Chapter 17
Mike Sullivan, the owner of HiCo Heating and Cooling, Inc. sat across from Lee and Amanda, sipping his coffee. "Mr. Stetson, Mrs. Stetson, I don't think Harry is the guy you're looking for, really. He's mild-mannered, comes to work on time, does his appointments, returns the truck without a problem. He's been my most consistent employee for the last three months. I was thinking about bumping him up to a lead tech, he's been that good," Mike explained with a shake of his head.
"Do you know where Harry lives?" Lee asked, his pen poised to write down any information they could get.
"Sure," Mike stated before taking a sip of his coffee again.
"And where would that be, Mr. Sullivan?" Amanda asked sweetly. She was beginning to get annoyed with the abrasive answers he was giving them.
"He lives here, right upstairs. His place burnt down a few weeks ago and he is such a good worker I didn't want to lose him, so I offered him a room over the shop. It's not much but he said he didn't have much anyway," Mike replied pointing to the ceiling.
"We'll need to take a look at his room," Lee stated.
"No can do. Not without a warrant. I'm not just going to invade his space because you think he might be this person you're looking for," Mike stated firmly. "Now, I have a lot to do today so if you wouldn't mind, there's the door."
"Mr. Sullivan, sir, now I understand why you wouldn't want to show us his private space, but please, understand. We're trying to protect anyone else from getting sick. Would you want him to do that to your wife or your brother?" Amanda pleaded with him.
Mike took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. "No, I suppose not. I won't show you his room, but I will tell you he's out on a call right now. What if I give you the address and you can talk to him yourself?" he offered.
Lee nodded in acceptance, "Sure, that would work. Where is he now?"
Mike pulled out a pink work order and handed it to Lee, "Senator McCarthy's place. He's having his vents cleared for the winter. It's a pretty intensive job so Harry should be there for most of the day."
Amanda's eyebrows shot up immediately, "Excuse me, did you say Senator McCarthy?"
"Yes. We have a contract through the Capitol police with authorized security clearance," Mike explained. "When anyone from the House or Congress needs work done, we are on a short list of authorized companies they work with."
Lee palmed his forehead and said, "Let me get this straight. You have authorized security clearance, yet you don't trust us enough to see his room? Did you even do a background check on this guy?"
Mike sat up straight in his chair and shuffled the papers on his desk into a haphazard pile as he stuttered, "It's been on my list of things to do."
Lee stood angrily, "What do you mean on your list? Do you understand you may have exposed several senators and their families to toxins because you haven't gotten to it yet?"
"Listen, I gave you the address! What more do you want from me?" Mike snapped back. "Take it and get out of here before I change my mind."
"Lee, we should go," Amanda stood and tugged on Lee's sleeve.
Lee pointed at Mike with the work order and snapped, "If anyone else gets hurt, you better believe I'm coming back here, and it won't be with a warrant to search that room!"
"Come on," Amanda tugged his arm again. She could see the muscle in his cheek twitching wildly, the vein in his neck throbbing with anger.
Lee stormed to the car and slammed the door closed after he sat down. "I can't believe that son of a-" Lee stopped and picked up the car phone. He dialed Billy's number and as soon as he heard Billy answer he snapped, "It's him, Billy. I need a warrant to search his room on Washington. He's been living above the shop since the fire."
"How can you be sure?" Billy questioned as he wrote down the information Lee was giving.
Lee whipped the car into traffic, earning a blaring horn from a car he cut off. "HiCo has a contract with Capitol police specifically for Congress and the Senate. He's supposed to do a background check, but he hasn't gotten to it yet." He sped through traffic, weaving in and out of slower moving cars.
"Lee, slow down," Amanda cried hanging onto the grab bar above her head.
"Where are you going now?" Billy asked. He could hear Amanda in the background crying out in surprise as well as the horns from the cars around them.
"We are heading to Senator McCarthy's on South Avenue. Harborne is working there all day," Lee stated.
"Ok, keep me filled in. I can't do anything until we confirm this Harry is really Marty Harborne," Billy stated.
"Will do," Lee agreed as he hung up the phone. He gripped the wheel tightly with both hands as he continued to weave between cars as they sped toward their destination.
Amanda gritted her teeth as she stated, "I really wish you wouldn't drive so fast."
Lee just shook his head, "I can't risk losing this guy, Amanda. For all we know, Sullivan called him, and he could be running right now."
"I know, but it's not going to do us any good if we don't make it there in one piece," she muttered as she squeezed her eyes closed.
Lee eased back on the accelerator a tiny bit as they continued to speed toward Senator McCarthy's house. He turned right onto South Avenue and slowed the car considerably as they neared the address. "Good, the truck is still here. Now, hopefully, we can get inside without spooking him," Lee stated.
Amanda opened her eyes and blinked several times as she tried to get her bearings. Lee parked the car and scrambled out quickly, looking up and down the street for anyone that could possibly interfere with them. Seeing the street empty, he slowed his walk, straightened his tie and helped Amanda out of the car. Together they approached the front door and rang the bell. They waited a long minute before the door opened and an older heavyset gentleman dressed in a running suit answered the door. "Yes? Can I help you?" the man asked.
"Senator McCarthy?" Amanda asked with a smile.
"That's me," the man answered.
"Sir, my name is Lee Stetson, and this is my partner, Amanda Stetson. We are federal agents and we're investigating the poisonings that have occurred recently," Lee began. Senator McCarthy couldn't hide the shocked expression on his face.
"We've spoken with the Senators that have gotten sick and they've all told us they voted against the funding for Milton-Guild College last year. Do you remember how you voted?" Amanda asked quietly.
"I voted against it as well. It was a waste of taxpayer funds if you ask me," Senator McCarthy exclaimed. "What is this all about?" he questioned.
"Senator, the repairman that is working in your house right now…where is he?" Lee asked quietly. He tried to look over the man's shoulder, deeper into his home but he couldn't see anything.
Senator McCarthy stepped aside to allow Lee and Amanda entrance into the living room. "He's cleaning the vents in the basement right now, why?"
Lee put his hand on the man's shoulder as he explained, "We have reason to believe that the repairman working here now might be our main suspect in this case. Now, did he give you his name?"
"Harry. I made a joke about that movie that just came out this year…you know the one, Harry and the Hendersons…Well, he told me he was smarter than everyone else I knew, not some dumb Neanderthal. I just shut my mouth after that and showed him the basement steps," the Senator explained.
"What did he do after that?" Amanda asked. She jumped when she heard a noise from below, like a metal tool being dropped on cement.
Senator McCarthy gestured toward the front door and stated, "He got some tools from his truck and headed downstairs. He's been down there for about an hour I would say."
Lee could hear what sounded like footsteps ascending the wooden stairs below. "Ok, I don't want to spook this guy so let's just stay calm and pretend like we are just here visiting you," Lee suggested.
"Like old friends," Amanda added with a tense smile.
"Yeah, just a couple of old friends stopping by," Lee agreed. The door to the basement opened and Harry stepped into the kitchen, clearly visible from where they stood.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Senator McCarthy. I didn't realize you had company," the man apologized. He was carrying a small duffle bag in one hand and a small utility vacuum in the other.
Amanda smiled politely and simply said, "Hello."
"I'll be out of your way in just a bit. Could I possibly get upstairs into the bedrooms? I want to check the vents up there, too," Harry said.
"Sure, just this way," Senator McCarthy said, his voice just a bit shaky. He looked at Lee who gave him a subtle nod before climbing the steps, Harry in tow.
Lee leaned close to Amanda and whispered, "He fits the description Cooper gave us perfectly. Now, we just need a few more minutes to get him comfortable before we can nab him."
"Nab him? We don't know for sure he's Marty Harborne," Amanda reminded him.
Lee started to respond but was interrupted when Senator McCarthy thumped down the steps loudly. "What do we do now? He's in the upstairs hall, checking the vents there before he's going to check the bedrooms," the older man asked nervously.
Lee pulled his gun from his holster and looked at the Senator. "You go move into the kitchen to be safe. Amanda, you stay here, at the bottom of the stairs just in case he gets past me. I'm going to try to get him to come with me without a fight, but just in case." Lee commanded.
"Right here, at the bottom of the stairs. Got it," Amanda nodded affirmatively. She watched Lee climb the steps silently as she stood at the bottom, one hand on the hall table beside her and the other on the banister.
"Harry?" Lee called when he reached the top of the stairs. He didn't see the scruffy looking repairman, so he moved down the hall a few more steps and peeked into the first open doorway. Finding no one, he continued to the next bedroom door and called out again, "Harry?" Again, hearing no response he moved to the third door across the hall. Lee spotted the man crouched down by an air vent, a small silver canister in his hand. "Harborne!" Lee shouted.
Marty Harborne's head snapped in Lee's direction when he heard his name. Lee planted his feet and leveled his gun, but Marty was already on the move. He caught Lee off guard as he barreled past him, knocking Lee's gun free. Marty scrambled down the hall and stopped only when he heard Amanda shout out "Lee!" With one hand on the wall and the other on the rail, Marty ran down the steps as quickly as he could, Lee closing the gap between them. He threw himself at Amanda, knocking her down, her head slamming off the table beside her before the table crashed over and onto her now unconscious body.
"Amanda!" Lee cried as he watched her collapse, the table landing on top of her. He took the stairs as quickly as he dared as Marty yanked the front door open and ran to the truck outside. Lee slid onto his knees, pushing the table off Amanda as he heard the truck's engine fire to life outside, followed by the sound of squealing tires.
Lee gently lifted Amanda's head and cringed when he saw the purple egg immediately forming on Amanda's head. "Amanda? Amanda, wake up," Lee commanded gently but she didn't respond. "Senator?!" Lee shouted. "Call 911, my wife's been hurt!"