his Police cruiser.

   “Hey!,” Pat says, getting out of the Mustang. “Hey yourself woman!,” Mark replies and then adds, “How is Mom?” 

   “She is going to be okay, she was up eating breakfast when I got there,and she was talking too,” Pat adds.

    “So, what’s up Mark?”, Pat asks. 

“I just wanted to let you know why I was driving the Cab-Buddy the other day”, Mark answers.

  At work the next day, before Pat realizes, it is 1:00 pm., as she heads to the time clock to punch out a tad early. Mark had radioed her two minutes before to inform her that Gene was down on the sidewalk a bit early.

    Pat is, anxious to find out why. She heads out of the office to walk down to the road. 

    “Hey Pat!,” Gene says, as he spies her coming down the hill toward him. "What's up Gene?" Pat says.

"Oh, not much, I was just wondering if you could let me walk up there with you. I know my daughter is here and I want to see her!"

 “Okay, Gene,but let’s talk about it first!” Pat says. “Okay!,” Gene says.

    “Let me go up to the office and get the keys. I punched out early today and we,…” Pat explains and trails off, as Gene interrupts with, “No, I don’t believe you, you’ll just go back up and notify Security!”

    “No Gene, I really want to help you!,” Pat says, she knows how important it must be to him to be able to see his daughter.

    “Gene, I am going to go back up and get those keys and I’ll be right back. You follow me up the hill, when I get back."

"Let’s go, and just walk casually and talk with me," Pat says, as they walk up the hill together.

Gene is just behind Pat, as she waves her work badge to enter the building.

    “Oh, Gene, I forgot the kids wont come over for another 10 minutes!,” Pat says, stalling a bit, because she knows the fire alarm will be going off in seconds!

    “We’ll wait!,” Gene says.

The fire alarm goes off and Gene jumps!”

     Pat says, “Just relax, and I’ll use my Two-Way Radio to contact Mark. He is one of the Security guys. I’ll tell him to put an announcement out to let the kids out early!”

“I have your back Gene! Just stay right here in this room, no one can get in here without this badge!,” Pat explains.

     Pat heads up to the door, leading into the 1st floor, and suddenly turns to say, “Gene, what is your daughter’s name?”  

“Jackie!,” Gene answers.

“Oh my god!,” Pat thinks to herself, moving down the corridor. She is glad that she didn’t have to wait for a description of his daughter, before going to look for her. 

     The false alarm had gotten all of the kids out of their classes. 

Pat spotted Jackie immediately, near the end of the line. 

    “Jackie, over here!,” Pat shouted. "There is someone here who would like to see you!" Pat says.

 "Dad, it's you!" Jackie cries.

“So, Jackie is Gene’s daughter. Wow, it all just fell together!” Jerry says, at their 6:00 meeting.

    “Yep, but there are a couple of loose ends, like Jackie’s mother knowing of their meeting and of my allowing Gene into the dorm,” Pat says.

“Oh yeah, but I’m sure it will all be worked out in time!” Jerry replies. 

    “As soon as we do tie up the loose ends, vacation here I come!”, Pat says.

    “Where are you going for vacation?” Jerry asks.

“I’m thinking- Ireland, Jerry!” Pat replies, with a huge smile on her face!