Chapter 28
Twin Farms
Outside Woodstock, VT
Day 10
Later that night a man crept through the darkness to Mill Cottage. He opened the outer door quietly, kicked off his shoes in the mud room, and cautiously opened the inner door. He looked about in the moonlight and then slipped down the hall. He checked every room and then turned and made his way up the stairs.
He was on the third step when the light came on in the kitchen. Eric was standing in the kitchen next to the bottle of wine. "What are you doing?" He asked. He had what he called his innocent face on, his hair combed down, his shoulders slouching.
"Coming to see you." The man, Brooks, answered with a confident smile. He all but swaggered down the steps. "Parents not in tonight?"
"My parents are in Utah."
Brooks looked him over. "Right." His eyes flicked to the bottle still on the counter. "Not tempted by the wine? Kid your age? Come on, your parents will never know."
"My age?"
"Yeah. You're what, nineteen? Twenty?"
Eric didn't answer that. "Why were you checking the bedrooms? You know, going upstairs?"
"I thought you'd already have the party started. I was inviting myself."
"Why would you think that?"
"I put a little extra kick in the wine. You should give it a try." Brooks moved to start opening the bottle.
"You put some drug in the wine?"
"Just a little something to help you relax. Kid your age shouldn't be so uptight."
Eric stepped out of his way, around behind him. "Know what I think?"
"What?" Brooks gave him a little smirk. "What's in that pretty head of yours?"
"You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions." Eric recited. "Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish. If you decide to answer questions now without an attorney present, you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to an attorney."
Brooks laughed. "What?"
"Oh yeah, when I told you I'm an FBI agent?" Eric flipped open his ID. At that cue the lights in the rest of the room came on and Spencer turned from his laptop where he had been recording the whole thing. He flipped open his ID as well. Just in time for the red and blue lights on a police cruiser to come on outside. "I wasn't lying. You're under arrest for attempted assault on a Federal Agent, attempted assault on a minor, offering alcohol to a minor..."
"Breaking and entering." Spencer said helpfully. Odds were no one noticed the bit of a quaver in Eric's voice but him.
"Oh yeah, breaking and entering. I'm sure we'll come up with a few more between here and the station." Eric held up his cuffs as two local officers came in, followed by Marie Lancaster. "Not the kink you were looking for tonight, I'm sure. Turn around." Eric's hands were shaking a bit, but he got the cuffs on anyway.
It finally sank in that he was being arrested. Brooks looked monumentally displeased. "My first call will be to my lawyer." He said. "My second will be to your Director."
"Oh good." Spencer said. "Please tell him that Dr. Reid was involved in the arrest."
Brooks looked like he was sucking on a lemon. "My third call will be to Cramer."
"Tell him too." Spencer nodded to Eric to finish the procedure.
"He'll have your badge."
"I doubt he'll even try over this."
"We will have your belongings packed and taken to the airport." Mrs. Lancaster said as Brooks was escorted past her. "I'm afraid you're no longer welcome at our establishment."
Eric stood in the door and watched the local LEO's putting Brooks in the car as Spencer bagged the wine bottle for evidence. "Do you really think he'll call the Director?" He asked as Spencer joined him. "Who's Cramer?"
"Head of our Senate oversight committee."
Eric blanched. "Oh god."
"Don't worry. He already tried to fire me three times. He knows not to try anymore." They watched the car drive off. "You know, once we finish the paperwork it'll be out of our hands. Odds are he won't actually be charged with anything. His lawyer will make a deal that will involve him quietly going home. As a very successful businessman I think he'll take the lawyer's advice and put this incident in the past. We have the recording in case he doesn't. And, you know, certified memory."
"That must come in handy."
"It does." Spencer looked over. "I told you you could handle this, Agent Hoverland. You can protect yourself when you need to. Even against powerful and well connected men."
"Yeah." Eric stood a little straighter. "Guess I can."
From: Rossi, D
To: Reid, S
You should have arrested him for what he did to that wine.
Day 11
"Dave sent us a bottle of wine to replace it." Spencer said.
"Twenty-five hundred dollars worth?" Dr. Walker asked.
"No, two hundred and fifty dollars, about." He smiled. "He said it was in case we needed to celebrate something and that it was special but still drinkable. I think he's crazy."
"Oh, that's nice of him. And then what happened?"
"We went to the station, filled out the paperwork, and had him processed." Spencer replied. "He spent the rest of the night in a holding cell, his lawyer worked a deal, and he was released with no charges provided he leave the county. He did call the Director, who explained to him that going after what he thought was a minor was a serious crime and he was lucky. Apparently Brooks is leaving it alone."
"So Eric was able to stand up for himself."
"Yes."
"I bet that did wonders for his self-esteem."
"It's been a help, I think."
"And what about you?"
"What about me?"
"You helped the Prince rescue himself."
Spencer nodded. "It was the right thing to do."
"I know and I agree. But sometimes the right thing for other people isn't the right thing for us."
"Still..."
"You can be honest here. You know I won't share."
Spencer sighed. "I metaphorically shot myself in the foot, didn't I? I could have intervened, arrested Brooks, protected Eric. It was a golden opportunity to save someone without worrying about compromising a case. But it was best for him to do it himself, for him to have that success so I encouraged him to do it. Do you know what that makes me?"
"A good person." Dr. Walker replied.
"Who is never going to get laid." He shook his head. "I wouldn't have done anything differently. I just think the universe it out to get me sometimes."
"You know, all fantasies aside, you could try meeting someone outside of work."
"I...wouldn't even know how."
"It might be time to look at the idea of a surrogate to help you figure that out."
Spencer let out a long sigh. "Great."
