"I'll be damned," Billy said again as he re-read the test results from Amanda's trip to the emergency room.
"Is that all, Agent Grayson," said to the freshman agent.
"Isn't that enough, Sir?" the young agent replied.
"Another tip, Agent, when your superiors ask you a simple yes or no question, your response should be a simple yes or no," Smyth snapped his eyes flaring at the young man's insubordination. "Now, I as again, is that all, Agent Grayson?"
"Y-y-yes...Sir," Grayson stammered.
"Then you're dismissed," Smyth said. As the agent hastily made his exit, Smyth chuckle and said, "I like him. He'll go far here." When Billy remained silently staring at the paperwork in front of him he said, "I take it by your reaction, you were unaware of her delicate condition."
"No, they didn't tell me about when they were here earlier," Billy answered still stunned.
"Is it possible that she hasn't told Scarecrow of his impending fatherhood yet?" Smyth suggested.
"I highly doubt that," Billy said shaking off his reverie as he dropped the file in his hand onto the pile with the rest. "The way that Lee tried to wriggle out of this assignment, I get the sense that he already knew and that he was trying to keep her out of the line of fire."
"As he should," Smyth replied. "Having a pregnant agent in the field is always a dicey proposition and is she was just hospitalized as a result of it, she should have pulled from field duty immediately."
"Now, according to her medical records, it wasn't really her pregnancy that led to her being admitted, it was lack of sleep and food making her pregnancy symptoms worse, but she's been checked out since then by an OB/GYN who gave her a clean bill of health."
"Still, if something happens to her or her Scarecrow Junior while on field duty under your supervision and mine, who's going to be held accountable for it? I admit that I'm partially to blame. I'm the one who offered her the full-time position after the Stemwinder debacle and assigned her to work with Scarecrow to boot."
"I don't think that would have made a difference," Billy argued. During the Stemwinder investigation, Francine and I gathered evidence that Lee and Amanda had already been seeing each other even before then."
"I seem to recall mentioning that to you already and as I already said, it's circumstantial evidence. One lone bartender referring to them as regulars hardly equates to a hot and heavy love affair. That term could apply to any of the agents in the building who regularly frequent Randy's or Nedlinger's. No, we need more than that."
"How does this grab you?" Billy said pulling another file from his stack. "Lee's MasterCard statements from October of 1985 to February of this year," Billy said handing him the file.
"And?"
"Lots of dinners for two, for starters," Billy said.
"Could just be chalked up to Scarecrow's normal Romeo tendencies," Smyth countered.
"Not when there's proof that every one of these dinners was with the same woman. This agent Harrison who put this file together showed Lee and Amanda's picture around to many of these restaurants and all of them were able to positively identify Amanda as Lee's date. Then there's the large purchase on September 15th."
Smyth flipped to the correct page in the file and smiled in amusement. "Now, this is the kind of thing we're looking for. The purchase of a diamond engagement ring at Grant's Jewelry Store before the Stemwinder mess ever began indicating that he was planning to pop the big question even then."
"And I don't think it's coincidence that he bought it right when he began trying to wrap up his parents' case. I think that's something that he needed to gain some closure on before he could truly settle down."
"Little boy lost syndrome," Smyth said sardonically.
"Call it whatever you want, but the mystery surrounding her parent's deaths is something that has slowly eaten away at him for years. I don't think he would have been able to really make a lifetime commitment to someone until he stopped being haunted by it."
"I'm sure our men in white coats would agree," Smyth conceded.
"Then there's also a trip to Pine Top booked on Lee's credit card in November that coincides with a long weekend they both took, then purchases made at a toy store in December."
"Christmas gifts for the little tykes?"
"That's my guess," Billy said.
Smyth continued to peruse the file and added, "Another trip to Grant's Jewelry store in January to purchase wedding bands, the fees for their marriage license application and blood tests. In addition, here's one more confirmation of their honeymoon trip in February, the bill from that inn in Marion, their plane tickets, the rental car that was destroyed. A second rental car the same day, a charge for the hotel they had booked in Las Palmas, then later a refund for it and not only that, her hospital bills following her shooting were also paid for on his card."
"Yeah, when I first saw this file, I was thinking his credit card statements were probably the best place to start to begin with. All the evidence is right there."
"Very sloppy on Scarecrow's part if they were trying to keep their wedded bliss to themselves. Anyone who took the time to look would be able to find all this without looking very hard. Like I said, Samson and Delilah," Smyth said stubbing out his cigarette in the ashtray on the corner of Billy's desk.
"So, this certainly explains the change in a little of the office scuttlebutt. Are we sure that the eyes and ears our there are putting two and two together and coming up with four?"
"If not, they well be soon, Just before Agent Newton arrived with her report, I saw Dodd and Harrison out there looking like they were swapping stories."
"After we expressly told them not to share the details of their assignments; what naughty, naughty children," Smyth said with a smug grin as he lit another cigarette.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Shortly before midnight, Lee and Amanda both dressed all in black, surreptitiously crept up to where the Murdochs' and Kleins' cabins stood within a few feet of each other, hunkering down behind some trees to avoid being seen while waiting for them to leave.
"You think it's coincidence that their cabins are side by side?" Lee whispered jokingly.
Amanda peered around the tree she was behind just in time to see the Murdoch's exiting their cabin. Lee, thinking quickly, pinned her up against the tree, kissing her soundly on the off chance that they would be seen, then they would just look like the normal married couple that they were trying to be. Amanda responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. After hearing four sets of footsteps move out of earshot, he released his wife taking a deep breath. "You know, this is hardly the time, "she teased.
"Not very romantic, sorry," He said sheepishly.
"Don't worry about it. I understood what you were doing. It's not as if we haven't done it before on assignment. Besides, once we get this case wrapped up, we'll have all the time in the world for romance," She said.
"We still have to deal with the kids," He reminded her.
"Well, I think they're going to be a piece of cake compared to what we went through with my mother," She pointed out.
"True," Lee said then laughed and added, "You know she'd make a hell of an interrogator."
Amanda swatted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't you even think about trying to recruit my mother." She watched as Efraim and Francine crept from their own hiding places to follow the other two couples. "We're up."
"Let's divide and conquer since we don't know how long our suspects will be gone and don't want to be caught breaking in and blowing our cover too soon. You take the Murdochs' and I'll take the Kleins'."
"You got it," she said. They both glanced around cautiously to make sure no one would see them before going their separate ways, Lee entering the Klein's cabin first. Amanda stepped up onto the porch of the Murdoch's, extracting her lock pick kit, working quickly to gain access to the now-unattended cabin unaware that David Chambers had just rounded the corner. She pulled a pen light out of her pocket as she entered the main room of the cabin and began to look around. She took tentative steps into the room until she halted abruptly, flipping the light off and pressing herself flat against the wall when she heard footsteps behind her, hoping that she'd avoided being seen. She held her breath as she tried to make out the figure that'd just entered the room, but it was too dark on this side of the room and the intruder was too far from the moonlight streaming in the window on the opposite side of the door.
The footsteps got closer to her and she kept trying to be as still as possible and not make a sound until she felt a pair of hands grasp at her waist, "Lee?" she whispered.
"No, not Lee," David Chambers whispered as he pinned her against the wall and pressed his lips against hers.
Amanda squealed in protest as Chambers hands began to roam to her hips and he tried to force his tongue into her mouth. She tried with all her might to remember her agency training as panic threatened to overwhelm her. When one of his hands grazed her stomach as he tried to un-tuck her shirt from her pants, her only thought was for protecting her unborn child and her mind cleared for a moment. She relaxed for a moment into his kiss to lull him into a false sense of security. When she felt him also relax, she bit down on his lower lip as hard as she could, drawing blood in the process. She then pushed hard on his chest to push him away from her so she could give herself some room to move."NO!' She cried.
Before she could get too far from him, she felt the sharp sting of the back of his hand striking her face. "Oh, you are a little spitfire, aren't you?" he said grabbing her arms and pinning them against her chest. "Like it rough, do you?" he said in a husky growl.
Amanda tried desperately to wriggle out of his grasp enough to knee him in the groin, but the way he had her pinned to the wall, she couldn't. "Lee!" she screamed hoping he could hear her from the next cabin over. She tried to scream again, but her second attempt was cut off by his mouth covering hers again. His new assault on her mouth had caused him to loosen his grip on her arms slightly and she was able to wrench one hand free, raking her nails down the side of his face. When he draw back and reached for his bleeding face; with adrenaline pumping furiously, she pushed on his chest with all her might knocking him backwards against the couch. Before he had a chance to recover, she hit with a right hook to the jaw. "Don't ever touch me again!" she shouted. She was about to hit him again to make sure that he wouldn't be able to when she was stopped by Lee bursting in the door, gun drawn groping for the light switch as he entered.
"Amanda!" Lee cried as he rushed to her side. She threw herself into his arms shaking uncontrollably. "Did he hurt you?" He asked worriedly.
"I'm fine," she said shakily. "It's all over." She pulled back from his embrace to look at the man who was just struggling to his feet and added, "I think I hurt him more than he hurt me."
Lee took in the swelling on her face and said," Are you sure about that?"
"Lee, I'm sure," she said feeing calmer now that her attacker had gotten the message. "Addi Birol did worse to me last year."
Lee released Amanda, gestured for her to move toward the kitchen area, pointed his gun and Chambers and said, "Get up, Pal, slowly, hands in the air." Chambers did so. "Turn around," Lee said pushing forcefully on the other man's shoulder to turn him around. "You're under arrest."
As Lee began to cuff him, Chambers said, "What the hell for?"
"You're kidding?" Amanda said disbelievingly, "How about we start with attempted sexual assault?"
"Then we could add assault on a federal agent," Lee chimed in as he turned Chambers back around to face him. When the older man looked at him in surprise, he said, "That's right, Chump," as he pulled his badge from his pocket.
"That explains a lot," Chambers said.
"What's that supposed to mean," Lee said.
"You two, the tension between you, and the research I did on you when you signed up for the workshop."
"You did research on us," Amanda questioned with a worried glance at her husband.
"My wife and I research every couple before we admit them to the workshop and on you, I found that you were married back in February, but your marriage seemed to be only real on paper."
"I assure that our marriage is real in every sense," Lee said hotly getting tired of having to defend his marriage to Amanda.
"Then why don't you live together? Why hasn't she taken your name legally?"
"That's none of your business," Amanda replied.
"That's why I was asking you all those questions the other night about why you were here. I figured you got married on a whim and then realized afterward that it was a mistake and that that was why you never lived together like a normal couple."
"So what, you figured that gave you the right to paw my wife," Lee said angrily still pointing his gun at the other man.
"But she's not really your wife, is she? She's just your partner. Your marriage is a sham made up by whatever agency you work for."
"No," Lee said adamantly. "Our marriage is more real than yours is. You may live with your wife, but from what I've seen and heard, you don't have anything resembling a real marriage."
"You're not wrong," Chambers said sadly. "You don't know my wife. She was raised in a very strict religious family who taught her that unless you were trying to conceive, that sex was sinful. I've tried for years to convince her otherwise and she won't have any of it. We've slept in separate rooms since right after our daughter was born and she just now turned 11. We started this group together ten years ago in the hopes of fixing what was wrong in our marriage."
"Still doesn't explain why you attacked my wife," Lee ground out.
"It wasn't really my intention to attack her. I just thought...since it didn't seem that you two were a real couple, that she..."
"You thought that I what?"Amanda said, "That I'd just be willing to go to bed with you?"
"Look, you're a very attractive woman, you mentioned you'd been married before, and I already knew that you two didn't live together and that you had kept your previous married name."
Amanda glared at him in revulsion and said, "That doesn't give you the right to try to force your advances on me. You're still married, I'm still married and unlike you, I love my husband." She then slid her arms around Lee's waist to illustrate her point.
"You're wrong. I do love my wife," Chambers said.
"You've got a damn funny way of showing it," Lee said. "From what I hear, you like to chase anything in a skirt."
"That's true," He said. "I admit that I've been unfaithful to my wife and she knows about it. She accepts it as long as I stay out of her bedroom and as long as I'm discreet about it."
"I don't call ogling my wife all through dinner the other night being discreet," Lee said.
"Ok, I screwed up here, I get that. Do you really have to arrest me?"
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't?"
"You're federal agents, right? That means you're here for the Kleins. I can help you," Chambers said.
For the first time since he'd entered the cabin, Lee lowered his gun, glanced at Amanda and when she simply shrugged, he said, "What do you know about it?"