Brinkman Blues
Chapter 1
Amanda woke up sobbing one night after the Gordon Redding case was wrapped up. She thought she was still clinging to life on the construction site ledge praying that Lee would know which woman to save that day!
The other woman was Karen Brinkman who Gordon Redding hired and had transformed to Amanda King's exact likeness and personality traits in a bizarre plot of revenge where Karen would kill Lee the same way that Treloggen and the other victims had died!
Amanda breathed deeply as she tried to calm herself down and slowly looked around her bedroom realizing that she was indeed safe in her own home.
She and Lee were debriefed afterwards and then Lee took Amanda back to the hotel to bring her family home as Billy told her things were safe once more.
But Amanda still had a nagging fear that maybe Karen was still alive. She did recall seeing the woman fall, but that didn't mean she was really dead!
Shaking her head she thought to herself, "C'mon, Amanda! You're being ridiculous! If there was even the slightest chance that Karen was alive, you know Lee would keep you safe! "
Still, they didn't see her body afterwards. Lee thought they should just get back to the Agency as soon as possible and not think about it any more. He was trying to spare her any more trauma and Billy was glad of Lee's decision.
Amanda decided to make sure that she was indeed gone! She got up and got dressed and grabbed her purse and keys and headed out of the neighborhood driving back to the construction site.
Parking, she got out taking her flashlight with her. She didn't leave a note for her mother at home because it would just take a little while and she'd be back before her family awakened.
She also didn't call Lee because he'd just think she was overthinking the situation and that she hadn't trusted him when he said that she was pronounced dead from the paramedics that were called after it happened.
She had to check everywhere she could to ease her own mind! Not seeing anything down below, she went carefully up the steps to the very top of the building where the incident occurred.
When she got up there she made her way around slowly because as she recalled, the area was about diagonal to where the stairs were.
Seeing the corner near where they went over the ledge Amanda made her way to the wall and leaned against it to look down with the flashlight but it was still too difficult to see anything concrete that far down.
Suddenly a voice said, "All right, freeze! "
Amanda reacted and dropped the flashlight which bounced off the ledge and fell below!
She stamped her foot and muttered, "Damn it! "
Turning around she said, " Look what you made me do! Who are you anyway?! "
The light the person was shining in her eyes made it hard to see.
It was a man who said, "I'm from the D.C. police, ma'am. You're trespassing on private property. Is that your stationwagon I saw down there with the license plate number, "JR4-502? "
Amanda grew defensive then and asked, "How do I know you're from the police? May I see your badge, please? "
The man showed his badge and shined the flashlight on it making sure Amanda could see it and said, "I'm afraid you'll have to come down with me, ma'am. I'll need to see your ID, license and registration, please. "
Amanda said, "Look, officer. I know my rights! I'm not destroying property. In fact, I was just looking for someone who clearly isn't here so I'll just leave now. "
The officer shone a path for her to get close to the stairs where he was and then took her arm and said, "I'll help you down. It's dangerous here. "
When they reached her car Amanda said, "Well, thank you for walking me back to my car. I'll just be on my way-."
The officer shook his head. "I'm afraid not. You still haven't told me who you were looking for. "
Amanda groaned and said thinking quickly, "My cousin. She works late most nights on this side of town and she called me to ask for a ride. In fact I'm late now, so if you'll excuse me-."
But the officer shook his head and said, "Ma'am, there's nothing around here but this construction site and some very old warehouses that were condemned some time ago. I doubt very much that your "cousin" would have a job here. May I now see your license please? "
Amanda realized she had no other choice. She gave her license to him and he got on his walkie. "Frank, are you in the area? "
A static noise came and then a voice said, "Yeah, Paul. What's up? "
The officer Paul said, "Could you get dispatch to run a line on this Virginia license number. #JR4-502? It should belong to one Amanda King of 4247 Maplewood Drive in Arlington? I need them to check it out and get a match. "
Frank the other officer said, "Sure thing, Paul. Get back to you. "
Paul said, "Thanks, Frank. "
Amanda groaned and said, "Do I need a lawyer? Because you can't arrest me for just walking around. I'm not destroying property or anything."
Paul said, "No ma'am, but you are trespassing on private property. If you can't tell me why you're really here I'm afraid I'll have no choice but to bring you downtown. "
As Amanda was trying to come up with something he might believe, the walkie went on again. "Paul? You there? "
The officer said, "Yeah, Frank. What's the word? "
Frank said, "Well, Gus wants us to bring the woman in. There's something weird goin' on that we gotta check out. She there with you? "
Paul nodded. "Yeah, she is. "
Frank said, "Well, Gus wants to see her for himself. Bring her downtown. "
Paul said, "On my way. " Getting off the walkie he said, "Well, you've gotta come with me downtown, ma'am. I'm sorry. "
Amanda was shocked and said, "But you can't arrest me! I haven't done anything. I told you that! "
Paul sighed and said, "I didn't say you were being arrested but our chief needs to see you anyway. Look, is there anyone who can cooroborate your story or at least identify you exactly as to who you really are? "
Amanda sighed and said nodding, "Yes. What time is it? "
Paul said looking at his watch, " It's 3 a.m. Why? "
Amanda shook her head saying, 'No reason. Just that the friend I need to call will not be too happy when I tell him where I am. "
When they got to the D.C. police station the chief took a look at Amanda and blanched but said quickly, "Have a seat, ma'am. Would you like some coffee? "
Amanda said nervously, "No thank you. What's going on here? I told Officer Paul that I was just-. "
The chief said holding up a hand. "Paul, could you leave us for a moment please?"
Paul nodded and left the room. The chief then shut the door and said, "We've put a call out to this IFF that you work for Mrs. King and someone will be here shortly to identify you because we also got a report on a deceased woman who was taken to the morgue. She could be a twin which is why we needed clarification."
Amanda winced and muttered, "Oh, my gosh! "
How will she ever explain her actions to Lee?
Would he even understand?
She shook her head as she thought, "I've really done it this time!"
TBC
