Title: His Heart and Soul
Author: Marcy
Summary: Lee is framed for a crime he didn't commit. Can he find Amanda in time to prove his innocence?
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Shoot the Moon and Warner Bros. But the idea and story are mine.
He adored her with his eyes.
From the first time they met, that desperate moment at that busy train station, he has adored her with his eyes.
Lee would never meet anyone like her ever again. He knew that as well as he knew his own name.
Once a reckless man, Amanda now kept him grounded. When he was desperately running from the normal, she invited him into that normalcy with loving, welcoming arms and she never gave up on him. Never.
For that he would always be grateful.
Simply put, he cherished her place in his life, in his world, and in his heart.
And now she was gone.
Lee sat on the edge of his bed, his bedroom bathed in the early morning light and shook his head.
Amanda had only left him to go home and to spend some time with the boys before he picked her up for work, but he felt the emptiness in his heart, as sure as if she was gone for good.
An imminent sense of doom was upon the Scarecrow. Life for Lee Stetson was going too well. He was too happy, too settled.
For Lee Stetson, it was a relief, something he had been running towards all of his life.
For the Scarecrow, it kept him on edge. Too much had been taken from Lee, the man. Scarecrow the Agent had vowed he would never lose again. He would never get that close, never love again, never feel that pain of losing.
Until the first time he saw her.
Until he adored her with his eyes.
Parking his Corvette at the curb in front of the house in Arlington, Lee noticed that Amanda's Wagoneer was not parked in front of the garage as normal. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. Had Dotty ventured out and taken the boys to school? He looked at his watch and disregarded that last thought. It was too early for the boys to leave. Normally they were pushing their Mother to the limit, time limit, and nerve limit. It seemed that the older his secret step sons were getting, the better they were at pushing their Mother's buttons in order to wear her down and get what they wanted.
Lee stepped out of the car, deep in his own thoughts as he shook his head. That would all change as soon as they had a Father in the house. JOE wasn't around as much as he should be, and Philip and Jamie needed a Father figure around. A Father figure, who stayed around, not one who was around whenever it was convenient for him.
Walking up the steps to the front porch, Lee rang the doorbell. He had to wait only a few seconds before the door was opened by a flustered Dotty.
Dotty looked at him in surprise. She had known that Amanda had spent the night with Lee the night before, but hadn't expected Lee to appear in the morning. What was wrong with this picture?
"Lee, what are you doing here?"
Lee frowned curiously.
"I came to pick Amanda up for work."
Dotty frowned, stepping back to allow Lee entrance into the house.
"I thought she was leaving for work from your place."
Lee shook his head.
"No, she wanted to come home and spend some time with the boys since they were leaving right after school for their camping trip. She hasn't been here at all?"
Dotty shook her head again.
"No, Lee, she hasn't. I haven't talked to her since she left last night. When did she leave your apartment?"
Lee looks at his watch and shakes his head with concern.
"Too long ago, a couple of hours ago. Maybe she had some car trouble. We've been having problems with the water pump."
The boys thundering down the stairs put a halt to the immediate conversation.
They stopped at the foot of the stairs when they saw Lee.
Jamie's eyes fairly lit up when he saw Lee. The look was mirrored in Lee's eyes and Dotty smiled, despite her missing daughter. Jamie had finally accepted Lee into his Mother's life, and Dotty couldn't be happier.
"Hey Lee. Is Mom here?" Jamie asked.
"Lee, when we get back Sunday, can you take us to shoot hoops?" Philip asked hurriedly as he swung his backpack over his shoulders onto his back. "I am trying to improve my jump shot."
"Yeah," added Jamie "and you said that you would help me develop my pictures from the trip this weekend."
Lee chuckled, shaking his head with amusement. The boys certainly had inherited the gift of gab from the West women.
"Good morning boys. No, your Mom isn't here, looks like maybe she had some car trouble, yes, we can work on the jump shot Sunday afternoon and Jamie, we will develop those pictures before dinner Sunday night."
Philip raised his eyebrows, shaking his head.
"Dude, do you ever stop to breathe when you talk? You are going to cause yourself a hemorrhage or something."
Lee opened his mouth to respond and then closed it, remembering his missing wife.
"Look, why don't you throw your things in the back of my car, and I will take you to school."
The boys cheered and flew past Dotty, kissing her quickly and shouting their good-byes before they hurried out the door.
Lee looked down at Dotty.
"I'll drop them at school, and then look for Amanda. She is probably stuck on the side of a road somewhere. If she comes home, or calls, tell her to call me on my cell phone, OK?" Dotty nodded, taking his arm and reaching up to kiss his cheek sweetly. Lee fairly blushed, touched by the motherly look she gave him.
"What was that for?"
Dotty shrugged simply.
"For taking care of all of us."
Lee flashed her one of his dimpled grins and winked at her.
"I plan on doing it for a long time, Dotty."
With that said, Lee hurried out the door to stop the impending argument about which brother had to ride shot gun. He was resigning himself to the fact that sooner or later he was going to have to get a different car.
Lee had no sooner driven into the school's parking lot when his cellular phone rang.
"Hey, don't get out yet." He told Philip, who was reaching for the door handle, "If that's your Mom, she'll want to tell you good bye."
Lee picked the phone up and put it to his ear.
"Stetson here."
"Where in the hell are you?" He heard Billy bark. Lee raised his eyebrows, surprised. He wasn't late for a meeting and all of their other cases were finished. Suddenly his Agent radar went up and he swallowed the swell of bile that had immediately rose in his throat.
"Why?"
"I need you in here, now." Lee looked at the boys, and he tried to swallow the bile again. No such luck.
"Hold on Billy." Lee held the phone to his chest and forced a smile on his face.
"It's work. You guys have a great camping trip, OK? I'll see you Sunday when we pick you up."
"See ya Lee." Philip called as he got out of the car and immediately ran over to the latest in a string of girlfriends.
Jamie looked at Lee and then reached over and hugged the surprised man unabashedly. Lee reached over with his free arm and hugged the younger boy tight, ruffling the back of Jamie's hair with his fingers.
"I'll see you Sunday, OK Jamie."
Jamie nodded and then pulled away to get out of the car quickly. After the door was shut, Lee replaced the phone at his ear. He took a deep breath.
"What's wrong, Billy?"
"I need you in here, now, Lee."
Lee shook his head. There was that sense of doom again.
"I can't, Billy. I am out looking for Amanda. I think she has had some car trouble."
"Lee," Then Billy just stopped, and Lee could hear him take a deep breath. "Just come into the Agency."
Lee closed his eyes for a moment. He had heard that tone of voice from Billy before, stern, yet saddened. There could only be one reason for it.
"You found her car? Is she OK?"
"They are fishing her car out of the Potomac right now, but she isn't in it. Things aren't adding up, and I need you in here now, to make the pieces to this puzzle fit."
Lee shook his head, as if to clear the clouds of fear from his brain.
"What puzzle?"
"Lee, witnesses say that a man in a silver sports car, ran Amanda's Wagoneer off of the road into the Potomac. The man, matching your description, wearing a gray suit and a blue tie, then got out of his car and watched the car sink. Lee, what are you wearing right now?"
Lee closed his eyes again and took a deep breath. He had a fleeting memory of Amanda setting out his gray suit and picking out her favorite blue tie before she left that morning. They had been teasing and laughing about the tie and what it meant to Amanda. Then she had kissed him, so tender and sweetly, told him she loved him, that he was her world, and then walked out the door.
"I'm on my way."
Part 2
The first time she looked into those eyes, she knew somewhere down deep inside that she would be looking into those eyes for the rest of her life.
Those beautiful, beautiful eyes.
Her own eyes were closed.
Amanda couldn't open her eyes. She couldn't move at all. She could breath, she could hear and smell, and that was about it.
She could hear the trickle of water surrounded by quiet. She could even smell the mushrooms, and somewhere down deep in the recesses of her chloroform-fogged brain, Amanda knew that she was in a sub-basement near the Potomac.
How she got there, she couldn't remember. Who had her, she didn't know.
All Amanda knew was that she couldn't physically make herself move. She couldn't feel anything. Was she paralyzed? Had she hurt herself that bad, or worse, had someone else hurt her?
She was alone. Amanda knew that also.
Where was Lee?
Lee hurried into Billy's office to find Billy shouting into the phone, and Francine sitting on the arm of one of the extra chairs, watching Billy.
"No! Keep dragging the Potomac. We don't have a body yet, and if she is in there, I want her found." Billy slammed the receiver down and looked at Lee.
Lee raised his eyebrows questioningly.
"Where is this witness, Billy?"
Francine frowned at Lee.
"Gray suit, blue tie? Terrific." Francine said, more to herself than to either of the men. Lee looked at Francine for a moment and then looked back at Billy.
"The witness Billy?"
Billy shook his head, walking around his desk to Lee.
"He gave his statement to Manny Trudeau, and then he took off. When Manny realized who the car belonged to, he called me."
Francine moved to the edge of Billy's desk, looking up at Lee.
"Lee, when did you see Amanda last?"
Lee raised his eyebrows at Francine.
"That doesn't matter, Francine." Lee told her, frustrated. Billy nodded at Lee.
"Yes, it does, especially when you fit the description of the man who ran Amanda off of the road into the Potomac and then watched it sink, down to the gray suit and the blue tie."
Lee ran his fingers through his hair roughly as Billy continued.
"Mrs. Marsten says that Amanda left the building at 3:30 yesterday afternoon, alone."
"Yes. The boys are going on a camping trip this afternoon, and she had a few things to do to get them ready to go."
"Was that the last time you saw her?" Billy asked tentatively. Lee looked around the office uncomfortably.
"Uh, no."
Billy sighed, nodding. He looked to Francine, who shared his knowing look, and then looked to Lee.
"Lee," Billy began, "For now, whatever you say in this office, stays in this office, but I need to know the details, so that you don't get buried deeper."
Lee folded his arms across his chest.
"I know, I know." He took a deep breath and began to pace the floor in front of the windows. "No, that wasn't the last time that I saw Amanda. After I left here, I went to her house, had dinner with her and the boys and then we took the boys camping gear over to the Scoutmasters house. We went out for ice cream, then went back to the house. I left around 9: 30." Lee ran his fingers through his hair again and then stopped pacing. He looked at Billy sheepishly. "Amanda came to my apartment later on, about 10, and left at 6 this morning."
Again Billy and Francine looked at each other, neither really that surprised, and then they looked back at Lee.
"After she left this morning, where did you go? Who knew what you were wearing this morning?"
Lee shook his head.
"Nobody but Amanda. She picked out my suit and tie this morning before she left…" Lee stopped talking and then nodded as the realization hit him. "A bug. Billy, someone must have bugged my apartment."
Billy nodded, mentally putting the pieces together.
"Makes sense. Whoever is trying to frame you bugged your apartment."
Francine raised her eyebrows.
"Lee, Billy said that you thought that she had car trouble, and you were out looking for her this morning when he called you."
"The water pump is going out on the car, I think. It's been one thing or another with that Wagoneer. I went to Amanda's this morning to give her a ride to work, and her Mother said that she hadn't come back this morning, and she hadn't expected her to, as she knew that Amanda was with me last night. So I took the boys to school and was going to look for Amanda. I was at the school when Billy called me."
Lee watched Billy and Francine share another look, and then he shook his head. "Billy, what does Manny think?"
Billy shrugged at his long time friend.
"Manny thinks you fit the description of the man the witness saw, especially given your association with Amanda."
"That's ludicrous, Billy."
"I know." Billy agreed. Francine stood straight and looked from Billy to Lee.
"I am going to take a team over to your apartment and look for bugs."
Lee nodded.
"With a fine tooth comb, huh?" Francine raised her eyebrows as she walked towards the door. Lee took her arm and stopped her as she opened the door. "Uh, Amanda's things are all over the apartment, make up in my desk in the bedroom, clothes in my closet, perfume in my bathroom, jewelry, hell, I think her robe is still on my bed."
Francine gave him a consoling smile. "I'll be discreet, don't worry."
Lee watched Francine leave the office and as the door closed, he looked at Billy.
"Amanda isn't in the Potomac. She is alive, somewhere. I'd know it, I'd feel it, if she were dead."
Billy sighed, walking around his desk to look down at a file.
"There is one other thing Lee. The witness mentioned something, and Manny seems to think that it was important for the witness to make sure that Manny knew this," Billy seemed to hesitate, and Lee raised a curious eyebrow.
"What Billy?"
"That the man the witness claims is you, was wearing a wedding ring."
Lee took a step back and swallowed hard. Billy raised his eyebrows.
"Does someone know something that I don't?"
Lee nodded.
"Uh, yeah. Billy, Amanda is my wife. We've been married since February."
Billy straightened and then nodded.
"Ah, California."
"Our honeymoon."
"Some honeymoon." Billy quipped cynically.
"Tell me about it."
Billy took a deep breath and clapped his hands together.
"OK, well, we will deal with that later. Let's find your wife, and find who is trying to frame you. I want you to keep a low profile during this." Lee opened his mouth to disagree and Billy raised up a hand to stop his words. "Let us do the searching. Smythe is on the warpath again, and if he gets wind of this, and you go after things with the typical gusto you choose to exude when it comes to Amanda, Smythe's liable to hand you right over to Manny."
"Oh, come on. Manny doesn't really think that it was me, does he?"
"The witness positively ID'd you from a photo that Manny showed him. I got Manny to wait until a body is found before he does anything, but let's not make matters worse for you or Amanda in the meantime."
Lee nodded in resignation. He knew that Billy was right, he just didn't like it.
"OK, OK. Look, I am going to go over to Amanda's, and look through my old case files that we can access through her new computer. I'll go crazy if I have to hang around here, and I can't go back to my place."
"What will you tell Mrs. West?"
Lee shook his head.
"Well, she and Curt were going to fly off late this morning to Canada for the weekend, so if I can convince her that Amanda is here at work for just a couple of more hours, then I should be in the clear."
"When will the boys be back?"
"Sunday, around noon." Lee looks at the floor and shakes his head. "We have to find her, Billy." He said desperately.
Billy nodded, sitting in his chair.
"We will, Lee. We will."
Part 3
Amanda lay on the sub-basement floor, finally able to open her eyes. She still couldn't move, but being able to open her eyes was good enough for the moment, though it was dark and she still couldn't see anything. She could hear someone pacing the floor above her and an angry voice. The muffled voice was familiar, but she couldn't place it.
She felt tears fill her eyes and then run down the sides of her face to her ears. She was frightened, cold and confused. Her concept of time and day was gone. She thought about her family, and wondered if they even knew she was missing. Oh, how she wished for her husbands arms around her at that moment. She sniffed back new tears. He would come for her. She knew that. He always did.
Up above Amanda, pacing the floor with a phone receiver to his ear was Auggie Swann, the Scarecrow's sometimes reliable always money hungry informant.
"Hey, Man, you have put me in a hell of a tight spot. When Stetson finds out that I have his wife, he is going to kill me. You can't expect me to call him and give him your ultimatum. He is going to know my voice right off the bat…yeah, I know what will happen to me if I don't follow through, but the fact is, I'm going to need a little more money, to pull this off, if you know what I mean…"
Francine walked through Lee's apartment, looking around as a team of Agents moved from room to room, searching for bugs. The apartment had a rather clean and home like appearance, a far cry from the previous bachelor places that Lee had always lived in before. Sure enough, there were touches of Amanda everywhere, from the peach and green throw pillows on the couch, her apron hanging in the kitchen, half melted candles on Lee's nightstands, the pink silk robe laying at the foot of the bed and the Cosmopolitan magazine thrown casually on the coffee table. Francine raised an amused eyebrow at the magazine. She never figured Amanda for a Cosmo reader, but then, she had never figured Lee would fall for a housewife either.
The phone rang. Francine walked over to the buffet table along the back of the couch that held the phone and the answering machine. She listened as the caller left his message.
"Hey, Stetson, I've got your wife, and enough incriminating evidence to put you away for a long time for her death, unless you get me the information on the Stanislaus Theory. If you don't keep the Agency out of this, I'll go up into those mountains and get your boys, or tamper with Captain Curt's plane. I know all, Stetson, and I can pin you for anything. I'll get back to you." Click.
Francine looked at the table and raised her eyebrows in amusement and shock mixed with concern for her missing friend.
"Wife, huh?" She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Lee Stetson, hell must be sub-zero by now."
A knock at the door brought her out of her thoughts and when she opened the door, Francine found herself face to face with Detective Manny Trudeau.
Manny raised his eyebrows as he looked past her into the apartment.
"Ms. Desmond."
"Detective Trudeau." Was her cool reply. "What can I do for you?"
"Is Stetson available?" Francine shook her head.
"He's not here, Detective. Can I help you?"
"Has anyone found Mrs. King yet?"
"No. Not yet."
Manny frowned, gesturing for her to follow him into the hallway. Francine stepped outside the door as Manny pulled something gold out of his pocket.
"Have you ever seen this before?" Francine looked down at the smooth gold wedding band in the palm of his hand and raised a cynical eyebrow.
"A wedding band? Yeah, on half the men in DC."
"Have you ever seen it on Stetson?" Francine folded her arms across her chest, shaking her head.
"No. As far as I know, Lee doesn't have a wedding ring, or a need to wear one, if you know what I mean." Manny nodded, unconvinced.
"There is an inscription." He said, handing her the ring. "Take a look."
Francine took the ring and looked inside to read it. 'For all the days of our lives, Amanda' Francine frowned. "This isn't happening." She whispered.
Manny nodded.
"Oh, yes it is. It was found on an embankment of the Potomac. Where is Stetson?" Francine looked up at him from the ring.
"I don't know."
"Well, when you see him, tell him that I am looking for him." Manny took the ring from Francine and slipped it back into the pocket of his trousers.
Francine watched Manny walk along the hallway towards the elevator and she stepped back into the apartment. After taking and replacing the tape in Lee's answering machine, she picked up her purse from the couch and slid the microcassette inside.
"Gideon, Tyler," She called to the men roaming around Lee's apartment, "I have to go back to the Agency. No one comes in or goes out until I return."
Lee stood in Amanda's kitchen and looked out the window above the sink. Oh, how he wished to see Amanda's beautiful smiling face pop up out of the flowers.
Lee smiled. How often did Amanda think that of him? How often had he himself popped up out of the flowers, to find her doing the dishes or preparing dinner? How many times had he watched the interactions of this family he had grown to love as his own, from the outside looking in?
"Oh, Amanda, where are you?" He braced his hands on the edge of the counter and closed his eyes. "When I get you back in my arms, I am never going to let you go." Lee vowed.
The doorbell rang, pulling him from his desperate thoughts.
Opening the front door, Lee saw Billy and Francine standing there.
"What's up?" Billy frowned, looking around.
"Is the coast clear?" Lee nodded and stepped back to allow Billy and Francine into the house.
"We have a few things to talk about." Billy said as they walked back into the den. Billy and Francine took seats on the couch and Lee sat on the arm of one of the chairs, facing the two. "Have you come up with anything?" Billy asked, gesturing at the computer that Lee had set up on the coffee table. Lee shook his head.
"No. You?"
Francine sat forward, and lay a microcassette recorder on the coffee table.
"When I was at your place this morning, a call came through and this was the message the caller left." Francine pressed play.
As they all listened to the message, Lee listened to the threats against his family, all of the people he truly loved, with an absolute poker face. He was going to talk to a few people before he actually went out and strangled the idiot belonging to the voice.
When the message ended, Francine pressed stop.
"Trudeau stopped by your apartment right after this came through. He showed me something they found on the embankment. I couldn't identify it as yours, as I have never seen one on you before."
Lee looked at her curiously. "What?"
Francine raised an eyebrow. "A wedding band. A smooth gold man's wedding band." Lee shook his head and sat forward, his hands on his knees.
"It's not mine." He said confidently. "Mine is hidden in a box in my dresser."
"It had an inscription. For all the days of our lives, Amanda." Lee looked at Billy blankly, that all too familiar bile swelling in his throat again.
"Someone got into my apartment Billy." Billy nodded.
"When did you see it last?" Lee stood and began to pace the floor in front of the bookcase.
"Last weekend, when Amanda and I posed as the married couple at the Governors Ball in New York. We wore our own rings. After I brought Amanda here, I went home and put my ring away. I put it in the box, and placed it at the bottom of my sock drawer."
Francine watched Lee pace for a moment and then she sat forward.
"Lee, Trudeau still has the ring. It's in his pocket, not at the station as evidence. He wants to talk to you."
Lee lifted a small picture of he and Amanda off of one of the bookshelves. It had been one of Jamie's first attempts at photography, and he had caught Lee and Amanda in a lighthearted, smiling clinch out under the tree house. Amanda had proudly displayed it on her bookshelf with the rest of the family photos.
"Well, Manny can wait." He mumbled, his eyes on the picture of he and his wife. Billy frowned, standing and walking over to Lee.
"Lee, what is the Stanislaus Theory?"
Lee cleared his throat and looked at Billy.
"It is actually something Amanda was working on for Beeman. She was really closed mouthed about it, so I don't know any details."
Billy looked at Francine.
"OK, I'll go talk to Beeman. Francine, you go back to Lee's apartment and wait for another message." He looks at Lee. "Does Amanda keep any work files here on this computer?" Lee shook his head, setting the picture back on the shelf and turning to face Billy.
"No. We can access the Agency files from here, but she never actually brings the work home and stores it in this hard drive. There are too many eyes and ears around here." Billy nodded.
"Speaking of those eyes and ears. There is a threat against Amanda's, your family. What are you going to do about that?" Lee sighed.
"Well, no one is going anywhere this weekend. I'll call the airport and have Curt's flight grounded. They weren't going take off for another couple of hours, and then I'll get the boys from school. I'll need a team on the house until we get Amanda back." Lee stopped for a moment and sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Billy, I am going to have to tell them something." Billy looked at Lee with understanding in his eyes.
"Use your own judgement, Scarecrow. I'll back you up."
Billy walked out of the den, and Lee and Francine only looked at each other. The front door shut and finally Francine raised an eyebrow.
"Married, huh?" Lee smirked at her.
"Don't start, huh?" Lee walked into the kitchen and stood at the sink again, his arms folded across his chest.
Francine took a deep breath, following him. She stood behind him and lay her hands on the back of his shoulders.
"Hey," she said softly. "I know that sometimes I am catty when it comes to Amanda, but the truth of the matter is, that you both are very dear to me, and if you are happy, so am I." Lee looked out the window at Dotty's geraniums.
"Francine, that woman is my heart, and my soul. Everything that I am today is because of her, and even I can admit that it is a vast improvement over the old Lee Stetson. Without her…" Lee stopped. He didn't want to finish that thought. He had come too close to losing her before and didn't plan on ever coming that close again. Francine squeezed his shoulders lightly and then let him go.
"We'll find her, and then we will take care of the scum that has her." Lee turned to Francine and raised his eyebrows.
"We sure will. After I get the boys, I am going to take them to ice cream, and see TP while I am there. The idiot on the message is strictly a middle man, and I want to see if TP has any information on what this certain idiot has been up to lately."
Francine's blue eyes widened.
"You know who it is? Who is it?" Lee raised his eyebrows and shook his head, unwilling to divulge the name just yet.
"Someone who is going to be very glad that I have learned a few things from my wife lately. Talk first and then hit."
TBC