Dirty Dealings
Part 11
By the time Leo pulled up in front of Abbey's house, the familiar SUVs were in the driveway. He jogged up to the porch and was met by Ron Butterfield who was examining the front door. "Any sign of Abbey?"
Ron looked up from checking the lock to see if it was broken. "No, and she is not answering her cell phone."
Leo continued on inside. He went directly to Jenny who was sitting on the couch telling another agent exactly what she knew, which was nothing. He gave her a hug and assured her that they would find Abbey. He was about to sit by her when a voice stopped him.
"Leo!"
Leo spun around to the irate and worried bellow of Jed Bartlet. "WHERE IS YOUR BROTHER?"
"I don't know, sir. He left the house this morning and I haven't heard from him."
"You haven't heard from him or you just won't tell us?" As soon as the words left Jed's mouth, he regretted them.
Leo looked crushed. "I don't know where he is, sir." He sunk down next to Jenny and avoided looking at Jed.
"Leo." Jed sat down on the edge of the chair opposite Leo's.
After a ten-second hesitation, Leo met his eyes.
"I'm sorry; that was totally uncalled for. I'm just out of my mind with worry, but even that's no excuse for me to take it out on you."
Leo nodded. "It's all right, sir."
"No, it's not all right, but we'll talk about it later, okay? We'll find Abbey first."
Leo nodded again, giving Jenny his attention. "Did you see anyone around here when you arrived?"
"No one but the paper boy. I paid him for Abbey's paper."
"Do we know his name or where he lives?" The agent asked.
Jenny looked confused. "Surely you don't think the paper boy is involved. He is eleven-years-old."
"No, ma'am, but he might have seen someone."
"He gave me this ticket." Jenny pulled it out of her purse and handed it to the agent. "It might have his name on it."
"I'm going to advise Agent Butterfield about this." The agent stood and left the room.
"Where are the girls?" Jed leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.
"They are with Mrs. Landingham. I had her take them to her house and sent an agent with them."
"Good idea."
"Sir, do you want to keep this quiet or do you want CJ to..." Leo looked up at the President, but stopped talking when he saw the look on Jed's face. He was staring over Leo's shoulder at the back door of the house, the one that led to the patio, an expression of pure hatred and vengeance on his face. Leo stood up and spun around, seeing the object of Jed's focus. Lane! Before he could react, Jed sprung from his chair.
Jed grabbed Lane by the collar and forced him up against the wall. "WHERE IS SHE?"
Ron came running, as soon as he heard the thundering roar of the President getting angry and acting on it.
Lane tried to shake him off, hands clasping at his shoulders and face, but Jed's grip was hard. "What are you talking about?"
Lane, daring to show himself when he was the most likely suspect in Abbey's disappearance, had pushed Jed over the edge. "Don't play dumb with me! Where is Abbey?" Jed bellowed at the top of his lungs, the glass of the patio door rattling from the vibration.
Leo, Jenny and Ron tried to separate the two, but Jed had a death grip on Lane, his mind not capable of any thought but forcing this monster to admit he had taken Abbey.
"I don't know what you mean. Get off me!" Lane gave one hard push and managed to break free from Jed.
Leo wedged in between the two men and Ron held The President back.
"I can't help it if you lost your sex toy."
Jed felt like smashing his head in and made a move towards Lane, but he got nowhere as Ron clamped down firmly on his shoulders, throwing his entire body weight forward to block Jed's every move. "What have you done with Abbey?" He asked, forcing his voice down.
Lane straightened his tie. "What do you mean? I haven't done anything with her."
Leo turned to his brother. "Come on. Let's go in here." Instead of waiting for a reply, Leo shoved Lane into the kitchen. He looked back at Jed before leaving. "You, try to calm down."
Ron motioned with his head for another agent to go with Leo and Lane. Even if it was the man's own brother, he was very uncomfortable with Leo being alone with a man who might have kidnapped a woman close to the President.
Jed shook Ron off him and tried to reel himself in. He slumped back into the couch as Jenny sat down next to him. She touched one of his hands.
"Jed?" She tried carefully not to provoke him in any way.
"I'm sorry, but THAT man...."
"It's OK. I understand."
------
Leo closed the kitchen door behind him. "Abbey's missing."
Lane shrugged. "So super guy in there automatically thinks I had something to do with it?"
"You have to understand he's worried. We all are..."
"What happened?"
Leo did not know if his brother asked out of concern or because he always wanted all the facts. "We don't know. Jenny went to see her and the house was a mess." Leo suddenly remembered what Jed had come to tell him earlier. "Real convenient for you, isn't it?" He did not know where he got the nerve to say this to his brother, but Abbey's life could be at stake. No reason to hold back now.
Lane knew right away what his brother was talking about. "I take it you heard about England. Yeah, Abbey did make a big deal about it."
"What else would you expect?" Leo was starting to get angry.
"Look Leo, I had nothing to do with whatever has happened to Abbey." He took a deep breath.
Leo said nothing. He usually could read his brother pretty good, but at this point he could not.
------
Jenny stroked Jed's hand. "We'll find her, Jed."
Jed nodded absently. "Yeah." He did not want to lose Abbey now. He perked up as Leo returned from the kitchen. "Hiding your brother from me?"
"Just trying to keep the two of you from killing each other, so we can concentrate on finding Abbey. A couple of agents are questioning him and then they'll see that he leaves."
Jenny did not want them to get into another argument over Lane so she brought something else up. "Laurie's play is tomorrow."
"Damn." Jed knew how much Abbey had looked forward to that. "What if we don't find her before then?"
"Maybe we will." Jenny said, trying to sound hopeful.
"Don't tell me Lane is going to be there." Jed looked at Leo as he said this.
"No." Leo said firmly. "If we don't find ....." Leo did not finish that sentence, as he switched to say something else. "Just Jenny and me."
Jed simply nodded. "I would have liked to be there but well, you know..."
Neither Jenny nor Leo had to be told how it would affect things having The President at a school play, especially since he did not have a child in the play himself.
Ron Butterfield emerged from the kitchen, a grim look plastered across all his features.
"Does he have Abbey?" Jed couldn't hold back.
Ron shook his head like he dreaded to speak. "He claims he was at a tailor being measured for some new suits at the time we suspect Ms. McGarry was taken. I have two agents en route to the tailor's shop to check on his alibi. We have released Lane McGarry, but have agents tailing him. If he does have Ms. McGarry, he may lead us to her."
"He may lead us..." Jed shook his head." Well if not Lane then WHO has her?" Jed felt he couldn't stand it a moment longer.
"We're on this, Mr. President. We just need time."
"Time is something Abbey may not have!"
"Jed, they're doing everything they can." Jenny brought Jed back to himself, so he could excuse Ron to get on with the investigation.
"We just have to find her." It sounded like Jed was pleading with himself instead of speaking to his companions.
"We will, sir."
"Leo, we need to get home." Jenny stood, slipping the handle of her purse over her shoulder. "I promised Laurie we'd go over her lines for the play and I promised Leah that you would try to fix the Barbie swimming pool."
"That pool has sprung a leak again?" Leo groaned.
"Yes, and unless you want to be redoing the ceramic tile on the floor of our kitchen you better fix it."
"Okay." Leo turned to Jed. "You'll call us if you hear anything."
Jed nodded. "Tell the girls I said goodnight and tell Laurie to break a leg." He watched his best friend and Jenny hurry to their car. A cold chill crept up his spine. What if Leo's brother did have Abbey? The tailor could be lying. Lane might be paying him off or intimidating him. It was the worst for Abbey, but it would have an impact on all of them.
------
Leo silently made his way to Jenny, as she stood watching Leah sleep.
"Laurie is asleep." He whispered into her ear.
"We can't keep it from them. We have to tell them tomorrow." Jenny whispered as she leaned back into Leo.
Leo put his arms around his wife. "I know."
------
Jed stood by the window in his bedroom, looking out. "Where are you, Abbey?" He sighed as he put his hands in his pocket and leaned towards the wall. "I hope you're ok." He tried to keep those positive thoughts in his mind. Three words barely escaped his lips. "I love you."
------
"Was that Jed?" Jenny sat behind Leo on the bed, putting her arms around him and her head on his shoulder, her wet hair blotching his shirt.Leo nodded. "He's waiting for his security briefing."
"Any word on Abbey." Jenny knew the answer.
"No, it's like she vanished. There was not one unidentifiable fingerprint in her entire living room."
"Did the paperboy see anyone?"
"Ron doesn't think so. His parents refused to let him say too much. They're afraid for his safety."
"Are we going to tell the girls, Leo? We could keep them home from school, but Laurie's play is tonight and she has been practicing so hard. And if they hear it from someone else..."
"I know we have to tell them. Laurie already wanted to call her Mom last night to be sure she was still coming to her play." Leo paused. "I had to lie to her, Jen. I told her that Abbey was at the hospital. They've just had so much to deal with recently."
"Leo, we do what we have to do. We can't second guess ourselves or agonize over how we could have done things better. We have to focus on the now, this moment...we have to go downstairs and tell them the truth." Jenny stood and pulled Leo to his feet. "They're having breakfast. We'll tell them and then see about school. If they don't want to go, I'll talk with the principal about Laurie still being in the play."
Leo followed Jenny downstairs to the kitchen.
"Uncle Leo!" Leah ran and hopped up in his lap when he sat down. She was clutching a huge cereal box that she could barely manage. "There's a glow in the dark ring in the cereal box. Will you find it for me?"
"Sure, baby. We'll find it right now." Leo dug around in the cereal box, pulled out the ring and held it out for Leah to put it on her finger.
"It doesn't glow." Leah stuck out her hand and pouted.
"You have to be in a dark room, stupid!" Laurie admonished before sticking another bite of cereal in her mouth.
"Laurie, we've talked about you calling your sister stupid and you know we don't do that." Jenny sat down in the chair next to Leo.
"Then why does she have to act so stupid?"
"Laurie!" Leo never raised his voice so it caught Laurie off guard and she was immediately quiet, looking from one adult to the other.
Leo took a moment to collect his thoughts. "We need to talk to you girls about something very important, something..."
"Mom's NOT coming to my play!" Laurie leaped to her feet.
"Laurie, please just listen for a minute."
Leo's soft voice caused Laurie to lower the volume of her own. "She said even if there was an emergency at the hospital that she wouldn't miss it."
Leo had to tell them while he could still get the words out. "Yesterday while you were still at school, Aunt Jenny went to your house to talk to your Mom. But when she got there, she couldn't find her and we still haven't been able to find her. I don't want you to worry though, because there's a lot of people looking and your Mom's going to be back here with you both real soon. Until then we just have to stick together and be strong."
Leah looked up at Leo calmly. "Maybe Mom's with Jed. They like each other."
"Honey, I wish she was with Jed, but she's not. He's one of the many people trying to find her."
"Is Mommy lost?" Leah's face scrunched up and tears filled her eyes.
Leo hugged her. "No, your Mommy's not lost. She's just fine and I promise you she'll be home soon."
"I have to get to school." Laurie headed down the hall.
Jenny quickly followed. "Laurie, we thought maybe you guys should stay home from school today. I'll fix it so you can still be in your play tonight."
"He shouldn't have told her that." Laurie turned around and faced Jenny. "Uncle Leo doesn't know that Mom will be fine and home soon. He's just as scared as the rest of us; I can tell. What if he can't keep his promise?"
"I don't know, honey." Jenny moved closer to her. "He just can't stand to see you girls cry."
"There's a lot you're not telling us, right?"
"We just want to protect you."
"You think something bad has happened to Mom, right, Aunt Jenny? You can tell me; I'm older."
"Laurie, I want to be as honest with you as I can. When I got to your house, it was a mess. Something may have happened to your Mom, but we can't jump to conclusions until we know the facts. We have to be there for Leah. She's just a little girl who won't understand this. You're her big sister. Can you look out for her?"
"I can and I will. You and Uncle Leo can count on me."
"We know we can, sweetheart."
Laurie wiped at her eyes. "Aunt Jenny, what if Mom is really gone?"
"We have to have faith, Laurie; your Mom will be back."
Laurie ran into Jenny's arms and they stood that way for a long time.
TBC....