Chapter 6

Francine allowed herself one more grin just before knocking on the Q-Bureau door. She was an agent, after all, capable of going maintaining a cover under the most harrowing circumstances. Surely she could give a convincing "best friend" impersonation. Not like Amanda was smart enough to catch on anyway....

"It's open."

Drawing her face into a reasonable facsimile of sympathy, Francine took a deep breath and entered.

"A-manda," she drawled.

"Oh, hello Francine. Something I can do for you?"

"Well, no Amanda, but if there is anything at all Francine can do for you, you just let me know, okay?" Amanda's eyes widened as a thin arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"I'm fine, really, Francine, but thank you anyway."

Francine walked around the desk to face Amanda. "No, you're not fine and I am not the only one who can see that." She lowered her face closer to Amanda's, trying to draw her attention away from her paperwork.

"Amanda, listen to me."

Surrendering with a sigh, Amanda focused her attention on Francine's blue eyes.

"I know how you feel. I tried to warn you, I did. But would you listen? Oh, no. And now look at what he's done to you. You really should have expected this Amanda, everyone else did."

Amanda felt tears well up, not of sadness, but anger. She hated that everyone *had* expected this very thing from Scarecrow; it was one of the reasons they'd known this cover would be so effective. But those people didn't know how much he had changed. Didn't know what he was really like, what they were like when they were alone. She desperately wanted to defend the man she loved, but knew she couldn't.

But for Francine, they were tears of the disgraced, humiliated housewife, and she went with that.

"Tell me Amanda. Tell Auntie Francine what he did to you."

Auntie Francine? Wait 'til Lee hears *this* one! Amanda slowly began to mete out their cover story, not wanting it to sound too rehearsed.

"Oh, Francine. It's complicated. It's not just one thing, it's....it was a lot of things. Lipstick on his clothes, he would smell of perfume that wasn't mine..." The look of both predation and sympathy was one only Francine could pull off. "And, well, I shouldn't be telling you this...", her eyes widened as Amanda spoke, "but I think he may even have been cheating on me in *this* office."

Suitably aghast, Francine made quick mental notes. This new info would be worth its weight in gold at the water cooler. "Oh, poor dear. You see, I told you not to get involved with him. He's not really capable of loving anyone, not in that suburban, domestic way you expected."

Amanda burned with desire to rub this all in Francine's smug little face, but knew it would have to wait. She remembered the fallout from the last time Francine was "not informed".

"Well, Francine, this little talk has been so therapeutic." She formed a smile as false as a Mr. Potato-head accessory. "I trust we can talk again sometime?"

"You know you can depend on me, Amanda honey," Francine tossed over her shoulder as the door closed behind her.

Amanda allowed her head to flop down on the desk, a tiny smirking laugh escaping through her fake tears. She would truly enjoy filling Francine in on this when it was over.

The phone startled her from that delicious fantasy. "Q-Bureau".

"Amanda? It's Colin."

"Oh, hi! I was just thinking about our weekend," Amanda chirped, rolling her eyes at her own perkiness.

"Great, great. How about I pick you up at 7:00 at your place?"

"Actually, why don't I meet you at the restaurant. I'd really prefer to take my own car." And keep you far away from my mother

"Oh, sure, I understand. So, you like Italian? Say, Luciano's, on Columbia Pike?"

"Sounds good! I'll see you then!"

"I can't wait, Amanda. See you then."

Amanda replaced the receiver and made a note on her desk calendar.

7pm

Luciano's

K Street

Colin

It had been two weeks since their initial very public blow-up in the bullpen. She had, in a rising crescendo of anger and disbelief, accused him of sleeping with any number of women, while Lee had done his best 'cheesy slimeball' imitation, trying to placate her without ever denying any of it. It had served the dual purpose of winning Amanda sympathy and announcing their 'break-up' to a large number of people in a short amount of time. She had then only had to sit back and wait for the appropriate "mourning period" before men had begun to approach her about dating again.

They could only hope that one of her suitors would be the man who had killed the two recently separated or divorced agents. It had been Amanda who had made the connection between the two. They had received vague descriptions of the man from the victims' friends, but no name. It seemed they were embarrassed to be dating so soon, unsure about whether they were doing the right thing.

This secrecy had played right into the killer's hands, and now they had absolutely no idea who they were after.