Thursday morning…
 

The FBI forensic and lab teams had worked all night.  Lee’s hunch paid off and they found Lucinda Suttan’s fingerprints under both of their desks.  A judge agreed to sign a search warrant, which FBI Agent Bruce Parker planned to hand deliver to her residence.

The exclusive neighborhood that Lucinda Suttan lived in was tranquil.  Most of the residents were already at work or securely inside their homes going about their normal day.  The lone car parked outside the gate of her home didn’t belong, but nothing else on the block was out of the ordinary.  Sitting outside the front gate of the Agency attorney’s Potomac Falls estate, were Amanda and Lee Stetson, watching and waiting impatiently.

“I couldn’t even imagine living in a place like that,” Amanda remarked, from what she could observe of the exquisitely landscaped grounds and the house in the distance. From the road, there wasn’t much to see. The eight-foot brick privacy fence surrounding it impeded the view.  “The property is very impressive.  How large do you think it is?”

“From the look of the place, it must be at least two acres,” Lee commented as he glanced around.  The only view of the house was through the black metal gate.  “Nice neighborhood.  I knew we should have bought a house around here back when we first got married.”

Amanda chuckled, remembering his desire to sell everything he owned and buy a big house with acreage.  “We couldn’t afford it then, and unless you access that Swiss Bank account, we still can’t afford it now.”

“Would have been… nice,” Lee replied with a heavy sigh.

Staring out the car window, Amanda wondered aloud, “How much do you think the place is worth?”

“According to county tax records, she bought it two years ago around the peak of the market.  She paid four and a half million.  I know its value has dropped significantly since then.”  Lee looked in his rear view mirror and saw Bruce Parker pull up behind them.  With a slight nod, he opened up his car door and started to get out.   “Come on; looks like you’ll have to settle for a peek inside.”

“At least I don’t have to clean it!” Amanda snickered as they both walked over towards Bruce.

“Or pay the property taxes,” Lee added as he reached for his wife’s hand.

“Scarecrow, I’m surprised you waited,” Bruce Parker teased, as he held up the search warrant.  “Any sign of Lucinda Suttan?”

Amanda shook her head.  “We’ve been out here since seven this morning.  Nobody has come or gone.”

“Good,” the FBI agent answered.  “Let’s pay her a visit!”

They entered through the wrought iron gate, and walked up the long driveway to the charming two story, colonial house.  It was surrounded by lush bushes and trees and colorful landscaping with hundreds of flowers.

“My mother would love these gardens,” Amanda commented, as they got closer to the house.

“I couldn’t afford to keep up the gardens,” Agent Parker replied, shaking his head at the meticulously kept estate. Then he began to explain the details of the property.  “The house is over 10,000 square feet of living space, seven bedrooms, six full baths and three half baths, a sunroom, library, media room, three car garage and a guest house which overlooks the pool.”

“Does she live alone?” Lee wondered aloud.

“According to our records she does,” the FBI agent shrugged when they neared the front door to the large house.  “Are you ready?”

They nodded and he rang the doorbell.  They all could hear the bells chime loudly.  At first, there was no answer, so he rang it again. The three agents looked at each other, wondering if they’d have to break down the door or at least pick the lock.  A few moments later, they heard footsteps coming towards the door.  Both Lee and Bruce reached for their weapons, unsure of the reaction they’d get from Lucinda Suttan.

“Can I help you?” an older woman asked when she opened the door.

Both men quickly holstered their weapons and Agent Parker held up the search warrant.  “FBI, we’re here to search the premises.  Who are you?”

“Kathy… Walker, I’m… Ms. Suttan’s housekeeper,” she answered with a nervous gulp.  “Ms. Suttan’s not home right now…”

Lee pushed past the woman, answering her brusquely.  “It doesn’t matter.  We’ve got authorization to search the property and we intend to search every last inch.”

“Kathy, you’ll need to wait outside,” Amanda said softly to the woman, leading her out to the front entry.  The woman seemed perplexed, but put up no resistance.  The three of them entered the grand foyer.

“Where do we start?” Amanda asked, as she glanced around the elegant house.  Standing in the huge foyer, the marbled floor itself was impressive as was the artwork that hung on the walls.  To the right was a formal dining room with a crystal chandelier and what appeared to be a hand carved wood table that could easily seat twenty or more people.

The room to the left was a sitting room, with several overstuffed sofas, a fireplace with a marble mantle, and a baby grand piano in the corner.  Through the sitting room, there was access to the library.  Even from the foyer, they could observe a notable collection of books, which went from floor to ceiling.  The dark wood made the room inviting, yet the high ceiling in the room made it imposing.

“I see where some of the money from the Swiss bank account was used,” Lee commented at the expensive collection of artwork and other belongings.

“No doubt, take a look at the gourmet kitchen,” Amanda remarked as she looked towards the back of the house.  The impressive kitchen would be the delight of any chef.  The bright sunroom next to it was welcoming with floor to ceiling windows, and a variety of plants, flowers, and furnished with white rattan patio furniture.

“We’ll take the library.  We’ll see if there is a safe hidden somewhere in the room,” Lee replied with a shrug.

“Are you into safecracking?” Bruce Parker asked with a raised eyebrow.

“If necessary,” he answered with a smug grin.

Bruce eyed the wide spiral staircase closest to them leading to the second floor.  Starting for the stairs, he announced, “I’ll check upstairs.  The bedrooms must be up there. Maybe she has an office in the master suite?”

Lee and Amanda strolled through the sitting room, and continued into the library.  The phone in the other room started to ring.

“Do we answer it?” Amanda asked.

“No, let it go to her voice mail.  We’ve got enough to do,” he replied as they began searching the room.

“Exactly what are we looking for, Lee?”

“I’d like to find her financial records, but I’ll settle for anything out of the ordinary,” Lee shrugged as he carefully began to take down the portraits in the room, one by one, believing he might find a wall safe.  “I’m going to look behind all the paintings.”

“She has a remarkable collection of books,” Amanda remarked.  “These must have cost her a small fortune.”

“She’s a lawyer, and lawyers have law books,” Lee answered matter-of-factly.  “Keep looking.”

“No, I’m not talking about her law books, although she has plenty of them,” Amanda noted, as she admired the titles.  “It’s her personal collection.  Some of these appear to be first edition.  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Nathanial Hawthorne…”

“Aren’t they all American authors?”

“Mmm,” Amanda nodded, approving of the selections.  Then she laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Lee asked as he removed another portrait off the wall, to reveal yet another blank wall behind it.

“It appears that she has a complete collection of the Nancy Drew Mystery Series.  I had several books in the series when I was a kid,” she reminisced thumbing through the titles on the bookshelf.  “Oh, Lee, this was one of my favorites, ‘The Hidden Staircase’ oh, and I remember this one, ‘The Hidden Window Mystery’.”

“I don’t suppose she wrote a ‘Hidden Safe Mystery’?  There’s not a safe behind any of these portraits,” Lee groused, frustrated by the lack of progress. Stomping on the hardwood floor, he surmised, “Maybe there’s a floor safe?”

“Perhaps Bruce is having better luck upstairs in the master suite?” Amanda suggested.

“Let’s hope,” Lee nodded, as he systematically studied the wood floor, then got down on his hands and knees and picked up the corner of the rug searching for a hidden floor safe.

“I don’t remember this one, ‘The Clue in the Crumbling Wall’” Amanda called out as she pulled on the book to study it closer.  The bookcase wall opened, exposing a hidden room, barely five feet wide by five feet long.  “Oh my gosh, LEE!”

Lee turned and stared at the tiny room that held an old wooden desk, a chair, and an antique lamp.  “What the… How the hell did you do that?”

She shrugged as they crowded into the room.  Holding the book in her hand, she explained, “I hadn’t read the book and the title sounded interesting.”

“I’ll say,” he answered shaking his head, as he started opening the drawers to the desk.  The top drawer revealed several old photographs haphazardly thrown into the drawer, still in their frames.  “Looks like Lucinda when she was a child.”

“The man looks too old to be her father.  Maybe her grandfather?” she suggested.  “Take it out of the frame and see if there’s a date or name.”

Lee took the photo out of the frame and studied the faded ink.  “Lucy and Granddad at Williamsburg.”

“Lucy?” Amanda replied.  “She doesn’t seem like a ‘Lucy’ to me.”

“Me neither,” Lee nodded as he continued to go through the top drawer. There were other pictures, most of them appeared to be family; none of them had Lucinda in them.

“Don’t you think it’s rather depressing that all these family pictures are stuffed away in a drawer in a hidden room?  They should be displayed on a mantle or somewhere where she can enjoy them,” Amanda commented glumly.

“Hey, don’t start feeling sorry for her.  Remember she tried to blow us up.  She’s a well-educated lawyer with a government job – she made her own bad choices,” Lee began to admonish his wife.

“You’re right,” she sighed.  “I just wonder what happened to make her throw away everything so easily.”

“Greed would be my guess.  Here’s another picture of Lucinda.   I don’t think it’s her father, but she’s holding a diploma.  Must have been her high school graduation – the other grandfather, perhaps?”

“She looks unhappy,” Amanda noticed.  “Maybe they didn’t get along?”

“Or maybe she didn’t get what she wanted for a gift.  That sounds more like the Lucinda we know,” he suggested while he took the photograph and removed it from the frame as well.  “Linda and Grandfather Suttan, 1989.”

“Lucy, Linda…” she remarked with a raised eyebrow.  “Seems as if Lucinda might have some aliases we don’t know about.”

Lee went through the remaining pictures in the drawer, but there weren’t any others with Lucinda in them.  He started to rifle through the desk, opening the drawers on the right side.  It was stuffed with papers.

“Financial records?” Amanda asked in a hopeful voice.

Lee bent down and studied them closer.  Then he pulled the drawer out of the desk, plopped it on top of the desk and started to thumb through the records.

“Bank records for Lucinda Suttan.  Brokerage accounts for Lucinda Suttan,” Lee continued to sift through the files, suddenly smiling.  “BINGO!… Amanda, look, brokerage accounts for Linda Sutton – with an ‘o’, and another one for…”

“Let me guess,” Amanda finished his sentence, “Lucy Sutton?”

Lee shook his head, pointing to the last name, “Actually, it’s Lucy Sutter, with an ‘er’!  I wonder how long she’s been hiding money under different aliases.”

“What else?” Amanda asked, noticing there were other files in the drawer.

Lee pulled out the files, scanning them before handing them over to his wife.  “Looks like real estate holdings.  Most in the name of Lucinda Suttan but here’s one for Linda Sutton, and another for Linda Sutton.”

“I’ll go tell Bruce what we found,” Amanda replied.  “See if he came up with anything.”

Lee nodded.  “I’m going to call Francine. We need to detain Lucinda before she decides to fly the coop.  She needs to answer a whole lot of questions.  We’ll have her start a search of aliases.  There could be more…”

“More what?” Bruce asked as he came into the library and stopped suddenly.  He shook his head and tugged on his mustache.  “How quaint, I should have guessed - a hidden room.”

“We’ve found financial records with the names, Lucinda Suttan, Lucy S-u-t-t-e-r, and Linda S-u-t-t-o-n,” Lee answered.  “She’s purchased real estate under at least two different names.”

“When?” Bruce inquired.

“Looks like 2005 through 2006.”

Bruce winced.  “At the peak of the housing market!  That has got to hurt.  She’s probably upside down in all of her purchases.”

“No doubt,” Amanda agreed and briefed Bruce on the remaining information while Lee dialed his cell phone, “We found some old photographs that suggest she was called ‘Lucy’ and ‘Linda’ by her family at some point in time.  Did you find anything upstairs?”

“She has a personal computer upstairs in an alcove off the master suite,” he answered.  “I booted it up, but it appeared to be wiped clean.  Probably trying to hide financial records on there, no doubt, I’ve already called the office; there will be a FBI team here within an hour.  We’ll need to confiscate it and let the forensic team go over it with a  fine-tooth comb.  I’m sure they can find something.”

“Anything else?” Amanda inquired.

“Her closet is clearly missing a good deal of her clothes, and her jewelry box is totally empty.  Didn’t Francine mention she had quite a collection?”

“Oh, yeah, Lucinda was known for her jewelry.  She often wore bracelets, with matching necklaces and earrings,” Amanda nodded.  “Sounds like she’s planning to run…”

“Damn!” Lee shouted into the phone.  “Put out an APB on her, right now!...  We’ve got probable cause to hold her, Francine….  If Abernathy has a problem with it, tell him we’ll charge him as an accessory!”

“Let me guess, Lucinda Suttan is missing,” FBI agent Bruce Parker speculated with a frown when Lee ended his call.

“Didn’t show for a meeting this morning with the Board of Directors.  Nobody has seen her since she left the Agency yesterday afternoon,” Lee answered before adding, “They called her here at home a couple of times, but she didn’t answer…”

“I’ll go talk with her housekeeper.  See when she saw Lucinda last and find out if she knows anything,” Amanda replied, but her voice had little enthusiasm.  “I’ll bet she’s in the dark, but it’s worth a try.”

“You were right, Amanda,” Lee said.

“About what?” she asked as she cocked her head curiously.

“That we’ve underestimated Lucinda from the start…” Lee answered, while his wife went over to the door to question the housekeeper.  “We’ve got to stop her before she leaves the country or we may never find her.”

End Part Thirteen
 

Coming soon:  Part Fourteen
 
 

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