Chapter 5

"Scarecrow, I need a full update," Billy implored as the rest of the agents left the room after the Wednesday morning meeting.

Lee nodded, "Will do. Let me just get the file from the Q Bureau and I'll be in your office in about ten minutes?"

Billy held the door for him, "That's fine. Where's Amanda this morning? Everything all right?"

"Yeah, she had to meet Joe to go over the buy-out agreement with his lawyer and then together they were going to go to the bank. I have to say, this whole process is a lot easier than I thought it was going to be," Lee explained.

Billy gave him a small smile, "That's good to hear. You can never tell how stressful selling a house can be, especially when there are ex-husbands or wives involved. I'll expect to see you in my officer sooner, rather than later."

"What? You don't think I'll be back?" Lee teased as he crossed the bullpen.

Billy laughed loudly, drawing the attention of the agents working around them. "Just don't get sidetracked along the way," Billy teased as he entered his office, still laughing.

"What does that mean?" Lee muttered as he headed into the hallway. He was still pondering the question when he stepped into the vacant elevator.

He made it back to Billy's office in record time, just as Billy was finishing his phone conversation. "Yes, Jeannie, I'll be sure to tell him. Yes, I'll stop at the store on my way home. No, I won't forget. I'll be home on time tonight. Okay, love you too."

"Does it ever get old?" Lee asked as Billy placed the receiver down.

"Does what get old?" Billy replied as he lifted his coffee mug and took a sip.

Lee smiled at his friend as he gestured toward the phone, "The questions from Jeannie about when you're going to be home, the constant reminders to do things?"

Billy returned Lee's smile as he said, "Never. It means she cares, so she can tell me the same thing until the cows come home and I'll never get tired of hearing it. So, tell me what you and Amanda have discovered so far."

Lee opened the file folder in his lap and began, "Well, it's not much. I talked to all the responding paramedics and they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary on the scene. They simply responded to a violently ill patient. Transported them to the hospital. Two different hospitals by the way. Amanda and I interviewed all the senators, and honestly, Billy, we can't find a single link between them."

Billy steepled his fingers and thought for a second then said, "Any idea how the poison was introduced?"

"Not a clue," Lee admitted. "We searched their offices for any type of inhalant device but couldn't find anything. I sent a crew over to check out their homes, again nothing. No one has received any unusual packages lately. Heck, I even had a crew go over all their vehicles to see if anything was hidden in there…. nothing. It's like whoever is doing this is a ghost."

"Was Amanda able to find anything about their habits, do any of them frequent the same gym, shop in the same grocery store, have the same barber for crying out loud?" Billy threw his hands in the air.

Lee shook his head, "I don't know what to tell you, Billy. We couldn't find anything. The only information we could come up with was where TM9 was first discovered. Turns out it was at a local private college about fifty miles from here. The chemistry department discovered it by accident and the Army promptly snatched up the idea."

"Any of the senators have ties to that college?" Billy leaned forward on his seat, hoping this new piece of evidence might be a solid clue.

"No, not that we can find. No spouses either," Lee shook his head as he closed the file folder.

"Well keep looking. There has to be something out there, some reason these people were targeted," Billy instructed. He was interrupted by a knock on his office door, "Come in."

"Sir, there is an agent here wishing to speak with you. He said his name is Edwards, Tom Edwards," the agent at his door explained.

"Send Mr. Edwards right in." Billy looked at Lee with a raised eyebrow as Tom Edwards limped into his office on a cane. "Edwards! Nice to see you up and around. How's the hip feeling?"

"Good, sir. Healing slowly but healing. I was just heading down for another meeting with Dr. Pfaff, but I wanted to give you the medical update from Dr. McJohn. He said he would approve me to come back for a few hours a day, desk work only starting next week," Tom explained. He looked at Lee and replied, "Hello, Mr. Stetson. Congratulations, I heard you and Mrs. King…. I mean, Amanda, had a beautiful wedding."

"Thanks, Edwards. It was a good time," Lee replied. He was still slightly uncomfortable around the young agent that had tried to kiss Amanda on several occasions during a recent case. During the investigation Edwards had taken a bullet to his hip, fracturing the bones and their main suspect was shot and killed. "How are your sessions with Dr. Pfaff working out? Is he sharing his ice cream?" Lee asked in a teasing tone.

Edwards laughed and replied, "Not with me, but he seems to share with Charlie whenever Lauren has to bring him."

"Lauren? Have you been seeing much of her?" Lee asked, surprised. Lauren Proctor was Harry V. Thornton's daughter and he and Amanda had been sent to find her for Harry. It was because of that investigation he and Amanda had finally gotten married publicly.

Edwards looked away, his face turning pink immediately. "Well, we've taken Charlie to the park a few times. And to make things easy for her, we started scheduling our appointments back to back, so I keep an eye on the little guy and she gets to talk privately. He's getting so big. He just started sitting up by himself," Edwards rambled.

Billy smiled and replied, "Sounds like you and Lauren have become friends. A good situation for the two of you, I'm sure."

"Yeah, I guess we have. She just found an apartment and will be moving all her stuff up here next week. I told her I'd do what I could to help," Tom stated. "Well, I should be going. I have physical therapy in an hour and don't want to be late."

"No, you need to do what the therapists tell you…all of them," Lee informed him.

"And I'll have you set up with a desk out here next week. There's plenty of work to be done," Billy stood and held the door open for him.

Edwards slowly left the room but not before saying, "Thank you, Sir. And thank you, Mr. Stetson."

Lee let out a low whistle as they watched Edwards limp across the bullpen. "That's a big change for him. I'm glad to see both he and Lauren are getting the support they need."

"And who would have thought you and Amanda would be the reason for it!" Billy exclaimed with a clap on Lee's shoulder.