Chapter 21 – Being Slammed by the Past
Lee hurried into the agency right at 9am. He knew that Amanda was always prompt so he was sure she was already in Billy's office. Dick confirmed it as Lee walked by him. As he neared Billy's office, he could hear them talking inside. Amanda was explaining how she felt strange working without him and Billy was telling her that Lee was out of the country. It was a perfect time to make his presence known so he opened the door without knocking. One look at Billy's face told him that he was right about Billy trying to keep him away from Angelo. "I want to talk to him" Lee demanded as he left the office and headed for one of the many conference rooms without waiting for Billy to answer him. Billy tried to stop him by telling him he needed to know some things, but Lee wasn't in the mood for any more of Billy's stall tactics.
As he entered the room, Angelo's appearance took him by surprise. He had aged a lot in just the two years since he had last seen him. He no longer seemed like the energetic, self-absorbed, driven man who had shared his passion of ESP during his lectures. In fact, he seemed very sad for a man who was no longer in prison. Lee put a smile on his face and shook Angelo's hand.
As they talked about the past, Lee couldn't wait any longer and interrupted their reminiscing to ask where Eva was. It took all of Lee's resolve to not collapse when Angelo informed Lee that Eva was dead. He sadly explained how the Russians had killed her while trying to get Angelo to agree to use his ESP theories for their military. Lee had known that Angelo had spent months in Lubyanka Prison, but Billy had kept Eva's death a secret. Now it was all making more sense.
As Angelo kept explaining what had happened, Lee managed to sit down, but he wanted to tell Angelo to shut up. It all had to be all lies; it couldn't be true. His beautiful Eva had to still be alive. He loved her; she couldn't be dead. Lee knew it was true though as he struggled to keep breathing and his fist threatened to smash up the table. It felt like someone just ripped his heart out and left it on the table in front of him. As he voiced his denial of Eva's death and stated that he didn't want to believe it, Angelo admitted that he knew that Lee had been in love with his wife. Lee wondered what else he knew. Had Eva told Angelo all about him? It didn't matter now because she was dead.
Lee excused himself and abruptly left the room. He hurried into the men's room and found an empty stall. He put his head against the wall and fought to control his tears. Every one he cared about always died. Deep down, he had always hoped that someday Eva would realize that she had made a mistake and would divorce Angelo. In his dreams, he always pictured that she would come to the states looking for him and he would have a second chance. Not once during any of those dreams did she ever end up dead. Lee struggled to compose himself. It wasn't like him to show emotion and he needed to get himself under control before he went back to the bullpen. About twenty minutes went by without Lee realizing it when the bathroom door opened.
"Lee, are you in here?" Agent Dick called out.
"Yeah, hang on, I'm coming out." Lee said as he wiped any traces still left of his tears from his eyes.
As he came out of the stall, Dick asked "You okay?"
"Yeah, just fine. I'm sure that Amanda is waiting for us."
"Yeah, Francine introduced her to Angelo and the two of them have been talking about what she intends to teach him so they want to get going."
"Okay, tell them that I'll meet them at the van."
"Sure thing Lee. Lee, I'm sorry about Eva." Dick offered quietly.
"Yeah, me too. Thanks Dick."
Dick nodded as he left the restroom.
Billy had told him that he shouldn't be involved in this case but somehow it seemed more important than ever for him to see it through. Lee knew that Eva would want him to see it through.
TBC