AN: This chapter was rough. Also I stole a line or two that I liked from the script and tried to integrate them into either the dialogue or the narration.
/
Amanda did not confess at the reception, nor did she broach the subject on the drive back. There wasn't an appropriate moment at the office, what with all the agents milling about, and Lee did nothing but sulk whenever they were alone. The more entrenched she became in the Delano investigation, the moodier he got. The timing just never felt right.
Lee's surliness reached its peak at the back of a restaurant, sequestered in an empty ladies' room. Amanda's date with James Delano took a temporary backseat while Lee fiddled with the busted bug in her brooch. She crossed her arms and huffed.
"You could at least give me equipment that works."
"Who told ya to drop it?" Lee said. The retort hit her like a whip.
"I didn't drop it! He tried to look at it and it fell on the table."
"You should spend more time paying attention to what you're supposed to be doing!" He kept his voice down, but the brittle layers beneath were unmistakable.
"What is it that I'm supposed to be doing? I'm running out of things to say to him."
"It didn't sound like it to me." Again, the low undertones betrayed how peeved he really was. "Look, all you have to do is keep him mildly distracted while we sweep his house. By the way, you're not falling for that guy's line, are you? I mean, talk about obvious!"
"What line? You may think Jim's no good-" She faltered at the look on Lee's face, slowly lifted her head, then pressed on. "-but I think he's charming and I think he's sincere."
"Jim?" Lee repeated.
"Yeah!"
A guffaw burst from his mouth and ricocheted around the room. Turning serious, he squinted into her face. "Do you have any idea how many women 'Jim' has' been 'sincere' with?"
Amanda did not know what Delano's dating history had to do with her. This was just a job, after all. As the answer dawned on her, her eyes widened into saucers. She wasn't sure if she should feel baffled, flattered, or furious.
"I don't believe it," she said.
"Dozens," Lee finished, leering for emphasis.
"No, you."
Lee's body gave an incredulous jerk. "What about me?"
"You're sounding like a jealous person!"
"I am not jealous!"
His confusion crumbled into outrage, but Amanda recognized the defence mechanism for what it was. All his aloof posturing couldn't disguise how vulnerable he was. A second round of righteous anger scoured through her.
"Tell me, Lee, am I one of your dozens?"
"What?" he sputtered.
While he was still slack-jawed, Amanda snatched the brooch from his open palm. She pried off the back and dug perfectly-polished nails into the circuitry.
"Here, take your fritzy wire."
"What are you-?"
She slapped the bug back in his hand and his fingers automatically squeezed around it. With a flourish of her skirts, she trotted to the door, throwing her parting words over her shoulder.
"Go back to your van, do whatever you were doing, and don't eavesdrop on me!"
"Wait a minute-"
But Amanda was already gone.
/
James Delano was a gentleman for the entire night—a refreshing contrast to the agent-types that Amanda was used to. Or rather, one agent-type in particular. He hung on her every word, showered her with compliments, and did not insist on any impropriety.
Still, there was something unsettling about him, something that capped Amanda's interest.
After the limousine dropped her off, she entered the Greenwich mansion and was immediately accosted by two agents. Frederick and Mary played the part of her butler and maid for exactly five seconds before catching her jewelry. The earrings were dropped unceremoniously into a tray and the brooch was clipped onto a velvet backing. Amanda signed a receipt and watched them cart everything away, the last of her fantasy melting before her eyes.
"It's way after midnight, Cinderella."
In an instant, Amanda sprang upright and spun. Lee pulled himself from an archway and ambled his way towards her. His left hand was wrapped around a scotch, which swirled lazily as he approached. There was no telling how long he'd been watching.
"What are you doing here?" She zipped and unzipped her handbag, flipped it upside down, and balanced it on the railing. Anything to avoid looking at him.
Lee took a brisk sip of scotch. "Someone ripped off her microphone in the ladies' room. That left me with a lot of time to kill."
Amanda adopted a look that was both innocent and wicked. "What, you couldn't squeeze in a quickie with Trisha from Accounting? I hear those surveillance vans are very roomy."
A number of transformations played over Lee's face. His nostrils flared, his left eyelid twitched, and his jaw muscles spasmed.
"Well aren't you going to tell me about your evening? Does Delano's limo have a soundproof partition? Oh, maybe a built-in mattress."
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Amanda," he said, reining himself in. "We went to a lot of trouble to set this thing up. We scrambled the TV signal, we had Singer tell the servants our people were there to fix the reception…"
Curiosity got the better of her, and she forgot to be angry at him. "What did they find out?"
"Not much." He shrugged in frustration before rattling out the scarce list. "They went through Hollander's things, found a few Deutsche marks, a fake passport, a return airline ticket to Munich with a connecting flight to Berlin-"
"Who's Hollander?" Amanda asked, raising a finger. She felt very lost and very much like a student in school.
"He's working with your boyfriend. The airline ticket is for Sunday. They'll be making their move between now and then."
Amanda gnawed over that for a while, overwhelmed by all the information dumped onto her lap. A phone rang in the background but neither of them moved. Lee hovered the rim of his glass near his chin. His lips twisted into a significant, forced smile.
"Now, what were you saying about your evening?"
She hedged, then pasted on a thin smile of her own. "I wasn't going to say anything at all about it. I did what your computer wanted. Now it's time to slip into a phone booth and change back into Amanda King. Excuse me."
Grinding her molars, she shouldered past him and ascended the staircase.
The audacity of that man…
Lee had made it clear that they were not an item. He'd drilled the point home on more than one occasion, and Amanda wasn't oblivious to the office gossip. Scarecrow's antics circulated the watercooler almost as much as he circulated through women. He didn't really belong to anyone.
And yet, he had the nerve to judge James? To judge her?
She paused on the landing, looking down to glimpse him on the phone. Even from this height, she could make out the troubled contours on his face. The words were indecipherable though. A torpor settled deep in her bones, like a mixture of pregnant fatigue and old-fashioned foreboding. She allowed herself another moment, gathered her skirts, and hurried into "Victoria's" bedchamber.
/
The next day Amanda awoke in much lighter spirits. There was a meet scheduled with Lee in the afternoon, and although it was mostly follow up, she had hopes of arriving early for a serious conversation. Driving her sons, a last-minute grocery run, and volunteer work dashed those hopes.
She found Lee pacing in a Georgetown park, far away from any bystanders. Every so often he slowed, glancing at his watch or at his surroundings. A church bell tolled in the distance. Amanda shot across the knoll and he turned to meet her.
"I'm sorry I'm late. I had to take the boys-"
"Little League game?" he guessed.
She smiled timidly. "PTA, actually. We're organizing a cake sale."
They shared an awkward chuckle. Clasping his hands in front, Lee spoke first.
"Look, about last night, I lost my head and I'm sorry. I'm the senior agent and I should've been more professional. Besides, you and I aren't…" He trailed off, gesturing vaguely.
"Emotionally involved?" Amanda offered.
A shadow flickered behind Lee's pupils, so quick that Amanda wondered if she'd imagined it. For that split second, he almost looked concerned, perhaps a little panicked. Then it was gone.
"That said, James Delano is no one to get involved with, either."
This was obviously bothering him, more than Amanda would've thought possible. If he knew about her condition, would he be more or less perturbed by Delano's interest in her? She almost told him right then and there, but the real reason for their meeting stopped her.
She'd hardly accepted the news for herself. How could she expect Lee to do the same?
Soon. But not yet, she told herself. One hurdle at a time.
To ease his worries, she engaged in one of her bashful, self-disparaging rambles.
"Who's getting involved? It's just that- I guess I've never known anyone like James Delano. And I've never been anyone like Victoria Greenwich before, y'know? It's kinda like a fantasy you have when you're a kid. You understand."
Lee nodded, studying the grass at his feet. "Yeah, well, you know what happens to some of those fantasies? You grow up and find out how lousy things really are."
"I used to have fantasies about secret agents," she remarked with a mirthful glint in her eye. Lee was not amused. She coughed once, curbing the conversation back on course. "What do you need me to do?"
Lee took a breath, held it there, then resumed his pacing. "We want you to continue your relationship with Mr. Delano." He forced the words out like they pained him. "We're convinced he's about to be passed some sensitive information. At Saturday night's party, to be exact."
Unmoving and taut, she tracked his pacing with her eyes. A stony weight lodged itself in her stomach.
"I have a feeling this is the part where the fantasy gets lousy?"