Chapter 10

The ride to Virginia Beach was long but uneventful. It took Lee and Amanda almost 4.5 hours to get there due to unexpected road construction detours. Their first order of business was to find a hotel. They had not called ahead to make arrangements but knowing Virginia Beach was an active tourist spot they figured they would have no problem finding a place to stay. Driving down Atlantic Avenue, they saw the newly built Barclay Towers Resort Hotel. Pulling into a parking spot, they made their way to the registration desk. A short time later, they were heading up to their room on the 6th floor overlooking the beach, thankful the clerk gave them an early check in.

Amanda dropped her bag onto the bed. She made her way to the door to their balcony, she stepped outside, breathing in the salt air. Lee followed her out, slipping his hand around her waist, dropping his chin to her shoulder. "What a beautiful view," Amanda commented, leaning into him.

Spinning her around to face him, Lee kissed her gently and said, "Not as beautiful as you."

Amanda blushed, still hesitant every time he complimented her. She looked up at this face, "Thank you." Hugging him close, she closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. They stayed that way for a few minutes, just holding each other, not wanting to move.

Finally, Lee broke their silence, "We should probably check in Harry, let him know where we are staying. Then we should see if we can find that address he gave us."

"What about Billy?" Amanda asked.

"I think we can leave him out of this for now. We are supposed to be off the grid, as far as the Agency is concerned so unless we need something from him, I'd rather not contact him. Don't want to raise any flags," Lee said.

Amanda nodded in agreement, "So you call Harry, I'm going to freshen up." Amanda collected her cosmetic bag and toiletries and headed into the bathroom.

Lee picked up the phone, dialing Harry's number. "Harry, Lee. Amanda and I have checked into the Barclay Towers, room 605. We're going to head out now, see if we can find that address you gave us."

On the other end of the line, Harry replied, "Thanks Lee. I owe you and Amanda for this one."

Lee smiled, "No way, Harry. I owe you, more than you could ever know. If we find out anything, we'll let you know."

Amanda walked out of the bathroom just as Lee hung up the phone. "Why don't we find a street map, maybe down in the gift shop."

"Great idea," Lee said. Before they left the room, Lee put the blue contacts case in his pocket.

Hand in hand, they rode the elevator down to the main floor. In the hotel gift shop they found a street map and easily located the street Harry gave them just a few miles away. In the car, Lee turned to Amanda. "Here, hold still for a second." Without waiting for her reply, he quickly slipped the blue contact lens into her eye.

Blinking rapidly, Amanda commented, "I wish you would have warned me first."

Lee laughed, "I did. I told you to hold still."

Rolling her eyes, and blinking still, Amanda carefully wiped the tear that started to form. "Thanks."

"Amanda, I would have worn it but well, you're less threatening than I am. Who's going to be afraid of a nice lady asking questions, right?" Lee said as he backed out of the parking spot.

"You're right, you're right… as usual," Amanda agreed.

Opening the map, she gave Lee directions to the address as they drove. Pulling up in front of a small, two story house, the neighborhood was one similar to her own. There was no car in the driveway so it didn't look like anyone was home.

"Lee, how about we try the neighbors. The house doesn't look like anyone is home but maybe someone else knows Lauren," Amanda suggested.

"That's a good idea," Lee agreed. Taking her hand, they walked together to the first neighbor's house. Ringing the bell, they waited but no one answered. Hoping the next house yielded better results, they crossed the street.

Amanda rang the bell and waited. They could hear footsteps inside the house, slowly moving toward the door. When it opened, a petite elderly woman answered the door, "Can I help you?"

Amanda smiled warmly at the woman, "Maybe. My name is Amanda, this is my husband, Lee. We were wondering if you knew the Proctor's that lived across the street?"

The woman looked up at her, "Hi, I'm Mrs. Taylor. Yes, I knew the Proctor's. A lovely family. Such a shame, that poor girl losing both her parents in just a few years. Wait…. You must be related to them. I'd know those eyes anywhere."

Lee smiled. This was exactly what he was hoping for. "Yes, my wife is a cousin. She was looking for Lauren but we when we tried to call, her number was disconnected. You wouldn't happen to know where she moved to, would you?"

Mrs. Taylor opened her door to invite them in. "Come in, please. Would you like something to drink?"

"No, thank you, Mrs. Taylor. We really can't stay long. I've been trying to locate her, but I couldn't remember where she worked and this was the last address I had for her. We have some wonderful news for her. A family relative left her a large sum of money and well, I want to make sure she gets it," Amanda rambled.

"She was working at a firm off the beach. Down on 264. Barker & McNuff I think is the name of it. It's not too far from here. Please give her a hug from me. I miss that child," Mrs. Taylor said sadly.

Amanda leaned down and gave the woman a small hug. "I will. Thank you for your help. Just in case she's not at work, do you happen to know where she moved to?"

Mrs. Taylor shook her head, "No, but I wish I did. She sold the house pretty quickly. One day it was up for sale, the next week she was packing to move. She was so nervous the day she was moving. She kept looking up and down the street as the movers were packing the truck. It was almost as if she was looking for someone."

A buzzer went off inside the back of the house. Mrs. Taylor looked toward the direction of the sound. "Oh, my pie is ready. You sure I can't offer you a slice. Its homemade pecan pie?" she said sweetly.

"It sounds delicious but unfortunately, we need to get going. Maybe once we find Lauren we can come by again, give you an update?" Lee suggested.

Mrs. Taylor looked up at him, "You'd do that? That would be wonderful."

Amanda smiled, "Thank you so much for all your help, Mrs. Taylor. We can see ourselves out. You better get that pie out of the oven. No need to let it get burned on our account."

Exiting out of the house, Amanda reached for Lee's hand as they walked back to the car. "You were right. Neighbors are a great source of information," Lee complimented her.

"Well, you know how observant my neighbors are. If something's going on, well, someone in the neighborhood knows about it," Amanda commented.

Climbing into the car, Amanda pulled out the street map again. She was able to give Lee directions to Interstate 264. Driving slowly, they were able to find the office Mrs. Taylor had told them easily.

They parked the car and walked into the building. There were several other businesses located in the same building, each with their own entrance. The walked to the double doors marked with Barker and McNuff. Inside was a small reception desk with two staircases on either side. At the desk sat a middle age woman wearing too much pink lipstick with a brightly covered shirt in the same shade. Her bleached blonde hair was teased up and her dark roots were evident she needed another trip to the hairdresser. She looked up as they approached. "Can I help you?" she asked in a bored voice.

Amanda smiled sweetly at her, "Can you tell me if Lauren Proctor is in?" She leaned on the top of the desk, blinking slowly.

Lee suppressed a smile as he watched Amanda. She was such a natural with people, he never ceased to be amazed.

The woman looked up at her, "Proctor? Lauren… yeah, she might be. Who's looking for her?"

Lee placed his hand on Amanda's back, leaning forward toward the woman, "My wife is a cousin. To Lauren's mother. We're in town on vacation and wanted to stop by and say hello for a few minutes. Would it be possible for us to talk to her?"

The woman looked at Lee, smiling just said, "Sugar, I can see if she's willing to talk to you but she doesn't usually talk to anyone during work hours. Kind of a no-no, ya know?"

Amanda looked up at Lee, "Sweetheart, I don't want to get Lauren into trouble at work. Aunt Lillian will be so upset we didn't get to see her before we left but I'm sure she'll understand. I mean she doesn't have much time left and well, we could just say we couldn't find her."

Lee played along, "Yes, dear, but we promised her we would get one picture of her so she can see her again." Turning to the woman, he asked again, "Please, could we just see her for a few minutes?"

The woman looked at him then looked at Amanda intently. Amanda looked back to her and blinked again. "Your eyes…. You must be related to Lauren! I'm sorry…. Some men were here the other day looking for her and well, Lauren was all scared. Asked me to keep anyone outside of known clients away from her. She wouldn't tell me why. If you follow these stairs up to the next floor, Lauren's office is the last one in the hall on the left." The woman pointed toward one of the sets of stairs.

Amanda smiled at her again, "Thank you so much. You've been so helpful."

Holding hands, Lee and Amanda walked up the stairs. Reaching the top, they stepped into a small alcove to talk quietly. "What do you think? Use the same story for now and see if we can talk later?" Amanda asked.

Lee shook his head, "Yeah but something's not sitting right with me. Why would someone be looking for her? Other than us, I mean. Mrs. Taylor made that comment too about how the day she was moving she was nervous."

Amanda's eyebrows went up immediately. She knew Lee had almost a sixth sense for things and if he said something wasn't right, he was usually correct. "Well, let's try to talk to her and see what we can find out," she said.

They walked down the hall to the last door on the left. The door was closed and there was no name beside it, unlike the other office doors they had passed. Amanda knocked gently on the door, "Lauren? Lauren Proctor? My name is Amanda Stetson. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

The door opened just a few inches. A young dark haired woman peered out at them with one light blue eye and one dark brown one. Seeing Amanda's face, she narrowed her eyes and said, "Becky just called and said you were on your way up. I don't have an Aunt Lillian. Who are you?"