SMK: Too Close to Home – Chapter 19: Day 8 – Tuesday
The Agency
"Billy," Lee burst into Billy's office with Amanda and Francine on his heels.
Seated at his desk, Billy looked up at him over the rim of his glasses. "Well, welcome." Sweeping his hand out to invite them to sit, he grinned – or snarled, Lee wasn't sure – through his teeth. "Just barge in any time."
Undeterred, Lee charged over to the desk and set the picture of Tom Watson on Billy's desk. "Who's this?" Billy lifted his chin to look at the picture through his reading glasses.
"This is a picture of Tom Watson. You know, the man we have listed as Janine Watson's father?"
"Okay…" Billy looked up at the trio waiting for an explanation.
"Sir," Amanda tapped the photo. "This man has been watching our house and following us."
Before Billy had a chance to respond, there was a knock at the door, and Beaman peeked in through the office window. Without taking his eyes off Amanda, Billy raised his hand and motioned for Efraim to enter.
"You're telling me you've seen him following you? For how long?"
"Who's following you?" Beaman walked over to the desk to join the others.
Glancing at Efraim, Lee pointed to the picture of Watson and turned back to his boss. "You know, Billy, this could explain why Franklin Dewey just happened to be targeted while we were there."
"Hey," Efraim picked up the picture. "I know this guy."
It was if someone hit "pause" on the remote control to the television; everyone froze. Then, all at the same time and almost in slow motion, they turned toward him. "What?"
He looked at each one of them, astounded they had all responded at the same exact moment. "Well, I don't actually know him…" A collective sigh followed his statement, but he wasn't finished. "…but I have seen him."
"Where have you seen him, Efraim? When?" The pitch of Francine's voice went up a notch.
Efraim turned to look at Billy. "Well, you know how you've had me following Grant Hughes?" Billy nodded his head and waved his hand, encouraging Beaman to continue quickly. "Well, I saw Hughes meeting with this guy."
Lee's hand hit the desk, startling everyone. "There it is, Billy!"
"There what is?" Efraim pushed his glasses up, and Lee turned to look at him.
"Our connection!" Lee hit the desk again as the pieces of the puzzle started falling into place in his mind. "Peralta suspiciously dies of a supposed suicide in prison, but we know it's probably a hit, right? Benjamin Hoyt, one of only two witnesses to the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death, gets killed by Trevor Clayton – a known fixer of Hutchins, Jacobsen, & Smalley. Grant Hughes, Jordan's and Peralta's lawyer, frequents the HJ&S offices meeting with Hutchins, who, by the way, owns the realty company Jennifer's mom rents a house from – without an ID. Watson, who has been following us...who is also Janine's supposed father and the husband of Tania Watson...who we are pretty sure is Tanya Smith, who we know for sure is Tania Amador, is seen meeting with Hughes." He paced to the other side of the room, victory-punched the air with a clinched fist, and turned back to the others.
"So, Jennifer, to Tanya Smith, to Tania Amador, to Janine Watson, to Tania Watson, to Tom Watson, to Grant Hughes, to HJ&S." Efraim scratched his head. "Are we talking about a drug and murder investigation or the screen offense of an NBA basketball team?"
Billy leaned back in his chair and pulled off his glasses. "I hate to rain on your parade, Scarecrow, but we only have circumstantial evidence here. And we still don't have a connection between Hughes and Foster – only Jordan and Peralta, both of whom are dead."
"So!" Lee walked back toward the others. Bracing his hands on Billy's desktop, he leaned over it. "Now that we have these connections, we know where to look for evidence!"
"Sir…" Hope for her son budded in Amanda's heart. "…does this mean Philip doesn't need to get involved?"
Billy pinned Lee with a look, and Lee's face cringed a bit before he turned to Amanda. "I'm sorry, Sweetheart…" He placed his hand on her back and rubbed it in a gentle up and down motion as she looked up into his eyes. "We still need to prove the connection to Jennifer. If she's not the source of the drugs, we don't have anything."
"Yeah," She let out a long sigh and nodded her head. "I thought as much, but I figured it didn't hurt to try."
Lee's arm went around her shoulder, and he squeezed her to his side. "Believe me, Sweetheart. If there were any way I could change this, I would…on so many levels."
"So, who's going to go talk to Foster?" Everyone turned toward Efraim. He pushed his glasses up and shrugged. "Well, come on! We've got to poke a stick at this and get things moving, don't we?"
"Slow down, people…"
"Why, Billy?" Lee's jaw dropped. "We've got enough pieces to put this together now."
Billy was quite accustomed to Lee's outbursts and remained calm. "But we don't have enough to bring down the operation, Scarecrow." He kept his eyes on Lee as the man turned and threw his hands into the air. "Listen. I agree we have a helluva lot more than we did an hour ago. We're almost there. Let's not get overconfident and ruin our chances of nailing these people."
Lee turned suddenly with a huff. "Fine. But do you mind if I go talk to Foster?"
"I think you should go talk to Foster, but be careful, you hear me, Scarecrow?"
"Yeah, I hear you. Don't worry, Billy. I have a feeling he already knows about me." Lee turned to Amanda just as she began to speak. "And please, Amanda, just...don't even ask."
Amanda shrugged and lifted her hands palm-up at her what used to be her waistline. "Ask what?"
"Don't ask to go with me." Lee shook his head. "Not this time."
"I had no intention of asking to go with you." Shaking her head, she placed both hands on her belly and stroked what almost felt like the baby's back in a circular motion. "No, I think this little one and I have seen enough action for now." She watched as a gentle smile stretched slowly across Lee's face. "But…" She held up her pointer finger indicating a caveat. "…there are a few other things I'd like to check out."
Billy smiled at her tenacity. "What's that, Amanda?"
She felt Lee's hand gently wrap around her arm and turned to look at him. "I don't want you going anywhere by yourself."
She smiled, happy to be able to make him feel more comfortable for once. "I don't plan on going anywhere ..." She waited for Lee to relax and then threw out the caveat. "...by myself. I want Francine to go with me."
Annoyance dropped over Lee's handsome features. "Now, just a minute..."
"It's just research, Lee. Absolutely nothing that will look suspicious to anybody." Amanda turned back to Billy. "It's just a hunch really. I want to go to Patriot Realty as friends looking for a house to rent and see if there are other properties listed that look available but that actually aren't available."
A little too annoyed to be amused, Lee sighed and rolled his eyes. "Translation, Amanda?"
Smiling because she had way too much fun confusing him, Amanda turned back to Lee. "Well, we know what kind of house Tanya and Jennifer live in, and we have the address of Janine Watson from our research; the houses are in the same price-bracket. Tania didn't rent the house using any kind of I.D., which might mean the houses aren't officially rented." Lee shook his head still confused. This time it was Amanda who sighed and rolled her eyes. It seemed so obvious to her. "She uses mules, Lee. Do you really think she makes a lot of money with just two girls?"
Francine's face lit up as Amanda's meaning dawned on her. "Ah. Amanda, that's brilliant!"
Beaman shook his head. "I'm still not following..."
Bemused, Lee looked over at him. "Join the club."
Francine turned to him. "It's just possible that the houses are still listed for rent since they aren't officially rented." Shocked by the words that came out of her own mouth, she smiled at her co-workers. "I think I've been hanging around you too much, Amanda. That sounded like something you'd say."
"Well, it's about time someone else around here started making sense." Amanda threw out the quip with a straight face and turned back to Billy. "Sir?"
"That's fine, Amanda…"
"Wait a minute..." Lee frowned and reached for Amanda's hand. "What about the whole, 'this little one and I have seen enough action for now'?"
"I think Amanda's right." Billy stood from his desk as Lee sighed, looked up at the ceiling, and dropped Amanda's hand. "No one from the Patriot Realty office would have any reason to know Amanda or Francine." Billy turned to Amanda. "Go ahead and take Francine with you. Let me know right away if you find anything."
She nodded her head and looked at Lee. He was so not happy with her right now. "Oh, Sir?" She turned back toward Billy, and he raised his eyebrows in question. "Has anyone gotten Dewey Franklin's full statement yet?"
"I think we've already gotten the most important information out of him," Beaman offered.
Lee nodded his head. "Yeah, I doubt the person bribing him did it openly. He won't know who it was."
"Agreed." Billy slipped his glasses back onto his face and looked down at the file on his desk. Realizing everyone was watching him, he looked back up over the rim of the glasses. "Well, what are you all still doing in my office, then? You've got your assignments; get to it." Billy frowned as he shooed them to the door. "Progress reports here at the end of the day."
"Yes, Sir."
"Sure thing, Billy."
"You got it."
Amanda felt the tension radiating off Lee as they left the office. Once outside the bullpen, he grabbed her gently by the arm and pulled her aside. "You be damn careful out there today, you hear me?"
"I hear you, and I will be. But you be darn careful, too. You're the one putting yourself in the cross-hairs with Foster today."
Ignoring everyone walking past them, Lee pulled her into his arms and held her close for an extended embrace. Finally, he pushed away from her just enough to frame her face in his hands. "I'm not happy about this..." He lowered his eyebrows. "...at all. But I love you." He leaned down and placed a tender kiss on her lips. "See you later. I should be home for dinner." Then he turned and walked away.
Patriot Realty - Day 8, Tuesday
The bell above the door jingled as they walked in causing the desk clerk to quickly look up and smile. "Good morning, Ladies." She stood from her chair behind the service counter. "May I help you?"
Using extreme caution, Amanda and Francine had decided Francine would take the lead roll making her more memorable to the desk clerk than Amanda would be. Francine adopted her deep southern drawl. As a Michigan girl from a Detroit suburb, she'd had to hone it to perfection over many years of practice. "Yes, ma'am..." Francine smiled and looked at the name-tag the woman wore. "...Susan. We're lookin' for a small, affordable house to rent for about six months."
"Only six months?" Susan smiled. "What brings you to town for six months?"
Amanda answered, aware that if she said nothing, that alone would make her memorable. "Our company sent us here for some training, but our short-term apartment fell through." In the past, she would have gone into great detail to sound authentic. Now she knew giving too many details was unnatural and drew too much attention.
"Ah, yes." Susan smiled and nodded. "We hear that a lot." She grabbed a book and motioned them to sit at the attractive circular table in the corner of the reception area. She set the book on the table. "Go ahead and start looking through this. Can I offer you some hot tea, a Coke, or some water?"
"Ooh, a Coke sounds just delightful, thank you." Francine smiled as she reached for the book and opened it to the first listing. She looked up at Amanda only to find Amanda looking right back with her eyebrows raised. Who'd have thought the very first house would be Jennifer's.
"Oh, Martha," Amanda pointed to the picture. "Isn't this cute?"
"Oh my goodness; it's as cute as a peach." Francine pointed to a dilapidated gazebo in the picture. "Bless your heart, isn't this sweet?"
Susan returned to the table with Francine's soft drink and looked down at the picture. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I don't know why that picture is still in there."
"Oh, no!" Amanda looked shattered that her first find was falling through already. "You mean it's been rented out?"
Bouncing her leg nervously under the table, Susan hedged. "Well, no; I mean, yes..." She paused and took a breath. "Really, it's hard to explain. But it's not available right now."
"That's okay, Lucy," Francine patted Amanda's hand. "We'll find another one..."
Lee Federal Penitentiary – Day 8, Tuesday
Lee sat in the interrogation room waiting for Foster and his lawyer. Three-plus hours to get here in a plane had left him a lot of time to worry, and he was a little grumpy. The edge of the file he had in his hand made a slow, mesmerizing staccato rhythm as he tapped it on the metal table. He really wanted only one thing from this meeting; to get the snake to bite.
Wondering what was taking so long, he looked down at his watch. Probably a stunt by Foster's lawyer to keep him off balance in hopes that it would give them the advantage in this meeting. Lee huffed out a cynical chuckle. No such luck. He'd been around this block too many times over the past 14 years or so.
Distracting himself from the wait, he thought about Amanda and their coming baby. He was more grateful than he could express that she seemed to be more accepting of the fact that being out in the field was dangerous for both her and their child. Still, her definition of careful and his seemed to not quite align the way he'd like. He shook his head. She was something; that was for sure. Honestly, it was one of the things he'd fallen in love with.
The door opened, and he looked up. Foster, dressed in prison orange and confined by arm and leg irons which were attached to a heavy chain around his waist, shuffled his way in behind his lawyer. His very young, very blonde, very beautiful lawyer. She took Lee by enough surprise that he had to quickly reign-in his reaction to her, but that was probably the point. It was an old play out of an old playbook. Use the beautiful lawyer to distract the cop so he couldn't put two thoughts together. Too bad. He was too well-trained to fall for that – not to mention he was already annoyed at himself for his immediate reaction when the most beautiful woman in the world to him was out there putting herself on the line to help him take down the monster that just walked into the room. And she would be waiting for him at the end of his long day. Correction: their long day.
Lee stood but did not offer his hand to the attorney. Two could play at this keep-them-off-balance game. "I'm Agent Stetson from the Agency, Miss…" He'd used the word deliberately to bristle her feathers. They wanted to play hardball? He'd give them hardball.
"Ms…" She emphasized the title, amusing Lee greatly. "Collins." She dropped the hand Lee had ignored and turned to her client. "This is my client, Daniel Foster."
"Yes," Lee looked Foster up and down. "We're familiar with one another." Lee motioned for them to sit. "How's prison life treating you, Foster?"
"Never better, Stetson. Never better."
"My client doesn't have the time to sit around making small-talk, Agent Stetson." Ms. Collins tapped her long pink nails on the table. "He has a meeting he needs to attend. Can we get on with this..." She waved her hand in the air. "...whatever it is?" She leaned forward over the table exposing just enough cleavage to be innocently provocative; another attempt at diversion. She was obviously practiced in these tactics, but Lee was on guard now. "Your reputation precedes you, so no funny business. I'm not in the mood."
Lee looked at her with unfeigned ice in his eyes. "I'm not in the mood either." The double-entendre was purposeful and had its desired effect, if the look that passed quickly over her face was any indicator. He turned his attention toward Foster and pushed the file slowly across the table with a single finger.
Foster reached out a hand to bring the file closer to himself. "What's this?"
"Open it and see." Lee's eyes never left Foster's face. He wanted to catch every nuance of whatever emotions expressed themselves there, however fleetingly.
Foster pulled the file to the edge of the table and opened the cover. He was a master at keeping his cool, Lee would give him that. But Lee was a master, too. He hadn't missed the brief look of recognition that Foster quickly covered up with disinterest. Foster's eyes left the picture and made contact with Lee's. "Am I supposed to know this person?"
"Do you?"
"I think my client has already indicated he does not know this gentleman." Ms. Collins stood. "This meeting is over." She laid a business card on the table. "If you need to speak with my client again, go through my office – not the prison." She turned toward Foster. "Mr. Foster?"
Foster pushed his chair back and stood to follow the lawyer out of the room. At the door, he turned back to Lee. "How's that new family of yours doing, Agent Stetson? I hear through the grapevine that your pretty new wife is expecting a baby. Congratulations. And you've got two fine stepsons as well." He smiled at Lee. "I bet you're really good at keeping them safe, aren't you, Mr. Agent-man?" He gave a final wave as he walked out the door. "Give them my most sincere greetings." And then they were gone.
Lee let out the breath he'd been carefully holding. As far as threats went, that one didn't even pretend to be subtle. Lee grabbed the file, stood, and headed for the door. Well, at least he had his answer. Foster was familiar with Watson. Now to prove it – and keep everybody safe in the process.
