To Amanda, it felt as if the whole world had suddenly gone silent except for the buzzing in her ears. She could see Billy's lips moving, but she couldn't hear what he was saying or at least, she couldn't make any sense of what he was saying. And then she did, and it was as if her ears had popped coming down from a height.

"I'm sorry, Sir," she managed to get out. "What did you say?"

Billy's expression became even more sympathetic. "I'm sorry, Amanda. Lee was killed last night."

"But that's not possible," she said. "I talked to him last night. I mean, I talked to him as we were both leaving at the end of the day. He told me he was going out with you for dinner."

Billy sighed and stared down at his clasped hands on his desk. "That's true, we did have dinner. But somewhere between leaving him at his car and him getting home…" He spread his hands in a sign of helplessness.

"How could you let this happen?" she spat out, leaning forward and jabbing a finger at him accusingly. "You were supposed to be keeping him safe!"

If Billy was taken aback by her sudden show of temper, he didn't show it. "You're right, I was," he agreed sorrowfully. "And I will regret that forever." He stood up and walked around the desk, coming to sit down on the chair beside hers. "Now, I know you haven't been at the Agency for long, but you and Lee seemed to be quite close friends and I'd like you to represent the staff at the funeral the day after tomorrow."

Amanda momentarily lost her breath again, staring at him wordlessly.

"Amanda?" he prodded her.

"His funeral? His funeral is in two days?" she asked.

"Yes, his wishes were quite specific," said Billy. "Quick and no fuss."

"His wishes?" Amanda knew she was just repeating things, but she simply couldn't wrap her head around what Billy was saying. Something clicked in her brain, and she looked at Billy intently. "So, he had wishes? He had, I don't know, a file or something, for what to do in cases like this?"

"Oh yes," Billy nodded. "All of our field agents do."

"So that his next of kin would know what to do," she stated. "If anything like this happened, they wouldn't have any doubt."

"None at all," said Billy.

"And will Lee's next of kin be there?"

Billy was starting to look uncomfortable with the line of questioning. "Well, no. Lee only had his uncle, and they weren't very close. I'll be sending him a notification though, of course."

"And Lee really had no other family?" Amanda pressed on. "No ex-wives, no children? No girlfriend? Nothing like that? People who would want to attend?"

"No, no, he was quite footloose and fancy free," said Billy, not quite meeting her gaze. "And like I said, he wanted to keep it quiet, no fuss, no bother."

"No bother," she repeated, her disbelief obvious in her voice. "One of your best agents was killed in the line of duty and you want to bury him with no bother?" She could see a file folder on the side of Billy's desk with Lee's name on it. "Are you sure there wasn't anything else in his file?" she prodded.

Billy stood up, obviously eager to finish this uncomfortable conversation. "Well, even if there was, that's everything I can tell you, Mrs. King. Now, do you think you'll be able to attend the funeral?"

"Yes, of course." Amanda shook her head, trying to shake some sense into what was happening. "I mean, if you think that's what Lee would have wanted," she added, watching his reaction carefully.

"I think he would have been very happy to know that such a close friend was there," said Billy with what was rapidly becoming a see-through veneer of joviality.

"A close friend," said Amanda. "Well, yes, I suppose I was that." She stood up on shaky legs. "You let me know the details, Sir, and I'll be there."

"Excellent!" said Billy. "Now if you don't mind, Amanda, I'd better be getting on with dealing with trying to find his murderer."

"Oh yes, of course," she answered in a quiet voice. "If there's anything I can do to help…"

"I'll let you know," he answered. "Thank you, Amanda," he added, clearly dismissing her.

"Thank you, Mr. Melrose," she responded, making her way to the door. She opened it and stood there for a moment, staring out at the bullpen, its usual business muted as the news of Lee's death had obviously trickled out. "I'll be… I'll be at my desk if you think of anything."

"Oh Amanda, actually, there is one last thing."

She turned to face him, hopeful. "Yes Sir?"

"Please don't discuss this with anyone outside the Agency – not your family, not your friends, no one."

She stared at him, shocked. "But why? You know my mother knew him – he stayed with my family while he was recovering last fall."

"It won't be forever," said Billy, consolingly. "Just for a little while until we find out who's doing this. In the meantime, it's a matter of national security. We can't have the Russians knowing this man has taken out one of our best agents."

"But it will be long enough that she can't know until after he's buried?" asked Amanda, incredulity written all over her face. "And I'm supposed to go home and act normally around my family? What if his killer is never caught?"

"Oh, I don't think it will come to that," said Billy. "But as I said, it's a matter of national security. Need to know and all that."

"I see." Her face was a blank, devoid of all emotion now. She walked out, pulling the door closed behind her.

With the blinds closed, no one could see Billy slump at his desk, exhausted by the effort of lying to her. After taking a deep breath. he picked up the phone and dialed.

Lee finally got the phone call he'd been waiting for all morning.

"It's done, Scarecrow," said Billy. "The entire office thinks you're dead. If our killer is in the Agency, he'll be letting his guard down."

"Well, we know he's in there, Billy," snapped Lee. "No one else could have planted that camera in my desk." He paused and his voice softened. "How did Amanda take it?"

"Bravely," Billy admitted. "She didn't think much of the rushed arrangements for our best agent."

I bet she didn't, thought Lee.

"You have a very protective friend there, Lee," Billy went on. "It's really a stroke of luck that there's nothing more than that to your relationship, since any killer would look to a girlfriend first if he suspected anything."

Lee rolled his eyes, knowing Billy couldn't see his expression. "I still think we should let her in on it," he said out loud. "What would be the harm when she's going to find out in a few days anyway?"

"We've discussed this, Lee. I know it's hurtful in the short term, but we need her to be above suspicion. If she knows you're alive, she might let something slip and all of this will have been for nothing."

"You think she really believed it?" he asked.

"Hard to tell," said Billy. "I think anyone hearing news like this thinks it can't be true at first, but I think she did by the end of our conversation." He gave a rueful chuckle. "She was upset you had no next of kin coming to the funeral – maybe we should have gotten someone to pretend to be your uncle, just to make it look real."

"Let's not make this any more convoluted than it has to be," said Lee. "Besides, Francine knows who my uncle is and she'd recognize an imposter."

"And probably punch him out at the funeral," agreed Billy. "Anyway, keep your head down and I'll keep you informed."

"Thanks, Billy."

Lee hung up but left his hand hovering over the handset. I should call her, he thought. No, Billy's right, it's better this way… Although she might be suspicious that he didn't open my real folder.

"Hang on, Amanda," he said out loud. "It will only be a few days."