Title: Every Breath You Take…
Author: Dragonfly32403 (some of you know me as Osprey at Pax and All Your TV)
Summary/ Genre: This story is set shortly after the ending of the Series. It takes place in the summer of 1987. I will try to stay as canon as I can, but there may be some straying, as this takes place a couple of months after the last episode. The mystery marriage is still a mystery.
This storyline is based on the Police song "I'll be watching you."
Admiration turns to deadly obsession when a new recruit is teamed up with Lee and Amanda.
Rating: R for violence and language.
Disclaimer: The song "Every Breath You Take," belongs to the Police; I just needed to borrow the message behind it. Scarecrow and Mrs. King and the affiliated characters belong to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon, Inc. Only Rayne Eberhardt, Josh Bradley, and the Everson's as well as the original storyline are mine. No infringement is intended.
Archive: Anywhere, just ask me first please.
Thanks so much to my wonderful betas at AllYourTV.com: CanItFrancine and UKMary and anyone else there who read the story and commented. You guys are wonderful and I promise I'll finish these.
Tuesday, August 13, 1987 3:30pm
Amanda Stetson smiled brightly as she walked through the bullpen and tapped lightly on Section Chief Billy Melrose's door. The older man looked through the blind-striped glass and waved Amanda in. He arose as she came through the door and smiled. Billy had grown quite fond of Amanda and considered her a friend as well as a co-worker. Billy motioned for Amanda to sit, and she nodded, lowering her thin frame into the chair nearest the door. Billy resumed his position behind his desk.
"Hello, Amanda."
"Hello, Sir."
Billy cut right to the chase. He knew that no one was going to be happy with this little announcement and the longer he put it off, the harder it would be on him. He took a deep breath and began.
"Amanda, I have an assignment for you."
"Yes, sir. What is it?"
"As you know, we have a group of new recruits, fresh from Station 1 and Dodge City, coming here to have their orientation and briefings. I'm getting a lot of heat from upstairs, saying that we need to mentor our agents better."
Billy rolled his eyes and continued, "as if I have all these agents to spare. Anyway, Amanda, what I was hoping was that I could pair you up with one of our new recruits."
He saw the hesitation in her eyes. Before she even opened her mouth to protest, he knew what the complaint would be, and he stopped her by holding a hand up between them.
"Amanda, I think you're more than ready to act as a mentor agent. I'm not reassigning you or Lee. You'll still be partners; Lee will be part of this mentoring. It's important that these agents learn the ups and downs of fieldwork and how to deal with a partner, and probably most importantly, how to follow orders. Rayne will be a…"
"Rain, sir?"
"Rayne. R-a-y-n-e. Rayne Allison Eberhardt. Your agent mentoree." He again rolled his eyes at the made-up word.
He searched for the right word, hoping to get the point across and not minimize the importance of what Amanda would be doing.
"Rayne will be an observer; she'll ride with you and Lee on low security missions; stakeouts and information drops mostly. She'll be shown the ropes where she can't get in the way. Then as she progresses, she'll be assigned her own partner, and head out into the field on her own."
"What about Beaman? Don't they have to take his classes and work on some of those 'spring cleaning' cases?"
Amanda was hedging and they both knew it.
"They'll be doing that too Amanda. But, the President, and Dr. Smyth think that it would be better to have these people see some field action beyond their case studies and security checks"
"Have you mentioned this to Lee,
sir?"
Billy grimaced.
He hadn't mentioned it to Lee, and he
wasn't exactly relishing the thought. Lee
didn't like new partners. Hell, Lee
just didn't like change. He felt
threatened, and when he felt threatened he acted, well he acted like an
ass.
"No, Amanda, I haven't. I wanted to run it by you first. After all, you are the, uh, the…Oh, hell, Amanda, we both know what would happen if I mentioned this to Lee first. He'd go on a tear and we'd all be miserable for weeks."
She sighed, "I'll tell him, sir. When should we be expecting her?"
"Tomorrow morning. I'll send her up to the Q-bureau after the morning briefing."
Billy handed Amanda a manila folder, which she quickly flipped through. She'd go through it in more depth upstairs with Lee.
Amanda nodded and pushed herself up from the chair and turned to leave. She knew exactly how Lee would react to this news, which is of course; the reason why she told Billy that she'd be the one to break the news. She wasn't really relishing his reaction to the news either; she just knew that he'd take it better if it came from her.
Amanda wasn't looking forward to babysitting a rookie. She knew that she'd been a rookie not all that long ago, but the thought of some trainee sitting with her and Lee in the Q-bureau, or worse, the Wagoneer on stake out, all day was really not all that appealing. She realized how tough it could be coming into this work without help. She had been lucky, she'd had Lee. She'd also been a suburban housewife with a mother, kids, and a mortgage. But, she hadn't come right out of "spy school" as Lee liked to call it.
Amanda put on her best smile as she turned the handle and let herself into the office she shared with her partner and husband, Lee Stetson.
Lee sat at his desktop computer trying to type something and swearing at the off-white box. He held a pencil tightly in his right hand as he hunt-pecked at the keyboard. He let out a particularly colorful curse as Amanda opened the door.
"That better not have been aimed at me Stetson." She smiled slightly at his discomfort when he looked up at her. She so enjoyed playing with him like that.
"What? Oh, no, Amanda. I…"
She held up her hand to stop his apology.
She smiled at him and, relieved, he smiled back. He ran one hand through his hair in a now
familiar gesture of frustration and tossed the pencil he'd been strangling onto
his blotter.
"I don't know why you insist that I learn how to use that… thing." He waved disgustedly at the innocuous looking computer. "After all, you know how to use it. And hey, what are partners for?"
Lee pushed himself away from his desk and walked to his wife. Reaching behind her, he locked the door as he took her into his arms. She molded herself to him, relishing his gentle kiss and the feeling of his arms around her body. He hugged her then stood back from her.
"Amanda, are the boys going to be gone this weekend? I need to see you. Doing this like this is killing me."
He pouted dramatically, but there was more than a grain of truth to his words. Only seeing one another at work, on weekends, and for stolen moments here and there was making both of them miserable.
She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head against his chest. She knew she had to tell him about the mentoring project, but right now it wasn't exactly the first thing on her mind.
"Lee, the boys will be camping with the Everson's for a week starting on Friday. They're spending the last full week of summer vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Mother will be jetting over Canada with Captain Kurt. We'll have the whole week to ourselves."
He smiled at her response and tipped her head up for another kiss. This one wasn't anywhere near as gentle as the previous. When this kiss broke, they both stood there, breathless and longing for more. Amanda knew she had to do something, or this would get way out of hand. The way she was feeling right now, Rayne may just find them here tomorrow morning in a little less than professional position.
Amanda sighed as she pushed away from her husband.
"Lee, there's something Billy wanted me to tell you." She pressed on before he could even begin to question or protest. "Lee, they need mentors for new agents that are starting here officially tomorrow."
"Whoa, ho, no Amanda, you're way too qualified to be a babysitter for some rookie fresh out of college. And anyway, I need you in the field with me. Can't they give them to Beaman or hey, better yet, have Fielder sit on them for a while?"
"No, Lee, apparently they can't. These recruits are going to be taking Beaman's classes on security systems, and working on low-level clearance checks, but Billy said that both Dr. Smyth and the President think it would be a good thing to get these kids out into the field to see what it's like to be a field agent. And I wouldn't be doing this alone"
"Oh, come on, Amanda. This is ridiculous…"
"Lee, she'll be up here bright and early tomorrow morning."
"Oh, you're kidding me."
"I kid you not."
"Amanda, you know, you don't have to volun…"
"Volunteer? Scarecrow, this was a direct order."
With a look of disgust, Lee stepped back and sat on the edge of his desk, Amanda handed him the folder. In the almost 2 inch thick dossier, would be all the information that the agency had gathered on the recruit as well as her psyche profile and any other interesting tidbits that they had a need to know.
Lee stood up and went back to his chair. He motioned for Amanda to come over and she rolled her chair next to his. Reading over his shoulder, the two agents began to 'get to know' their rookie. Lee read aloud.
"Rayne Allison Eberhardt, age 23. Born in Grand Rapids, MI. Father deceased, KIA in country in Vietnam 1968 at Hué. Mother is a psychology professor at Michigan State University. One brother in Navy intelligence. She graduated from George Washington University with bachelors in Political Science and Criminal Justice. She got her masters degree at Hawaii Pacific University in United States Political and Military History with a minor again in Criminal Justice. She graduated Suma Cum Laude from GWU and Magna Cum Laude from Hawaii-Pacific. Photographic memory, scored high on Analysis and Interpretation part of recruitment tests. She speaks German, French, Spanish, some Italian, and one Native American dialect I've never heard of. Who the hell learns Cree?"
Lee took the picture of Rayne Allison Eberhardt from under the paper clip. He looked at the young woman staring back at him. Then absently began considering what he'd just read.
Lee let out a breath and leaned back in his chair, if anything this woman was overqualified for a job as a field agent. She should be working a desk gathering and making sense of the many pieces of intelligence that poured in through the Georgetown Foyer. She should be with Linguistics creating code and translating wiretaps, not sitting in the backseat of a Jeep waiting to get shot at. And certainly not waiting around for two-bit snitches, which was what she'd be doing with a low security clearance.
Amanda misunderstood her husband's reaction and pulled the ID photo from his hands. The color head shot showed a stunning ash-blonde, with emerald green eyes and a million-dollar movie-star smile. With the exception of the eye and hair color, this woman could be Francine's baby sister.
"She's a little young, even by your standards Scarecrow!"
Startled out of his reverie, Lee let the chair's two front legs drop back to the floor. He had the distinct feeling that he'd just been insulted. "Huh?"
"Oh, never mind, let's just get out of here. I'm starving."
Lee grabbed his suit jacket off the coat hanger, pulled his car keys out of his desk drawer, and held out his hand for Amanda.
Relenting from her earlier annoyance, she took his hand and followed him out of the Q-bureau.
August 13 6:30 pm
After a quick stop at home to say hello to her family and drop off her car, Amanda walked down the front steps to the silver Corvette waiting at the curb. Lee jumped out and opened her door for her.
"You look beautiful."
Amanda blushed at the compliment, "Lee, I'm not exactly dressed up you know." She said as she rubbed her palm against the coarse fabric of her jeans.
Lee winked, grinned, and turned the car on, "doesn't mean you aren't beautiful."
The couple sat opposite one another in the casual restaurant. It was a departure from their regular dinners out at Emilio's. It was okay with Amanda though, she needed some down time and a pizza and beer with Lee was really hitting the spot. She hoped that afterwards they could go back to his apartment for a little while. She needed to unwind and two rowdy teenaged boys and a love struck mother weren't very conducive to that. Lee's 'magic fingers' however, now that was another story altogether. As if reading her mind, Lee took Amanda's hand in his.
"Look, it's early. Why don't we go back
to my place for a while? We could rent a movie, I'll pop some
popcorn. You know, like normal
people?"
She smiled, "I'd like that a lot Lee."
They didn't make it through the movie, but that was okay with Amanda too.
Amanda snuggled in Lee's strong arms as she lay next to him in their all too rarely shared bed. She had to fight to stay awake. She knew she shouldn't stay the night no matter how much she wanted to, but it was a losing battle, and it certainly wouldn't be the first time she was out all night with Lee Stetson. But part of her needed to. Her mother would raise her eyebrows when Amanda came in just as the boys were leaving for the skate park, and then ran back out again, but she wouldn't say anything. They were way beyond that point.
Lee kissed the side of Amanda's face and held her close. He mumbled, "I love you, Mrs. Stetson," into her ear as he lost his battle with sleep.
"I love you too, Lee." Amanda answered, and then surrendered as well.
August 14th, 8:00 am
Amanda was the first in the Q-bureau, but Lee wasn't far behind her. Amanda had wanted to be early so they wouldn't find Rayne sitting on their couch waiting for them to arrive. Lee wasn't quite as hospitable to the idea, but with some coaxing, then bribing, Amanda got him to the Agency by quarter of eight.
Lee placed a kiss on Amanda's cheek and a mug of coffee on her desk as he entered the room. Smiling the smile that made her melt, Lee took his place behind the desk to wait for their new charge.
It wasn't ten minutes before a soft tapping on the door announced Rayne's presence. Amanda invited the younger woman into the room and stood to greet her.
The photo hadn't done this woman justice. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a simple but elegant ponytail. Muted earth tone make up brought out the bright green of her eyes, and dark lipstick enhanced a naturally beautiful smile. Her demeanor wasn't over confident or cocky like many of the young agents that came through the Agency. Instead, this young woman actually seemed rather shy.
The young agent wore a knee length brown and tan hound's tooth skirt, with a cream-colored silk blouse. She was tan. She was thin and fit, and she was tall; in the pumps she wore, she was 6 feet tall if not more.
It took Lee a moment longer than it should have to get out of his chair and greet Rayne. It wasn't lost on Amanda.
"Hi, I'm Amanda King; this is my partner Lee Stetson." Unconsciously, Amanda put herself between the young woman and Lee.
"Hi, I'm Rayne, pronounced like, well like Rain." She fluttered her hands in a motion reminiscent of a shower. The younger woman smiled shyly and looked down at the floor. When she made eye contact again, it was with Amanda. She avoided Lee's eyes at all costs.
Rayne studied the woman standing in front of her. She had heard that Amanda King was a beautiful woman, but the water cooler gossipers didn't do her justice. Rayne could admit easily that Amanda awed her. She couldn't believe that a woman who looked like Amanda was a government agent. She figured all the women who worked in the field were like the frightening Mrs. Marsten downstairs. She could easily see how this woman had claimed and tamed Scarecrow, even thought the reasons seemed lost on the bullpen gossips.
Rayne had only been involved with the Agency for a month, and she already knew about the legendary exploits of Scarecrow and Mrs. King. She was impressed. If a woman with two boys could be an agent, so could a kid from Grand Rapids. She would do whatever it took to mold herself after Mrs. King
"Uh, Mrs. King, Mr. Stetson, this is such an honor. I've heard so many things about both of you."
"Please, Rayne, it's Lee and Amanda."
Rayne nodded. She thought she could
handle first names. After all, she was a
professional and these people were her colleagues.
"Why don't you have a seat, and we'll go over the details of this whole mentoring thing."
She looked at Lee
Stetson as he spoke. To say she admired his features would be
putting it mildly. He was
incredibly good looking. He had
the most beautiful hazel eyes she'd ever seen, his longish blonde hair was
combed neatly back. He had a straight
nose, good posture, and a smile that could melt steel.
Rayne sat down on the couch quickly, before her legs had a chance to turn
traitor and sell her out. She could barely hear the words Lee was saying over
the blood rushing in her ears. She
couldn't believe she was here, with THE Scarecrow and Mrs. King.
Amanda smiled in Rayne's general direction. Her original insecurities were fading as Lee described exactly what the parameters of this partnership would be. Rayne seemed enthusiastic about her work, friendly, and a little shy. Maybe this would be good for her, for all of them for that matter. Amanda had little opportunity to work with other agents except Francine on the odd case, and this could be a learning experience.
'And anyway,' Amanda thought to herself, 'there are very few high priority, high security missions right now, so at least we'll have something to do besides push paper around.'
As Lee finished up his speech, Amanda asked the young woman if she'd like some coffee. With Rayne's affirmation, Amanda handed her a mug then refilled her own and Lee's.
"Okay, so where do we go from here?" The young woman's voice was soft and musical. "What do you want me to do first?"
"Ah, well…" Lee looked around the relatively empty office and silently begged Amanda's help when his search came to nothing.
"Well, the first thing we can do is go through the calendar and see what's on the agenda for today."
Amanda smiled at Lee and held out her hand for the black binder for which he was fishing. When it took him too long to find it, she stood, moved the fishbowl, and picked up the small leather book. Shaking her head in disbelief, Amanda sat on the edge of her own desk and thumbed through the pages. She thought she'd cured him of his habit of tossing the book behind him when he was done with it. Lee suddenly found his hands fascinating, and then quickly turned his attention to his wife's voice.
"Well Lee, all we have today is that follow up with
T.P. from the Jordan
incident. He's coming home today you
know?"
"That's right. I almost forgot about
that. I wonder what he's been up to."
"Excuse me, T.P? The Jordan incident?" Rayne's thoughts instantly went to some new Middle Eastern crisis. "What new problems are we having in Jordan? I thought they were an ally."
It took a second for Amanda to register what Rayne was saying.
"Jordan's a person, not the country in this case. T.P. is a source that Lee and I use. I'm afraid I can't tell you any more. You'll be able to read the file eventually. Only the agents of record and the Administrative staff have access to it right now." Her smile was apologetic as she looked towards Rayne.
"Well, Lee. Why don't we get going and see T.P.? I think Rayne can come with us to see Mr. Aquinas."
Lee shrugged, "sure, I don't see why not."
Amanda handed Lee the keys to her Jeep and followed the group out the door.
August 14th, 11:30 am.
They found T.P. sitting at the same ice cream stand he'd been at when the Stemwinder debacle had happened.
The small, bespectacled man looked up from his tutti-frutti ice cream and smiled at the approaching agents. "Lee, Amanda! Hello. Introduce me to your new friend."
As the group sat around the table, Lee made introductions "Uh, T.P. Aquinas, this is Rayne Eberhardt. She's new to the agency and…"
"And the good doctor got his mentoring plan pushed through, say no more Lee m'boy."
Rayne just sat fascinated as the two agents had their conversation with the tipster. She hung on every word the three spoke. Leaning slightly forward in her chair, Rayne could smell the many flavors T.P. had in his sundae. She could also study the agents to her right from the corner of her eye. She mentally remarked on the way the sun played in Lee's hair and how the slight breeze lifted Amanda's wavy hair off her shoulders. She made mental notes on the way the two interacted with one another, the way their conversation flowed. First Amanda spoke, and then Lee would pick up where she left off, and then back to Amanda and on and on.
She couldn't help but notice the closeness of the two and she felt it may go deeper than even the steno-pool thought, but she dismissed that. She chalked it up to being partners for almost 4 years. Though, she couldn't really justify the small glances that Lee stole of the woman sitting next to him. She decided she'd figure it out later, now was for learning how to be a field agent.
As they said their goodbyes, T.P. suddenly remembered something. "Oh Lee, I think this is something that deserves your talent. Maybe our young friend here can learn something from that."
T.P. handed Lee a folded piece of paper and pointed to it as Lee put it in his pants pocket.
"Sure T.P. We'll take a look at it back at the Agency." The men shook hands, Lee loosened his tie, and the three headed back to the car.
August 14th 3:30 pm
While Amanda went over procedure, handbooks, and manuals with Rayne, Lee started making phone calls on the information that T.P. had given him. It wasn't big time, but it was still a lead on a case that had stalled a month ago.
Lee preferred to make all these contacts from indoors if possible. D.C. in August was unbearable and he was sure that the sports coat and tie would do him in if he had to do this on foot. As it was, the air conditioner was chugging along like a good soldier and the room wasn't all that much cooler than the street below.
Running his hand through his hair, Lee looked up as Amanda came through the door. He held up a finger, "Thanks Auggie, I'll get back to you on that."
He sighed as he hung up the phone. "This is going nowhere fast, and I'm
hot."
Amanda smiled and winked at him "I'll agree with that."
Lee leaned back in his chair and put his hands on top of his head, he smiled, "Where's Rayne?"
"She's with Leatherneck right now. Uh, basic lock picking class. Um, Restraint and Escape are next week assuming all goes well with Breaking and Entering. From now on she's going to be with us until 1 or so then go to classes."
Amanda sat on the edge of Lee's desk, "I feel like a babysitter, Lee. This is ridiculous." She crossed her arms, "Any news on the tip from T.P.?"
"No, nothing yet. Auggie is gonna snoop around a little for me. There are some things that I want us to check out with out our tail. Now that we have the afternoon, what's say we get out of here and do some real work."
She smiled at him again, "Let's get out of here."
August 14th 7:30 pm.
"Lee, I have to head home. I was here all last night…mother and the boys…"
He touched her cheek.
"I know, and I understand." He
sighed, "Some day Amanda, we're gonna have to come clean about this."
She smiled, "It was your idea," she half joked.
"Oh, I know, but I can't keep doing this. I want to be able to spend the night with you, without people asking questions or giving me dirty looks. That's what married people do, Amanda. You know?"
She hugged him, "I know."
"Okay, well, call me when you get there? Huh? I'll worry if you don't. And if I worry…"
"You'll show up in my flowerbed, I know." She kissed him gently on the lips. "You driving to work tomorrow or do you want me to pick you up, or do you want to take separate cars? We can take separate cars if you want…"
He held a finger to her lips to stop her mid ramble. "We aren't all going to fit in my car Amanda, unless you want to sit on my lap." He raised an eyebrow and she laughed.
"Alright, I'll pick you up. Eight o'clock?"
He groaned, "Yeah eight o'clock is okay with me. But you're gonna owe me Amanda, dragging me out of my warm bed at that ungodly hour."
He kissed her again as he opened the door for you. "I love you Amanda Stetson. Be careful, and don't forget to call me."
"I love you too, Lee. I'll call. See you in the morning."
August 14th, 9 pm
Amanda pulled the Wagoneer into the driveway and turned off the lights. She noticed the small blue sports car parked on the corner in front of the Bradley's house and figured that Josh Bradley had finally managed to get his license. She'd have to congratulate him when she saw him.
As Amanda let herself into the house, she didn't hear the car roar to life and peel away from the curb.
"Mother! Boys? I'm home."
"Oh, hello dear, Philip should be in any minute and Jamie is working on a project with Kelly Simms. He's been on the phone upstairs all night." She gave her daughter a knowing look.
"Are you sure Kelly Simms isn't the project?"
"Amanda. Did you have a good evening with Mr. Stetson, dear?"
She rolled her eyes and kissed her mother, "Yes mother, I did. I'm going to bed early tonight. I have to be in early at IFF for the next few days. We have some trainees that we're mentoring. They get there awful early."
"Of course dear."
"Oh, mother, Josh Bradley, from across the street must have finally passed his license test. There's a pretty little sports car in front of their house."
"Well, it's about time. I'll have to congratulate him when I see him. You'd think it wouldn't take 6 tries but, you know what I say Amanda, if at first you don't succeed…"
"Try, try, again. Yes, mother, goodnight."
"Goodnight darling."
August 15th.
With the exception of Lee being ready to go by eight o'clock in the morning there really wasn't anything shocking about the day.
Lee and Amanda did their best to work around their intern. They had her look up information on T.P's tip. She was good on the computer and pleasant on the phone so parking her behind Lee's desk and making her useful was easy. Nothing that they gave her was too high clearance, and doing some legwork like this would be good for her.
Thursday morning began cool and dry, but by noon, it was a sweltering 92° and humid. The heat and the lack of anything to do made Lee grumpy, and by lunchtime, Amanda was hard pressed to sit in the Q-bureau with him.
"Look, Lee, she'll be downstairs with Leatherneck in less than half an hour. Then we can go and do some leg work. While you're waiting, lose the tie and the jacket. It's hot, if anyone comes up here, the doors locked. You don't have to play director today, so get comfortable and stop being so grumpy."
"I'm not grumpy." Lee growled.
"Okay, whatever you say." Amanda went back to her work.
August 15th. Leatherneck's lock picking class.
"Okay, Ms. Eberhardt. This lock is a little more complicated. Which pick are you going to use for this one?"
"Um, double diamond. I think a half rake would be too small."
Leatherneck looked at her, pleased. "You're good at this. Mrs. King was pretty good at lock picking too. You'll have to ask Lee about that sometime."
He handed her the double diamond and she had the deadbolt picked in under a
minute. With a shy smile, Rayne handed
the pick back to Leatherneck. She'd be
able to get into or out of anything by the end of the week. Then on to handcuffs and
manacles. Then,
from there, safecracking.
August 15th.
Lee let Amanda out of his car and walked her to the door. The pair stood under the porch light and Lee stole a kiss.
"They'll be gone tomorrow Lee."
He sighed, but nodded. It felt like forever until tomorrow, and next week would fly by. He knew it.
As Lee stole a second kiss, he noticed movement from across the street. "Uh, Amanda, whose car is that across the street?"
"Oh, that must belong to Josh Bradley. Do you know that it took him six tries to pass his license test? His parents must have bought it for him."
He stared at the car across the street for a minute longer and frowned slightly. "Look, if anything suspicious starts going on around here, you let me know okay."
Amanda gave him her best, 'nothing bad ever happens in the suburbs' look, "Lee…"
"Amanda, humor me okay? I'll feel better when I can be with you. That's an awfully expensive car for a teenager who took 6 tries for a license."
"Fine Lee. If anything suspicious happens, I'll call you okay. I have to get inside."
"I love you Amanda," he smiled.
"I love you too, Lee. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
Amanda watched Lee head back to his car then stood watching as his taillights disappeared around the corner. She shut off the lights and made sure the door was locked. Then she looked out the living room window. The car still sat there. She shook her head and cursed herself for letting Lee make her paranoid.
This time the car didn't leave the curb until the lights were out all over 4247 Maplewood Drive.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The woman in the small sports car frowned as the two stood on the porch talking softly and kissing. Didn't they know that personal stuff like that could get in their way when they tried to work together? Anyway, Lee Stetson was an infamous playboy. Amanda King deserved better than a man who would eventually tire of her company and move on.
She'd almost blown it when Stetson looked in her direction. If she hadn't been paying so much attention to the couple on the stairs, she wouldn't have gotten down in time. If he'd seen her, all hell would've broken loose. But, if Stetson was as good as everyone says, when he looked around he was warning Amanda about something fishy. Tonight she had to wait an extra half hour before leaving for home.
Tomorrow night she would be here again and hopefully, she'd get a chance to look around the house. If she could get away a little early she could get in the house for a few minutes, have a look around. She knew that the boys were going to be gone, and that the older woman, who must have been Amanda's mother, had already left. And if Stetson and King kept up their usually nightly ritual, she'd have a safe 2 hours to look around.
As she slid the car into her numbered spot in the garage and sat behind the wheel for a few minutes thinking about the things she'd seen in her recent surveillance. She rewound the film in her camera and placed it in a small plastic canister. She'd develop it tomorrow morning before work.
As she slipped into bed, the last thought that crossed her mind before she drifted to sleep, was about Amanda King.
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August 16th. Q-Bureau
"Lee, my mother left last night for Canada. The boys are leaving in less than half an hour for the mountains. And we will have the house all to our selves this week." She moved closer to him. As he dipped his head down towards her mouth, the sound of the doorknob turning made them jump apart.
Lee smoothed his tie down against his chest and cast a glance at Amanda, who nodded slightly as the door opened.
"Uh, hi Billy. What's up?"
Billy looked knowingly at Amanda then at Lee. Though he managed to keep his face rather neutral, inside he was happy for both of them. He'd told them as much before, but until they decided that it was time for the rest of the world to know, he'd let it go.
"Good morning, Amanda. Lee."
"Good morning, Sir."
"I just came to tell you about the stellar job you're doing with this mentoring thing. Rayne is just bubbling over. Excellent job, you two."
"That's it? You came all the way up her to tell us that?"
"No. I came up here to tell you that today, Rayne will be with Beaman and Leatherneck all day. If you have anything with a higher clearance that you need to do, I'd recommend you do it today. Oh, and this came in for you from T.P. Aquinas."
"Oh, uh, thanks Billy."
Billy nodded and headed back down to the bullpen.
August 16th
She sat in front of the house for a few minutes. There were people all over this neighborhood during the day. Children played in the streets and on the sidewalks, neighbors talked in front yards over tall glasses of sweet tea. She had to make sure that Stetson and King wouldn't be here right after work. She pulled a black ball cap down over her eyes, and sat back in her seat. Glancing at her watch again, the woman realized that she had only enough time to get back before she was too late returning from lunch, and someone noticed.
The small blue car roared to life and with a screeching of tires, headed out of Arlington.
August 16th 8 pm.
Dusk was just beginning to settle over Washington DC as Lee Stetson and his wife stepped out of the restaurant and headed back to his car. With a hand on the small of her back, Lee opened the door to the Corvette and watched Amanda slide onto the seat. She smiled up at him as he glanced around quickly before stealing a gentle kiss and closing the door.
The 'Vette's powerful engine growled as Lee turned the key. The pair rode in comfortable silence back to Virginia. Amanda reached out and laid her fingers gently on Lee's thigh. He smiled in her general direction, stabbed the gearshift into sixth, and covered her fingers with his own.
"Lee?"
"What?"
She thought for a minute then shook her head, "Nothing. Never mind."
He drew his eyebrows together, "Okay…"
"No, really, it's nothing. I was just thinking how hard it's going to be when this week is over."
He let out a sharp breath and nodded his agreement.
August 17th 1:17 am
The shrill ringing of the telephone jarred Amanda awake. She slapped Lee's hand away as he reached for the offending object. Her heart pounded as she pulled the cold plastic to her ear. Nobody called at this hour, not unless something horrible had happened.
"Hello?" Amanda snapped on the bedroom light and Lee groaned and pulled the thin sheet over his eyes.
Heavy silence answered her from the phone. Only the occasional tick of an open line let her know that the caller on the other end was still there. This time her greeting was answered with soft, shallow breathing.
Unsure why she wasn't just hanging up, Amanda gripped the phone tighter when the breaths turned to low, chilling laughter. She dropped the handset then scooped it up and slammed it into the cradle.
Now Lee was fully awake. "What was that?"
"Hmm? Oh, just a wrong number. Go back to sleep."
