Lee frowned as he paid off the taxi driver and looked around. The corvette was nowhere to be seen. Letting himself into the house, he made his way up the stairs and into the bedroom where he put his suitcase in the master bedroom. Looking out the window, he saw his silver sports car inching down the street. Glancing at his watch, he knew that Phillip should be in school, not involved in grand larceny. Thankfully, Phillip managed to pull up in front of the house without disaster. Grinning like a loon, he hurried out and around the car, opening the passenger side door for what looked like a Goth hooker.
Determined to hand Phillip as big a shovel as possible for that hole he was digging for himself, Lee waited for the two youngsters to come into the house. "You're sure we won't get caught?"
"Sure. My dad's in South America, my mom and stepdad are in Africa somewhere, and my grandmother and her new husband had to go to Oregon or something. Anyways, my stepdad's flying back but he won't be here until late tonight." Lee smirked. "What do you want to drink?"
"What do you have?"
"Let's see. Vodka, Scotch, Rum…"
"Rum and coke?"
"Sorry, mom doesn't let us have pop in the house. How about vodka and orange juice?"
"Yeah, okay." Lee couldn't believe what he was hearing. As far as he knew, Amanda's boys had never even played hookie before! Here Phillip was, skipping school, driving illegally in a car that he'd effectively stolen, and drinking alcohol. It seemed the first test of parenthood was going to be a bit tough.
As Lee stood by considering what he should do, the smell of cigarettes wafted up the stairs to him. Deciding that he should probably interfere before Phillip actually committed a capital crime, Lee hurried down the stairs, only to find the two teenagers naked from the waist up on the couch and the cigarette burning unattended.
"You know, I always thought you would make it to adulthood but when your mother finds out about this…" Lee remarked. The two teenagers froze and then scrambled to their feet, the girl peeking around Phillip's shoulder as she desperately tried to get her bra and shirt back on. "Car keys, now." Lee told Phillip, holding out his hand.
"Lee, I can explain –"
"No, you can't. But I'm sure it'll be entertaining listening to you try."
"He isn't your father." The girl told Phillip.
"Aren't you just the voice of reason." Lee remarked just as Phillip snapped back at his momentary girlfriend.
"Shut up. You don't want to mess with him."
"You," Lee said, pointing at Phillip, "Watch your language. Believe me, you're in a world of trouble as it is." Turning to the girl, he considered her for a moment. "You, what's your name?"
"None of your business."
"Mabel Anderson." Phillip supplied.
"Right, give me your parent's phone number, now."
"No way." Lee picked up the phone and dialled Francine's direct line.
"Francine Desmond."
"Francine, it's Lee. Can you please get me a phone number for the parent or guardian of one Mabel Anderson. She's a school mate of Phillip's at Arlington High School."
"Sure, I'll call you back. Are you at the house yet?"
"Yes."
"Give me ten minutes."
"Thanks." Hanging up the phone, Lee considered the two miscreants before him. He'd never tried anything this far out of line when he lived with the colonel and he was sure that Amanda and Dotty had never dealt with bad behaviour on this scale before so he really had no frame of reference on what would be suitable, but he knew he had to make it a punishment to remember. Smoking, drinking, driving illegally were all things that could have gotten Phillip a record if he'd been caught by a police officer. The more hormone driven behaviour was maybe not criminal but it was stupid and could easily have had life-altering consequences.
"You think you can bluff me?" The girl taunted, setting Lee's back teeth grinding.
"He's not bluffing, Mabel." Phillip said quietly.
"Whatever." Lee considered the girl. For the first time ever, he didn't need Amanda to translate what was in front of him. This girl had that same cocky, defiant attitude that he'd once had to cover up the loneliness of missing his parents. This girl wasn't nearly as tough as she wanted Lee to think she was.
Confronted with two teenagers with very different needs, and his own very different levels of personal commitment, Lee wondered what he should do. He knew that Phillip needed him to come down like a tonne of bricks, even if he didn't know that's what he needed. But Mabel was a different story. "Phillip,"
"I know, I know, I'm grounded." Phillip sighed. "For how long?"
"Uh-huh." Lee said, shaking his head. "That's not how it's going to work this time. You're grounded until you can convince me, and your mother, that you can be trusted. Until then you're at school or you're here. No friends, no phone, nothing. The only outings you'll be going on are family outings. And just so you know, I'll be finding plenty of chores to keep you busy and out of trouble for the duration."
"That's not fair!" Phillip protested.
"Fair? You want to talk about fair?" Lee demanded incredulously. "You stole my car! You broke just about every rule your mother's laid down for you and you did it because you thought I was a pushover. I've tried to be cool with you guys but I'm not cool with the prospect of telling your mother that you killed yourself on my watch!" Lee could hear his voice raise and belatedly realised that he was as angry with Phillip as he'd ever been with Amanda when she scared him. The thought of everything that might have happened made Lee feel sick. He was still glaring at his stepson when the phone rang.
"Stetson." Lee barked into the receiver.
"Lee? It's Francine. Mabel Anderson is the daughter of one Senator Anderson. Parents are divorced and the parents share custody."
"Senator Anderson?" Lee repeated. Mabel blanched at hearing the name, confirming the information.
"Yes, the same one that came up during the concentric analysis work."
"Okay, thanks Francine. Do you have a phone number?" Francine rattled off the Senator's office phone number and Lee jotted it down. What the heck was he supposed to do with the teenage daughter of a man they were currently investigating for trafficking children? He couldn't tip his hand by getting child services involved, on the other hand, he also couldn't return this child to her father. Damn. I wish Amanda was here. Considering the situation for a moment, Lee decided that there was probably little risk to the girl. As contemptible as trafficking children was, it didn't necessarily mean that the man was using his child in that horrible way. Annoyed with the position he was in, Lee punched the senator's office number into the phone.
"Senator Anderson's office."
"This is Lee Stetson of International Federal Film, I need to speak with the senator immediately." Lee said, knowing that the senator's secretary would recognise the name of the Agency's cover. Mabel smirked confidently, certain that a lowly film company employee would never get the time of day from her father. She was quickly disappointed.
"Senator Anderson speaking."
"Senator, this is Lee Stetson. I've just returned from a business trip to find your daughter and my stepson drinking, smoking, and skipping school. Not to mention making out and joyriding in my car."
"What?" The senator's voice came through loud enough that even from a few feet away, the two petty criminals flinched. "If you would, Mr. Stetson, could you bring her back to the school? I'll send a car to collect her."
"Yes sir." Lee agreed, hanging up. "Come on, you two. We're going back to the school and you can explain to Principal Davis what you've been doing instead of going to class."
"Aww come on, Lee!" Phillip protested. "You've already told me what my sentence is –"
"Not even close, Phillip. You're just lucky I caught you instead of a police officer. You made the decision to do this and now you're going to face the consequences. All of the consequences." Finally realising that it was probably a good time to stop talking, Phillip nodded. "Go clean that lipstick off your face and then we're going to the school."
