"Amanda? You in here?" Francine's head poked around the bedroom door, followed by the rest of her when she saw Amanda was indeed curled up in a chair reading. "Nice place you got here, Lady Di," she commented, stopping to look around the gilded room.
"Real step up from Bo's taxidermy shop, isn't it?" laughed Amanda, pulling herself to her feet. "Oh my gosh, I'm so glad to see you! Lee says I'm not allowed to leave the house and I'm going absolutely stir-crazy!"
"Typical controlling husband," tsk-ed Francine. "That's why I've never had one. However, I happen to know that what Lee said was that you shouldn't leave the house alone – and I'm here to fix that!"
"You are?" Amanda asked hopefully. For the first time she took in that Francine was really dressed up, even more than usual: gloves, hat, half-veil – the whole works. "We're going out?"
"Not dressed like that you're not," commented Francine disdainfully, her eyes raking over Amanda's jeans and baseball shirt. "I mean it's cute on you but Sunny's the one going out – not Amanda King. So let's see what we can find for her." She crossed to the closet and stepped in, the moan of envy clearly audible when she caught sight of the dress rail. "Oh my God, there's a Thierry Mugler in here."
Francine stepped back out holding a clingy vibrant floral dress and moved to the mirror, holding it up and smoothing against her own body with a dreamy expression. "I'd kill for one of these." She snuck a quick look at the label and shook her head sadly. "Not even worth sneaking it out of here in this size. Why do you have to be so damn tall and willowy?" she sighed while Amanda giggled.
With one last longing look in the mirror, Francine beckoned Amanda toward her. "Okay, come on, Mrs. Cassidy. Let's find you an outfit for ladies who lunch and go hit the town. We need to make sure you're seen because Hollander definitely has you being watched."
Amanda shivered and glanced at the window. "Really?"
"Oh, not like Peeping Tom watching," Francine reassured her. "Just someone in a car at the end of the street. Don't worry - the watchers are being watched too. But if Lee's going to make this cover work, you need to live up to that party girl reputation you described last night."
"Oh my gosh," Amanda blushed. "You heard that?"
"I heard it, Efraim heard it, Billy's heard it… Leatherneck will probably have it on audio for the Christmas party next month – you were hilarious." Francine's voice was muffled now since she was already back in the closet, pulling out outfits. "So our job today is to be seen at all the best stores – where unfortunately you won't find anything you like because our budget doesn't extend to it – and then we will go have afternoon tea at the Mandarin Oriental."
"And who are you going to be in this, whaddyacallit? Scenario?" Amanda asked, crossing to take a few hangers out of her hand.
"I will be your oldest and dearest friend from your sorority days," Francine answered promptly. "Muffy or Buffy or-"
"Fluffy?" Amanda interjected with a grin.
"Fifi," responded Francine immediately. "I will only go as far as Fifi."
"Okay, Fifi, I like this one," answered Amanda holding up a dress. "Let's get out of this gin joint and paint the town red."
"Hey Honey, I'm home!" Lee jokingly called out, looking around for somewhere to drop his keys, before shrugging and dropping them onto the kitchen counter. His eyes widened as Amanda limped into the room. "You look different," he said uncertainly. "I mean good different, not bad different, I mean not like you were bad before – just different," he finished lamely as she started to laugh.
"Calm down, Butch – it's just the temporary effects of a day spent at the mercy of makeover stylists, hairdressers, personal shoppers – you name it, I've been manhandled by them today." She moved heavily toward the fridge and he realized she had the air cast on again.
"Have you hurt that again?" he asked with concern.
"No, just tired it out with too much socialite activity," she answered. "I'll soak it tonight and probably be back to normal again by tomorrow. Or maybe we can put out a story about spending the night at a swinger party so I have an excuse to do nothing but rest it tomorrow." She picked up the keys he'd left on the table and tossed them up and down in her hand. "Heaven only knows what bowl these might end up in with Sunny in charge of your social life. You can work on that when you're out tonight ruining poor Mr. Cassidy's reputation." When he winced, she tossed them at him, then turned to the fridge. "Do you want some dinner before you go? I can make almost anything the way they filled this up."
Lee moved forward and steered her toward a chair at the table. "Sit," he ordered. "I'm not going out and you're not making dinner. Get off that foot and I'll throw something together." He turned and started rummaging through the available ingredients.
"Oh you don't need to do that, Lee. I don't mind."
"And neither do I." He straightened up and put a small pile of things on the counter. "Why are you still standing there, Kid? Sit. Now."
Amanda gave a small sigh as she sat and lifted her leg into an adjacent chair. "Who knew having fun was this exhausting? It's no wonder trophy wives are all so skinny," she added, "if they all run around like Francine and I did today."
"The two of you really made a show of yourselves, huh?" Lee laughed.
"Oh, if there was somewhere you have to be seen, we were there, believe me," said Amanda. "Francine made it look so easy but I'm completely worn out from all this leisure."
"Just takes practice," answered Lee confidently. "A couple more days of this and you'll be in there with the best of them."
"Well I could use that pedicure and foot massage all over again right about now. My ankle is killing me." She reached down to rub her leg ruefully. "I really needed to wear the cast for this much activity but Francine insisted it wasn't part of 'The Look'."
"Oh you civilian types are all the same," Lee teased. "Us real agents learn how to push through physical hardships like that."
Amanda rolled her eyes. "I'd love to see you after a day in high heels, Stetson, but I'm still not going anywhere tonight except to put this foot up. Am I?" she asked, suddenly doubtful. "Do we have to go out and be seen again? And don't you have a date tonight with that aerobics instructor?"
"Already cancelled," Lee answered, promptly. "And even Leland Cassidy stays in some nights, especially in a town too dull to have a proper nightclub scene. It's all good," he went on starting to chop up vegetables. "Cassidy already has a reputation for being the Invisible Man so no one's going to question that and from the sounds of it, you've name dropped Sunny enough places to soothe any suspicions Hollander has."
"Is he still suspicious about us?" asked Amanda quietly. "I mean, if he's a murderer, I don't like the idea that he thinks we're lying."
Lee waved off her anxiety. "No more so than anyone else sniffing around one of our covers. Don't worry about it."
"Okay," Amanda replied, trying to ignore that tiny tingle in the hairs on the back of her neck. She watched him expertly slicing and dicing for a few minutes. "So what's for dinner, Butch?" she asked finally.
"I thought I'd wow you with a Japanese dish I learned a few years back." Lee stopped dead and looked at her. "You don't have any allergies do you? Shellfish, squid? Anything like that?"
"Um, no," she answered. "You're not going to make me regret not lying about that though, are you?"
Lee gave her a pained look. "Don't you trust me, Sunny-honey?"
"Ask me again after dinner, Darling," she dimpled at him.
The radio, which had been playing softly in the background suddenly crackled loudly making them both jump and then, to Amanda's astonishment, a voice suddenly addressed them.
"Blue Leader here, Scarecrow. You're not about to poison a civilian with mishandled fugu, are you?"
"No, Sir!" exclaimed Lee, whirling around as if he could tell how the bodiless voice could see him.
"Lee?" Amanda stared at him, obviously looking for an explanation.
"Don't worry, Mrs. King," said the voice. "I'm not spying on you, not visually anyway – I just happened to catch the last few things you were discussing."
"Okaaay," said Amanda, looking around fearfully. "And who are you exactly?" She looked at Lee who was making frantic shushing motions and dragging his finger across his throat.
"I'm your boss, first and foremost," answered the voice. "Scarecrow can explain it all later. But first, I want the horse's mouth to explain to me how you dragged Leland Cassidy into whatever little scam you're running."
"It's all in my briefings," Lee started to say before he was cut off.
"I've read the briefings, and I've talked to Billy Melrose – now I want to hear it straight from you two."
"Well, Sir, it was all my fault," Amanda began to explain.
"No it wasn't," Lee interrupted quickly.
"Scarecrow, haven't you been taught it's rude to interrupt a lady?" asked Blue Leader ominously. "Carry on, Mrs. King. I think I'd like to hear your version first."
"Well, I mean, we didn't set out to drag poor Mr. Cassidy into this," Amanda forged on with an apologetic look at Lee. "I just happened to choose the name Cassidy for my cover and then when James Delano heard Mr. Stetson's first name, he just sort of went there on his own."
"I see." There was a long pause and then the voice asked, "And why did a civilian member of the Agency steno pool need a cover exactly?"
"I didn't," Amanda admitted, candidly. "I was just there to keep Mr. Stetson company and we'd been joking around beforehand about how housewives and spies weren't invited to that party so when Mr. Delano asked me my name, I just… panicked."
Lee had dropped his face in his hands, groaning quietly as Amanda's candor laid out the whole truth that he'd oh-so-carefully left out of his initial report from the party.
"And why Cassidy?" asked the voice. "No, let me guess," he went on, sarcasm evident in his tone. "You have secret fantasies about being Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?"
Amanda choked and looked anywhere but at Lee. "Oh no, Sir! I mean, that's where the name came from but more because…."
"Because the two of you keep ending up in trouble whenever you're in the same room?" Blue Leader asked acidly.
Lee and Amanda locked eyes across the room and grimaced simultaneously.
"Oh yes, I've read all your files, Scarecrow," said Blue Leader into the silence. "They make for… entertaining reading."
"I'm sure they do, Sir," answered Lee with a sigh, dropping his head onto his chest.
"Seems to me you're very lucky to have recruited someone so versatile and enterprising into the Agency, Scarecrow."
Lee's head jerked up and he stared at the radio hopefully. "Yes Sir! I am, Sir!"
"See that you take proper precautions then. I will be very unhappy if anything happens to the mother of two small boys on your watch. Understood?"
"Understood, Sir!"
"So this whole snafu will be wrapped up by Saturday night? Harry Thornton's given you enough information for you to play the cover and I can trust you not to drag Leland Cassidy's name through too much mud between now and then?"
"Yes, Sir! On all counts Sir!" Lee was practically standing at attention now.
"Um, Sir?" Amanda's voice was timid. "Does Mr. Cassidy know about this? Has anyone told him, I mean?"
"Why are you asking, Mrs. King?" The voice sounded even more brusque if that was possible.
"Oh well," Amanda spread her hands, forgetting he couldn't see her as she began to ramble. "I just think it would be polite – you know, in case any of this gets back to him – for him to know that we certainly didn't mean for this to happen, and that even though it did, he really is still helping his country by letting us pretend to be him and his wife – I mean if he even has a wife, because we don't even know that because he's so private – and I know that he might never find out, living out of the public eye the way he does, but it still seems a little bit rude that we're doing this if we haven't told him. Sir," she added apologetically as an afterthought.
There was a brief silence and then Blue Leader answered, in a slightly warmer tone, "That's good thinking, Mrs. King, and even though he lives out beyond the black stump, I can assure you he would have heard about this one way or another. But as it happens, I can also tell you that someone from the Agency called Leland Cassidy last night and briefed him thoroughly on your escapades."
Lee looked at her and grimaced. Escapades… That makes it sound so… unprofessional. It had to have been Harry – God, I hope he was right about Cassidy having a sense of humor...
Amanda gave him a hopeful look in return and spoke to the disembodied voice again. "And he's not upset?"
"No, Mrs. King, he's not upset. I might even go so far as to say he might even be impressed at what you two have managed to accomplish in just two days."
"Thank you, Sir," said Amanda with real gratitude. "And if you speak to him, please tell him thank you too. We really are just trying to do our best for the country."
"I will certainly pass that long if I speak with him, Mrs. King." If Lee didn't know better, he would have sworn that their invisible boss was smiling at Amanda – and then the voice turned stern again. "Scarecrow, I expect to hear nothing but good out of your reports for the next few days, are we clear?"
"Yes Sir!"
"Good. Then I'll leave you two to your dinner. Good night, Mrs. King."
"Good Night, Mr. Blue Leader, Sir," answered Amanda.
Lee could swear he heard a stifled laugh before the sound of a click and then the radio began to play again. There was a long silence and then Amanda turned to look at Lee.
"Who was that?" she half-whispered as if she was afraid he might still be listening.
"That was our bosses' bosses' boss," he found himself whispering back.
"But who is he? Does he always do that?" she pointed at the radio with a slightly trembling hand.
"No one knows who he is," Lee admitted. "But yeah, that's usually how he talks to us. Actually he usually comes through my car radio. He likes to use ways that are harder to eavesdrop on."
"Well, it's creepy," said Amanda firmly. "Now I'm going to be worried every time I get interference on my car radio."
"I'm pretty sure Blue Leader isn't going to be eavesdropping on your runs to Little League, Amanda," Lee couldn't help starting to laugh.
"But how will I know?" she asked, starting to smile in the face of Lee's dimples. "For all I know, someone in the Agency could be taking notes on what I order at the drive-through and ratting me out to the Agency doctors!"
"Oh Amanda." Lee shook his head, laughing, inexpressibly cheered by her ridiculousness. "Let's just do as we were told and get back to making dinner, okay?"
"Okay. Here, pass me a cutting board and some of those vegetable and I'll help," she offered, holding out a hand. A few minutes later, she looked up and smiled at Lee as he worked on preparing the seafood. "This is nice. We don't get to do normal people stuff very often," she said.
"No, we don't," he agreed. "You missing your regular life? I know it's only been two days, but you seem like a bit of a homebody."
"Yeah, I miss the boys and Mother of course, but it's only for a few days and it's probably good for me to get out of my rut."
"Your rut?" Lee started to laugh. "What part of weekending with royalty or rescuing Russian computer nerds is your rut?"
Amanda snorted as she continued to chop. "You're right," she agreed, "but I do miss my kitchen. This one is kind of dull – all that effort in the rest of the house and nothing down here at all. I mean, would it kill them to have nice curtains or a splash of color? Blue always makes a kitchen look cheery, I think."
"And yellow flowers," added Lee, reaching to take the cutting board from her and sweep the vegetables into the wok he'd pulled out.
"Exactly," said Amanda happily. She watched him for a moment, stirring and flipping, adding spices and ingredients with great concentration. "Lee, did you think Blue Leader sounded, I don't know, odd?"
Lee lifted a brow as he gave her a sideways look. "You mean odder than a guy who's talking to us through the radio?"
"No, not that," she said thoughtfully. "There was just something in what he said and I can't put my finger on it."
Lee shrugged. "I try not to give it much thought. He wants his identity to be a secret, we deal in secrets, I don't ask."
"Yeah," she agreed thoughtfully. She glanced at her watch and jumped. "Do I have time to call Mother and the boys before that's ready? They should be done with dinner and homework so it's a good time"
"Yeah sure – you go ahead. I'll put it on low and go find a bottle of wine to go with it."
As Amanda hurried to the den to pick up the phone and call home, she ignored that tiny voice inside her head.
I could get used to this.