Chapter 8
For the rest of the morning, Lee spent his time finding out what he could about his three suspects and detailing their activities. He had to admit that Weatherly appeared to be the most likely candidate. However, he could find no evidence that Karl Opitz was even at the resort. Nevertheless, he would have a lot of new information to share with Francine at their afternoon meeting. Thinking about that, he groaned, knowing that she was likely to get on his case again. He glanced at his watch and smiled; it was earlier than he thought. Going to a house phone, he called Amanda's room.
"Honey, it looks like I'll have time to have lunch with you. Why don't you call room service and order something for us? I just have a few more things to finish up down here, so I'll be up in, say, thirty minutes?" He paused before continuing, "I love you, too." About forty minutes later, he was heading up to Amanda's room for lunch, unaware his blonde coworker followed him.
Francine watched as Lee knocked on the door, wondering what he was up to. If he was seeing that woman again, she didn't know what she would do. Her suspicions were confirmed when the door opened and a slender arm reached out of the room, grabbed Lee's shoulder and pulled him in. 'Well, she's quite forward,' Francine thought to herself, before debating whether or not to confront him. Deciding to maintain a little discretion, she turned in a huff and headed to the suite for her own lunch, planning to give him hell later.
Meanwhile, in Amanda's room, Lee had his wife in his arms, taking the time to kiss her thoroughly. She ran her hands through his hair; he fit his around her waist, pulling her close. His jacket hit the floor. Eventually, Lee pulled away from her and the pair stumbled toward the bed.
"Umm," Lee groaned. "If that's the appetizer I can't wait to see what's for lunch," he continued, as his legs hit the edge of the bed and he sat, pulling Amanda onto his lap.
"Uh, uh, sweetheart," Amanda said as she jumped up. "We don't have time for that." She walked over to a room service cart loaded down with silver covered dishes and wheeled it over to him, saying, "You didn't say what you wanted, so I hope you like what I ordered."
"That's not what I'm hungry for, Amanda," Lee replied with a wink as he reached for her. She slapped at his hand playfully and successfully eluded his grasp.
"Now eat," she ordered. He complied, knowing by his wife's tone that she was serious, all the while contemplating how best to get by her defenses. While he was eating, Amanda stooped to pick up his jacket, and while she was dusting it off, a few pictures fell out of the inside pocket. "What's this, Lee?" Amanda asked while she perused the photos. "You know, this man looks very familiar to me," she said, waving one of the photos in front of Lee's face.
He nearly choked as he reached to grab it out of her hands. "What? Francine and I have been looking for him since yesterday, and I was nearly convinced he wasn't even here. Do you know who this is, Amanda? It's Karl Opitz!"
"Who?"
"Karl Opitz. He's East Germany's top agent. Our intel is that someone will be passing on national security secrets to him this weekend, and you've seen him?"
"Yeah, I saw him yesterday. It was after I checked in, and the bellhop was bringing me to my room. A waiter pushing a room service cart blocked us. We tried to get around him, but the luggage cart wouldn't fit past." Amanda paused and added, "You know, they really should have wider hallways here. I mean, this is a very expensive resort, and the hallways aren't wide enough for. . ."
"Amanda," Lee said with exasperation and motioned with his hands for her to continue.
"Oh, well, he finally stopped and the man in the photo is the one who opened the door. I know it was him, Lee."
"You know his room number?"
"Sure, it's just a few doors down from here."
"I can't believe this. We've got him, Amanda. Now we just have to wait for his contact to show up. I just know it's Weatherly." He smiled up at his wife and tugging at her hand, pulled her down. "You realize you've done it again? You've cracked my case."
"Lee, I saw a man open his door."
"Don't underestimate yourself, honey. Yes, you were lucky to be in the right place at the right time, but you remembered his face, and you recognized it in the photo. You know how important powers of observation are in this job. You make one hell of a fine agent." He leaned forward and kissed her, before adding, "And you're the best thing that ever happened to me."
"I'll have to agree with that," she murmured to him as she returned his kisses.