Chapter 34

Since the Agency had emerged from its cover and been reorganized, the old Q Bureau had become obsolete. Instead, the room, with its vault, was used to store old files, but for nostalgia's sake, Lee had left both of their desks and a couple of comfortable chairs there; the old refrigerator had finally quit working and been hauled off, and they hadn't bothered to replace it. When he and Amanda needed to discuss Agency business someplace other than her office or his, they could often be found in their old office in the Q, and for that reason, there was a computer terminal connected to the main Agency server on his old desk.

They took the elevator up to street level, stepping out just as Kendra walked in with the book.

"We're going upstairs to our old office," Amanda said. "It's quieter."

"The Q Bureau?" Kendra said. "Oh, wow, I get to see it?"

"It's just a file room with a couple of desks now," Amanda said, but as Lee unlocked the door and she followed him in, a whole montage of memories ran through her mind in mere seconds: her first introduction to the Q during the Dancing Weasel case, the times they'd spent solving cases together there, the kisses they'd shared there – the day he put the engagement ring on her finger after the near tragedy of the Night Crawler case.

"Amanda?" Kendra said. "Did you want to see the book?"

"What? Oh, sorry. Memories. This used to be our office, you see."

"Just the two of you, all alone, up here?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, wow."

"I was sitting on her desk, right there," Lee pointed, "when I put the engagement ring on her finger."

"You got engaged here?"

"I got the ring here. He proposed earlier."

"Someday I want to hear that story. Here's the book. The piece of paper marks the part about the house across the street."

Amanda read the passage aloud. When she finished, she asked, "How much do you know about your father's family history, Kendra? Is it possible this Matthew Davis might have been an ancestor? And I think it's fascinating that he married James Bishop's widow, very likely the same James Bishop that Jamie took his cover name from."

"I don't know, but once they have a chance to get home, I'm going to call Poppy and ask him how much he knows about our family history. I want to find out if the Matthew Davis it talks about here is on one of the branches of my family tree."

"And speaking of family trees, Lee's mother made one for him; we found it when we found the secret hiding place under the basement of the house they lived in when he was little. I have it at home, and I'm going to find out if the Stetson it talks about in this book is the one on the family tree. If he is, then Lee's great-grandfather lived in that house when he was a boy."

"I still say it's a long shot," Lee said, "but I also know you won't stop until you find out everything you can about him."

The phone on the desk rang. Lee picked it up. "Stetson. He is? All right, put it out on the wire internally and we'll see what happens; if we don't get any nibbles, we can advertise the job opening. Thanks."

He hung up and said, "Jim Brauer just submitted his resignation; his last day is the 30th."

"He didn't talk to you first, give you a heads up?" Amanda asked. "Jim Brauer is our surveillance photographer in Kansas City," she explained to Kendra.

"Not a word, but I've been hearing rumbles that he wasn't happy with the job and wanted to get out of the surveillance business and into regular freelance photography."

"Too many years hiding under people's beds?" Amanda asked, remembering a comment Lee had made during the Tony Martinet case.

"Maybe. Whatever the reason, he's leaving the Agency."

"Kansas City? How far is that from Lincoln, Nebraska?" Kendra asked.

"About three hours, the way Jamie drives. Oddly enough, I just talked to him about a transfer to KC yesterday, but he said he didn't think there was much point to it if Abby was just going to be coming back here next year to take a job at the foundation. Anyway, it will go out on the fax line here shortly. I need to go, Amanda. Have fun climbing the branches of your family tree, Kendra."

He smiled and left the room.

"Jamie's going to be at West Point for a photo shoot this afternoon," Amanda said. "He's going to be very busy, or I'd suggest he go to the library there and research the Stetsons."

"There's a book that lists all the graduates; my dad has one, and so does my Poppy. Daddy's is at Fort Monroe and Poppy's in the air right now, but I could ask him once they get back to Arizona."

"Try the library at Georgetown," Amanda suggested.

The traffic was so light that Jamie was in New York by eleven o'clock, and since he didn't have to be at West Point until two and it was only an hour away, he diverted to Brooklyn, where he drove to the studio that was the Agency's cover in New York City. He parked behind the RJB Photography van and went into the studio, where Myrna Bukowski looked up, smiled, and came to hug him as if he'd been gone for weeks instead of a couple of days.

"J-Man!" she exclaimed. "You must have left Arlington at four this morning to get here so soon."

"Nope, six, but I had breakfast and the traffic was incredibly light. I credit it to my girl's prayers."

"Your girl? Since when do you have a girl, Jamie?"

"Since Wednesday night, when she literally ran into my arms getting away from some creep that attacked her in the woods. I didn't catch the guy, worse luck, but they have an APB out for him."

"And she prays?"

"Never misses a Sunday, taught religion classes with her mom at their church in Alliance, Nebraska, the whole bit."

"Thank you, Lord," Myrna said, looking up to heaven. "You have to bring her up so we can meet her. What's her name?"

"Abigail Kozal. That's Czech. She's an intern at the Thornton, working there this summer before she goes back to finish her degree at Nebraska in Lincoln."

"Lincoln, Nebraska? How close is that to Kansas City?"

"About three hours, why?"

Instead of replying, Myrna handed him a sheet of paper, the flimsy nature of the sheet indicating it had come through on the secure fax line. "This was just came through about an hour ago. Kansas City needs a replacement surveillance photographer. Brauer is resigning; his last day is the 30th. You need to call Lee and talk to him about this."

"Yeah."

Jamie went into the back room and reached for the secure line. He dialed a number, punched in his security code, and then dialed Lee's extension.

"Stetson."

"Hi, Lee, it's Jamie. I just heard about the job opening in Kansas City."

"Yeah, do you want the job? I didn't know a job would be opening up this soon when I mentioned KC yesterday, by the way."

"Oh, I know; you would have said so if you had, Lee. I'd need to be out there by the 23rd to allow time to find a place to live and shadow Brauer for a few days, which means leaving here in a week."

"Yes."

"Let me think about it, and I need to talk to Abby, but I'll have an answer for you by Sunday night at the latest."

"Good enough. You made good time getting up there."

"Like I told Myrn, I credit it to Abby's prayers. I'm going to grab some lunch and then head up to West Point, but I'll call Abby tonight to discuss it with her."

"This is getting serious if you want to discuss a career move with someone you've only known for two days."

"Yeah, well, when it hits you like a bolt of lightning…."

"I hear you. With me, it was more like months of spring sunshine after too many years of freezing cold. We dropped her off at Dotty's this morning so she could ride into work with Phillip; he'll bring her home tonight."

"That's good. I gotta go, Lee. Tell her I made it okay and I'll call her tonight."

"Will do."