Chapter 2

Following Phillip's lead, Kendra walked down the block and around the corner to a little coffee bar she would never have patronized in a million years; it looked like a holdover from the '60's, and she half expected to be greeted by a longhaired hippie wearing love beads and a tie-dyed t-shirt, but to her surprise, the woman behind the counter was her mother's age, conservatively dressed and definitely not a hippie.

"Hey, there, Eloise," Phillip said. "I brought one of Mom's new recruits over to introduce her to the best coffee in Georgetown. This is Kendra Davis."

"Eloise Landers," Eloise said. "None of that 'macchiato' stuff, honey, but it's good coffee, we roast our own beans, and we grind fresh every couple of hours. What's your pleasure?"

"Coffee with just a hint of cream and one sugar, thanks, Eloise."

"That's what I like to hear. The usual, P.K?"

"You bet," Phillip replied.

Eloise handed them their coffee in real cups, the heavy crockery sort that had been so common in diners thirty or forty years before, and said, "The blueberry muffins are fresh; just took 'em out of the oven about twenty minutes ago."

"Oh, they smell wonderful. No, I got this, Phillip; it's worth it to me to find such a good place so close to the Agency."

Kendra paid the bill, somewhat surprised – and pleased – that Phillip didn't argue about it. They took their coffee and muffins over to one of Eloise's tables and sat down.

"How long has she been here?" Kendra asked after she inhaled the scent of the coffee, took her first sip, and sighed in delight.

"Oh, about thirty years, but it started out as a neighborhood bakery. She only transitioned to coffee and limited bakery items about fifteen years ago. Mom and Lee used to stop by on the way back from working some case."

"How long have they been with the Agency?"

"Harry Thornton hired Lee in '73, when he was fresh out of college, but Mom didn't join the team until '83, part-time at first and then full-time starting in '86."

"She doesn't look old enough to have a son your age."

"No, she doesn't. She had me when she was only twenty-three, but she doesn't look forty-seven. Lee's going gray at the temples, but Mom doesn't even have to color her hair."

"What was it like, growing up In an Agency family?"

"We didn't know we were an Agency family until ten years ago; back then, they had to keep everything secret. We thought Mom worked for IFF, and they'd been married for five months before we found out about it."

"Wow, that must have been a shock."

"Yeah. I was just about to start my freshman year of high school when a lady Lee had known since he was in high school in the 60's was killed in a car wreck, leaving a daughter that was only eighteen and had no other family. She'd asked Mom and Lee to be Leanne's guardians, but to do that, they had to tell the world that they were married. Not long after that, Mom found out she was pregnant, so they would have had to say something about it then anyway. My brother Bob was born in '88, and my sister Emily came along in '90, when Mom was forty."

"You have a brother that's nine and a sister that's seven – that must be interesting."

"And a brother that's twenty-six, from Mom's first marriage."

"When did your parents divorce?"

"In '82, when I was nine and Jamie was seven."

"I thought it was rough when my folks split up when I was almost out of high school; I can't imagine having it happen when I was that young."

"Mom handled it beautifully, though; she never criticized my dad, and she made sure that we spent as much time with him as we could. He was overseas with the Economic Aid Organization from about '77 on, so we didn't see a lot of him except on those rare occasions when he was home anyway, but she tried to keep it as friendly as possible. They're still friends, even though they've both remarried."

"That's good. My parents got married the day after my dad graduated from West Point in 1972, one of those fairy tale Cadet Chapel weddings they used to show in the old movies about the place. It lasted until 1990, but there were definite cracks long before then. I love my dad, don't get me wrong, but he's army all the way, and if his family had to take a back seat to his duty, well, that was just the way it had to be."

"Kind of like my dad; he could have taken a job that kept him here in the U. S., but he chose to go overseas with EAO. Where is your mom now?"

"Oh, she still lives in Arlington in the house she and Dad bought when he was assigned to the Pentagon in '87."

"So you went to high school in Arlington?"

"Yes, to Highlands."

"I was at Heights. Look, I don't want to make you late to work on your first day, but do you think we could get together later on today, say around six? We could go for a pizza or something."

"Sure, that would be fine. I do need to go home and check on my mom, though; she has some health problems and I like to keep a pretty close eye on her. Can you pick me up at her house? That way you can meet her, since I've already met your mom."

"And I still won't know where you live – smart woman," Phillip said.

"Nothing personal, just being cautious."

"Oh, I know. I don't mind. Like I said, it's a smart move."

She unzipped her shoulder bag, took out a small notepad, and wrote the address down. "Yeah, I know where that is," Phillip said when she handed him the slip of paper. "I'll walk you back to the Agency."

"Thanks."