Chapter 4
The next nine days flew by for Amanda. She was in the office by 7:00 a.m. almost every day, working mainly from Lee's desk up in the Q Bureau. Her early mornings were spent researching the various galleries, auction houses, and charity organizations that she and William would be visiting that day. She also made it a point to review the Revolutionary War material the research department provided her and supplemented it with information specific to the places they were to visit that day. The rest of the day was spent with William, going from one place to the next. Amanda still wasn't exactly sure what they were looking for, but decided that all she could do was keep her eyes and ears open.
She found it interesting to be working with William and the other Agency operatives. For the first few days, Amanda felt as though she was fumbling in the dark. William turned unerringly to her for direction as they began their search through the world of glitter and wealth that was Washington D.C. With little to go on other than her familiarity with the area and her own gut instincts, Amanda had hesitantly set their search pattern and begun the process. As one day led to the next and they seemed to get nowhere, Amanda's frustration grew. That the others in their team were having no better luck seemed little consolation.
William responded to her ideas without question or condescension, seemingly prepared to be guided by whatever she suggested. Surprisingly enough, she found herself being irritated by that unquestioning willingness. Lee would have argued with her over many of the ideas she proposed and she would have had to fight with him to get him to agree to investigate any of them. William, on the other hand, would set off cheerfully to look into anything, no matter how ludicrous it sounded. It took her a while to realize what it was about that willingness that bothered her. She and Lee had developed a pattern of working together that she wasn't sure either of them even realized existed. Rather than being a hindrance, their arguments actually served a very useful purpose. Having to defend her ideas and thought processes to him forced her to focus rationally on the idea. In the process, the ideas often clarified themselves and became something much more useful than when she first suggested it. Once she realized this, she was able to force the clarification process in her own mind before voicing an idea aloud. Most often, it took the form of an argument with Lee in her own head. More than once, she'd been in the middle of one of those little internal arguments when she'd been drawn back into the real world only to find William gazing at her rather than Scarecrow. It was extremely disconcerting.
Lee had been right about another thing, too. With him gone, it seemed that "Amanda King Season" had officially opened and every male wolf in the Agency had a permit to hunt. She had always found it a little funny that she never had to field the advances of male colleagues in the office. She'd had to contend with that kind of thing all of her life and if she was to be truly honest with herself, it had hurt a little bit that no one at the Agency seemed to have any interest in her. In that respect, the previous nine days had been a real eye-opener. Her fight with Lee had been loud and extremely public. Everyone knew she was angry with him. Then, the next thing anyone knew, he was off to Rome on an assignment that looked like it might be long-term, and she was partnered with someone new. She winced a little bit, thinking of what the Agency rumor mill had made of that one. They had no way of knowing that she and Lee had parted on good terms, and that neither of them wanted to be assigned to work different cases. It was no wonder the wolves had come out in force.
Even so, she was surprised to find how strong the interest was. Dinner invitations, flowers, candy, and flirtations began in earnest the first morning he was gone. After the first couple of invitations, Amanda began to wonder if maybe Lee might have warned everyone away from her. That thought had been at least partially confirmed by Leatherneck. When she pleasantly turned down his invitation for dinner and dancing, he had laughed cheerfully and shrugged, saying that with Lee safely across the ocean where he couldn't retaliate, she couldn't blame him for trying.
Privately, Amanda had to admit that the most fun was watching Francine's reaction to the entire situation. The fact that it didn't seem to matter that Amanda was a suburban single mother of two who served as a cub scout den mother, went to PTA meetings, and helped sponsor bake sales really appeared to irritate the other woman. She was always making snide remarks about the situation, and was heard to comment several times that she simply didn't know what was happening to the taste of the men in the Agency any longer. After that, Amanda made it a point to give her all of the candy she received. By the fourth box, Amanda could see her expression turning desperate, but Francine simply couldn't seem to turn the offering down.
Lee had been right about Peter Selensky, too. He was the most persistent of the lot. He asked her out to dinner at least twice a day and didn't seem the least bit put off by her pleasant but firm refusals. Amanda shook her head ruefully, thinking again of her comment to Lee. It wasn't that she couldn't handle the sudden attention, but life certainly had been easier when she hadn't had to.
She leaned back in the chair and stared out the window at the bright morning sunshine, thinking closely about Lee for the first time since he'd left. Up until now, she'd made it a point not to do that. It was dangerous to her emotional health. How long have I been in love with him? she wondered. She'd finally admitted it was true. For better or worse, there was no point in denying it any longer. "You are a fool," she told herself. Loving Lee Stetson was like loving a hurricane . . . it was both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time . . . and definitely designed to leave you bruised and battered when it was all over. And eventually, it would be over . . . she had no illusions on that score. She was certain that he didn't feel the same way . . . he wouldn't allow anyone that close. She'd learned to recognize the signs years ago. Lee Stetson had been hurt. She didn't know for sure when, by whom, or how many times, but it had cut him so deeply that he'd spent years learning to wall himself away so it would never happen again. Heaven only knew, she'd tried to reach him, but it just wasn't happening. Not that it stopped her from loving him anyway. At least she had managed to become his friend and she was just going to have to settle for that. "You suffer from a real martyr complex, Amanda King," she told herself ruefully. "Do you know that?"
"Do you really?"
Amanda jumped violently and spun the chair around. She flushed a brilliant scarlet at the sight of Billy Melrose standing less than three feet away, staring at her quizzically.
"O-oh, Mr. M-Melrose," she stammered weakly. "I – I didn't hear you come in." She paused and then added belatedly, "G-good morning, sir."
"Good morning, Amanda. How are you being a martyr? Is someone trying to take advantage of you in some way?"
"Oh, no sir! That's not what I meant at all. I mean . . . "
"Amanda," Billy said in a warning tone.
"No sir, really. I – I was thinking about . . . about . . ." She searched her mind frantically for some excuse to explain her comment. "It's just, my PTA group, my friends, my son's school teacher . . . It's always something, you know? And good old Amanda . . . seems like they always come to me first, and . . ."
He laughed and nodded. "And you just can't say no. You need to work on that."
"Yes sir. I know and I am trying. Did you need something?"
Billy nodded and then asked, "How are things going?"
She shrugged and sighed softly. "It's a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack, I'm afraid. We don't seem to be getting anywhere."
Billy nodded sympathetically, leaning against Lee's desk. "I know. I figure we'll give it a couple more days and if we still haven't managed to break anything, we'll put it on the back burner for a while. There simply may be no way to get a handle on this until something new happens. But in the mean time, let's give this a try."
Taking the two envelopes Billy held out to her, she opened one and pulled out a gilt invitation. She raised her eyebrows in surprise and looked up at her boss. "The Van Houssin's winter fete? That's one of the most important society events of the year."
Billy nodded. "Yes, it is. It took some doing, but we managed to get two invitations for it. I want you and Windsor to attend Sunday evening. Mrs. Van Houssin is the president-elect of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution here in town, so the cover will be perfect. The two of you shouldn't have any trouble getting close to her. She and her husband seem to fit the target profile perfectly, so I figure it's worth a shot."
Amanda nodded thoughtfully. "It helps that I know Veronica slightly. It will make things easier."
Billy eyed her in surprise. "You do? I wasn't aware of that."
"We worked together briefly on one of the Save the Potomac restoration projects a couple of years ago," Amanda replied with a shrug. "It was a passing acquaintance, at best. You know the way those things work . . . there's a coordinating committee with a whole series of smaller groups that focus on specific sites along the river. The coordinating committee is the political lobby and fundraising organization and the site groups are actually in charge of the hands-on cleanup and implementation at the restoration sites. Veronica was on the coordinating committee and I was the head of one of the site groups in Arlington. We worked together for a couple of weeks on the project and then went our separate ways."
"You never cease to amaze me, Amanda," Billy said, shaking his head with a grin. Then, settling onto the edge of the desk comfortably, he turned serious. "So how are you doing on this assignment?"
"Just fine, sir. I mean, I know we don't seem to be getting anywhere, but I'm sure . . ."
"No, that's not what I meant. I mean, how are you doing working with Windsor, Nighthawk, Magician and the others."
"You mean, how am I doing without Scarecrow," she corrected him gently.
Billy nodded, watching her closely.
"It's harder than I thought it would be," she admitted. "I – I don't think I ever really gave it much thought . . . I mean, about the way we work together. This all just seems rather . . ." She paused, searching for the right word. Then she finished hesitantly, ". . . awkward?"
But Melrose nodded immediately. "I understand perfectly. Some teams learn to work together through years of painstaking practice and others just seem to mesh immediately on some instinctive level. And then there are those that simply refuse to learn to work with a partner." Billy sighed softly. "Ever since Eric died . . ." He trailed off, staring vacantly at the floor.
Amanda watched him for a long moment and then asked softly, "Eric was Lee's partner, wasn't he?"
After a long moment, Billy blinked and looked at her again. Slowly, he nodded. "Yes. He's only had two. Until you, that is."
"Eric and Dorothy," Amanda replied.
"He's told you about them?" Billy asked in surprise.
"A little. Not much. He's a pretty private person."
"Yes, he is." Billy grimaced. "Too private sometimes. He internalizes too much. Keeps it all bottled up inside. I'm afraid that one of these days, it's all going to get to be too much and he's just going to explode." He leaned forward and gazed at Amanda earnestly. "It's one of the reasons I've put you two together so often. You have a way of getting to him that I don't quite understand. You seem to prevent him from getting to wrapped up in the things that go wrong."
Amanda laughed softly. "What you mean, sir, is that he gets so angry and frustrated at me that he loses his temper and yells."
"Well, there is that," Billy agreed with a rueful chuckle. "But there's more to it. Before, when things used to go wrong, they would eat at him. He would just close up somehow."
Amanda grinned, shaking her head. "I don't let him do that to me. I keep after him and after him until it's just easier for him to tell me what's on his mind than to stay quiet about it."
Billy snorted. "Yes, and for some reason he lets you get away with it. He's never put up with that from any of the rest of us. I've known him since the day he first came to work for the Agency, Amanda. I was here when Dorothy died and I was his Section Chief when we lost Eric. Each time, it was like some part of him died right along with them. He started to shut himself off . . . refused to let anyone close again. The longer he did the job, the more remote and unfeeling he became. While I know that a certain amount of that is necessary in this line of work, it seemed like it was getting to be his primary personality. But since he's started working with you, that remoteness is cracking. He's making real contact with people again. Take the kid in the middle of that A.C.M. business a couple of years ago . . ."
"You mean Alexie?"
"Yeah. I never thought I'd live to see the day that Lee Stetson would volunteer to take in a 12 year old kid rather than sending him to one of the Agency safe houses. That wasn't the Scarecrow we'd all come to know." Billy stared at her unblinking. "That was your influence, Amanda. You've been really good for him."
She smiled back at her boss shyly. "I'm glad that I can help him. Working here has been good for me too, you know." Billy smiled at her approvingly. Under his gaze, her eyes fell and she studied the blotter on the desk closely. His recent interest and concern seemed to unlock a part of her that she had kept locked up for a long time and with difficulty, she added, "I – I needed . . . needed to k-know . . . that . . ." She trailed off, the sudden upwelling of emotion catching her unaware and causing her throat close up until she couldn't seem to talk any longer. Tears welled up and she closed her eyes tightly against them. After a moment, she felt a warm hand under her chin that forced her head up. When she opened her eyes she saw Billy gazing at her solemnly.
"Needed what, Amanda?"
"T–to know that I-I could be something . . . that I w-wasn't really a failure . . ." She took a shaky breath, fighting the tears that still threatened to spill over. "A-after the d-d-divorce, it was so hard . . . I-I never realized how much of myself I gave up when I . . ." She pulled away from his gentle grasp and wiped at her eyes with both hands, ashamed at her lack of control. "I'm so sorry, sir, you don't want hear this."
"Don't take all of your lessons from Scarecrow, Amanda," Billy scolded her gently, handing her his handkerchief. "I've known from the beginning that you had something to prove. Not to us, but to yourself. There's nothing wrong with that. I've had no doubts about your capabilities from the beginning. The way you figured out that business with Mrs. Welsh and managed to pull Scarecrow's butt out of the fire was all it took to convince me. You could have walked away from it. But you wouldn't let it go."
"How could I?" she protested. "People were dying. If there was anything I could do to help, I couldn't turn my back and walk away."
He smiled at her. "Yes, but there's the difference. Nine people out of ten would have. But not you. You worried at it, found a lead and followed up on it . . . all on your own, I might add." He shook his head, still amazed at the feat. "And once you'd made the connections, you walked straight into the lion's den without any backup." He shook a finger at her playfully. "Don't make a habit of that. It gives both Scarecrow and me ulcers." He grinned as the color flooded her cheeks again. "The point is, Amanda, that some people work well with others and some don't. Ever since Eric died, Lee Stetson has been unable to work well with anyone. Even those people he's known for years. By the time you came along, he'd turned into a first class loner and that kind doesn't generally last very long in this business. So it came as a real surprise to all of us when you arrived on the scene and found a way to mesh with him so well. There are still times when he fights against the instinct to work with you. I can see him doing it. And yet, once he gives in, both of you perform better than either of you would alone."
"You mean this has been . . ."
Billy nodded. "A test? Yes. I know how Lee works both with and without you. I needed to know how you would do without him."
"And did I pass, sir?" she asked hesitantly.
"There was no pass or fail. Just an evaluation. You've done an outstanding job. You get along well with everyone on the team. You're sharp and innovative even without Scarecrow's interaction. And you're good at putting people at ease and getting them to talk with you. Windsor has mentioned that in particular as being your single strongest attribute. He can't seem to say enough good things about the way you perform in the field."
"It's nice of him to say so," she replied, embarrassed.
"I don't think he was saying it just to be nice, Amanda. He's only reinforcing what I've heard from everyone else ever since you started working for the Agency." Billy rose from the edge of the desk and smiled at her. "So you and Windsor will handle the ball Sunday evening?"
Amanda gazed at the invitations she held in her hand a bit blankly, still rather stunned by this entire conversation. "Ball? Oh – oh yes, sir. Yes, William and I will be sure to be there."
"Good. Keep up the excellent work, Phoenix. Something is bound to break eventually." And with that he was gone, leaving Amanda more than a little dazed.
