I don't own Scarecrow & Mrs. King & I'm not making any money off this.

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Chapter 12

March 11, 1949, The Brig, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland

The marine gave Matt a bit of a rough shove into the cell.

"Easy man!"

The soldier snorted, then slammed the cell shout with a bang, and locked it.

Matt could hear the man's boots thudding down the hall as he walked way.

In the dim light he could just barely make out Jennie's form

He leaned back against the wall opposite her and sighed.

"A fine mess I've gotten us in."

Matt thought he could detect a grim smile.

"It's only a holding cell, they'll check in with the embassy and we'll be free to go."

She grinned as if reading his mind.

"Both of us. I vouched for you as well."
"So now you trust me, after I got us sent to brig?" Matt said wryly.

"Hey, don't press your luck buster!"

Matt smiled looking around at the concrete walls of the cell.

"S'pose we've been in worse scraps then this, haven't we? I mean, do you remember that time in Ireland when we had to sweet talk the Gardi?"

Jennie nodded chuckling.

"Yes, and that time in Naples when the partisans caught you dressed in that ridiculous SS commander's suit that was 3 times too small?"

Matt nodded. "That big longshoreman pinned me up against a brick wall so I couldn't budge. I'm certain they would have shot me then and there if you're Italian wasn't so good."

Jennie let out a small chuckle.

"What?"
"I don't know any Italian."

"Wait...then..."

"I just took some of the schoolgirl Latin I knew and added a's and o's to it. Somehow they sorta just...got the message."

Matt shook his head incredulously.

When he looked back at Jennie, the stern, hardened agents eemed to have disappered. In her place was the clever, intelligent, but warm and caring girl he'd asked to marry him 4 years before.

"Matt...after this is all over..."

He smiled sadly. "Let's wait 'til it's all over, huh?"

Jennie nodded.

Suddenly there was the metallic sound of doors opening down the hall. The Marine guard once again opened the door, then walked over to their cell and unlocked it. He grunted, then gestured with his head to a handsome, well-dressed young man behind him.

"Hi I'm John Desmond, State Department."

"As in Captain John Desmond, the Hero of Guadalcanal?"* Matt said, raising his eyebrows.

Desmond frowned. "All those boys were heroes. Every last one of them."

"Of course they were," Jennie said soothingly.

"Right then, you two are being delivered into my custody. It's merely a formality. I'll explain in the car."


"First, I'd like to apologize for the lack of cooperation with the investigation in Washington. The city's up in arms, what with talk of spies in the FBI, in the State Department, even Hollywood."

"I heard in Russia that they blacklisted Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles**," Matt said. "I thought it was just Soviet propaganda."

"Its true. You have to really watch your step around here these days. But as far as the investigation goes, you've got official approval from the highest levels. I talked to the President and Secretary of State about your case not two hours ago."

"Truman and Acheson," Matt said, shaking his head in disbelief. "That high, huh?" We'll have this case solved in no time Jennie, you'll see."

"Don't be so sure," Desmond said. "There are secrets in Washington even the President can't touch."


*I made this character up. However the Battle of Guadalcanal was a real World War II battle in the South Pacific. During the first part of the battle, Marines were landed on the island, then stranded when a Japanese fleet drove their support ships away. Without reinforcements or fresh supplies they managed to hold on several weeks until American naval forces drove the Japanese back.

**Chaplin, Welles and hundreds of other actors and artists were blacklisted (refused work or even residency in the US) during the Red Scare of the late 1940's and early 1950's. A major driver behind these policies was the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). While some of these men and women were blacklisted by 1949, these two actors actually weren't blacklisted until later.


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