Arriving at the Senator's mansion just outside of Nashville, Lee turned to Amanda and leaned in close so the limo driver didn't hear, "Are you ready for this, Amanda? You do realize that once we leave this car, you will be expected to play the loving wife."
"Lee, I've played the loving wife at corporate functions for years, sometimes when I wasn't speaking to Joe, this will be a piece of cake."
"Even in the bedroom? Because you know, we will be sharing one." Lee queried with a smug grin.
"Oh, I've never had a problem playing the loving wife in the bedroom." Amanda smiled coyly at Lee batting her eyelashes with a flourish.
The limo driver had gotten out of the car and opened Amanda's door, helping her out. He then went around to the trunk to retrieve the luggage. Lee left the car, walked around to the other side to wrap his arm around Amanda and started towards the door of the mansion. A man opened the door before the couple followed closely by the driver, even reached it.
"Good afternoon, you must be the Middletons. I'm David Collins, Senator Jackson's Aide." The man moved out of the door to allow the trio to enter. Turning to the driver, he continued "Bosley, please put the bags in the room overlooking the garden. You can then take the car back to the garage. We won't be leaving the property today." Once again addressing Lee and Amanda, "Matt and Ruth are very excited to see you. This way please." David led Lee and Amanda into the formal parlor where Matt and Ruth were waiting for them.
Ruth rose from her spot next to Matt on the leather chesterfield and approached her "cousin". "Ashley, it's been so long. It's wonderful to see you again," she stated, pulling Amanda into a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You must be Rick. It's great to finally meet you." Ruth approached Lee and gave him a quick hug. "Let me introduce you to my husband. Rick and Ashley Middleton, this is my kind, loving husband, Matt Jackson."
"Senator, it's nice to meet you. Thank you for inviting us to your beautiful home." Amanda smiled genuinely at Matt as he shook her hand.
"Well, any family of Ruth's is always welcome into our home and please call me Matt." Matt smiled back at Amanda while he shook Lee's hand. "David, thank you, that will be all for the rest of the afternoon, but please be back for the dinner party tonight. I hope that Daphne will be with you."
"She is planning on it. It will depend on if she gets out of surgery on time." Turning to Lee and Amanda, he continued, "My wife is a doctor at the hospital that Senator Jackson is holding the benefit for."
"In fact, it was Daphne's idea. She is truly an advocate for her patients. Being an oncologist is hard enough, but watching children go through it. I truly don't know how she does it." Ruth's smile as she spoke showed her admiration for the doctor. "Well, David, I hope she is able to make it but if not, we'll understand. See you tonight." David, understanding he was no longer wanted or needed turned and left the parlor, closing the door behind him.
"Rick, Ashley, let's move into my office. I had Julie, our cook, leave coffee and sandwiches in there for us all. I figured we could use a little something since dinner won't be served until 8." Matt led the way into his private office and closed the door.
"Mr. Stetson, Mrs. King, thank you so much for agreeing to be here on such short notice." Matt walked to the round table in the corner and indicated the two chairs across from him for Lee and Amanda while Ruth sat next to her husband.
"Is it okay to talk openly in here?" Lee inquired warily while looking around the spacious, well decorated office.
"Yes, in fact it's the only place I feel comfortable talking in. We have found bugs and cameras in several of the rooms but being my office, I have this room and phone checked twice daily. Feel free to use it to call any of your contacts."
"Thank you," Lee picked up the coffee cup Amanda had filled and doctored just the way he liked. "Will you please fill us in on what has been happening? We left so quickly that I don't know all of the details, just that there is a tangible threat."
"Well, about two weeks ago, we got a note saying that we had 'ruined his life' and he 'will get us for it.' It was messengered to the house, but when the head of our security team followed up with the messenger company, he found that the guy was nondescript and paid in cash. The letter had been typed on a Selectric typewriter, on plain paper and envelope with no fingerprints. We tightened security for the next few days, but when nothing happened and we received no further correspondence we relaxed and thought it was a prank." Matt turned to his wife indicating to her to pick up the story from there.
"Six days after the first letter was delivered, I came out of a shopping plaza and found a note sitting on the front seat of my car. My car was still locked and the alarm had not been triggered. Again, the note was on plain paper, typewritten and had no fingerprints." Ruth reached for her husband's hand needing to feel the strength and comfort he always brought. Clearing her throat, she continued her story. "This note was more specific. 'Bitch, you ruined my life, now I will ruin yours. I can get to you at any time and in any place. You will never be safe.'"
Amanda gave a visible shudder and unconsciously reached for Lee's hand "Oh how awful. You must have been scared to death. What did you do? I mean, I would have been afraid to move; the car might blow up or he might be watching to follow you and run your car off the road. Who knows what someone like that would do?" Feeling Lee squeezing her hand, Amanda apologized, "I'm sorry, I tend to ramble when I get nervous or scared." Looking down into her coffee cup, she let go of Lee's hand and reached for a crustless sandwich half and put it on the small plate in front of her.
Ruth laughed. "Wow, you sound like my cousin, Ashley, she rambles...a lot." She smiled warmly at Amanda. "I actually ran back into the plaza and right to security. They kept me guarded in their office until our own head of security could come and take me home. We had the car towed to our mechanic. He found nothing and couldn't figure out how the note got into the car. He believes somehow this maniac got a duplicate key."
"Okay, why did it take so long for your request to the President that we get involved?"
At this point, Rick took over explaining the rest of the threat. "I saw the President last week for lunch. We have been friends since I worked on his first campaign for president. I believe in him and he actually inspired me to go into politics when he came to speak at Virginia Tech when I was a junior there. Anyway, he asked how Ruth was and saw the apprehension on my face, he pushed, thinking there was marital trouble. Once I explained what was going on, he offered his help. I turned him down, but after yesterday, I asked for his help."
"So, what happened yesterday?" Both Lee and Amanda asked at the same time.
"Matt and I had dinner here with the Governor and his wife and then went to a fundraiser at the library for the local literacy awareness program. It was a great time and we were relaxed and happy when we got home." Ruth squeezed Matt's hand and stiffened in her chair. "When we got into our bedroom, we found a picture of us taken earlier yesterday torn all over our bed and a black rose. He had gotten into our home, even with our security team in place. It became obvious that he wasn't going to stop until he killed me." Wiping away the tears that sprang to her eyes. "Our security team could not protect me. I'm afraid to leave the house and I have to be at this event at the Opry tomorrow night." Sinking back into her chair, all her strength now sapped, she sighed, "I'm the chairperson."
"So you have obviously checked into these threats, but what about your security team? Tell me about them? Could it be one of them? They would have access to the house and your cars."
"Lee, the head of our security team is my brother, Frank and he wouldn't have any reason to hurt my wife. Most of the team are made up of our old neighborhood friends and my high school football team. Frank has vetted each and every one of them along with all of our household staff and anyone who has access to this house. I trust them with my life, no, even more important, I trust them with my wife's life and," smiling at Ruth looking for her permission to continue, which he found in her bashful smile, "and the life of our unborn child."
"Oh, a baby, how sweet! Congratulations!" Amanda gushed.
"Okay, I get that you have a great security team, so our next step is to figure out how this person has such access to your comings and goings. You said something earlier to David about a dinner party tonight? Do you have a list of people who are coming? Has your security team checked them out? Did you send the names to Agency?" Lee rapid fired the questions at the Senator.
"We are expecting a total of sixteen for dinner tonight, including us. All of them are trusted friends who have helped in making tomorrow's event possible. I did call a list into Ms. Desmond at your Agency."
Amanda snorted and rolled her eyes at the mention of Francine's name. At Lee's glare, she turned her attention back to Matt, "I'm sorry Senator, please continue."
"As I was saying, everyone expected tonight are old friends. People we went to college with." Matt smiled and gestured toward his wife. "Governor Tom Hart and his wife Samantha, Chief of Police, Will Gillis and his wife Terri, our Mayor, David and Andrea Stevens, my college roommate, Al Edwards and his girlfriend, Vicki Wells and Ruth's college roommate, Kelly Munroe and her boyfriend, Jay something." Matt listed off the invited guests.
"Okay, do we know Jay's last name and is there anyone else?" Lee looked up from his notes.
Matt looked at his wife to answer Lee's questions. He could never remember the name of Kelly's longtime boyfriend. Any man who would get a woman pregnant and not marry her was a disgrace in his book. Their daughter was about to turn five and still no ring, in fact no sign of commitment at all.
"As for other guests, just David and Daphne and then us, for a total of sixteen. Jay's name is Keane I believe. They've been together for just over six years though he travels a lot." Ruth explained with a disapproving shake of her head.
"Okay, I think we have enough information for the time being, especially if we are staying in tonight. I noticed with David that you are using our cover story as the Middletons. Do any of the guests for tonight or tomorrow know who we really are?" Lee got up from the table and headed to the phone on the Senator's desk nodding at Matt to get his permission to use it.
Matt nodded and then answered "No, other than Frank, no one else knows who you are. We will continue to introduce you as the Middletons. Now we'll leave you to make your phone call. I'll be in the parlor going over some papers. Ruth why don't you show Amanda to their room and then lie down for a while. I'll make sure you're up in plenty of time to get ready for tonight." Standing, he helped his wife out of her chair and headed to the door to the connecting parlor to await Amanda.
Amanda stopped for a moment to talk quietly to Lee. "What do you think? Inside job or just someone who is just good at getting in and out of the place undetected?"
"I don't know, but we will find out. I'm going to give Francine a call to see if she has found anything in the background checks. Why don't you go upstairs and start unpacking? I'll be up shortly, Love." Off Amanda's raised eyebrow, Lee laughed, "Just getting into our roles as loving husband and wife, Dear." Amanda blew him a kiss as she headed for the door, closing it behind her.
"Okay, Ashley, I'll take you upstairs to your room. It has a beautiful view over the garden. I think you and Rick will find it terribly romantic." Ruth smiled at Amanda clearly enjoying playing her role in the conspiracy.
"Well, thank you, Cuz, I can't wait to see it. Let me just grab my purse." Amanda pointed in the direction of the parlor chair that she dropped her purse on early when she was hugged by her 'cousin'. Crossing the parlor, she picked up her purse and turned to Ruth. "I do hope the room has a four poster bed, Rick just loves a four-poster bed." Amanda smiled at Ruth, enjoying the discomfort that showed briefly on her face, turnabout was fair play.
Coming into the vestibule, Ruth spotted her housekeeper. "Chita, I assume my cousin's room is prepared."
"Yes, Mrs. Jackson. The room is all set. Is it okay if I get the coffee and sandwiches from the office?" Chita inquired.
"Not yet, Senator Jackson and Mr. Middleton are still in there. They should be done in about 10 minutes."
Amanda, busy looking around the grand entrance way didn't notice the black kitty that had crossed her path. Tripping before she stepped on it, Amanda quickly regained her balance, but lost her purse, spilling it all over the rug at the bottom of the staircase. Quickly bending over to collect its contents, she didn't notice Chita had also bent over to help until their two heads collided with a resounding thump.
"Oh, Mrs. Middleton, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Chita rushed to help Amanda up from where she had suddenly fallen, obviously having taken the brunt of the collision.
Shaking off the dizziness, Amanda rose and tried to alleviate the guilt that was written all over the younger woman's face. "Oh, Chita, really, I'm fine. You can ask my cousin," turning to indicate Ruth who was standing nearby, "I'm extremely hardheaded."
"And extremely accident prone too." Ruth added with a laugh. "Really, Chita, she'll be fine. I know you have a lot to do to get ready for tonight. I'll help Ashley collect her belongings and get her to her room before she brings the whole house down around our ears."
Ruth bent down then, next to Amanda and helped her gather her things. After they put everything in the bag, Ruth started toward the stairs.
"Come on Ashley, let's get you to your room before you do any more damage". Ruth laughed.
"Am I always this accident prone?" Amanda asked while carefully walking up the stairs.
Ruth, carrying on the cover story smiled at Amanda as they arrived at the guest room. "Well as a child, you were always falling off bikes, trees and that one time, the hay loft with, what was his name, the Warren Beatty look alike?"
A few minutes later, Ruth was standing in the upstairs hall staring at the closed door of the room she'd just ushered Amanda into. What an odd woman she thought as she considered the collection of items that had fallen out of Amanda's purse. Beauty products, coupons, door knob. What kind of person has a door knob in their purse?
She walked off shaking her head and wondering if they'd really gotten the best-of-the-best like the President had promised.
Meanwhile, back in the Senator's office, Lee was sitting on the desk talking with Francine via telephone.
"Francine, enough with the comments. This is just an assignment. There is nothing going on between Amanda and me. The Senator sent you a list of guests for tonight's dinner party; have you had a chance to run them down yet? I'd like to know what I'm up against." Lee's frustration was evident as he ran his hand through his hair.
"I did get the list this morning and was able to do a preliminary background check on everyone. They are all close friends to Senator and Mrs. Jackson, all prominent in their fields. There were no red flags anywhere." Francine looked up from the file on her desk to see Billy stopping at Fred's desk before heading her way.
"Come on, Francine, I can tell when you're holding out on something important. Now spill it," Lee grunted into the phone while leaving his perch on the desk to pace as far as the cord would allow him.
"Scarecrow, I'm telling you everything there is to tell. Most of the guests are longtime friends, going as far back as their high school and college days. Except of course, David and Daphne Collins and Kelly Monroe's boyfriend Jay." Francine once again turned to the file on her desk, picking up a picture of the man known as Jay Keane.
"Yeah, what do you have on Mr. Keane? I get the feeling that the Senator and Mrs. Jackson don't care for him." Lee asked. Something in Francine's tone told him she was not being completely honest with him, but why?
"Well, the person they identified as Jay Keane has been dating Ms. Monroe for about 6 years, their daughter, Lucy, will be 5 next month. He travels a lot on humanitarian missions. They met in L.A. while she was working for a security company and he was on loan to the D.O.J. Everyone I spoke to said that he was just a regular nice guy who wants to do good in this world." Francine smiled as she tapped a perfectly manicured nail to her chin. Oh, how I wish I could see Amanda's face when Mr. Keane comes to the party.
"I don't know what you're not telling me, Francine but I'm warning you now, if something you're hiding comes back to bite me in the ass, I'm going to let all of the men on the society page know just what a disappointing opponent you are in backgammon." Lee growled into the phone before slamming the phone down.
Francine smiled to herself as Billy approached. "Was that Lee? Did you tell him everything? It could get messy if they don't get ahead of the situation."
"Oh, I told him everything he needed to know." Francine's wide-eyed, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth expression should have been a warning sign for Billy but he was already headed to his office, thoughts about the hidden piece of cake in his desk forefront in his head. Oh Lee, this will teach you to leave my bed in the middle of the night with just a note saying it was over. Francine's sweet smile turned to an evil grin with a maniacal laugh. That will teach you…
Lee opened the door to the adjourning parlor and motioned for Matt to join him.
"I just got off the phone with my office. Everyone on tonight's guest list has been cleared."
"Well, I could have told you that. In fact, I did tell you that. I have known most of these people since college and the others, for the last five years." Matt smiled smugly at the agent, supposedly the best of the best of the Agency.
Ignoring the look on the Senator's face, Lee continued. "Amanda and I will just keep low level surveillance tonight and set up our cover. Tomorrow, we will head to the venue early to check in with the agents there in charge of security. Since our covers will allow us to travel openly with you, no one will think twice about us staying right beside the two of you throughout the event as an added layer of security without being seen. I'll leave you alone now. Where is our room located? I need to talk to Amanda and discuss strategy."
"Top of the stairs take a left. It's the room at the end of the hallway. It's a mirror image to our room which is located at the end of the hallway on the right. It's a large room with a private bath, king size bed, balcony and sitting area. I would suggest continuing with your cover story. We have found cameras set up in the room."
"Thank you for the warning. Both Amanda and I have sweeping devices and will check our room regularly." Closing the door behind him, Lee moved toward the stairs and collided into Chita almost knocking her down as she was heading into the parlor.
"Oh, Mr. Middleton. Excuse me, Sir. I don't know why I'm so accident prone today. First I bump heads with Mrs. Middleton and now I almost knock you down." Chita lowered her eyes embarrassed by her clumsiness.
Smiling at the young girl, Lee tried to relieve her obvious discomfort, "No harm done, to me at least. As for Mrs. Middleton, not only is she always bumping into me, I have always found her to be hard headed in so many different ways."
Chita relaxed and batted her eyelashes at the tall man in front of her. If only he wasn't married. It could be a fun weekend if he was single and maybe I could even get my green card if he would marry me. "Mrs. Jackson said the same thing about your wife." Chita reached out then and patted Lee's arm, needing to feel if there was any padding under the suit coat he was wearing. Nope that's all him. I wonder what it would feel like wrapped in those arms, having him doing push-ups from my mattress while I writhed beneath him.
"Well, her cousin would know. Excuse me now. I really should go see if Ashley's okay." Lee carefully removed the young woman's hand from his upper arm and quickly skirted around her before she could grasp another hold on him. He took the stairs two at a time feeling her eyes bore into his, um, back the whole way.