SMK: Too Close to Home Chapter 13 – Day 5; Saturday Evening

Q-Bureau

"Mrs. Bentley was pretty furious with both the boys, but she was very cooperative." Efraim leaned his shoulder against the vault door. "According to Brad, this Jennifer girl that Philip mentioned is new at school, and Brad's only known her for a couple of weeks. He doesn't even know her last name."

Lee stood behind Amanda who was sitting at her desk. He could sense the tension radiating off her. "Yeah," He shifted his eyes back to Beaman. "That fits with what Philip told us."

"He swears he never talked to Jennifer about giving Melissa anything illicit, and that he was not aware of anything like that happening."

"And since none of the other kids overheard that conversation, it's Philip's word against Brad's." Amanda sighed and absent-mindedly rubbed her hand over her belly. She looked over at Billy. "When will we get the drug tests back so we can prove that Brad must have at least known something?"

Billy sighed. "That's going to take at least another week."

Amanda's eyebrows raised. "Even with the rush because of Melissa being Senator Heartley's daughter?"

Lee reached down and laid a hand on her shoulder, squeezing just enough to offer his emotional support. "What about the brother, Beaman?"

Efraim shrugged. "It seems he was legitimately pre-occupied by his girlfriend. He took advantage of the fact his mom was gone and offered to let Brad host a party to keep him occupied while he and his girlfriend went off alone together."

"I really don't think Brad's our supplier." Amanda looked across the Q-Bureau at Billy and Francine. "Part of the problem, yes, and I think he definitely knew about the drugs...possibly even took some himself. But Philip's been friends with him since fifth grade." She turned to look up at Lee. "His mom is part of the PTA." Frustrated, she shrugged her shoulders. "I just don't see how they can be involved in targeting anyone."

"I tend to agree with Amanda," Francine surprised everyone. "But I still think we should check them out just to cover our bases."

"Agreed." Billy nodded his head and looked toward Francine. "Why don't you run a background security check on the family…" He took off his glasses as he thought. "…include friends and associates past and present." He turned toward Lee and Amanda. "Amanda, do you know anything about this Jennifer?"

"No." Amanda shook her head. "That's a new name to me. As you already know, she's new this year, and I don't know her or her family."

"Do you think you could use your contacts at the school to get some information?"

"Well, I can certainly try."

Lee got her attention with another squeeze on her shoulder. "Go ahead and try to do that, Amanda. See if you can find out where she transferred from, who her parents are, that kind of thing." Amanda nodded her head. "Meanwhile, I think I need to go back and talk to T.P…" Lee rubbed his stomach subconsciously. "…maybe even Marco now that we've got a similar M.O. as to what was going on under Foster's mentor."

"Oh, Lee," Amanda frowned up at him. "I hate the idea of you going back to talk to Marco."

Lee offered her a humorless chuckle. "You think you hate the idea?"

Without so much as a knock, Dr. Smyth opened the door and swooped down on them. "Well, well…" He looked around the room, "…the gang's all here. Good. I'm partial to one-stop shopping." He took a drag of his cigarette then pulled it out of his mouth and looked at it. "I got a call today from Pennsylvania Avenue. Senator Heartley is a personal friend of the White House, so this unfortunate incident with his daughter is now our unfortunate incident."

Lee felt Amanda's shoulder tighten under his hand as Dr. Smyth took another drag on his cigarette. "Unfortunate incident, Sir?"

Finishing his drag and blowing a ribbon of smoke into the air, Dr. Smyth raised an eyebrow. "Tsk, tsk. No need to unsheathe your claws, Mrs. Everything Nice." His smile didn't reach his eyes. "It's commendable that you would react so strongly to the untimely demise of a young person – a friend of your son's I believe?"

The question hung in the air without the need for an answer. Lee felt Amanda tense even more. "Dr. Smyth, this is hardly the time…"

"Hardly the time for what, Scarecrow?" Dr. Smyth pinned him with a look then scanned around the room. "Do I have to spell it out for you, Children?" He raised an eyebrow and glared back and forth at Lee and Amanda. "What is it they say? Ah, yes. Marry in haste and all that. Well, it seems your rash personal decisions…" He took another puff from his cigarette. "…have clouded your professional ability to see the bigger picture."

"What exactly should we be seeing, Dr. Smyth?" Lee's hand tightened on Amanda's shoulder.

"Your boy, Scarecrow. What's his name?"

"You know very well what his name is." Annoyed, Lee ground his teeth. "What about him?"

"Corpus delecti, Scarecrow. Get the proof of the crime…" He looked down at his cigarette. "…you have the perfect tool for penetrating the inner sanctum." He looked back up and fastened a look on Lee that tolerated no defiance. "Use him." He stuck his cigarette back in his mouth and left as decisively as he had come.

Amanda looked around the room. "What just happened?"

Francine looked down at the floor. "Uh, if I'm not mistaken, he's expecting us to put Philip back into the group so he can get close to Jennifer and see what information he can gather for us."

"What?" Pushing her hands against her desk, Amanda stood abruptly causing Lee to have to take a step to the side. "Philip has just lost friend to a drug overdose." She looked around the room at her friends. "He was there – he watched it happen. He's still in a state of trauma; he's not even had time to process what's happened – not had a chance to say good-bye, has a funeral he's going to have to attend…" She turned to Lee. "How can we ask this of him?"

Lee went to her. "Maybe this needs to be his decision, Amanda." His hands wrapped around her upper arms, encouraging her to look up at him. "Maybe helping the investigation would give him some purpose and help him make some meaning out of everything."

Amanda stood her ground. "I am not risking the life of my son, Lee. There has to be a better way."

Billy stood and walked toward the door, motioning for Francine and Beaman to join him. "I think it's best if we let the two of you hash this out." He opened the door and let the others proceed him through it. "Let me know if you come up with a plan. But meanwhile, let's get on the other things we discussed."

Lee just turned to him and nodded. As Billy left and closed the door behind him, Lee turned back to Amanda.

"Lee, this isn't even up for discussion."

"Amanda…"

"No, Lee." She shook her head emphatically.

"Amanda, Philip might be the only person who can get close enough to Jennifer to find out if Melissa was targeted." He bent down to look into her eyes. "And even if Melissa wasn't targeted, someone is out there selling tainted drugs, and it's killing young people Philip's age."

"Don't you dare try to guilt me into making a decision that's not best for my son."

If looks could kill, he'd be flat on his back. Lee sighed and dropped his hands from her arms. Turning, he ran both hands through his hair and stared at the wall for a moment. Then he turned back to look at her, his lips firmly pressed together and a hard glint in his eyes. "Amanda…" He pointed at the door. "…when Dr. Smyth comes in here like that talking about the White House…" He punctuated every word with a point at the door. "…it's the same as an Executive order."

The hard, unaffected look on her face told him his argument was getting nowhere. "Oh, you mean the same kinds of Executive orders you ignore on a regular basis as it suits you?"

"Amanda," Anger tinged his voice. "Dr. Smyth is still unsure of us being married and working together…in case you didn't catch that from his little speech."

"Oh, I caught it…" She frowned at him and took an angry step closer. "…so, you're saying I put my son in danger to pacify Dr. Smyth?" She took another step, invading his space. "That doesn't sound like you."

"Amanda, children are dying…" Sadness was apparent in his eyes as he took the last step between them and put his hands on her shoulders. "You know we can't let our personal feelings get in the way of our jobs."

She stepped back, making him drop his hands awkwardly. "You, of all people, have no right to lay that one on me." Anger caused her voice to rise. "How many times in the past year have you shut me out of missions because you're afraid for my safety…" She pointed a finger in his face. "…but you expect me to put my son in the middle of this, and then you dare to tell me I can't let my personal feelings get in the way?"

"Well, you're not willing to allow your teen-age son to make this decision on his own…" Without fully realizing he was yelling at her, he gestured to her belly. "…but you get angry with me for wanting to protect our child who is completely helpless?" He turned away from her again, paced toward the wall, and looked down at the floor.

He looked defeated, and her anger drained away leaving sadness and vulnerability in its place. Dropping her face into her hands, she took a couple of deep breaths to calm her nerves. "Alright," she looked up, walked toward him, and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Hey. I get the feeling we're not talking about our situation with Philip anymore, are we." She felt his shoulders heave as he took a deep, steadying breath.

He turned back toward her. Laying his hands on either side of her face, he looked deeply into her eyes. His gaze drifted over her face like a caress, and one hand softly tucked her hair behind her ear. "Yeah. I guess we're not." His eyes slid closed as he reached his arms around her and rested his chin on her head. "I'm sorry, Sweetheart." She reached her arms around him in response and rested against him until he pushed her away just enough to look gaze over her face. "I'm so afraid, Amanda." Feeling vulnerable, he begged her with his eyes to understand. "I'm so afraid that I can't protect the two of you…" His gaze dropped to her belly to indicate he was referring to their baby. "…You, both of you, are everything to me, don't you know that?"

Confused, but trying not to let anger creep back up, she laid her hand on his chest. "And yet you think you can protect Philip?" She shook her head, hurt in her eyes. "Or do you just not care enough about him?"

Regret hit him hard as he realized how he had come across. "Amanda…"

"Even if you don't love him the way you love your own child, don't you love me enough to care about what happens to him?"

A tear rolled down her cheek, nearly killing him. "Oh, Amanda…" He pulled her close again. "…I'm so sorry. I haven't explained myself well at all." He rocked her slowly from side to side. "Another consequence of being a bachelor for so long, probably." He chuckled. "Or maybe it's just a guy thing, I don't know." He sighed. "I never thought this would get so complicated."

"I said that to Mother once. You know what her reply was?" He shook his head. "Her reply was, 'Well, they usually do.'"

They stood there like that for several minutes, just holding one another. Inside his mind, Lee struggled with trusting Amanda enough to make her own decisions. It tore him apart. Scared him in a way he'd never been scared before – well, at least until he'd married her. And yet here he was, asking her to do with her son what he was struggling to do with her. As a soon-to-be father, he was beginning to get a sense of what this must be costing her.

He sighed again and squeezed her a little closer. "Ah, Manda…" He dropped a kiss on the side of her head. "…it scares me to admit this, but you're right. I'm asking you to allow someone you love with your whole being to step into danger when I'm not willing to do the same thing."

Amanda nodded her head against his chest. "We're both right, Lee…" She looked up into his eyes. "…as much as it scares me to admit it. I'm asking you to let two people you love step into danger on a regular basis, but I'm not willing to do the same with Philip." She closed her eyes, fighting back the internal compulsion to avoid being told what she couldn't do. "I see the inconsistency here, but I'm not sure what to do about it."

"Amanda, look," He led her to the sofa and pulled her down to sit with him. "Let's think about it this way." He rubbed his thumbs over her knuckles. "What are the first two rules of working with a partner?"

Looking into his eyes she answered, emphasizing each word with a nod of her head. "Remember to think like a team and have each other's back at all times."

"Exactly," he smiled. "Only now, we're partners on two teams. We're a team at the Agency, and we're a team in raising a family, too." He looked down at her belly and caressed it gently. "And I don't just mean this little one. I mean our entire family."

Heart softening, she offered him a small smile. "Okay, I hear what you're saying, so what does that look like?"

"That means we really listen to one another, we identify our obstacles, and we work to overcome them – together."

"So, you're saying we might both not get exactly what we want?"

"Yes. That's true. But it also means being all in. If we're a team, we make the final decisions together so we both have to own them." He looked into her eyes. "Deal?"

She smiled and brushed his cheek with her knuckles. "Deal." She reached down and took both of his hands in hers. "So, we talk to Philip about this together?"

He smiled softly, and leaned in for a quick, tender kiss. "Together."

Jennifer's House

Usually, she saw it coming and was able to prepare herself, but the stinging slap caught her off-guard, and she fell backwards onto the worn couch.

"You stupid girl!" Fury transformed Tania's normally pretty face into something ugly and evil. "Stupid, stupid girl!" The woman paced back and forth in front of her and ran the fingers of both hands up into her glossy, black hair, grasping it into her fists on the top of her head.

The palm of her hand still resting gently on her stinging cheek, Jennifer cautiously sat up. With wary eyes on the woman who forced her to call her mother, she gathered up her courage. "I didn't do anything…"

"You didn't..." She blew out a breath and looked up at the ceiling, shaking her head. "Damn it, you stupid girl, do you have any idea who that girl's father is?" The pitch of Tania's voice went up with each word.

As the woman continued pacing, Janine came down the stairs. "What's going on?" It took her only a moment to take in the scene and realize Jennifer was was on the receiving end of Mother's wrath. She sat down beside Jennifer and gently turned her by the chin to look at her reddened cheek.

"The two of you are clueless!" the woman screamed. "Your jobs are simple. Janine distracts the older brother, and Jennifer passes out the candy. Everyone has a little fun, and we hook returning, high-paying customers."

"And we get to live in the lap of luxury off the profits." Janine looked around at the shabby, dilapidated furniture then made a point of gazing at Mother's chic, designer pantsuit. She knew she was taking a risk, but she needed to get the focus off Jennifer. She quickly found out she was right about the risk; Mother's face turned red with fresh fury as she took a step toward Janine with her hand raised. Trying to keep fear out of her voice, she stood to meet Tania's wrath head-on. "I'm getting a little old for you to hit me, don't you think…Mother?"

The woman stopped and gave her a deadly stare that belied the smile forming over her face. She dropped her hand. "Yes. You're probably right about that." The woman took another step closer and reached out to stroke her hair. "But I can deny you your next hit…"

Already a little shaky from her brain's need for the chemical, Janine froze. The woman really would do that. "Alright. What went wrong so we know not to repeat the mistake."

The woman took a deep breath and sat in the frayed Lazy-Boy. "What went wrong?" She looked back and forth at them incredulously. "Uh…someone died?"

Janine wrapped her arm around Jennifer and frowned at the woman. "I didn't know that bothered you."

"Watch it, young lady." The woman pointed her finger at her. "You're awfully close to spending a very unpleasant night." Too scared to provoke her further, Janine let go of Jennifer, sat back, and waited. "You don't know who that girl was, do you?"

Confused, Jennifer spoke up. "Of course, I do…" She looked down at her hands resting in her lap. "…Melissa was my friend." A single tear spilled from one of her eyes and trickled down her cheek.

"Yes, well first of all, you're not supposed to make friends in this business. Second of all, Melissa was also the daughter of Senator Heartley." Agitated, the woman stood and began pacing again. "Do you know what that means?"

"Yeah," Janine said quietly. "It means the investigation is going to be intense." She looked up at the woman. "At least the E wasn't dirty, so it should just look like the accident that it was."

Tania's probing gaze rested back on Jennifer. "Was there anyone at the party who could possibly connect you with the E?" Jennifer looked down at her hands and another tear meandered down her cheek, following the same track as the first one. Tania's blood pressure jumped up a notch. "Jennifer? I asked you a question. I expect an answer." Slowly, trepidatiously, Jennifer nodded her head. Trying to calm her anger, Tania deliberately sucked in a breath and blew it out. "Tell me."

Jennifer glanced up at the woman, then quickly looked back down at her hands. "Um, Brad." She looked over at Janine for moral support, then back at Tania. "But I don't think he knows I'm actually the source. Still, he knew I was going to give it to her."

"I'm not worried about Bradley. He's proven himself to be a useful idiot." A sick smile formed on the woman's face. "I'm sure you can come up with a way to keep him under control."

"Don't you think she's a little young for that job?" Horrified, Janine's voice was little more than a whisper.

"She's no younger than you were, is she?" The shame covering Janine's face was exactly the effect Tania was going for. She looked back at Jennifer. "Anyone else, Jennifer?" The girl's wringing hands told her the answer was a definite yes.

Dreading having to answer the question, Jennifer cast her eyes down to her lap and spoke softly. "Uh, maybe the boy who called 9-1-1?"

"Define 'maybe.'"

Trying to control the shaking of her voice, Jennifer took a deep breath and held it a moment before answering. "Well, I don't know for sure, but it's possible."

"His name?"

She really didn't want to divulge this information. Knowing her mother, it could put the boy in danger. She sighed and shook her head. She had no choice. "His name is Philip King."

"And he goes to school with you?" At Jennifer's nod, Tania resettled in the Lazy-boy and roll-tapped her manicured fingernails on the arm rest.

The woman just looked at them a moment then dismissed them with a wave of her hand. "Go to your rooms."

Jennifer stood up, trembling. "But what about dinner?"

"And what about my hit?"

The woman looked at Jennifer. "Dinner, no…" and then at Janine. "Hit…I'll think about it. Now go on. I need to think, and I can't do that if I have to look at the two of you." As soon as they left the room, Tania picked up the phone and dialed the private number. After three rings, the man picked up, but, as usual, said nothing. Worried, she closed her eyes and took a fortifying breath before speaking. "We may have a problem…"