Chapter Ten

October 30, 1991

10:15 PM

A slow waltz was playing as the masked couples whirled around on the polished ballroom floor. Lee wasn’t dancing, however-he was searching. She had to be here, he thought. He couldn’t have lost her, not after all this. Then he saw her.

“Amanda,” he whispered. She looked at him, her eyes filled with fear and sadness, trying to pull away from the arms that held her-the face that was just like his, only filled with coldness and evil.

“Checkmate, Stetson,” Ren Jepard said, as he put the gun up against Amanda’s head and pulled the trigger…

“No!” Lee shouted. Someone was calling his name, but the only thing he could concentrate on was Amanda-who fell to the ground as the gunshot rang out and Jepard laughed…

“Lee?” a voice was calling his name. “Lee, wake up,” a hand shook his shoulder. Lee opened his eyes and saw Francine standing in front of him. . “I’m sorry,” he said, trying to shake the nightmare images from his mind. “I must have nodded off.”

“It’s understandable, after what you’ve been through,” Francine said. “Billy wanted to brief you on the current situation.”

“Daddy?” Jenna stirred in her father’s arms, dark eyes blinking sleepily. Amanda, who had been resting her head on her husband’s shoulder, yawned and looked up at Francine.

“What’s going on?” she said.

“To be honest, not a lot,” Francine admitted. “Julie’s refusing to talk-Billy’s been in there with her for an hour and she hasn’t given us any clue to Ren’s whereabouts.”

Jenna was looking down at Lee’s wrists, which were bruised and rubbed raw from the ropes which had held him. “Daddy got an owie?” She said.

“Daddy’s fine,” Lee said. “Just be quiet now while the grownups are talking-like this, see?” He put his finger on his lips and Jenna imitated him, keeping her finger across her mouth.

“What about the agents sent to retrieve him?” Lee asked Francine.

“No luck there, either,” Francine said. “Chances are that he’s lying low until the Ball tomorrow night. In the meantime it’s not safe for you and Amanda to go home, so we’ve arranged for a suite for you at the Cumberland tonight. Did you still want Jenna to stay with me?”

Lee looked down at Jenna, who was still keeping silent but had now wrapped her arms around him again. “I don’t-” he began.

“Not tonight,” Amanda said, stroking her daughter’s hair. “Jenna’s had a rough day and I sort of think she needs us right now. But if you can take her trick or treating tomorrow night while we’re at the ball that would be a big help.”

Francine hesitated, a slightly panicked expression on her face. “Sure, It’s no problem,” she finally said. “No problem at all.”

October 30, 1991

11:30 PM

Lee came out of the bathroom, wearing an undershirt and blue boxers. Amanda was wearing a nightgown and robe, standing over the child-sized bed where Jenna was sleeping. Lee put his arms around his wife from behind. Amanda jumped with surprise, giving a startled cry.

“Relax, Mrs. Stetson, it’s only me,” he said, planting soft kisses on the side of her neck as he held her.

“I’m just glad that it really is you,” Amanda said, leaning her neck back, her lips meeting his briefly. “You have no idea how frightened I was.”

“I was frightened too,” Lee said, resting his chin on the top of Amanda’s head. “I didn’t know if I’d ever see my family again, and the thought of Ren being there instead was-”

Lee broke off his sentence as Jenna stirred suddenly, making a soft sound. Both he and Amanda held their breath until she went back to sleep,

“Let’s go in the other room,” Amanda whispered. “I don’t want to wake her.” Arm and arm Lee and Amanda walked into the main area closing the door behind them. They sat together on the sofa.

“Remember the last time we were here?” Lee said. “I was sitting in the chair over there, and you were sitting on this sofa reading a magazine.”

“I remember,” Amanda said, her tone teasing as her fingers traced the curve of his arm. “You kept looking over at me and then you tried to pretend you weren’t.”

“Yeah, well you were blushing,” Lee said. “You were staring at that magazine so hard I thought it might burst into flame.”

“Then Francine came and broke the spell,” Amanda said. A serious expression flitted across her features suddenly. “So much has changed since then Lee, but one thing hasn’t. It’s still all about Ren Jepard and he’s still trying to kill us.”

“Yeah I know,” Lee said. “And he almost succeeded. If I hadn’t been there-” he shuddered.

“Hey,” Amanda leaned her head against Lee’s chest and slipped her hand into his. Lee ran his thumb lightly over the top. “We can’t think about what-ifs, Lee,” she said. “You were there and that’s what matters. Jenna and Jamie are safe.”

“Jenna,” Lee said, his mind going back to what Jamie had said. “Amanda, when Ren tried to hit Jenna-she didn’t think that was me, did she?”

“Lee Stetson,” Amanda said in disbelief. “Have you seen the way Jenna’s been clinging to you all evening? Those are not the actions of someone who’s frightened of their father.”

“I know that, Amanda,” Lee struggled to put his feelings into words. “I just don’t want her to think that I could ever do something like that to her.”

“Well she didn’t and she doesn’t,” Amanda said. “In fact, Jenna knew before any of us. She kept saying that Ren wasn’t her Daddy –she even yelled ‘No’ when he tried to kiss me.”

“Well that’s because Jenna’s a very gifted child,” Lee said. “What about you?”

“Well, I knew something was wrong,” Amanda said. “Everything felt wrong. It felt like someone had taken my husband away and replaced him with a different person-which I guess they had, but I didn’t know it at the time. What I couldn’t figure out was how it had happened so quickly. Jamie was watching that Invasion of the Bodysnatchers movie and I had some crazy notion that you were a pod person and –what?”

Lee was laughing, partly at Amanda’s idea and partly at the way she could give a long speech without taking a single breath. “Oh Amanda-a pod person?” He said.

“Don’t laugh,” Amanda said. “I didn’t know what else to think. Anyway, Jenna tried to grab something in his bag and that’s when Ren tried to hit her. I threw him out and when I searched the bag I saw the penicillin, made a few phone calls and put the pieces together.”

“And you didn’t tell anyone about your pod person theory,” Lee said. “Not Jamie, or Francine, or Billy or the Police-”

Amanda sat up, facing him. “Look Stetson,” she said with mock sternness. “What do I have to do to make you stop talking about pod people?”

With a wicked grin Lee pulled her against him. “I can think of a few things,” he said.

“You know,” Amanda said as she ran her hands over Lee’s shoulders. “I always wondered what could have happened that night if Francine hadn’t interrupted us.”

“Want to find out?” Lee said, as their lips met in a kiss.

TBC