Chapter 18

Brody chuckled as he was led into the small interrogation room where Lee and Francine waited for him. "Stetson and Desmond. How lucky am I?" He was shoved roughly into the seat by the guard. "Are you going to take these off?" Brody held his handcuffed wrists up and waited.

"It's up to them." The guard lifted his chin toward Lee and Francine. "Name's Coughlin."

"Thanks, CO." Lee smiled in his direction.

Brody stared at Lee. "Well?"

"Well what?" Lee snapped.

Brody rolled his eyes and lowered his hands to the table top where the metal clinked against the smooth surface. "Do you think I'm capable of doing any kind of damage, here?"

"Brody, you could do damage to a pillow in a room full of feathers," Francine lashed back sarcastically. "But, I'm feeling a little generous today."

Lee raised an eyebrow. "You are?"

"I am. I'll let the nice guard remove those handcuffs but if Brody gets out of line in any way, I have first crack at him." Francine leveled her steely gaze on Brody.

CO Coughlin laughed loudly as he reached down and uncuffed Brody. "I like her. Can I stay and watch? She sounds like my kind of girl."

"I think we can take it from here. But stay close. This might be a quick meeting," Lee stated authoritatively. He waited until the guard left the small room and closed the door behind him. "So, I heard through the grapevine you might be trying to get your old network back up and running."

Brody laughed. "They must be working you too hard, Stetson. Your brain is going soft." He lifted his unbound hands. "How could I possibly do that from here?"

The muscle in Lee's cheek twitched as he clenched his jaw, contemplating his next move. "Oh, come on, Brody. You're resourceful. You've probably got money stashed away in some hidden bank account we didn't find, which you could use to bribe someone to help you."

Lee paced the small room as he thought aloud. "I'm sure you've got a few friends left who haven't scattered to the winds that could… oh, I don't know… murder someone if you snapped your fingers. Or maybe there's another list for sale, some black market blueprints perhaps."

Brody laughed even louder as Lee rattled off ideas. "You need to get out more, Stetson. Seriously. You need a vacation. Take that brunette with you… what was her name again… Mrs. King?"

Lee tensed immediately at the mention of Amanda's name. "You leave my wife out of this," he spat.

Brody immediately raised his eyebrows. "My, my, my. Did I strike a nerve there? Wife, did you say? Didn't see that coming."

"I'm gonna strike something worse than a nerve if you don't start talking," Francine demanded.

"Ah, yes, Ms. Desmond. I'm surprised you still have a job after our last meeting. It was such a shame what happened, isn't it?" Brody chuckled again. "How is Dr. Dunlevy? Oh, and what's his name…wait, it'll come to me…" Brody paused before adding slowly, "Jonathan Stone?"

Francine tensed immediately, lifted her hand with a pointed finger, and sneered, "Listen here, Brody–"

"We're not here to talk about Dr. Dunlevy or Jonathan Stone or anyone else for that matter." Lee cut her off quickly, remembering Billy's warning. "We're here to talk about you."

Frustrated, Francine paced toward the wall behind Brody.

Brody glanced down at the floor and shook his head slowly. "I have nothing to share. I've done nothing wrong. I spend my days playing cards in my cell, reading dog-eared books from the library, and trying to get a decent meal but so far, no one has heard my requests. You'd think I could get a steak or even some wine with dinner."

Francine spun around, balled her hand into a tight fist, and took a step closer to Brody. Lee stepped forward and placed his hand on her arm. She stopped and made eye contact with Lee. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and said, "Tell us about your cellmate. What's he like?"

Brody, completely unaware of what had just transpired behind him, shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing to tell. Halal Al Saleed was arrested and convicted of conspiracy. Instead of getting deported, he got sent here, most likely to be used as a pawn."

"Conspiracy for what?" Francine pushed.

"Espionage, Miss Desmond. A little of this… a little of that. Al Saleed may have known a few too many secrets from his government which he was more than willing to share… for the right price." Brody picked at one of his fingernails.

Francine moved around the table to get closer. She leaned on the edge of the metal surface and questioned, "What kind of secrets?"

Brody inhaled, raising his shoulders. "I'm not sure. Would you like to ask him yourself? I'm sure he would love to go for a walk, just as much as I did." He grinned toothily at her.

Francine pushed away from him, frustrated. "Okay, let's get back to your organization. Tell me, who's running the show while you're in here?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. My organization, as you call it, disappeared," Brody replied smugly. "Gone. Poof. Like a ghost. I haven't spoken to any of my old associates. If you don't believe me, you can check my records here. I don't get any visitors, I don't make any phone calls, and I don't write any letters. The only people I talk to are inside these walls."

Lee raised an eyebrow, a theory developing in his mind. "So you're saying you only have contact with anyone in this facility. No lawyers or anything like that?"

"You're the only law enforcement officers… well if you want to call yourselves that… I have seen since I was booked into this poor excuse for a prison. Check with the warden if you don't believe me. I've been a model citizen here. I keep to myself and stay out of trouble. Who knows, maybe I'll even get time off my sentence." Brody shrugged his shoulders once more.

Lee checked his watch with a flourish. "Well, would you look at the time. I can't believe we've already been here for over an hour and just as we suspected, it was a complete waste of time. I told you, Francine, he doesn't know anything. He's just a locked-up criminal now."

Francine narrowed her eyes at Lee, unsure what was happening.

"We should get going and let Brody get back to… oh right… back to being an inmate." Lee waved his hand at the glass window in the door. "I'm just going to get our guard friend's attention and we can get out of here. Look, here he comes now."

Lee stepped back away from the door, allowing CO Coughlin to enter.

"Is everything okay in here?" the officer questioned.

"We are just right as rain, Coughlin. As a matter of fact, we are done for today. I think we got everything we needed," Lee rattled with a dimpled grin.

Brody stood slowly and smiled at Francine as he lifted his hands to be handcuffed again. "Nice seeing you again, Miss Desmond."

They watched as the officer escorted Brody down the hall and out of sight. They followed another officer in the opposite direction where they were taken outside to the parking lot.

"Lee, we didn't learn anything from him. This really was a waste of time," Francine declared as she slipped into the passenger seat.

"And that's where you're wrong. We learned quite a bit."