Chapter 3-Eavesdroppers Never Hear Any Good about Themselves
After turning off the engine Amanda sat in her car for a few moments and looked up at The Agency building. She had parked across the street this morning and could see the window of the Q Bureau from her location.
She sighed deeply and shook her head, wondering, not for the first time over the last day and night, what was going on with her partner. Amanda had been somewhat surprised Lee had not come knocking on her kitchen window or her patio door last night. She'd intentionally stayed up in the family room past midnight under the pretense of reading a "very interesting book" just so he wouldn't feel compelled to come climbing up the trellis outside her bedroom window.
That memory elicited a happy smile. Lee, claiming he had to speak to her; it couldn't possibly wait until morning. She shook her head. Just like Lee to never let something wait. He was a man with a sense of urgency in everything he did. She had realized by now that this was what compelled his late night visits. He would worry over her reaction to a difficult case and he could not wait until morning to see how she was doing. They would have an argument about a case or something petty, and even if they had apologized he would come by under some obviously made up pretense. That caused her to laugh slightly as she grabbed her purse and opened the door of the car to get into work. Lee thought he was so covert about this, but it was becoming more and more apparent that something else was going on. They had become good friends and, after their unofficial date to the Verdi festival two weeks earlier, she was almost certain they were moving toward something more.
At a break in the traffic, Amanda crossed the street then quickly climbed the steps. She smiled kindly at Mrs Marsden and said, "Good morning."
"Good morning, Mrs King," the outwardly stern receptionist replied.
"The password is 'buttercup,'" Amanda said. The days of the stress that caused her to feel so out of place at The Agency that she'd forget the word were long gone.
At the memory of those days Amanda became thoughtful. She had suspected Lee must have been under some amount of stress to lash out at her the way he had yesterday. She wondered if he would be more open to talking today. She glanced up the stairs in the foyer as she considered going to see him before starting her work in the bullpen today.
Turning back to Mrs Marsden she began to ask, "Is Mr..."
She was cut off with "Mr Stetson hasn't arrived yet."
Amanda took a slow breath and hoped the next question wouldn't make her concern obvious.
"Has he called in?"
Mrs Marsden just shook her head.
Amanda walked over to the closet lift and opened the door. As the door closed, she stared up toward the Q Bureau and wondered what was going on with her friend.
Once in the bullpen, Amanda set to her morning. After putting her purse in the drawer of her desk, she walked over to the coffee maker. Aside from prepping her own coffee, she checked to make sure there was still enough to go around the office. Making the office coffee was her least favorite job but sometimes everyone else was just too busy to remember until someone needed some. Better to make it now than have people upset about it later. Folks certainly were picky about their coffee. Seeing that one of the carafes was nearly empty she began to start a fresh pot.
Behind her she heard one of the other agents and a woman from the steno pool discussing the latest gossip. She barely listened as she measured out the coffee into the filter.
"I'm telling you, Brad, it was him," the woman whispered adamantly.
"You're crazy," Brad replied. "Everyone knows Scarecrow's taken himself off the market."
Amanda froze as the scoop of coffee grounds poured into the filter.
"Well, who's to say this isn't the woman who bridled him?" came the reply.
Brad seemed to be thinking about that. And Amanda tried desperately to listen without being conspicuous as she scooped more grounds into the coffee maker.
"You're saying you saw them together last night?" Brad asked.
There was no audible answer but Amanda assumed the woman from the steno pool nodded 'yes.'
"And you say they were cozy," Brad went on.
The woman snorted.
"Cozy? That's an understatement," Amanda heard her laugh. "More like they needed a room."
Brad laughed.
"Well, that does sound like the Scarecrow we all know," Brad said.
After that it was silent for a bit so Amanda felt she could safely assume the two had wandered back to their respective desks.
Lee. With another woman. Last night. Amanda could barely think straight. It never registered that someone had come up next to her. She almost jumped as she heard Francine's voice.
"Rough night, Amanda?" her blond adversary clucked.
Amanda was wide eyed. Was it that obvious? Did her distress show that clearly?
"You know, there's probably enough caffeine in that basket to keep you up through a weeks worth of boring PTA meetings," Francine chided.
Amanda looked at the coffee maker. The grounds were filled to overflowing.
"Oh, my gosh," she said embarrassedly.
She paused for only a second before turning and heading out the bullpen doors to the ladies' room. For a brief moment she didn't care what Francine thought.
Amanda struggled to compose herself. It had been a long time since she'd felt anywhere close to breaking down at work. She checked the stalls to make sure she was alone then turned to the mirror to check her make up. A few tears had spilled and were threatening her mascara. She reached over for a paper towel and tried to reduce the damage.
Breathing deeply she began to chastise herself. It wasn't as if Lee had ever *said* he was interested in more than friendship. Sure, there seemed to be something that night in her bedroom, but maybe he was...
'Was what, Amanda?' she asked herself harshly.
Embarrassed. That was it. He was embarrassed when he realized what he'd done. He so often acted without thinking when it came to her safety. In his rashness he'd climbed up to her room, like some lovesick Romeo. Sure it had been business he'd wanted to discuss but once that was done and his sense of urgency left him, he'd been embarrassed to see her in her nightgown.
Amanda sighed. Her nightgown. Maybe that was what had happened. Maybe he'd been thinking he was interested in more but the more he thought about her in her simple cotton nightgown the less interested he'd become. He was probably used to women in silk and sexy lace camis. From the sound of his liaison last night it certainly seemed like he'd found someone who was as opposite of Amanda as possible. Honestly, making out in public to the point where people thought you needed to get a hotel room. Amanda rolled her eyes. She thought Lee had grown beyond that.
She faced the fact that her make up was as good as it would get. At least she hadn't cried and made her eyes red and puffy. What a fool she'd appear to be if it was known she'd shed tears over the famous office Lothario.
Still, it stung. Her heart, while not broken, was indeed bruised. If she could just avoid Lee for the day, she might make it home before anything more emotional happened.
As it turned out, avoiding Lee never became a necessity. While he apparently arrived at the office, late again, he never made his way to the bullpen. At one point, Billy asked her to take some files up to the Q Bureau. After he left she passed the job along to another secretary, claiming she was just too busy with some transcriptions she wanted to finish before leaving for the day. As the woman left, Amanda went back to her task and intentionally ignored Francine's look of surprise.
Not long after, the woman returned and Amanda heard Francine mumble something about how little time it took other people to visit the Q Bureau as opposed to Amanda. But Amanda was in no mood to take up the fight and pretended to be listening to the transcript tapes. In reality, she was waiting for the phone to ring. Lee hadn't talked with her really since their fight yesterday. No, not "their fight," Amanda thought, his rudeness. She wondered, suddenly very sad about the situation, if, now that Lee was dating again, that part of his behavior would return as well. And if it did, what would the consequences be for her. She certainly wasn't going to put up with that sort of thing. She was secure in her position now and was not about to let him walk all over her again.
After that brief moment of internal bravado, Amanda returned to her earlier sadness. What did it matter if she could stand up to him? If he really had reverted to his former ways, their friendship could not continue. That thought hurt her more than any other.
She shook her head to bring herself out of the fog that was beginning to envelop her mind. No use borrowing trouble, she told herself. She had tomorrow off. Lee would probably come by to chat then, if he didn't tonight. It had been months since Lee could seem to go more than a day without talking to her.
As she returned to her work she tried to ignore a sense of deep foreboding that was creeping up in her mind and heart.
By the time Lee crawled into work after another sleepless night he felt and looked like death warmed over. Adding insult to injury, the first knock at his office door was not Amanda, but Francine.
"Oh, look what the cat finally dragged in," Francine crooned.
"Can it, Francine," Lee groused.
"Ooo, touchy these days aren't we?" Francine said.
When Lee gave her a sour look she admonished, "Now don't go thinking you can snap at me like you do your little lapdog, Amanda."
Lee looked stunned.
"Amanda?" he choked.
"Come now, don't think we'll all forget it that easily," the blond said as she set a pile of Manila folders she'd been holding on the corner of Lee's desk.
"Forget what?" Lee asked, genuinely confused at this point.
Francine laughed.
"Oh, isn't that just like the old Scarecrow we all knew and loved?"
"Francine," Lee groaned. "I don't have time for these games. Some of us do have work you know."
"I know that very well," Francine started toward the door. "That's why some of us show up on time."
"Francine," Lee barked.
Turning to him in the doorway Francine said, "Tsk, tsk, Lee. Since when do I answer to you?"
She shut the door and Lee felt the blood drain from his face. Everyone knew what he'd said to Amanda yesterday.
'Of course,' he groaned inwardly. The office door had been open. Anyone in the above ground section of the agency probably heard him, including Mrs Marsden.
Lee took several deep breaths and moved his hand toward the phone. He stopped himself though. If he called Amanda at her desk someone might overhear their conversation. Better to wait until she came up with some filing or something else. She was usually in his office once or twice a day. He always found a way to prolong her visits. Maybe he'd order something in for them at lunch. They could eat in his office then everyone would see that things were right between them again. Determining to call her in a short time and ask her to lunch, Lee set to work.
When the phone rang a short while later, he smiled. Maybe it was Amanda with a question. He could ask her to lunch now. Instead it was Leslie who said she was going to be in his neighborhood and asked him to lunch. Recalling their kiss last night, Lee found he couldn't refuse her. As he hung up he reasoned he could speak with Amanda after lunch. He really wanted to talk with her about Leslie.
At lunch Lee and Leslie talked a little about work and a little about what they each liked to do during the upcoming winter season. They shared stories of their trips to various ski resorts each had visited in Europe.
Lee looked at Leslie and smiled. She was so beautiful but not in the gaudy way his former of his girlfriends. She was saying something to him, something about a party at the Soviet Embassy.
"Lee?" Leslie asked.
"Hm."
"Did you hear me?"
"What? Oh, yeah, the Soviet Embassy," Lee said. "I'd love to join you."
He reached over the table and took her hand in his. Smiling, he recalled the last time he went to a party at the Soviet Embassy. New Year's Eve. Amanda had accompanied him. She looked beautiful. He remembered how right she felt in his arms as they danced. He remembered the way Creshenko looked at her and the jealous feelings those looks evoked. Having already imbibed a bit more than he should, Lee challenged the man vodka for vodka and ended up passing out in a bowl of borscht that was on the table in front of him. Amanda had called a cab and taken him home. When he awoke the next morning he was embarrassed to find himself in bed in only his boxers and socks. He phoned Amanda and she explained that the doorman had helped her carry Lee up to his apartment and set him on the bed. She apologized for his dress, or lack of, but said she didn't feel right just leaving him in his ruined tuxedo and he was far too big and heavy for her to fit into his pajamas by herself.
"Lee?" Leslie was laughing.
"Huh?" He shook himself from his reverie.
"Have you heard anything I've said?" she smiled.
Lee shook his head.
"I'm sorry," he told her. "I was just remembering the last time I was at a party at the Soviet Embassy."
He glanced sheepishly up at her.
"I hope I don't embarrass you as much as I embarrassed...myself," Lee almost said Amanda's name, but caught himself, though he wasn't sure why.
He had just settled in at his desk after lunch when he heard someone in the hall outside attempting to open the door. He smiled and shook his head.
'Must be Amanda with her hands full again,' he thought as he rose and went to help her by opening up the door.
"Ama..." Lee stopped short when he saw it wasn't Amanda at all.
"Staci," Lee stated, though it came out more like a question.
"Billy sent these up for you," Staci said.
Lee thought her voice sounded different and was about to ask if she mightn't have a cold when, after setting the files down on Lee's desk she turned and positioned herself against it, hands back of her on either side.
"Uh, is there something else you need, Staci?" Lee asked cautiously. He wasn't sure he liked the look of this.
"Oh, probably," Staci said and began to walk toward him, intentionally swinging her hips.
Lee began to back away from her. When his back was to the wall Staci pressed up against him.
"I need you to call me, if there's ever anything you need," she said in a voice that some might have described as seductive.
At that, she gave him a Cheshire Cat grin, turned, and walked out the door.
Lee took a deep breath and thought, 'What did I ever see in that woman? Any of those women?'
Shaking his head he walked back to his desk to look at the files Billy had sent him. There was an odor that'd cloyed to them. Staci's perfume was as obnoxious as she. Normally his files didn't smell. Normally they reminded him of Amanda. And normally Amanda would have stayed to file them, and they would have talked, and he would have told her about Leslie and maybe invited Amanda to meet Leslie tomorrow at lunch.
An hour later, Lee finished the filing. He should have just called Amanda. She knew where everything went. But he reasoned she must be busy or must have left already, otherwise his office still wouldn't smell like Staci's Eau de Hussy. Lee laughed at his own joke and walked to the window to open it for some fresh air. He looked down on the street from the open window and saw Amanda getting into her car. He watched as she sat for a while and then leaned her head against the sterling wheel. Concern for his friend began to fill his mind. After a moment, Lee saw her lift her head. She turned and seemed to look through her purse for something. Turning forward again she pulled down her visor and lifted the cover on the mirror. Lee was certain she daubed her eyes with a tissue. She was crying. His heart sank. He hadn't spoken to her since...he couldn't really remember the last time he spoke with her.
Probably Francine said something, he reasoned. That woman could be so exasperating and she really knew how to get under Amanda's skin. He'd stop by her house after dinner with Leslie and check on her.