*For disclaimers, see Part One *
Treason and Old Lace-Part Two
Soldier's Relief Fund Headquarters, Henrico, VA
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
10:35 AM
"Here you are, Ms. Coulton." Mrs. Murphy handed Estelle the envelope. "There's a sizeable bonus in there as well—and believe me, every penny of that was well-earned."
"Thank you," Estelle replied as she placed the cash in her purse. "I could sure use it." That was an understatement, she thought to herself. Before she'd found Mrs. Murphy and Soldier's Relief she'd been barely subsisting on social security and a small pension from her job as a secretary for the Veteran's Administration. Anything her husband had managed to save had been eaten up by the illness which had ravaged the last few years of his life and destroyed his mind—taken away the man she knew and loved and replaced him with a stranger.
"There must be something you can do." Estelle had pled with the doctors, but they all told her the same thing—that there was nothing they could do—the disease would progress and nothing would stop it. So she'd held his hand and soothed him, talked to him even when he had no idea who she was. And underneath it all had been a simmering anger and resentment.
This wasn't the way her life was supposed to be. She'd been cheated.
After his death she had tried getting other jobs—but there wasn't much available for seniors in today's market, and the few she'd been able to find had paid peanuts. That's why finding Mrs. Murphy had been a godsend. Money to pay for necessities with some left over—she'd had forgotten how good it felt. Part of her knew it was wrong, of course—sometimes Estelle even felt guilty about what she was doing but she knew that she had to look out for herself—no one else was.
"I certainly do hope you find the information useful," she told Mrs. Murphy.
At that statement the other woman's head jerked up, her pale eyes staring coldly. "That's not your concern," she said. "Your concern is simply gathering the information. The rest is irrelevant—remember that."
"Of course—I know that." Estelle was surprised to find that her voice was trembling beneath the woman's gaze. "I guess—what I was trying to say is that I hope I'm doing a good job for you."
Like magic, the hard look on Mrs. Murphy's face melted into a warm smile. "Oh dear, of course you are," she reassured her. "Believe me, we appreciate you—you're one of the best operatives we have and you're making tremendous progress with the major. I trust you've found the rewards to be adequate?"
Estelle nodded. "Yes—I've been very pleased—it's helped me tremendously."
"Good," Mrs. Murphy said. "Remember to keep your purchases small—no flashy cars, no new home—treat yourself but don't buy anything that attracts too much attention. Have you thought about investing some of your money?"
"I've thought about it but I haven't gotten around to it," Estelle replied.
"Do it," Mrs. Murphy told her. "I can give you a list of investments which are tax-free."
"Very good." Estelle's gaze fell on a photo on Mrs. Maxwell's desk—a large ginger cat—her pet, she assumed, though she didn't know much about her employer's personal life. There weren't any other pictures that she could see—if Mrs. Maxwell had any other family, they weren't represented here.
"Is there anything else you need?" Mrs. Murphy's voice brought her back to the present." Any more questions?"
"No," Estelle answered quickly. "No, I'm fine."
Mrs. Murphy nodded. "Very good. I'll see you next week then—same time. Keep up the good work."
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14617 Cheverly Court, Centreville, VA
11:35 AM
Stock, bonds, Swiss bank accounts—so many places to put your money, Mrs. Murphy thought. She sat on the sofa, looking through the papers she'd collected from the bank earlier as she sipped her tea, letting the sweet-hot liquid trickle down her throat. Her radio played in the background—Ruth Ettings singing 'Try a Little Tenderness'. A bit before her time, but still such a beautiful melody. Mr. Whiskers meweled softly as he pushed his head against her hand.
"Right, get up here, then." Mrs. Murphy patted her lap and he jumped up. He purred, kneading her thighs gently, turning once before he settled down.
"There's a good boy." She scratched him between the ears and his purring increased in volume.
In the morning she'd give these papers to Estelle, Mrs. Murphy decided. Perhaps she'd even help her to fill them out and set everything up just in case—if something regrettable happened to the poor woman, it wouldn't do to let all that money go to waste. True, there was no reason to think that something would go wrong, but if there was anything that Alice Murphy had learnt during her long career, it was that you always needed to be prepared for the unexpected.
"Just in case,Alice," she murmured to herself softly. "Just in case."
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Andrews AFB
12:00 PM
"I'm glad you came to see me," General Morrison rose from his desk as Lee and Amanda entered. "Colonel Clayton told me that he'd contacted the Agency—I'll be glad to offer any help that I can. Can I get you anything? Coffee?"
"No thank you, general—we're fine." Lee said. "Mainly we're trying to see if this fits into an old case of ours involving Karbala."
"Where soldiers were being drugged and questioned by charity workers—I remember hearing about that," the general replied. "You never caught the perpetrators?"
"We shut the organization down," Amanda explained. "But Charles Rendell was murdered and Alice Murphy, one of their main operatives, went underground. It's possible she may have started her own network using the Soldier's Relief Fund as a front."
The general nodded. "It does sound possible. Actually I'm hoping that's the case—I still can't quite believe that Major Sterns would willingly turn traitor."
"How long have you known him?" Lee asked.
"About five years now," the general said. "He transferred here so his wife Donna could get cancer treatment in Alexandria—he went through some rough times after she passed a couple of years back, but he seemed to be improving."
That was what Mrs. Murphy and Karbala had done before, Amanda thought to herself. Taken advantage of soldiers who were lonely or injured in some way—people who would be more isolated and vulnerable to their manipulations. This wasn't a coincidence—she was more sure of that than ever. "You told Colonel Clayton that certain information was leaked that only the major could've known," she said aloud. "How exactly did you discover that?"
"The Department of Homeland Security—their National Cyber Division turned up an Islamic site that was posting security information about certain bases—Andrews was one of those bases. The site is down now—we tried to do as much damage control as we could but we have no way of knowing who saw it or what might still happen because of it." The general let out a sigh. "That's the problem with this war—about half the time we seem to be fighting an enemy we can't even see."
"And you're certain that no one else was privy to that information?" Lee asked.
"Absolutely certain." The general replied. "Only myself and Major Sterns—and as I said, I'm pretty damn sure that I'm not the leak. What do you think your next move might be?"
"We'll try to find out as much as we can about the Soldier's Relief Fund," Amanda said. "Find out who's behind it—and if they are engaging in espionage we'll shut them down." Hopefully for good this time, she added silently. Lee took her hand—she knew that he was thinking the same thing.
The general gave another nod. "Do what you can—and quickly. I may not be able to hold off formal charges too much longer."
"We'll do our best, sir," Amanda told him.
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The Agency
1:30 PM
"The Soldier's Relief Fund." Francine pulled the thick file folder from out of the cabinet. "Actually one of our older charities—it was started by heiress Althea Foster in 1983 after her son was wounded during the invasion of Granada—and up until her death a year ago the organization was managed solely by her. The main office is just over on Wisconsin."
"Any idea who manages it now?" Lee wanted to know.
"The last time it was vetted, which was late last April, the organization was being managed by her daughter, Blair Foster," Francine replied. "According to their website she's still the head. There is another interesting tidbit, however. Their previous mission was to assist wounded veterans, but they've since expanded that to include all veterans and enlisted soldiers, regardless of status. Of course, that may have something to do with the large grant they received from the government."
"Faith Based Initiative," Amanda said.
The section chief nodded. "Exactly. They've tightened up their procedures since the debacle with Veteran's Aid, but apparently a grant is still fairly easy to get. "
"Worth checking out, anyway," Lee said. Taking over a previously established charity would be a good move on Karbala's part—and much less likely to attract suspicion. Expanding their mission would make sense as well—reach as many soldiers as possible. "Any background on Blair Foster?"
"Not much so far," Francine told him. "She seems to be clean—prep school, Vassar, Smith—got an MBA and then came straight home to manage her mother's organization. Everything looks good so far, but we'll keep looking."
"Of course if Mrs. Murphy's running the show, she may just be the name on the letterhead," Amanda remembered her mother reading about Althea Foster in the society pages of the newspaper. The lady had been quite a pistol, even in her old age. If the daughter was anything like the mother Amanda couldn't picture her giving up leadership that easily.
"We also ran a background on Major Mark Sterns," Francine said. "Not much there either but there was something that we didn't know before—he had a bit of a breakdown after his wife's death."
"Understandable." Lee couldn't even imagine what he'd do if something like that ever happened to Amanda—he didn't even want to think about the possibility. "How bad a breakdown are we talking about here?"
"A couple of days hospitalization, nothing more," Francine replied. "Apparently it wasn't bad enough to affect his security clearance. So probably not relevant, but it might be worth checking into."
"Might be," Amanda agreed. They were still stumbling around at this point—they really didn't have any way of telling what was and wasn't relevant. "We'll go over to Soldier's relief and check them out."
"Let us know what you find," Francine said. "If Karbala is back in business, we want to take them out as quickly as possible."
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Soldier's Relief Fund Headquarters
3:00 PM
"Please, take a seat," Blair Foster indicated the two chairs in front of her desk. "Is there anything I can get for you?"
"No thank you, Ms. Foster." Amanda replied as they took a seat. "We just had a few questions to ask you, if you don't mind."
"I'm always willing to help when I can," Ms. Foster said. "What kind of questions?"
"Just a few things," Amanda said. They didn't want to overplay their hand yet—at this point they didn't know whether Ms. Foster was involved—the last thing they wanted to do was tip anyone off. "The Soldier's Relief Fund was originally founded as an organization to help wounded vets, is that right?"
The young woman nodded. "That's correct. After Kevin—that's my older brother—after he lost his legs my mother realized how little there was to help people like him. There was the VA, of course, but he needed someone to help him with the day to day living—so many of them do. And that's where we come in."
"What exactly do you provide?" Lee asked her.
"Basically whatever's needed," Ms. Foster told them. "It's different for each case, really. Some people require things like meals and help around the house, while others just enjoy having the company."
All very similar to Veteran's Aid, Amanda thought—almost eerily so. Though at this point that didn't mean much—they still didn't have enough evidence to go on. "Do you provide any sort of medical care?"
"Well we don't provide day nurses as such, but we do have state licensed caregivers on staff and all of our volunteers are certified in CPR and basic first aid." Ms. Foster said. "Most of this information is on our website. May I ask what all this is about, exactly? We went through this process this last spring."
"Just clarifying a few things, that's all," Lee explained. "We understand that you've recently changed your organizational mission?"
"Oh is that all?" Ms. Foster sounded relieved. "The truth is we didn't actually change our mission at all—we simply expanded it."
"Was that due to the money that you got as part of the Faith Based Initiative?" Amanda wanted to know.
Another nod. "That was part of it—I can't deny that the money helped us tremendously. And when one of our district managers suggested that we grow our organization to care for more soldiers, it seemed like an idea whose time had come." As she spoke Ms. Foster looked at the portrait of the elderly woman on the wall behind her—hair pulled back—aristocratic features—Amanda recognized it immediately as Althea Foster. "I know my mother would've approved."
"Yes, I'm sure she would have." A suggestion from a district manager—an idea began to form in Amanda's head. "Do you remember exactly whose suggestion it was?"
"Not exactly," Ms. Foster replied. "It was way back in June, but I can find out for you in just a moment—the minutes from our meetings are electronically stored—ahh, here we are. The suggestion was made by Angela Maxwell—she runs our branch near Centreville."
Angela Maxwell? It could just be coincidence, of course, but still—Lee and Amanda exchanged glances—they knew they were they thinking the same thing. "So she suggested that you might expand your mission?" Lee asked.
"It was she," Ms. Foster said. "And actually I'm not surprised. She's one of our best. Started out as a volunteer and rose quickly—she's a real credit to this organization."
That did sound very much like Mrs. Murphy—if Amanda had learned anything about that woman it was that she was a survivor. They definitely had to look into this as soon as possible.
Ms. Foster looked down at her watch. "I do have another engagement, so I do need to wrap this up." she said. "Are there any more questions?"
"Just one," Amanda said. "What kind of background checks do you do on your volunteers?"
"A basic criminal background check and drug screening—we do want to be careful about who we have on our team." Another glance at her watch. "I really do have to go now—let me know if you need any other information."
TBC