Chapter 3 

         Amanda breezed in through the entrance of Chiporelli’s, a little Italian restaurant in the center of Baltimore’s Little Italy and made a quick scan of the waiting area.  It didn’t take her long to locate her mother, sitting on one of the cushioned benches, with an annoyed expression on her face. “I’m sorry, Mother.  I got stuck in traffic.  Monday lunchtime and the D.C. beltway are not a good combination.  Tell me again why we had to have lunch with Sally Thompson in Baltimore?”

         “Because Sally lives just outside of Baltimore and has a five year old who attends the afternoon kindergarten session. She had to drop him off first before meeting us for lunch.” Dotty narrowed her eyes slightly and shook her head. “You do remember what that was like, don’t you Amanda?”

         “Yes mother, I do and I’m not complaining. I was just apologizing for being late.” Amanda made a mental note that her mother was sitting alone. “I take it Sally’s not here yet, either?”

         Dotty shook her head. “No, but she should be along any moment.” She patted the seat next to her. “Have a seat, we can talk wedding plans while we wait.”

         “How did you meet Sally again? I know you don’t like to drive,” Amanda asked as she sat down on the cushion beside her mother, “and it seems extremely odd that you’d be so willing to drive all the way to Baltimore to meet someone for lunch, when you get a cold sweat whenever I ask you to just drive to the store.”

         Dotty sighed. “Are you trying to avoid the wedding conversation, is that what this sudden interest in how I met Sally is all about?”

         Amanda shook her head. “No, I’m not avoiding wedding talk.  It’s just that pretty much everything is taken care of.  There really isn’t much left to do.  I have my dress, Francine found a maid-of-honor dress and Lee and Mr. Melrose have their tuxes.  Is there something about Sally you don’t want me to know about?”

         Dotty looked at her daughter in shock. “Does everything with you have to be a game of twenty questions, just because of your job?” She let out an exasperated sigh. “I’ll have you know that Sally’s a really nice woman who I met at one of my book club meetings.  She has a sister who used to live in Arlington, who was also a member of our club and right before her sister moved, she had a going away party.  Sally didn’t know anyone else in the area so the girls and I convinced her to join the club.  I’ve never been to Little Italy before and so we arranged to have this lunch.  I thought it would be nice for her to meet someone else her age.  Most of the women in the book club are around my age.”

         Amanda sighed. “I’m sorry, Mother, I didn’t mean to get you all upset. I was just being curious.”

         Dotty patted her daughter’s arm. “That’s okay. Now that I know what you really do at I.F.F, I guess being curious is second nature to you. So,” she smiled at her daughter, “do you have your something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue yet?” She glanced towards the door and saw a familiar white Honda pull up to the curb. “Guess we’ll have to continue this at the table, Sally’s car just pulled up.” Then, realizing that her friend was getting dropped of, her eyes began to twinkle with delight. “It looks like her husband is dropping her off.  Sally said he’s quite handsome.  Come on, I want to get a peak at him.” She quickly rose from her seat and made her way over to the entrance area to get a better view. “Oh my, he is good looking.” She motioned with her arm in her daughter’s direction. “You have to see for yourself.”

         Amanda sighed and shook her head slightly as she reluctantly walked over to where her mother was standing. She glanced out the window and did a double take.  Sally’s husband could pass for Coach Clyde’s twin.  She looked over at her mother. “Do you happen to know what Sally’s husband’s name is?”

         “Clyde I believe.” Dotty noticed Sally leaning in to give her husband a kiss and not wanting to appear like she was gawking, turned away and looked at her daughter. “Yes, I’m pretty sure it’s Clyde. Why?”

         “Just curious.” Amanda moved away from the entrance and back towards the waiting area.  The man behind the wheel had been a little too far to tell for sure, but he really had looked like Adam, but her mother had said his name was Clyde.  Which also happened to be Francine’s most-likely-by-now fiancé’s last name.  The whole thing was just a little too coincidental and that little voice inside her head was telling her that something wasn’t quite right. She watched her mother open the door for her friend and put on a smile as the pair approached her.  She was going to have to handle this delicately. She didn’t want her mother to think she was grilling her friend, especially since she was only meeting Sally for the first time.  Perhaps a little Class C interrogation was in order.  She’d had enough practice doing those that she could slip certain questions into the conversation and hopefully her mother wouldn’t notice.

         Dotty reached her daughter’s side and smiled. “Amanda, this is Sally,” she pointed to the woman beside her, “and Sally, this is my daughter.  I’m going to let the Maitre d’ know that we’re all here now.”

         Amanda gave Sally a friendly smile. “It’s very nice to meet you. My mother mentioned that you have a five year old in kindergarten.  I have two boys.” She let out a small laugh as she watched Sally nod. “Oh, I guess you know that, seeing as how you know my mother. Was that your husband dropping you off?”

         Sally nodded again. “Yes. I had planned on driving myself, since I didn’t expect him home so soon.  I kind of felt bad that I’d made plans to have lunch with Dotty on one of the few days he’s actually in town this week.”

         “You could have cancelled,” Dotty commented as she approached them. “I would have understood completely.  Anyway, our table’s ready.” She turned and walked back over to the waiter who was waiting for them.

         “Does your husband travel a lot?” Amanda asked as they followed her mother towards their table.

         “Way too much if you ask me,” Sally sighed, “seems Johnny and I, that’s my son’s name, only get to see him a couple of nights a week and maybe one or two weekends a month.  I wasn’t expecting him home from his latest trip until tomorrow.  He was out in California for some big conference and must have gotten in really late last night.”  Reaching their table, Sally took a seat between Dotty and Amanda. “I know he wasn’t home when Johnny woke up at one a.m. looking for some water, but he was home and asleep next to me when I woke up this morning.  It was such a wonderful surprise.” She glanced over at Dotty, “I did offer to postpone our luncheon, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He said he had to go into the office anyway, so he dropped me off on his way into work. Which reminds me, I sort of hate to impose, but could you possibly give me a ride home?  Clyde said he’d be home in time for dinner, which kind of leaves me stranded here.”

         “Not a problem at all,” Dotty smiled and picked up her menu.

         Sally smiled and sighed with relief. “Thank you so much. Johnny was so excited to see his dad that we had to promise him he could stay up late tonight just to get him to go to school today.”

         “I guess since Clyde travels so much, Johnny doesn’t get to see him very much, does he?” Amanda looked up from her menu and watched Sally shake her head. “I understand how that is.  My ex-husband, well at the time we were still married, took a job abroad and my sons didn’t get to see him a lot.  He would try and come home at least once every two months.  Then when we got divorced the boys only got to see him at Christmas, and the occasional Thanksgiving.”

         “You do know how hard it can be, then.” Sally nodded in understanding. “Johnny really misses him.  After his company transferred him down to their Virginia office, I tried telling Clyde that I could get a part-time job and he could find a job that didn’t make him travel so much and was closer to home, but he won’t hear of it.  He’s old fashioned. He wants to be the only bread winner in the family.”

         “What does your husband do, if you don’t mind me asking?” Amanda closed her menu and focused her attention on Sally.

         “He works for a luxury car dealer.  They import high-end foreign cars.  Mostly Lamborghinis and Ferraris,” Sally picked up her menu and scanned the items, “then they ship most of them across country to places like California and Florida. He has to fly to whatever city the cars are going to be delivered to,” she glanced over at Amanda, “you know to make sure they arrive safely and in good condition.  Sometimes he has to go from one city right to the next, and it’s days until he comes home again.  Then there are times when he’ll be scheduled to come home and then has to go to yet another city.  Johnny gets so disappointed.”

         Amanda was getting a very strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Call it woman’s intuition, but she had a feeling that Clyde wasn’t selling cars, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Clyde Thompson was his real name.  “So he’s gone for long periods of time. I bet you have a pretty expensive phone bill.”

         Sally shook her head. “Actually he has a company cell phone. I just call him on that. It’s local for me, and the company picks up the bill.”

         Amanda nodded and then returned her focus on her menu.  The uneasy feeling in her stomach was growing.  She had a very sneaky suspicion that Clyde wasn’t working at a dealer in Virginia but was actually coaching a baseball team.  If that was the case, Sally’s husband was a very convincing liar to be able to fool a woman he’d been married to for five years, give or take.  Maybe she could find out during the course of the lunch if Clyde was into baseball, and if he had any experience coaching.   She prayed, for Francine’s sake, that she was wrong about Clyde Thompson, however, she had a feeling that she was right on the money.  Hopefully she could make this lunch fly by and even get a little more information on Sally’s husband, because she was suddenly quite eager to get back to the Agency.  She had a background check to run.

*****  *****

         Amanda opened the door to the Q-Bureau and as she stepped into the office, her eyes fell on the frustrated face of her husband. “I take it you haven’t had any luck tracking down any leads on Veranos?” She moved over to her desk and placed her purse in the bottom drawer.

         Lee shook his head and tossed the pen he was holding down onto his desk.  “No.  Your hunch that someone tipped him off seems to be right on the money. I spoke to Williams,” he smiled despite his bad mood when his wife came over and sat on the corner of his desk, “he said that his source turned up dead Saturday morning.  My guess is that someone Veranos works with, maybe even the head honcho, caught onto the fact that Williams’ guy was snitching.  They probably got him to talk about what he told the authorities and Veranos was ordered to pack up his operation here.”

         Amanda sighed. “So we’re basically back to square one.”

         “Actually,” Lee took one of his wife’s hands in his and began tracing lazy circles on her palm, “Billy pulled us off the case.  He said since Southern Star is no longer in business, and we have no other leads, he told me just to have my family keep their ears open. So, for the moment, unless something new turns up, the case from this end is closed.”  He pulled his wife down onto his lap. “So, how was lunch?”

         Amanda glanced at her husband. “Very interesting actually.”

         “Really?” Lee’s eyebrows raised, “How so?”

         “Lee,” Amanda eyed her husband seriously, “if I ask you a question, do you promise to give me an honest answer?”

         Lee’s body tensed slightly. “Amanda…what’s going on?”  At his wife’s ‘just answer the question’ glare, he sighed. “I promise.”

         Amanda got up off her husband’s lap and moved over to look out the window. “Did you by chance run a background check on Adam?”

         “No, I didn’t.  After the accusations that you and Francine threw at me last week, I decided I’d just let it lie. If she didn’t want to be concerned about it, then why should I?” Lee noticed the neutral look on his wife’s face when she turned to look at him.  He wasn’t sure if she was proud of him, or annoyed with him for not doing what everyone had expected him to do in the first place. “Should I have?”

         Amanda shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.  Maybe if you had we wouldn’t have a big mess on our hands.  If I’d known what I think I know now, then I wouldn’t have advised Francine to go with her heart and accept Adam’s proposal. I should learn to listen to the little voice in my head. Something told me to tell Francine to wait, to give it time. But she was so happy and I’ve never seen her this happy and excited, so I pushed the little voice aside.”

         “A-man-dah,” Lee rose from his chair and moved to stand next to his wife. “How about you take a few steps back and start from the beginning. What’s this about Adam proposing?”

         Amanda let out a deep sigh. “I didn’t say anything, because I wasn’t sure if, after our conversation, Francine would say yes or not.  I told you how she stopped by yesterday morning, right?” When her husband nodded, she continued, “Well, what I didn’t tell you was that she wanted my advice. Adam proposed and she said yes, but then she took it back, needing time to really think about it.  You know the old saying: go with your first instinct. She couldn’t help but wonder if she really should just bite the bullet and say yes.  Anyway, when she left, I was pretty sure she was going to tell Adam ‘yes.’  Since Mr. Melrose said she took the morning off, I assumed that they went ring shopping or were just celebrating, but after what I saw and learned at lunch, I’m pretty sure she wasn’t with Adam this morning.”

         “So what happened at lunch?” Lee felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to stand up and knew that whatever it was, wasn’t going to be good.

         Amanda walked away from the window and began pacing between the couch and her desk. “Mother’s friend, Sally Thompson, who we were meeting for lunch, was dropped off by her husband.  I got a quick look at him, and you’re probably going to tell me that I’m crazy, because I didn’t get a really good look at him, but…he looked exactly like Adam.” She stopped pacing and put a hand up. “Now before you go saying that some people have twins out there or something, Sally’s husband’s name is Clyde Thompson.   Adam Clyde – Clyde Thompson, could be just a coincidence, I know…” she resumed her pacing, “but here’s the clincher that really got me wondering.  Sally said that Clyde works for a car dealership that imports very expensive cars and travels a lot.  She mentioned that his offices are in Virginia, and that he just got back last night from a big conference in California.”

         “So you’re intuition is telling you that he doesn’t work for a car dealership, but he currently works as an assistant coach, and that this big conference was really not in California, but rather he was just hanging out here in good old D.C., wooing our Francine?” Lee watched as his wife stopped her pacing again and nodded.  He moved over to his desk and sat down at the computer. “Coincidence or not, we owe it to Francine to put that little voice of yours to rest one way or another, especially since your intuitions are very rarely wrong. That being said, let’s pull old Coach Clyde up and see what we come up with.”

         Amanda walked back around the desk and stood behind her husband. “For Francine’s sake, I sure hope I’m wrong.”

         Lee punched a few keys on the keyboard and nodded. “I hope so, too.”  However, his brain was telling him that his wife was probably right on the money.  Her instincts almost always proved to be true.

***** *****

         Billy stared out his office window, waiting for Lee and Amanda to arrive.  Amanda had called down a few minutes ago, asking to speak to him privately.  She had said that she and Lee had something very important to discuss with him and wanted to make sure that Francine wasn’t around.  His first thought was that it had to do with their upcoming wedding, and he hoped beyond all hopes that they weren’t coming down to tell him the whole thing was being called off.  He had immediately dismissed that, because there was no reason that Francine couldn’t be in the room.  Catching sight of them entering the bullpen, he inwardly grimaced.  The strained expressions on both their faces had him extremely worried.  The last time he’d seen Lee look that worried was when Amanda had been kidnapped.  His thoughts immediately turned towards Phillip and Jamie.  As they approached, he caught Lee’s eye and waved them into the office.  Taking a closer look at Amanda’s face as she entered his office, he immediately dismissed any dark thoughts about her boys.  Amanda had gotten pretty good as an agent, but if her boys were in danger, even she wouldn’t be able to hide that kind of emotion. When Lee closed the door and then walked over to the window, closing the blinds, Billy’s original thoughts resurfaced. “Please tell me that you didn’t come down here to tell me the wedding’s off.”

         Amanda shook her head as she sat down in one of the chairs facing her boss. “No, sir.  We didn’t come down here because of something related to Lee or me.”

         Billy glanced from Amanda to Lee. “Okay, now I’m really curious, and I’m beginning to get a little worried.  You both look like you’ve lost your best friend.”

         Amanda looked at Lee, who was now leaning against the shuttered window and then glanced down at the folder in her lap. “What we’ve just uncovered may lose us a very good friend, sir.” She reluctantly looked at her boss, knowing that as soon as they shared this information with him, he would have to bring Francine in, and she wasn’t looking forward to that conversation at all.

         Billy leaned his head back against his chair and resisted the urge to go for his bottle of Tums. “Okay, I’m listening.”

         Amanda leaned forward slightly in her chair. “Well you see, sir, I was having lunch with my mother and a friend of hers, and her friend was dropped off by her husband.  Normally this isn’t a big deal, I realize that, but you see, the problem is, I recognized the husband.  According to my mother, his name is Clyde Thompson, only I know him as Coach Adam Clyde.  He’s the assistant baseball coach for Phillip’s Junior Varsity team.  I wasn’t sure he was the same guy, after all there’s a possibility he has a double out there, but just on the off chance I was right, I came back here and Lee and I ran a background check on Coach Clyde.”

         Billy shook his head and glanced over at Lee.  He had known Amanda for quite a few years now and no matter what, the fact that she had a unique way of making a point through a ramble would never cease to amaze him.  What amazed him even more was the fact that he had actually followed what she’d just said.  “I’m guessing that what you discovered was that this Clyde Thompson and Adam Clyde are the same person?”

         “I can see why they pay you the big bucks, nothing slips past you.” Lee gave a half-hearted nod. “What we found isn’t pretty.  First, his real name is Benjamin Adams and there’s an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Trenton, New Jersey.”

         Billy let out a deep sigh and leaned forward, placing his elbows on his desk. “What are the charges against him?”

         “Bigamy and possession of M-16s in the trunk of his car.  Army issue and all stolen.” Lee handed the folder over to Billy. “Apparently he was in police custody, but got bonded out and skipped.  My guess is he ran straight here to Sally’s, since the police only knew about his wives in New Jersey.  Then because he didn’t want to stay in one place too long, he took the job teaching baseball at the high school.”

         Billy skimmed the contents. “It says here that he left a wife and two kids behind in Paramus, another wife in Seaside Heights and another one in Trenton.”

         “And he’s got a different name attached to each wife, which I guess is his way of trying to get around the bigamy charges.  Apparently the wife in Trenton is the one who turned him in.  She got suspicious and followed him to the shore wife.” Lee shook his head and crossed his arms. “She had a friend on the Trenton police force, who, according to the record, did some investigating and found out he was married to the woman in Seaside Heights, as well as to his friend.  The cops were waiting for him at the Trenton house when he came back from a business trip and arrested him.”

         “I don’t understand how any judge could allow a man like that to walk away.” Amanda sighed.

         “If bond is posted and someone’s willing to put up bail money,” Billy shrugged, “the court doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”

         “The guy’s a real piece of work, Billy.” Lee pushed away from the window. “He got his grandmother to put up her house as collateral in order to bail him out and then he skipped.  According to what I know of bonds, if the suspect doesn’t appear for his appointed court date, the courts keep the bail money and the bonding agency collects the property that was used as collateral…in this case he put his poor grandmother out on the street and he’s carrying on without a care in the world.”

         Billy looked over at Amanda. “Do you think this Benjamin guy saw you when he dropped off his wife?”

         Amanda shook her head. “No, I’m pretty sure he didn’t. I didn’t lurk too long in plain sight, just long enough to get a quick look at him.”

         Billy glanced over at Lee. “I take it the reason you came to me with this is that you want to arrest this guy, before he has a chance to run and you want to do it soon,” he turned his attention back to Amanda, “because you fear for your son’s safety?”

         Amanda glanced briefly over at her husband, who gave her a small nod and she turned her attention back to her boss. “It’s a little more complicated than that, sir.  We have reason to believe that he’s already picked out wife number five.”

         Billy raised his eyebrows curiously, but somehow his gut was telling him he already knew who that unlucky woman was. “I know I’m going to regret asking this, but…do we have a name to go with this suspicion?”

         Lee caught Amanda’s gaze and knew that she was mentally reminding him that telling their boss was his responsibility.  They had had a small argument over this fact up in the Q-Bureau.  He had drawn Mr. Melrose; she had drawn Francine.  In his opinion, he had gotten the easy one.  Sighing, he moved over to sit in the empty chair beside his wife. “It’s Francine.”

         “I’m getting too old for this.  Jeannie pointed out a few new gray hairs this morning, and now I feel a dozen more dark hairs changing color.” Billy glanced at the drawer where he held his supply of Tums.  He was desperately trying to cut down on them, since his doctor told him they were known to raise his blood pressure.  His job did that enough; he didn’t need any assistance.  Sighing, he reluctantly pulled his gaze away and looked from Lee to Amanda. “I’m guessing that since an earthquake hasn’t swallowed up the Agency, no one’s told Francine yet.”

         Amanda shook her head. “We wanted to talk to you about it first, since this isn’t really Agency business, but since an agent is involved, we figured that somehow it becomes our business.”

         “How sure are you that Francine is involved with this Adams guy?” Billy rubbed his temple, trying to ward of the headache that was slowly growing in intensity.

         “She told me about him on Thursday, and we officially met him on Saturday as her boyfriend at Phillip’s first game.” Amanda swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat.  Francine was so happy, she thought she’d finally found her soul mate and now that was all going to come to a crashing halt. “This is so horrible and strange.  Not only is this going to kill Francine, but I don’t know if I can get used to calling him by anything other than Coach Clyde.” She tried to hide the small hint of panic that rose inside her at the thought of all they had uncovered about this man. “My father always said to be wary of someone with two first names.” At her boss and husband’s slightly confused glance she added, “he said they always end up being untrustworthy. I can’t believe this guy was anywhere near one of my boys.”

         Lee ran a hand through his hair. “I’m not crazy about that either, however that doesn’t compare to the other problem we have,” he glanced over towards his boss. “How do we go about telling Francine?”

         Amanda nodded her head slowly in agreement. “It’s going to kill her, sir.”

         Billy tilted his head slightly. “You'd be surprised - I sometimes think that woman's backbone is made of steel instead of bone.”

         “No sir,” Amanda shook her head and grimaced slightly, “you don't understand, Adam proposed on Saturday night and when she left my house yesterday morning she was going to accept.”

         Billy closed his eyes and reached over towards his desk drawer.  His blood pressure was going to have to take a back seat to his upset stomach. “That explains why she was in such a good mood when she got in this afternoon – she asked for the morning off, and came in beaming.  Now I guess I know why.”

         “Do you have any thoughts on how we go about doing this?” Lee asked his boss and glanced over at his wife.  She was the one with the gentle touch, the hand holding expertise, which was one of the reasons he was glad she had drawn the straw on telling Francine.

         Billy picked up the file Lee had handed him earlier. As he had suspected, the second page held a small photo of Adams. “It’s not ideal, but I think the best way is not to just blurt it out.  I’ll call her in and then tell her we need assistance bringing someone in.  Since all the data about him on the first page is just the basics of what you told me, we can wait until she reads the second page to realize who this guy really is.  That way, none of us actually has to be the one to tell her.”

         “That’s misleading, sir.” Amanda stared at her boss with a slightly shocked expression.

         “True, but brilliant at the same time.” Lee nodded and then took his wife’s hand in his. “Do you have a better suggestion?” He raised his eyebrows slightly, “remember, this is Francine we’re dealing with. Look on the bright side, it gets you out of having to be the one to tell her.”

         Amanda sighed. “I don’t like it, but I guess we don’t really have another choice, do we?”

         Billy shook his head. “Not if we all want to leave my office in one piece.” He sighed, popped a few Tums into his mouth and then reached for the phone.  He picked up the receiver and hit one of the speed dial numbers. “Francine, I have an apprehension I want you to assist Lee and Amanda on, can you come into my office … good.”  He hung up the phone and tried to keep his focus off of his office door.   A quick knock followed the turning of the handle, and his assistant entered the office.

         Francine caught Amanda’s eye and smiled as she raised her hand slightly, showing off the diamond ring on her finger. “So who’s the unlucky guy that needs three agents to catch him?” She asked as she approached her boss’ desk.

         Lee got up and, making his way over to the door, made a show of ensuring that it was completely closed.  He then moved over to stand against the window.  He didn’t want to be caught slacking should Francine decide to physically assault him, and he wanted to guard the door to keep her from running after Adams on her own.

         Billy picked up the folder and handed it to her.  “Name’s Benjamin Adams and he’s a bigamist who was found in possession of some Army hardware.”

         Francine opened the folder. “Geez, is this guy for real?  He’s got four wives and three kids.  I’ve heard of men cheating on their wives, but they don’t usually go for the getting married more than once bit.” She turned the page and read the names off, “Benjamin Adams, aka Adam White, Clyde Thompson, Thomas Benton and…” Her eyes grew wide and she lowered her gaze to the picture at the bottom of the page.  Her hands held the folder in a white-knuckle grip and she turned towards Lee, her eyes blazing. “HOW DARE YOU!!! You ran that background check after you promised you wouldn’t.  Are you trying to ruin my chance at happiness? Couldn’t you have just left well enough alone?”

         “Francine, don’t get mad at Lee.” Amanda rose from her seat and put a tentative hand on her friend’s shoulder. “The background check wasn’t his idea…it was mine.”

         Francine’s expression was still angry, but was now mixed with unbridled hurt.  Shaking Amanda’s hand off her shoulder, she took a few steps aside, putting some distance between them. “Why? Why would you do that? I thought we were friends.” She spun around and glared at the brunette.  “Oh I know…you were doing it out of the goodness off your heart…because you were concerned about me and were too afraid to tell me yesterday that I was making a big mistake.  So instead, you went behind my back.  If this is this how you watch out for all your friends, by destroying their lives,” she angrily waved the folder in front of Amanda’s face, “then you can stop considering me a friend.  I don’t need that kind of friendship.”

         Amanda fought back the tears that were threatening to surface.  She knew Francine was just reacting to the feeling of being betrayed, and once she knew all the facts, she’d calm down, but that didn’t stop the blonde’s words from hurting. Taking a deep breath, she took a step closer to her friend. “Francine, I didn’t do it because I wanted to destroy your chance at happiness.  I saw Adam dropping off his wife, Sally, this afternoon and I followed my instincts.  I didn’t want to believe that he was the same man who had just asked you to marry him, so I ran a background check, to prove myself wrong, but it didn’t turn out like I had hoped it would. I’m sorry Francine, more sorry than you could ever now.” She gazed at Francine with a soft, caring expression. “Would you rather have married Adam and then found out, that not only was he cheating on you, but he had four other wives?”

         “I need to sit down. This can’t be real.” Francine walked over to the couch and plopped herself down. She stared at the ring on her finger and then re-opened the folder.  She turned to the second page and clenched her teeth together as she stared at the picture.  She refused to cry, especially not in front of other people, regardless of who those people were. She threw the folder onto the floor and ripped the ring off her finger.  She looked up and saw the worry etched on Lee’s face.  His expression only made her angrier.  He looked so smug standing there with his arms crossed and his brow creased. If he’d really been concerned about her, he would have kept his nose out of her business.  She clenched the ring tightly in her fist and then threw it across the room, narrowly missing Lee’s head.  “You are so goddamn smug, Lee Stetson. You think that just because you've found happiness, that you've got the monopoly on it and have to go around ruining other people's happiness?  Amanda may have claimed it was her idea, but I know you,” she rose to her feet once more and glared at her co-worker, “you wanted to run that check the minute you found out I was serious about someone.”

         “Francine…” Lee’s voice held a touch of concern and a hint of a warning.  He knew his friend was upset, but he wasn’t going to let her use him or anyone else in this room as a whipping boy.  “You’d better watch what you say and who you’re throwing things at.” He glanced briefly down at the floor and then returned his gaze on the blonde. “We’re your friends, first and foremost, so don’t start getting on our cases for your bad judgment in men.”
         “Lee!” Amanda turned and shot a warning glance at her husband. “Francine,” she said in a softer tone, and turned towards the blonde, “no one did this for any reason other than to find out the truth.  I wanted desperately not to find out anything bad about Adam.  I want you to be happy.”

         “Well you don’t have to worry about that. I’m swearing off men from now on.  I’m never getting married.  In fact, I think I’ll become a nun.” She shook her head, “No, scratch that, I’d never be able to handle the celibacy. I take it back, I’m not swearing off men. I’ll just use them like they so obviously love to use me.” Francine closed her eyes and clenched her fist by her side.  She then turned towards her boss. “So, was this the real reason you called me in here; to tell me that my fiancé is a lying cheating bastard? Or did you call me in because you want to use me as bait to bring Adam in?”

         “That’s up to you Francine. You’re close to this guy. We could use that to our advantage, provided I get the okay from the FBI to take over and bring him in.” Billy reached for his phone.

         “Fat chance of that.” Lee rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. “When was the last time the FBI ever let the Agency handle one of their cases?”

         “We have the added benefit of knowing where Adams is.  Even if we don’t use Francine, both you and Amanda know him and can find way to bring him in.” Billy picked up the receiver and began dialing. “Besides I’m not a hundred percent sure that it’s even an FBI case.  We know that stolen guns were involved, but he was arrested by the local police, and they did issue the warrant, so maybe its state jurisdiction and I’ll end up calling the Arlington P.D.”

         Francine looked from Lee to Amanda and then back to Lee. “You two can be my backup. There is no way in hell that I’m not going to help bring the slime bucket in.”

         Lee focused on Francine. “Man, one minute you’re in love with the guy, and the next you’re out for blood. Guess the saying really is true,” he took his eyes off of Francine and glanced over at his boss, “hell really hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

         “You haven’t seen hell, yet, Stetson.” Francine narrowed her eyes and glared at Lee.  She then plopped herself back down on the couch and stared at the ceiling.  She was mentally berating herself for being so stupid.  Maybe Lee was right and she should have run a background check on Adam, but he seemed so perfect.  Jonathan may have been a little wimpy at times, but at least he had been honest with her.   Maybe she could try and work on not being so independent. She mentally shook her head.  She wasn’t going to change for anyone, and she was definitely done with serious relationships.

         Billy let out a long sigh and as he waited for his contact at the FBI to come on the line, he looked over at Lee, caught the agent’s eye, glanced at the door and then over to Francine.  He watched as Lee barely nodded, letting him know he wasn’t going to let Francine do anything rash.

         Amanda moved to sit on the couch next to Francine. “I really am sorry, Francine. I kept hoping I was wrong and that Adam just had a twin out there.” She tentatively reached out to touch her friend’s arm, only to have it yanked away.

         “What did this Sally look like?” Francine’s voice held a slightly jealous tone to it. “Is she blonde, tall?”

         Amanda sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “She had curly sandy-blonde hair, is about my height and she’s a housewife.  She stayed home mostly to take care of their five-year-old.”

         “So she was kind of like you.  That’s really flattering.” Francine glanced briefly down at where her engagement ring had been only a few minutes before. “Susie homemaker versus career woman.  No wonder he kept telling me I wouldn’t need to work.”

         Amanda opened her mouth to retort, but thought better of it.  Francine was blowing off steam, but her words still stung.  “At least she’s not a super model.”

         Billy hung up the phone and cleared his throat. “Well the case is ours.”

         Lee inched imperceptibly closer to the door, but stared at his boss with wide eyes. “The FBI just gave you the case? I’m not buying it. What did we have to promise them?”

         Billy shook his head. “Nothing.  They said since the stolen guns were part of an ongoing investigation they’re helping the Army with they’d normally snatch hit up. However, the bigamy charge clouds things a little.  Since the warrant was issued in New Jersey, that part falls under state jurisdiction.  They figure that since the Agency is a neutral third party, and we already have the advantage of being able to get someone close to him without raising any suspicion, we make the best choice to handle the apprehension.” He glanced over at Francine. “You know the guy and I hate to make you take point on this, but do you have any suggestion on how we go about bringing him in?”

         Francine closed her eyes and got her emotions under control.  When she opened them again, the agent mask was firmly in place and all her personal feelings were pushed behind the wall she had only just begun to dismantle.  “I want to get him to confess.  We have no proof other than what’s in this folder that he’s the man who was arrested in New Jersey.”

         Lee studied his friend carefully.  He recognized the all-business persona she was projecting.  It was the same one he wore when he was pushing all emotions aside.  The mask wasn’t something he used a lot these days, at least not around his wife.   She could read him like a book, no matter what mask he wore. “Francine, how exactly are you going to get him to confess without raising his suspicions and having him turn tail and run?  He knows he’s an FTA,” he caught the questioning glance his wife gave him, “sorry, Failure to Appear. Anyway,” he turned back towards Francine, “he thinks he’s comfortable here in the D.C. area. If he even gets a whiff that you suspect him of anything, he’s going to bolt the first chance he gets. Not to mention, there are stolen Army guns involved, so who knows what this guy is really capable of.”

         “I have my ways, after all, I’m the one everyone calls when they can’t get the toughest nut to crack.” Francine smirked in Lee’s direction. “And, I am a trained professional. I can take care of myself, thank you very much.”

         “Yes, but this isn’t your average slime ball off the street.  This is a man, who thinks he’s your fiancé.” Lee crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows in challenge.

         Amanda got up off the couch and, stepping between the two agents, stood facing her husband. “Lee, Francine’s right.  She knows Adam, and she has her own way of getting a man to confess.” She turned towards the blonde. “Mr. Melrose said it’s going to be your show, so just let us know where you want us.”

         Francine gave Amanda a barely noticeable smile of thanks. “I doubt I’ll get him to actually admit to being married, but maybe I can get him to at least name a few of his other wives.  I’ll invite him over for dinner tonight.  My next-door neighbor is out of town and asked me to bring in her mail, I don’t think she’ll mind if you two set up camp in her apartment.  You’ll be close enough to jump in when its time to take him down.”

         “Okay, go down to Leatherneck and have him outfit you for a wire.” Billy glanced at the blonde agent. “Have him give you something to place somewhere in your apartment as well as on your person.” He held up a hand to stop her protest. “I know you’re very good at the Peacock Dance, Francine, and I also realize that you’re close to this guy, but I don’t want to have a repeat of the last dance that occurred and we missed about twenty minutes of dialogue.” He avoided looking over at Amanda.  The fact that the transmitter she had been wearing during the Richmond case had been hidden in a button on her shirt that she had been forced to leave in another room, wasn’t something he wanted to have repeated.  He didn’t blame her for what had happened, after all, they got their man, and maybe it had been better that Scarecrow hadn’t heard exactly what had gone on in that apartment; however, it was never good for any case to have undocumented time and dialogue.  “I want you monitored at all times.”

         “Billy…” Francine drew out her boss’ name.

         “This isn’t open for debate, Francine” Billy interrupted her, looking at her with an expression of authority, “either you and Leatherneck find a way to have you wired at all times, or I’ll let Lee and Amanda find a way to bring Adams in, without your help.”

         “Sir,” Amanda glanced over at their boss, “there’s one thing that’s been bothering me since Lee and I did the background check.  If we were able to run a check on him, and come up with all his aliases, how come the authorities in New Jersey weren’t able to do the same?  I mean, if they’d been able to find out about Sally Thompson, then he would have been taken into custody awhile ago.”

         Billy shook his head. “I don’t know. Perhaps their information only covered the New Jersey wives.  It’s possible that when you stumbled upon Sally Thompson, you managed to find the missing link that they were never able to uncover.” He shrugged his shoulders apologetically. “Once we hand him over to the proper authorities, I’m sure we can ask them.” He looked back over at Francine. “If there’s nothing else, you three should head down to Leatherneck and get everything you need for tonight.”

         “I need to call Adam first and set things up.” Francine glanced at Amanda. “Why don’t you and Lee head on down and I’ll meet you there?”

         “I have a better idea,” Lee moved towards the door, “how about Amanda and I hang around and wait until you confirm things with Adam, then we can all go down together.”

         Francine rolled her eyes. “Are you afraid I’m going to go track down Adam now…by myself?” She glanced briefly at Billy and then back to Lee. “I saw you guarding the door, Scarecrow.  I may be a ‘woman scorned’ as you so eloquently put it, but I’m not like you. I don’t go off half-cocked.  I plan on doing this right.  So, go on down to see Leatherneck and I promise I’ll be there as soon as I set up my date with Adam, for all I know he might be too busy with his wife to be able to do anything tonight.” Francine saw the slight indecision in her friend’s face. “Oh please. Fine, if it’ll make you feel better Billy can call up to Mrs. Marsten and instruct her not to let me leave the building.”

         “That won’t be necessary, Francine. I, for one, trust you.” Amanda glanced over at her husband. “Come on, Lee, let’s go see what toys we can borrow from Leatherneck.”  She opened the door and watched Lee glance briefly at Francine and then sigh as he began to follow her out of the office.  As she stepped into the busy bullpen, she suddenly felt a pang of sadness for Sally and Johnny Thompson.  If Francine was successful in getting Adam to join her tonight, a little boy in Baltimore was going to be extremely disappointed. Then again, once his daddy was carted off to jail, and the truth about him came out, more people than just Johnny were going to be hurt.

         Francine followed Lee and Amanda out of Billy’s office and started crossing the bullpen to her desk.  Watching her two friends approaching the double doors, she felt very remorseful for her earlier words towards Amanda, and, to some degree, Lee. “Wait up you two.” She called out and picked up her pace.

         Lee glanced briefly at Amanda, who shrugged her shoulders. “What’s up, Francine?  If you want to bring this guy in tonight, we need to catch Leatherneck before he goes home.”

         Francine ignored his tone and looked at Amanda. “I just wanted to apologize…you know…well I guess I said a few things…”

         Amanda shook her head and placed a hand on the blonde’s arm. “There’s no need, Francine.  You were hurt, and rightfully so.  We’re your friends and that’s why we did what we did. Now, you have enough on your mind, so don’t think twice about it, okay?”

         Francine smiled gratefully at Amanda, and if they hadn’t been in the middle of the bullpen, she might have hugged her.  However, they were, and she did have a reputation to uphold. “Thanks.”

         “Good.” Amanda smiled and turned towards her husband. “Now, I believe you and I have a date with a toy maker.”

         Francine laughed at Amanda’s description for Leatherneck, and watched as Lee led the brunette out of the bullpen, his hand falling to that familiar spot at the small of Amanda’s back.  She knew, from observing the couple over the years that that move had become habitual, and she wondered if she would ever find that kind of comfort in someone.  Looking down at the folder in her hand, she sighed disdainfully and began walking over to her desk.  As she sat down in her chair, she placed the folder on her desk and then glanced reluctantly at the phone.  She was not looking forward to this.  She had been so happy when she came in, and in an instant, all that joy had been whisked away.  She looked over at the folder and decided she needed a little more motivation before she picked up the phone and made the fateful call.  Opening the file, she rescanned the data.  She skipped the second page with his aliases and moved to the page that held his history.  As she began reading about his childhood, it suddenly struck her as odd that she had never really taken the opportunity to ask Adam about his past. 

         She let out a small sigh as she read.  Adam, or more precisely, Benjamin Adams, didn’t have a very loving childhood.  His mother had run off when he was only seven, and his father seemed to get divorced and then remarried every two years.  That was no way for any child to live.  No wonder he had four wives; although, she couldn’t help but wonder why Adam had never divorced the other women.  Maybe he wanted to discover what he’d missed growing up. A small part of her began to feel sorry for Adam, but she quickly pushed that aside.  Swallowing the last ounce of procrastination, she reached over and, picking up the receiver, dialed Adam’s cell phone.