Chapter 7

"Thanks, Doc." Lee exhaled loudly as he lowered the phone onto the cradle. He looked up at Amanda, standing in the doorway rocking Lily on her hip.

"What'd he say?" Amanda shifted their daughter higher up.

Lee stood slowly and crossed the room to join her. "He said the chemical they found in that syringe is a new variant of Deja Vu 2. Only this one has deadly side effects."

Amanda glanced over her shoulder toward the kitchen where she could hear Francine laughing at DJ. "Deja Vu 2? As in the same drug Jonathan used on Francine?"

Lee tipped his head slightly and grimaced. "Correction. Brody forced him to use, remember. Jonathan didn't want to do anything."

"It's the same drug though, either way. And I thought when they captured Brody, they destroyed his stash of the drug," she whispered.

Lee took Lily from her arms and leaned close enough for only Amanda to hear. "They did. This is a new formulation. I better tell Francine."

Amanda reached up and stroked her daughter's back. "Tell her what?"

Lee exhaled sharply. "Tell her she might have been right all along. They found evidence of a puncture on his arm. The medical examiner is running a tox screen on Jonathan again. He's going to get back to us as soon as he gets the results."

"Doesn't it take weeks to get those back?" Amanda's eyes widened.

"Normally, it does. But he's putting a rush on this. Especially now that we have evidence it may not have been a suicide. And if Brody's involved somehow… he's really living up to his reputation of the Death Broker." Lee pressed his cheek to his daughter's temple.

"Lee, Brody's behind bars, so are we going to tell her someone else was after Jonathan? For what purpose?" She heard Francine laugh loudly again and her back stiffened.

"Right now I don't know what's going on but Francine isn't going to stop until she finds who killed Jonathan."

"What does Billy say about all this?" Amanda stepped back into the hallway and slowly made her way toward the kitchen.

Lee bounced Lily as they walked. "He doesn't know yet. I'll meet with him first thing in the morning and we can go from there. I'm still not sure this is entirely Agency jurisdiction."

They both paused when they heard Jamie talking to Francine. "I'm sorry about your friend. I heard Mom and Lee talking about it before Lee went into the office." They stepped into the kitchen and Amanda raised an eyebrow at her son.

Jamie made eye contact and shrugged his shoulders. "What? I wasn't eavesdropping. I was walking down the stairs, and I heard Lee say he was going to call someone about Jonathan's autopsy results. When I came in here, Miss Desmond was staring at a picture of her and some guy, looking all sad, even though DJ was being silly and she was laughing at her. I just put two and two together I guess. I mean, I know Lee knows all those federal agents and Miss Desmond is a federal agent, so I don't know…"

Francine cleared her throat before tucking the small picture back into her purse on the counter. "He's right. I was looking at the picture of Jonathan and I on vacation again and DJ was making faces while she was playing." She paused for a moment and lowered her chin. "Thank you, Jamie. I appreciate it."

Lee slipped Lily into the high chair beside her sister and handed her a toy. Lily banged it several times off the tray and screeched happily, DJ responding with her own barking laugh. "You two, be good for your mother and Francine tonight. It's been a long day for all of us and they could use a little break."

Jamie scratched the back of his neck and chewed on his bottom lip. "Um, Lee, if we don't leave soon, I'm gonna be late for class."

Lee glanced up at the clock and nodded. "Yeah, we should get going. Francine, we'll only be gone for a few hours but if you think of anything which might help…" his voice trailed off as Jamie listened intently. Lee coughed before continuing, "If you think of anything that might help Amanda with the project she started earlier today. You know, the research she was working on."

"Lee, are we taking your car tonight?" Jamie asked as he tossed a gym bag onto his shoulder.

Lee grinned at his stepson. "Of course. Let me guess… you like riding in the 'Vette?"

Jamie tipped his head from side to side. "I do. But do you think this time you can maybe not drive so fast to beat the lights? Last time, I thought we were gonna hit that other car but you swerved at the–"

"We should get going." With a dimpled grin, Lee cut him off as he steered him down the hall toward the garage.

"Drive safe, Sweetheart," Amanda called out just before the door clicked shut behind them. "One of these days, he's gonna get a ticket."

Francine chuckled softly. "He's probably been pulled over more times than you, me, and Dotty combined but he just flashes that shiny little badge of his and gets out of it."

From their vantage point inside the house, they could hear the roar of the Vette's engine in the garage. As the sound slowly diminished, Amanda exhaled loudly and looked at Francine. "So, do you want to tackle feeding these two first? Or would you rather study the letter and the pictures while I feed them?"

"Well, that depends. I didn't bring a change of clothes, so do you have a hazmat suit I can borrow?" Francine teased.

Amanda bit her lip to stop herself from laughing. "I think they've gotten a bit better at keeping food in their mouths but I can offer you one of Mother's aprons to be safe."

Francine's mouth dropped open. "Amanda, do you really think I would be caught dead wearing an apron, never mind one of Dotty's?"