Well at least she didn’t regret that night. Making love with Lee was always wonderful. Amanda swirled her finger around the ice in her glass, thinking back.
But there were other things she regretted. Things like not explaining her theories to Lee in a way that didn’t make him think she was only being jealous. Maybe if she had, they wouldn’t be apart now. No, as usual, she had to prove him wrong. How stupid could she be?
“Amanda, I’m going to head over to Capitol Hill to talk to some of Hennesy’s colleagues this morning. Do you want to come along?” Lee took another sip of his coffee and glanced over at his wife. She was obviously engrossed in what she was reading on the computer screen.
“Earth to Amanda”
She kept her eyes glued on her monitor.
Lee rose out of his chair and strolled over to her. He perched atop her desk, but she didn’t seem to notice. Finally he reached out and caressed her shoulder.
“Hey.”
“Hmmm? Oh, Lee. I’m sorry, did you need something?”
“Amanda, what has got you so interested that you didn’t hear me talking to you for the past five minutes?”
“I’m sorry. I’m just trying to learn as much as I can about this tobacco bill. It’s the only thing we can link to the blackmailer. I thought if I poked around, I might find a lead.” She grabbed her coffee mug and brought it to her lips.
“Did you find anything?”
“No, not yet. I’m going to keep at it though. There has to be something here, I just know it. Now, what were you saying?”
“I asked if you wanted to head to Capitol Hill with me, to talk to some of Hennesy’s colleagues. Looks like you have enough there to keep you occupied. I’ll see what I can come up with.”
“Sounds good. We’ll get more accomplished if we split up.”
“Only on this one task. Usually we’re much more productive as a team.” He leaned down to kiss her lips.
“Mmmmm, you are so right, Mr. Stetson, so right.” She smiled when he winked at her on his way out the door.
After several hours of research, Amanda still hadn’t found a connection between Hennesy and the upcoming bill. She was just about to take a break and head out for lunch when she found the link. “Well, I’ll be. There it is, just what I thought. She’s in this up to her neck.” Amanda stared at the document about cigarette manufacturer Albert & Ross Industries. The name “Elizabeth Conrad” nearly jumped off the computer screen.
Lee headed down the steps of the Capitol Building and had just reached his car, when his car phone rang. ”Stetson.”
“Lee, it’s Liz. I was wondering if you’re free for lunch. I wanted to talk to you about the case.”
“Sure. I’m near your office now. How ‘bout I swing by and pick you up?”
“Great, I’ll be waiting. Bye.”
In a small Italian restaurant, Lee listened to Lizs talk of possible enemies that her lover might have made during his time as a senator, and jotted down notes.
After lunch, he dropped her off at the curb in front of her office building. ‘Nice lady, too bad she had to get involved in all this,’ he thought, as he steered the Corvette in the direction of the Agency.
At the sound of the door opening, Amanda glanced up to see her husband entering the Q Bureau. “Hi, big fella.”
“Hey there, beautiful. How’s the research coming?” Lee made his way over to his desk and sat down.
“Well, it was slow going until a few minutes ago. Take a look at this.” She nodded in the direction of the document in her hand as she walked over to his desk and sat on the corner.
“What is it?”
“It’s a bulletin, written by a lobbyist for Albert & Ross Industries. It’s about the upcoming tobacco bill.”
“Am I missing something here, Amanda?”
“Look who it’s written by.” She pointed to Elizabeth Conrad’s name.
Lee raised a skeptical eyebrow. “So what if Liz works for this Albert and Ross? She’s a lobbyist, that’s what she does. That doesn’t make her a blackmailer and a murderer.”
“Well, it’s pretty darn suspicious, after what I found in Hennesy’s drawer. And she was the last person to see him alive.”
“No, the murderer was the last person to see him. Liz left.”
“And, of course, you believe her!”
“Why shouldn’t I believe her? I’m really starting to believe you have something personal against her, Amanda!”
“The one who has personal issues here, is you, Lee! And it’s making you blind to all the evidence.”
Lee got to his feet. “Like you know all the evidence. Liz told me at lunch that Hennesy had quite a list of possible enemies.”
Amanda slipped off the desk and put her hands on her hips. “So now you’re having lunch with our main suspect?”
“And you’re ready to send out the lynch mob!” Amanda heard his voice rise in pitch, the way it did when he was very upset.
“That was uncalled for, Stetson. I’m just doing my job.” Amanda took a shaky breath. “Now I suggest you take a walk, to cool off, and come back ready to do yours.”
“Fine!” Lee pivoted and strode across the room.
When the door slammed shut, Amanda headed back to her desk, sank into her chair and rested her head in her hands. Lee’s reaction surprised her, but so did her own. Maybe they both needed to take a step back. She’d call him later; there was no need to stir him up again. In the meantime, she’d see what else she could learn about Elizabeth Conrad.
“Now, how ‘bout we take a look at your financial records, Ms. Conrad? I’d like to see how you can afford that fancy house and all that expensive artwork.” Amanda began typing data into the computer and watched as it returned the information. Her eyes grew wide as she saw several 250,000 deposits that were made into Elizabeth’s bank account over the past few months. Regular deposits made from an account in the name of “Albert & Ross Industries.”
“Gotcha!” She jumped out of her chair, intending to go see Billy, but stopped abruptly at the door.
Her husband. She needed to let him know what she’d uncovered.
When she dialed his car phone, she got no answer. She dialed the switchboard at the Agency and left him a message, letting him know what she found and that she was headed to speak with Billy. Then she took a deep breath and offered an olive branch. “Look, I’m really sorry about what happened earlier. I should have handled it differently, instead I—“
A beeping sound, followed by a dial tone, cut her off.
‘I guess I do tend to ramble,’ she thought. After hanging up the phone, she headed down to the bullpen.
Once he reached his car, Lee headed to his usual spot--the place he always went when things weren’t going well on a case or in his personal life. The Reflecting Pool was somewhere he could be alone and think without interruptions. Sure, there were plenty of tourists roaming about, but he still felt at peace and alone in his thoughts.
Today, he had a lot to contemplate. Why had he jumped down his wife’s throat at the first mention of Elizabeth being a viable suspect? Why had he assumed Amanda was only being jealous? He had always trusted her instincts, so why did he question them now?
Lee sank down on an empty stone bench and raked his fingers through his hair. It was simple. He wanted to believe that the old friend who helped him to cope with the loss of his partner was all he remembered her to be.
Years ago, Elizabeth Conrad kept him from going crazy with guilt, helped him to see that his life was worth living. That he shouldn’t give up. That Eric wouldn’t have wanted that for him. Sure, they were a lot younger back then, with ideals that had long since dissolved. But surely she couldn’t have changed that much from the sweet, innocent girl he met years before.
With a sigh, Lee got to his feet. “I need to make things right again. I need to talk to Amanda.”
After explaining to her Section Chief what she uncovered, Amanda received Billy’s approval for a wiretap and for tailing Elizabeth.
She didn’t have to wait long outside Elizabeth’s office building before the lobbyist appeared.
Elizabeth entered what appeared to be a brand new Mercedes and drove off, heading north. Amanda followed in her own car, careful to hang back so as to not be recognized.
After about an hour on the road, Elizabeth pulled into the parking lot of the Fairfield Inn on Nursery Road, about a mile from the Baltimore airport. Amanda watched as the other woman got out of the car, pulled a suitcase from the trunk, and headed inside.
Amanda checked her watch and drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, a habit she picked up from her husband. She needed to give Elizabeth enough time to register and go up to her room before she headed inside, but waiting wasn’t easy.
As Amanda walked up to the concierge’s desk, she took note of her surroundings. Quickly scanning for possible entrances and exits, she noted a bar toward the back of the hotel and a gift shop in the opposite direction.
“May I help you, miss?”
Amanda turned toward the woman sitting behind the desk and smiled.
She pulled out her Agency I.D. and flashed it. “I’m sorry to bother you but this is a matter of national security. The tall blonde woman that came in just before me, could you tell me what name she registered under and her room number, please?”
The receptionist looked curious. “Of course, that was a Miss Sarah Johnson. She’s in room 243.”
Amanda requested the room right across from “Miss Johnson.” After a quick thank you and a word of caution about not mentioning this to anyone, she headed out to the parking lot to collect her equipment.
It took an hour to get word from Billy that the wiretap was in place. She then began working on setting up her end of the equipment in the room across from Elizabeth’s. When she finished, Amanda sat back and thought about her husband’s reaction. How would he respond when he found out that he was so wrong about his old friend? She knew he was only seeing the good in Elizabeth and blocking out the obvious clues that she tried to point out.
Well, maybe they could clear this case up tonight. Then they could go home and resolve the issues that had plagued them over the past few days. She trusted Lee and knew that he loved her. Still, it hurt to think he didn’t believe her when she came to him with her suspicions.
‘Amanda was right,’ Lee thought. ‘I did need to take a break and cool off. He opened the door to the Q Bureau, eager to tell her so, but the office was deserted. ‘She must be in the bullpen.’
When he headed through the glass doors into the busy office, Francine greeted him, smirking.
“Scarecrow, since when do you let your partner do all your dirty work?”
“What are you talking about? What dirty work?” The knot that formed in his stomach told Lee he was not going to like the answer.
“Ask Billy. I’ve got a meeting upstairs.”
Lee made long strides through the bullpen and bounded into Billy’s office without knocking.
Billy looked up from a pile of printouts. “Well, Scarecrow! So glad you decided to join us today.”
“What’s this shit about Amanda doing my dirty work?”
“Ah, I see you talked with Francine.”
“Yeah, so what gives? Where’s Amanda? What’s she up to? I think I have a right to know where my wife is.”
“Hold up, Lee. She’s just following a lead. You were nowhere to be found so I sent her on her way. With the strict understanding that she call for backup the second things started to break. Relax. You know as well as I do that Amanda knows her job.”
Lee opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by the ringing of the phone on Billy’s desk.
“Melrose. Ah, Amanda…” Billy glanced up at him and nodded. “We were just talking about . . . what? All right. Yes, I understand. I’ll send him out there right now. Yeah, I know the place. He’s on his way. And, Amanda . . . hang tight.”
Before Billy could hang up the receiver, Lee grabbed his arm.
“What’s going on? Where is she? Is she in trouble?”
Even to his own ears, Lee knew he sounded more like his wife and partner every day.
“Slow down, Scarecrow. She’s fine. Things are starting to happen now. She’s at the Fairfield Inn in Baltimore, about a mile from BWI airport.”
“Yeah, I know exactly where that is.” Lee hurried to the door.
“Uh, Scarecrow! Don’t you want her room number?”
He stopped and pivoted. “Well?”
“Room 242. And be careful.”
“I will. Thanks, Billy!” Lee headed to the elevator.
Lee arrived at the Fairfield Inn in record time. On a normal day the drive would have taken him far longer. But what were a few red lights and traffic jams when your wife was in possible danger?
He strode through the lobby of the hotel to the bank of elevators and waited, tapping his foot, for a door to open. When one finally did, he stepped in and punched the second floor button. Running his hand through his hair, he paced the small space. ‘Oh, Amanda, what have you gotten yourself in the middle of this time?’ The ding of the elevator broke him out of his thoughts.
When he reached room 242, he tapped lightly. “It’s me,” he whispered. When the door swung open, he hurried inside.
“Amanda, what is going on? When I got back to the office, you were gone. Billy said that you had moved on a lead. Why’d you leave without me?”
Amanda sighed. “Lee, what was I supposed to do? I know I asked you to go cool off, but you didn’t bother to tell me where you were going. You didn’t answer your car phone, and you obviously haven’t picked up your messages. If you had, you would know why I left. It’s not my fault you don’t pick up your messages often enough.”
“So you just rushed ahead without me?”
“Did you want me to sit around waiting for you to return from . . . wherever you were and just forget about what I found? I had to move fast. Looks like our suspect is heading out of town. I couldn’t let her just take off, now could I?” She looked at him expectantly.
“You know damn well that if I just took off to follow up on a lead you’d be pissed. And what do you mean ‘our suspect’?”
“Elizabeth Conrad, of course.”
“Oh, you mean your suspect. Now it’s a crime for Liz to come to Baltimore. God, Amanda, lobbyists travel. It’s part of their job.”
“Murderers running from the authorities travel, too.”
Lee rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. I don’t understand why you are so obsessed with the fact that Liz and I were an item over five years ago, Amanda. This just isn’t like you.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.”
“I don’t even want to know what you had to come up with to get Billy to okay this whole operation,” he growled, throwing up his hands. “I thought maybe you’d gotten into something dangerous, but I guess you’re just stalking Liz. Tell you what, why don’t I let you get back to your cat and mouse game? You obviously don’t need me around.”
Turning his back, he headed out of the room. God, he needed to take a walk and a stiff drink. Not necessarily in that order. Luckily he’d spotted a bar at the back of the hotel.
A few moments after Lee left, Amanda heard the distinct sound of the wiretap machine kicking on. She made her way over to it and donned on the headphones. As she jotted down notes from the phone conversation, she quickly ascertained that Elizabeth was speaking to Michael Ross, the CEO of Albert & Ross.
“Ms. Conrad, are you certain this time that our replacement for Hennesy is completely on board? So unfortunate that Derick wouldn’t play along. He’d still be alive and a very rich man.”
“Yes, sir. I’m sure.”
“You better be. Otherwise you’ll need to kill another senator, and I won’t pay you for a second murder. Another dead senator would lead to a lot of questions that we don’t want to answer, now do we?” Amanda couldn’t help but hear the sarcasm in his voice.
“No, sir, we don’t.”
Amanda noted that Elizabeth sounded self-assured, a contrast to the woman she met earlier in the week. She’d heard enough. It was time to call Billy for the backup he promised her. Time to bring in Elizabeth Conrad and Michael Ross for the murder of Derick Hennesy.
Billy congratulated her on a job well done and told her to pack up the equipment and head home.
“Amanda, before you go, where’s Lee? Didn’t he make it to the hotel?”
“No, sir, he made it. He was checking into another possible lead.”
“I see. We’ll see you in the morning for your debriefing.”
“Yes, sir. Goodnight.”
After Amanda packed everything into her truck, she headed back into the hotel lobby to check out. She placed her room key on the counter and looked to the receptionist expectantly.
“All set then? I take it you got the bad guy, er, bad girl?”
Amanda nodded. All she could think about was her fight with Lee. She needed to find him and work things out. This had been a very long couple of days for both of them. She signed the receipt and headed for the door. She could hear music drifting from the small bar just to the right of the rear exit.
“I sure could use a drink before I deal with Lee tonight,” she murmured, trying to convince herself to go in.
After returning from his walk around the perimeter of the hotel, Lee could hear all the commotion in the lobby. Lee walked over to Erikson and asked what was going on. Just as he was finishing his conversation with his colleague he heard the elevator announce its arrival and saw Liz Conrad being man-handled by two agents. He could only shake his head in disgust. How could he not see that she was capable of murder and blackmail? But, most of all, how could he believe that his partner’s instincts were so far off?
He looked at his watch and decided it might be a good idea to get a room in the hotel for the night. It was getting late and he wasn’t sure if he was ready to face Amanda.
On his way into the bar, he heard Liz complaining that she was being set up. With a bitter laugh, he kept walking.
Inside the bar, Lee found a booth in the back corner that would give him the most privacy. He had a lot to think about. When the waitress came by, he ordered a Scotch.
After a couple of drinks, the bartender brought her a Strawberry Daiquiri. When she looked at him with a raised eyebrow, he said, “It’s compliments of the gentleman at the end of the bar,” and rolled his eyes. She smiled at his obvious attempt at humor and declined the drink.
A few minutes later, she felt a presence behind her and turned around. Her eyes connected instantly with his. Then she turned away to start playing with her drink.
“Hello, there. Is it all right if I sit here? You’re much too pretty to be drinking alone.”
She nodded.
“Mind if I buy you a drink? You’re drinking Scotch?”
“I usually don’t, but in the mystery novels I read, the characters always drink Scotch when they’re upset. It seems to soothe their nerves.”
He laughed. “So, why do your nerves need soothing?”
She was feeling relaxed from the drinks. Looking into his eyes, she said, “I had an argument with my husband.”
“He sounds like an idiot. Doesn’t he know how lucky he is to be married to such a lovely woman?”
She shrugged and swallowed the last of her drink.
“The man’s a fool, and doesn’t deserve you. I don’t mean to be forward, but would you like to join me in my room for a nightcap? I’m a good listener.”
She looked at the man in front of her, then at the bartender who was obviously listening to their conversation, and nodded.
When they arrived at the man’s room, he opened the door and let her enter before him. Not a word was spoken as he made his way to the honor bar. He gave her a smile and pulled out a small bottle of wine. “I’m afraid it’s not a very good year.”
She brushed his arm with her fingertips. “I’m not really thirsty anymore,” she said in barely a whisper.
She looked up into his eyes just as his mouth descended onto hers. She ran her fingers through his hair, and he pulled her closer to his chest. His tongue requested permission to enter her mouth and she gave it readily. Her heart was beating so loudly now, she was sure he could hear it. She felt his hands roam down her chest and begin to unbutton her blouse.
That action seemed to open up the floodgates to all that transpired over the past few days. All the arguments came rushing back to her, and she pulled herself out of his arms. She tried to slow her breathing down, but the feeling was so intense, she wasn’t sure she could.
He wrapped his arms around himself, as if mourning the loss of her. Then he sought her out again. Slowly, tenderly, he cradled her in his arms from behind and nuzzled her neck.
“I’m sure your husband realizes now that he hurt you and feels terrible about it. I’ll bet he would do anything to make amends,” he whispered in her ear.
Amanda pulled from his embrace and turned around to face him, looking deeply into his hazel eyes. “Lee, you did hurt me. You hurt me so badly by not listening to me and by assuming I was just jealous of Elizabeth. I know she helped you through a rough time. But you’ve always at least listened to my ideas before discounting them.”
“I am so sorry, Amanda. I never meant to hurt you, I just wasn’t thinking rationally. I met Liz when I needed a friend and she was there for me, no questions asked. It was so hard for me to see her as a murderer. I should have realized something was wrong when your ‘radar’ went off just after you met her. You’re usually right about those things. I love you so much, Amanda. Please say you’ll forgive me.” His eyes pleaded with hers.
“I love you too, sweetheart. Of course, I forgive you.” She stroked his cheek, then made her voice teasingly stern. “Just see that it doesn’t happen again, Stetson.” Snuggling deeper into his embrace, she thought to herself, ‘Now this is an affair to remember.’
The End
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.