Amanda knocked on Senator Cooper's door and looked over at Lee as they waited. She reached over and brushed a piece of lint off his shoulder just as the door opened. "Oh, hello, Senator Cooper," she said cheerfully. "We just stopped by to see how you were feeling?" she added with a smile.
Senator Cooper opened the door wider as he replied, "Better. Would you like to come in?" He stepped back as Lee and Amanda walked into his apartment. Lee looked around and took note of the modest furnishings, the neat appearance of the room as well as the framed photographs all around. "I was just putting away a few things," he explained.
"I'm sorry we interrupted, but do you think we could take a look around? Maybe at the heating unit you said was giving you trouble?" Lee asked.
"Sure, it's in here," Senator Cooper gestured for them to follow him into the hall. He knelt down and indicated a small vent on the wall. "The guy just took off the faceplate, cleaned it out, screwed it back on and then went into the basement. That's all I know."
Lee knelt down beside him and peered at the vent. He tapped his pocket, looking for the small utility tool he usually carried. Amanda smiled, reached into her purse, pulled out the Swiss Army knife she carried and handed it to him. "Thanks," Lee muttered as he retracted the flat head screwdriver and removed the vent. He pulled a small flashlight from his jacket pocket and aimed it into the small cavity.
"See anything?" Amanda asked. She put her hand on his shoulder to lean in for a better look.
"No, just some disturbed dust but that could be from anything," Lee admitted. He started to move but realized Amanda's hand was preventing him. "Amanda?" he questioned with a tap on her hand.
Amanda quickly stood, pulled her hand back and apologized, "Sorry." She looked over at Senator Cooper who was watching them intently. "Senator, has anything else happened since you've been home? Have you noticed anything unusual?"
The young senator leaned against the wall to think. He shook his head and replied, "No, nothing I can think of. The landlord did say they came in and fixed my heat while I was in the hospital, but that's about it. I haven't had a problem with it since."
Lee finished screwing the vent back in and stood. "So, the landlord let the repairman back in?"
Senator Cooper confirmed, "Yes, he has a key. He knew I was in the hospital and wanted to be sure it was all set."
"Do you know the name of the repair company by any chance?" Amanda asked. Lee pulled out his small notebook and a pen, ready to jot the name down.
"Um, I think the company name on his uniform shirt was HeCo or HiCo, something like that," Senator Cooper replied.
Lee tapped the pen on the notepad as he asked, "Did you notice a name tag or anything?"
"Harry. I was laughing because I kept thinking of Dirty Harry and how this guy was so far from that," he chuckled.
"Do you remember what he looked like?" Amanda asked, her eyebrows high.
"He was about this tall," Senator Cooper indicated with his hand that the man was just about eye level with himself before he continued. "He had salt and pepper hair, kind of looked like he needed a haircut though. Um, a scruffy beard, I don't know, sort of unkempt, you know."
Lee pressed his lips together as he jotted down the descriptions, "Was he thin? Heavy set?" he asked.
"Thin, definitely thin," Senator Cooper confirmed.
Amanda smiled as Lee tucked the notepad and pen away into his pocket. "Thank you very much, Senator Cooper. If you think of anything else, give us a call. It could be important," she stated.
The trio walked through the living room to the front door. Lee stopped and asked, "One last thing…I heard the Senate voted against funding for a private college last year."
"Yes, Milton-Guild. They were doing some research into biological warfare and many of us felt it wasn't the government's place to fund such activity at this time. The military has been doing its own research and we pay enough for that so why are we giving a private institution more money to do that same thing," he stated firmly.
"Did everyone in the Senate agree?" Amanda asked, unsure where Lee was going with his remark.
"Fifty-eight of us did. The other forty-two think we should spend every penny on figuring out how to gas all our enemies into oblivion," Senator Cooper added. "Why do you ask? Do you think it has to do with why I was poisoned?"
Lee nodded, "It might. Do you think you could provide us with a list of who voted?"
Senator Cooper shook his head in agreement, "Sure, I can get my secretary to get you the roll count votes. It is public record."
"Great. It might be nothing or it could help save someone else from getting sick," Lee informed him.
"Hey, whatever I can do to help," Senator Cooper replied. He opened the door for them and after they stepped into the hall he added, "Mr. Stetson, I really appreciate you following up on this. I'll do my best to get that list to you as soon as possible."
"You take care now," Amanda chimed in with a smile. Senator Cooper smiled back and closed the door behind them. Lee slipped his hand to her lower back as they walked down the hall to the outside door. "What do you think?" she asked.
"Well, I can't say for sure but I think our repairman might be Dr. Harborne and if that list is public record like Cooper just said then, it wouldn't take much for Marty or Harry or whatever he wants to call himself to get ahold of it," Lee theorized. He opened the car door and waited until Amanda was sitting before closing it. He sat in the driver's seat, resting his hands on the wheel before inserting the keys. His fingers drummed the wheel as he considered the facts they had just learned. After a few minutes, he turned to Amanda to recap. "Ok, so Dr. Harborne is so angered by losing his job, what does he do? He gets the list of all the senators that voted against the funding and then what?"
"He decides he's going to get revenge?" Amanda asked tentatively.
"Right," Lee nodded. "He decides he's going to get revenge, so what does he do? I'll tell you what he does, he recreates TM9, then he finds the best way to introduce it to each senator without affecting anyone around him."
"So, the senators with families he uses perfume or cologne and the ones that live alone, he does what?" Amanda interjected.
"Somehow he gets it into their heating system vents? Maybe he's using this company as a disguise…" Lee trailed off in thought. "I think the first thing we need to do is find out as much as we can about Dr. Harborne."
"I already asked Francine to do that," Amanda replied with a smile as they pulled away from the curb.
Lee glanced over at her and laughed. "And how did you know?"
Amanda raised her shoulders as she said, "I didn't. I was just covering all our bases. I also asked her to check out Dr. Durgan and anyone else working at Milton-Guild before and after the discovery of TM9."
"And when did all this happen?" Lee asked incredulously.
"I bumped into her in the elevator before we left. You were still downstairs and she briefed me on your meeting with Billy," Amanda informed him. "Not to change the subject but did you get a chance to talk to Leatherneck?"
Lee smiled at his wife and nodded enthusiastically. "I did. He will be over first thing Saturday morning to get started. The only thing he made me do was promise I'd make dinner."
"Really? That doesn't seem fair," Amanda replied with a sigh. "Maybe we could get him a gift certificate to a restaurant or something. That's a lot of work just for dinner."
Lee turned right then left, weaving through traffic as they headed back to the Agency. "Well, if I make my word famous frittatas then…" he trailed off laughing.
"Just no mushrooms. The boys won't eat it if they even smell a hint of mushrooms," Amanda reminded him.
Lee laughed louder and replied, "I'll just have to make sure I make one without mushrooms just for them then."
"I'll check with Francine when we get back if you want to update Billy on what we just found out," Amanda stated before looking out the window and yawning loudly. "Oh, excuse me. I don't know where that came from."
"You okay?" Lee glanced over once more. "Did you sleep all right last night?"
Amanda smiled at him and replied, "I slept fine, especially curled up next to you. I'm just tired all of a sudden."
"You're not coming down with something, are you?" Lee sounded more worried than he intended. It wasn't like Amanda to not be a ball of energy in the middle of the day.
"I don't think so. Maybe I just didn't eat enough for lunch today. I'll get a snack when we get back. That should perk me right up," she said as she reached out and patted his leg.
Lee covered her hand with his own and asked once more time, "You're sure?"
Amanda turned her hand over and intertwined her fingers with his as she stated firmly, "I'm fine."