Chapter 4
"Senator Cooper, are you sure you don't remember anything out of the ordinary before you got sick?" Lee asked, his notebook in hand, the pen suspended above the page.
Young Senator Cooper shook his head, "No, nothing. I was at the office in a meeting for most of the day. Stopped at the gym, then came home, ate leftovers for dinner, took a shower then sat on the couch to watch the game."
"Where did you get the leftovers from?" Amanda asked, trying to find a link somewhere to the other senators.
Senator Cooper gave her a small smile and replied, "My mother. I hate to admit this, but she makes several meals for me each weekend, so I don't have to constantly get takeout. I'm not the best cook if you know what I mean."
Lee smiled and nodded, "I understand that." He immediately settled back into his interrogation mode. "Is there a possibility someone broke in? Did you have any visitors recently? Anyone out of the ordinary?"
Senator Cooper shook his head once more. "No, I mean, the building super had a plumber come up on Thursday because I had been having some problems with the heat in my apartment but that's about it. He checked the thermostat, checked a couple of vents, then left and went into the basement with the super. Later, I got a message saying the problem was fixed. A faulty valve on the boiler they said."
"And you're sure no one else has been in your apartment?" Amanda confirmed.
Senator Cooper shrugged his shoulders one last time and said, "I can't be one hundred percent sure because I'm not home all day, but when I've been home, no, no one else has been there but me."
"Well, thank you, Senator, for your time. I hope you're feeling better soon and we'll do our best to get to the bottom of this," Lee replied as he closed his notebook and tucked it back into his jacket pocket.
He placed his hand on Amanda's elbow to guide her out of the hospital room into the hall. "Well, what do you think?" she asked as they walked past the nurses' station.
Lee grimaced, "I have no ideas on this one. You didn't come up with any link between the four senators at all?"
"Not one. They live in different areas around the city, two are single, two have families but no one else in the family has been poisoned. They are on different committees, don't frequent the same restaurants. They don't even keep the same office hours," Amanda rattled off.
"Well, there has to be something, some tie between them. We'll just have to keep looking," he declared. He held the outside door open for her and as they stepped outside into the sunlight he suggested, "Amanda, why don't we swing by the house, get changed and head over to the house on Maplewood and start cleaning."
"We still have to get the boys. Philip has basketball practice this afternoon and Jamie has photography club," she reminded him. She checked her watch and added, "That doesn't give us much time."
Lee sighed then suggested, "Do you think your mother would mind getting them? Just for today? We could leave your car there."
"I suppose we could ask Mother if she minds. I don't know what her plans are for this afternoon but it's worth a try," Amanda agreed.
"Worst case scenario, one of us has to leave to pick them up," Lee agreed. "I'll meet you there," he stated as Amanda slipped into the driver's seat of the Jeep and he closed her door tightly before climbing into the small sedan he borrowed from the motor pool. "This would be much easier if Dotty just had her own car," he muttered aloud as he backed out of the parking spot and followed Amanda to their house.
Thirty minutes later and after Dotty agreed to pick up the boys from school, Lee and Amanda drove to the house on Maplewood, the back seat of the car filled with the vacuum, a few buckets, several mops and a broom with a dustpan, as well as a small box of cleaning supplies. "Amanda, I'm pretty sure the house isn't that dirty that we need to bring all this with us," Lee lamented.
"I just want to be sure it's as clean as it can be," Amanda explained.
Lee glanced at her as he drove and said, "You mean to tell me, you didn't already clean every room as we were moving things? I could have sworn you were cleaning as we went."
"I was but I wasn't. If we each take a room, sweep and wash the floors, vacuum the rugs, and wash down all the woodwork, Joe won't have to do nearly as much when he moves in," Amanda stated.
"What about the basement?" Lee groaned, almost afraid to ask.
"What about it?" Amanda replied, confused.
"What do you mean, what about it?" Lee asked.
Amanda twisted in her seat and looked at him, "What do you mean, what do I mean?"
"I mean, what about the basement?" Lee asked again.
"What about the basement?" Amanda repeated.
Lee pulled the car over and took a deep breath before he asked, "Are we cleaning the basement like the other rooms?"
Amanda rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Why would we do that? It's just the basement."
Lee laughed as he pulled away from the curb and said, "Oh, Amanda, what am I going to do with you?"
"Clean the house so we can get back and write those reports for Mr. Melrose. We must be missing something," Amanda replied seriously.
"Yeah, definitely," Lee agreed. He pulled into the driveway on Maplewood Avenue and looked around. "You know, I almost miss this place."
Amanda placed her hand on Lee's arm and said, "I know. The boys and I have a lot of memories here. They were brought home from the hospital right to this house, learned to walk here, ride a bike... a lot of wonderful memories."
"The boys are very lucky. I wish I had memories like that," Lee said softly before covering her hand with his. "But this is where I fell in love with you, so I do have some wonderful memories of my own." He leaned forward and brushed his lips against her cheek before he said, "Let's get this show on the road. The faster we get started, the faster we can get this done."
"You said it!" Amanda exclaimed. As soon as Lee exited the car, she wiped away the single tear that threatened to fall after his admission. She climbed out and began unloading the cleaning supplies, handing Lee as much as he could carry.
Two hours later, Amanda descended the stairs, carrying the vacuum as Lee emerged from the basement covered in cobwebs. "I think that just about does…. " Amanda began but stopped as soon as she saw him. "Hang on, let me get that off you." She reached over and pulled a long strand of dusty cobweb off his shoulder and shook it into a nearby trash bag. "There, that's better."
"Thanks. Basement is about as clean as it's going to get. The last place to tackle is the garage," Lee announced.
Amanda shook her head, "Nope, we are done for today. As I was cleaning, I had a few thoughts on this case. Let's go home, shower and maybe we can sit in the office and go over what we know so far about this case."
Lee nodded his head in agreement, "I was thinking about the office as well. Maybe we can have a standing rule at home, much like your cracked bedroom door rule. First and foremost, always knock first on the office door. That way if we are on the phone or we're working, we have privacy. I was thinking about getting a soundproof door too, just to be on the safe side."
"And we should probably have locks on the desk drawers in case we bring any work home," Amanda suggested.
"Absolutely. And last but not least, get a separate telephone number for that phone. Then we can have calls routed there without everyone answering it," Lee stated firmly.
Amanda smiled, gathered up the vacuum hoses and declared, "It sounds like we have some work to do at home then, Mr. Stetson."
Lee smiled, picked up the bucket of cleaning supplies and answered, "After you, Mrs. Stetson."