Chapter 24 – The Parade

The drive back had been comfortable. Lee and Amanda had spent a lot of the time on the ride back in silence as they just enjoyed the beautiful Autumn scenery. They chatted a little about the case at first along the way. Sam had pulled Lee aside before they left to let him know that Rusty had agreed to cooperate and would testify against all the others. There had been concern that the cassette recording would not be allowed in court so Rusty's testimony was very much needed to make sure that Johnny and Angela would be put away for a very long, long time. Amanda was happy to hear that and they both went silent with their thoughts.

In the back of Lee's mind, he knew that just because they had closed this one place down, wouldn't stop more terrorists from coming in. There were likely many places along the way of this railroad network just like years ago when they moved slaves through an underground railroad. He didn't want to worry Amanda by suggesting the thought to her though so he kept it to himself. He couldn't help but think about what a great job she once again did with this case. He was far from ready to admit it to her but she had really good instincts and since she was so likeable, she was able to get information that Lee usually couldn't. He was glad that the case was over but he knew he had enjoyed spending time with her. Well it was time for him to get back to his life and he needed to dig around in one of his black books and go out on a real date now. It had been too long since he had been out with a real woman and it was time to correct that.

Amanda was completely lost in her own thoughts. She had really missed her boys and was excited to be going home but was also excited that she would get to enjoy their Halloween parade after all. She had really enjoyed this case though. It had been very scary at times but she had enjoyed spending time with Lee. She found that when he was away from the agency, he tended to treat her differently and they seemed to work well together. She was going to have to talk to Mr. Melrose though. This assignment ended up having a lot of danger to it and she really needed to have some agency training. At the very least, she should know how to hit. It was good that she had that rock to peg at Rusty but maybe if she knew how to hit, she could have helped Lee out better. She was sure Mr. Melrose would understand. She would talk to him the next time she got called in for an assignment.

As they neared Arlington, the conversation picked back up again.

"I'll bet you will be happy to see your boys. When is their parade again?"

"I am. I know they will be happy that I can be there. The parade is this Sunday and it starts at noon. Since Halloween is next weekend, they do it a week early to make sure everyone has time to attend. What about you Lee? Any big plans for Halloween?"

"Nah, I'm not much into holidays. I will probably just enjoy a movie and a bottle of wine while I give out candy to the kids in my apartment building."

"Well that sounds like fun. You wouldn't want any of the kids to egg your door for not giving out candy." Amanda said as she giggled at the image.

"Amanda, that's not nice."

"Oh come on Lee, you are going to tell me that you never egged someone's door when you were a kid?"

Lee smiled and said "I never said that. I just said it wasn't nice." Then he laughed at some memory that he wasn't ready to share with her.

Amanda shook her head and said "Well I go with my boys right now to make sure they stay out of trouble but I'm sure at some point, they aren't going want mom hanging around."

"Well boys will be boys. Enjoy them while you can, I guess."

"Yeah"

Lee pulled onto Maplewood Drive and stopped beside of Amanda's driveway. He got out and unloaded her luggage and carried it to the front door for her. She thanked him and said "Well Happy Halloween"

Lee smiled and said "Yeah. You too Amanda. Have fun. I'm sure I'll see you around." He walked back to his car and as he drove away, he gave her a quick wave and she waved back.

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After being debriefed at the agency, Lee went home and took a nap. When he awoke, he realized he was hungry so he ordered a pizza. After it arrived, he found that he didn't enjoy eating by himself and missed not having company. His thoughts went again to needing to set up a date for himself soon. He pulled out his favorite black book and looked through it until he came to Candi's phone number. He called her up and asked her what she was doing on Sunday. She giggled and said "Hopefully something with you." Lee mentioned that he had seen in the paper that there was an art exhibit in the city on Sunday and asked her if she would like to go to it.

Candi giggled and said "Well I don't know nothing bout art, but maybe you can teach me a thing or two and maybe some other things along the way."

Lee smiled and said "Sounds good to me. I'll pick you up at 10am."

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Sunday morning arrived and the King Boys were nervous as they put on their costumes and got ready to go march in the parade. Jamie intended to throw candy out to any kids that he saw along the parade route. Amanda was so proud of her boys. They were both growing up way too fast though. Everyone, including Dotty piled into the Station Wagon and went to downtown Arlington to where the parade route started. The boys couldn't stop talking since they were so excited and Amanda had to hustle them out so they could line up with the rest. She told them to have fun and then she and her Mother went to go find a good spot on the parade route so they could watch them.

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Lee was already having second thoughts by 9am on Sunday about Candi. She was a nice enough girl but not the most intelligent person and likely not someone who he was going to enjoy looking at art with. At 9:30am, he picked up the phone and dialed her number.

"Hi Candi, I'm really sorry to do this but I'm going to have to cancel today. Yeah, I think I got food poisoning or something. Yeah, I'm sorry too. We'll make it another time."

Lee hung up the phone and let out a sigh of relief. As he lay in bed relaxing, he suddenly remembered that Amanda had mentioned that her kids' parade was today. He quickly got up, showered and got dressed. Grabbing a quick cup of coffee on his way out the door, Lee found his Porsche making its way to Arlington. He was wearing a ball cap and dark sunglasses and decided to see if he could spot Amanda. It took a few minutes but she was in a great position to watch the parade. He crossed to the opposite side of her and walked a short distance away, making sure to blend in with the crowd. The parade started and soon there were all kinds of adults and kids in costumes going by. It was not the most exciting thing that Lee had ever done but when he spotted Jamie and Phillip, he couldn't help but smile especially when he saw the huge smile on Amanda's face. They were adorable in their costumes. Lee noticed right away that the baseball he had won at the shooting game was the one that Phillip was throwing up in the air and catching in his mitt. He couldn't help but smile seeing it. Jamie was even cute in his green Martian costume. Lee waited until both boys were safely by and then he quietly headed back to his car. He decided he needed to get to the store to get some Halloween candy before the good stuff was all gone.

TBC