Chapter 15
The next morning, Amanda and Lee sat in the Q Bureau with Francine, trying to decipher Jonathan's suicide note.
"Let's take it section by section, write down any ideas, and see if what makes any sense," Amanda suggested. She grabbed a marker and headed to the whiteboard.
"Ok, he starts by talking about how he's failed," Francine summarized.
Amanda wrote FAILED on the board. "Got it. Next?"
"Okay, the next few words that stand out are lies, enemy, truth, and drug," Lee said with a nod.
Amanda wrote the words down and looked back at them expectedly.
Francine exhaled loudly. "He's rambling about getting out of the mess he's made and not hurting anyone, especially me. Amanda, I don't think anything there is helpful."
"Maybe, maybe not. But he wrote your name for a reason. I think he knew you would solve his riddles and figure out what really happened. So keep going. What does the next part say?" Amanda encouraged with a smile.
"She's the only person… blah blah blah… Wait…" Francine read the next sentence slowly, "It's all here. And the here is underlined. Amanda, maybe you're right. Maybe this is a message for me to figure out what happened. Why didn't I see this before?"
Lee took a sip of his coffee and said, "Because you couldn't see it. It's like Amanda tells me all the time. Sometimes things are right in front of our noses but we are too blind to see it. You've had a couple of days to process what's happened and now you're taking a look at it differently."
"Once again, words of wisdom from Amanda Stetson." Francine chuckled with a sheepish grin. She cleared her throat and continued to read, "He talks about our past getting between us and how he wasn't honest. Then he talks about the cat which I think we've all pretty much decided has to be Brody."
Amanda wrote Brody = cat? on the board. "Okay, so let's see what we narrowed down."
"I guess the obvious one is drug and truth. We know Jonathan was given the truth drug, Deja Vu 2, so maybe whoever gave it to him told him what it was?" Lee suggested.
"Or Jonathan had an idea what it was after what he did to me the last time we tangled with Brody. Maybe that's what he meant when he says our past kept coming back?" Francine added.
Amanda smiled at the two of them. "See, I knew if we just took a minute to think about it, you'd be able to put some pieces together."
Lee shook his head. "But it still leaves a whole lot of unanswered questions. Amanda, can you grab Brody's file from the vault? I wanna make a call down to see if Marcus has made any headway on those prints. Maybe there's something in the old file that can help."
Amanda nodded once and immediately stepped into the large vault, searching for the right drawer. A minute later, she stepped back into the office, waving the thick file. "I got it."
Lee held one hand up and balanced the phone between his shoulder and ear. "And you're sure? That's great news, Marcus. I owe you one. Any match on the syringe too? I understand. I have the original report right here. Do you want a copy of it? Okay, well, if you do, let me know. I'll get one right down to you." He took the folder from Amanda as he dropped the handset onto the base.
"Well, what did good old Marcus have to say?" Francine drawled.
"Marcus found a match to the prints on the credenza thanks to Amanda's brilliance. No match for the syringe yet, but he's working on the chair now. He did say we should check in with Peters in Evidence Processing though for the full report on the chair. He said it was mighty interesting." Lee puckered his lips playfully.
Amanda's eyebrows shot up as she looked over at Francine. "Did he tell you a name for the fingerprints?"
"Frank Staples," Lee stated as he flipped the Brody file open and began skimming pages. "He sat in a high-ranking position in Brody's network, alongside Evan Hollister. We lost track of them after we recovered the Barnstorm List." He tapped on the page where he had drawn a pyramid of Brody's associates. "Garrison was the man above them who reported directly to Brody."
Amanda studied the page and asked, "What about Vernon and Chase?"
"Chase was killed in a shootout last year. And I heard through the grapevine Vernon was starting his own network in Bolivia. He's been trying to get out from under Brody's thumb since Brody's been imprisoned." Lee skimmed a few more pages and added, "Correction. Vernon was taken out three months ago. His own network turned on him and executed him in front of his girlfriend."
"My, my, my, what great friends Brody has," Francine teased. "But I guess now we have to figure out if Staples is working alone?"
"I don't think so. Marcus said the print on the syringe wasn't a match to Staples," Lee stated as he closed the file and stood. "I say we all head down to see Peters before we give Billy an update."
Francine stood and smoothed her skirt. "Boy oh boy, all kinds of fun things this morning and it's not even our first coffee break."
Amanda held the door open and laughed. "I have a feeling we're going to need more than coffee by the time we get back."
The trio made their way down the stairs to the lobby where Mrs. Marston sat, watching them. "Um, Scarecrow, I haven't seen a new picture of those darling babies of yours. And I believe I am overdue for a visit."
"Tell you what, Mrs. Marston. If you make a batch of those lemon squares for Mother, I'll make sure to bring the girls by before the end of the week," Amanda replied sweetly.
With a wink, Mrs. Marston nodded. "You've got a deal!"
The trio disappeared into the elevator and rode down several levels in silence. They arrived at Evidence Processing to a chorus of cheers. With puzzled expressions, Lee, Amanda, and Francine stepped into the large room to see several men standing around, cheering on one younger agent who was currently trying to get himself loose after being taped to an office chair. Lee raised an eyebrow when he noticed each man was holding a small bundle of cash, and one had a stopwatch in his hand.
"What's going on?" Lee's tone immediately sobered up the small group.
The younger man in the chair continued to struggle against the duct tape, muttering, "I'm almost there. Just one more minute and I got it."
"What are you guys doing? Or maybe I should send down your superior to get some answers." The muscle in Lee's cheek twitched as he tightened his jaw and made eye contact with each man.
"Scarecrow! We're glad you're here. We were just testing how long it took your victim to get himself loose from the tape. So far, Jimmy's up to ten minutes but the tape's already starting to rip so he's doing good," one curly-haired agent spoke up.
Lee looked around again and noticed the Thonet Kohn tripod chair was off to the side. He studied the agent in the chair and indeed, there were several small tears in the tape he struggled against. "So this is an experiment?"
The agent in the chair bobbed his head. "And I'm almost there," he grunted.
Lee glanced over his shoulder at Francine who was covering her mouth, trying hard not to laugh while Amanda just looked concerned.
A minute later, Lee heard the distinct sound of duct tape ripping, and the young agent jumped to his feet feeling victorious. Lee watched as he pumped his hands in the air and jumped several times, hooting and hollering.
The group around him high-fived him several times before the curly-haired agent spoke up again. "I have to say, he did better than we all expected. Peters," he introduced himself.
Lee eyed him warily as he stated, "Marcus said you have some interesting information about our chair over there."
"Your chair had a secret," Peters stated with a sly grin.
"What exactly do you mean by secret?" Francine demanded.
"The seat wasn't the only seat. And the top seat had a pressure-sensitive switch in it." Peters nodded his head and smiled wider.
Amanda took a few steps toward the chair and pointed to the seat. "What kind of switch?"
"From the looks of it, it was a remote switch for some kind of recorder. We didn't find anything else with it though. The recorder must be back at your location." Peters took a clipboard off the wall and unclipped the top page. He handed Amanda the report and waited for Lee to sign off on it.
"Did you find any prints on it?" Lee questioned as he studied the chair.
"Only one set and they all belong to your victim," Peters stated matter-of-factly.
Francine crossed her arms and announced, "Looks like we're heading back to the scene of the crime just as soon as we talk to Billy."