CHAPTER 7 – Jealous Guy
An hour and a half later, Lee had given the description over to Donnelly and was waiting with Billy in the Q-Bureau to see what came of the ID check. He was still getting the odd dizzy spell and he shifted uncomfortably in his chair as he tried to move his aching arm to a better position.
"Are you feeling OK?" asked Billy, noticing Lee's pallor.
"Yeah. Just a little tired," Lee replied.
"Well, that's not surprising under the circumstances. That was a nasty accident," reminded Billy.
"I know it," sighed Lee.
There was a knock on the door and Francine entered carrying a large file. "Well, we've found out who the mystery man was at ChemiMed."
"Who?" asked Lee with interest.
"Trevor Burgess." Francine handed him the file. "He runs a detective agency and just listen to this. Although nothing was ever proved, he was the prime suspect in a murder case only two years ago."
"Really," Lee commented, not surprised.
"Yeah, the press was so bad at the time that people stopped coming to him with work and he was forced to file for bankruptcy about a year ago."
"But you said he still runs an agency. What happened?" asked Billy curiously.
"Well, he managed to get himself a new partner," supplied Francine.
Lee sighed heavily and shook his head. "Don't tell me. Conrad Barnhill, right?"
Francine nodded.
Lee gave a harsh laugh and tossed the file on the desk in disgust. "That's just great, Burgess is working for Tremayne." He shook his head and sighed. "Well, at least Amanda only has to have this one dinner with Barnhill. There's no chance of her meeting Burgess that way. We can't take the risk that he could recognise her from the cocktail party and make the connection to me."
Billy cleared his throat before giving Lee a small smile and getting up from his seat.
At the same time Francine picked up the file from the desk and headed towards the door. "I'll just take this back downstairs," she mumbled.
Lee watched them both suspiciously. "Hold it!" he called out sternly.
They stopped and turned around.
"It is just one dinner, isn't it?" Lee asked apprehensively.
"Well…for the moment, yes," hedged Billy. He glanced at Francine for support but she looked away.
"What do you mean 'for the moment'?" questioned Lee, getting angry.
Billy sighed. "We've instructed Amanda to agree to see him again if he asks," he admitted.
"You've done what?" exclaimed Lee standing up. "Well, you're going to tell her not to agree now that you know about Burgess, right?"
When Billy didn't answer straight away, Lee walked around the desk to him. "Burgess is a killer, Billy," he bit out.
"We have no evidence to back that up, Scarecrow," pointed out Billy calmly. "As part of security he would have been at the cocktail party anyway and seeing him in the corridor could have just been a coincidence."
"A coincidence! Billy…." Lee began furiously.
Billy ignored him and raising his voice continued, "Now, until we know otherwise, Amanda has an assignment to carry out. I understand your concern but every precaution will be taken to make sure everything runs smoothly and Amanda is protected."
Lee opened his mouth to argue again but Billy raised a hand to stop him. "I haven't time to discuss this with you, Scarecrow." Billy opened the office door and let Francine precede him out. Before following, he turned and said, "Try to look on the bright side, Lee. Barnhill might not even ask to see her again."
"Yeah, right," replied Lee angrily. He watched Billy leave the room and sat back down in his chair. He had a bad feeling about this.
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Burgess walked angrily into his office and over to his desk. He'd just been to Galilee Hospital and, after producing a false police ID, had managed to find out that the man he'd followed the previous night had already been released.
This wasn't in his plans. He was certain that the man was going to have to stay there for at least a couple of weeks. His injuries had looked serious. Now he had to find the guy quickly and make sure he finished the job properly this time before Tremayne found out.
He pulled a small piece of paper out from his pocket and sat down smiling to himself. At least the nurse had been kind enough to give over a name. Lee Stetson. He snorted derisively. What sort of a name was that?
Suddenly, a loud crash jolted Burgess out of his reverie and he immediately jumped to his feet. A couple of seconds later the door to the adjoining office opened and his partner's head poked through.
"Sorry about that, Trevor," apologised Conrad. "I didn't mean to startle you. I just knocked the lamp off my desk," he explained sheepishly.
Burgess gave Conrad an angry look and sat down again. He didn't want to deal with his fool of a partner right now.
Taking the hint, Conrad gave a small smile and disappeared from sight shutting the door behind him.
Burgess sighed in irritation. 'I'm going to have to arrange a little accident for Barnhill soon', he thought, smiling to himself. His agency was secure again now and he had no further need for him.
Picking up the phone he dialled one of his contacts in the police department. "Hi Tom, I have someone I want you to run a check on for me." He paused and listened before resuming. "Thanks, the name's Stetson. Lee Stetson. I want everything you've got including an address."
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Amanda nervously attached the wire she had been given earlier and carefully put on her dress. It was a midnight blue colour with a modest round neckline and the skirt fell in soft folds to just below her knees. She stood in front of her mirror and checked all around to make sure the wire didn't show.
Glancing at the clock, she noticed it was exactly seven-thirty. When Amanda had told Dotty she was meeting Conrad that night, her mother had predictably started to ask a lot of awkward questions. Not wanting to go through that again, Amanda decided it would be best to just sit down on the bed and patiently wait for the doorbell to ring. Thirty minutes later she finally made her way downstairs.
"I thought you'd had your watch fixed, Connie" commented Amanda as soon as she opened the door to him.
"I did and I'm sorry I'm late Amanda but I had some stuff to clear up at the office first," he apologised quickly with a smile. Taking in her appearance, his smile broadened. "Wow, you…you look beautiful."
Amanda returned his smile and then spun around to call back into the house. "I'm going now Mother. When the boys get back from Joe's make sure they don't stay up too late."
"Alright Amanda, goodbye, " Dotty called back brightly. She quickly made her way out of the kitchen drying her hands on a towel. "Have a nice time….," she began then stopped when she saw that the front door was shut and the hall empty. "….dear."
Dotty sighed then, shaking her head in resignation, muttered out loud, "It was nice to have seen you again, Conrad."
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Lee, Francine and fellow agent, Larry Bishop sat in a van a little way down the street from Amanda's house and watched as Conrad rang the doorbell. Larry was in control of the tapes and had set them recording as soon as Conrad had come into sight.
"So that's Conrad Barnhill," commented Francine, putting down the binoculars she'd been using to get a closer look. She glanced sideways at Lee before baiting him. "You didn't tell me he was so cute."
Lee snorted derisively. "Cute?" He gestured towards the binoculars. "You know, after all the training you've had, I'd have thought you would know how to get those things into focus by now."
Amused by Lee response, Francine picked up the binoculars and peered through them again. "You know Lee, you're right," she agreed with exaggerated sweetness. Taking the glasses away from her eyes, she turned to him and grinned before goading, "Now I've had a clearer look I can see he's actually quite handsome."
"Oh please," he muttered jealously, looking away.
Francine turned her attention back to the couple across the street. "Oh, what a perfect gentleman, Lee. He's escorting Amanda by the arm to his car and opening the door for her," she told him in the same sweet tone.
Lee sighed irritably as Francine continued her commentary. "He's helping her in and now he's giving her a kiss on the cheek."
"What?!" exclaimed Lee, looking up immediately.
"I know what exactly you mean," responded Francine with a resigned sigh. "I'll never understand what men see in her either."
Not wanting to listen to Francine any longer, Lee got up and tapped Larry's arm to get his attention. "Put it on the loudspeakers will you?" he asked gesturing to the tapes. Larry nodded, took his headphones off and flipped a switch allowing the conversation to be heard.
In the car Amanda turned to Conrad. "So, where are we going?"
"Oh, to a nice, cosy, little place I know," Conrad replied.
"Sounds lovely," said Amanda. After a slight hesitation she pressed, "What's it called?" She needed to let Lee and the other's know just in case they lost them.
"Alberto's. It's new. I hope you like it," he said anxiously.
"Oh, I'm sure I will Connie," assured Amanda smiling at him.
He smiled back and they set off on their journey. As they passed the van, Francine quickly got into the driver's seat and started to follow, keeping a reasonable distance between them.
Conrad and Amanda made idle chat until they reached Alberto's about twenty minutes later. Francine parked the van down the road, then got into the back to listen to the conversation with Lee and Larry.
Over dinner, Amanda and Conrad swapped stories about their families causing Francine to lose interest back in the van. "These two are made for each other," she said snidely. "How much more mundane can you get?"
"Be quiet will you Francine," admonished Lee. "We might miss something."
"Yeah, like which aunt's got the worst backache," she retorted.
Before Lee could respond they heard Amanda broach the subject of Conrad's work. "So, how's your job going?"
"Oh fine, fine. We've already found a couple of people that have a shady past," replied Conrad proudly. "One of them was Mr. Tremayne's personal assistant would you believe. I think they've sacked him because I haven't seen him around lately. It's a shame because Mr. Lambert always seemed such a nice guy, a little nervous maybe, but nice all the same."
In the restaurant, Amanda nodded. "I've heard about the important research they do there, it sounds fascinating."
"Oh it is," agreed Conrad enthusiastically. "I've had a look around the labs and they're really interesting."
"I imagine they are," said Amanda smiling at him. She hesitated slightly before continuing, hating to use him this way. "I'd love to see them myself."
Conrad took the bait. "Really? Well, I could arrange it for you if you like?" he offered.
"You could?" asked Amanda in pretend surprise. "Well, that would be really, very nice of you."
"I'd do anything for you Amanda, you know that," replied Conrad fervently.
In the van, Francine laughed. "Well, well, he sounds eager to please."
Lee's mouth tightened as he tried to control his jealousy which seemed to be getting worse every minute he sat there.
Back in the restaurant Amanda was a little embarrassed. "Oh Connie, that's….thank you."
Conrad smiled shyly and took hold of Amanda's hand. "I was really pleased when you called me today, Amanda." She smiled and seeing her look, Conrad gathered courage and clasped her other hand too. He took a deep breath. "And I want you to know that since the last time we met I've never stopped thinking about you."
In the van Lee couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Oh please, would you just listen to this guy trying to come on to her," he said angrily. "I don't know why he wastes his time. Amanda has never been interested in him."
"Well…I've thought about…you too Connie," came Amanda's hesitant voice over the microphone.
Francine looked at Lee and raised her eyebrows. "Yep, definitely doesn't sound like she's interested to me," she commented sarcastically.
"She's just playing her cover, Francine," the irate agent corrected harshly. This was driving him crazy, he acknowledged miserably. Listening to Conrad saying these things to the woman he loved was worse than he had imagined. A small, malicious smile played on lips as he conjured up the image of him marching into the restaurant and quite forcibly removing Conrad from Amanda's presence. It was an image he wished he had played out when he heard the rest of their conversation.
"You have?" asked Conrad, the surprise evident in his voice. "Well, that's great. You know I always thought there was something going on between you and Lee."
Only Lee noticed Amanda's slight pause before she answered. "Me and Lee? Oh no, there's nothing between us. It's business, just business."
The muscle in Lee's jaw tightened at the strong conviction she put into her denial and he wondered fleetingly, if she had meant what she just said.
"Well, I'm glad to hear you say that Amanda because I really want this to work," they heard Conrad inform her.
Francine smirked at Lee but he pointedly ignored her.
"You want what to work, Connie?" came back Amanda's confused voice.
"Us of course!" he exclaimed.
"Us? Conrad, I think we'd better talk about this," began Amanda, sounding worried.
"Amanda, there's nothing to talk about. I still feel the same as I've always done."
Lee felt his jealousy rise to bursting point. "I don't believe this is happening again," he groaned unhappily.
Francine shot him a puzzled look which rapidly turned to one of shock as they heard Conrad take a deep breath and declare his feelings.
"I love you Amanda King."
END CHAPTER SEVEN
