Sunday Evening August 24th
 

“Mother, you wouldn’t believe how big Abby has gotten.  She can stand by herself now.  I’m sure she’ll be walking any day now,” Amanda chatted happily with her mother about her recent visit to her youngest son’s home.

“Yes, I could tell from the pictures that she’s grown.  She’ll be chasing after that brother of hers, no doubt.”

“Did I mention that Andy wanted me to paint his room green?  It’s his favorite color.  He’ll only drink out of a green cup, use a green toothbrush, and eat off a green plate.  If I had more time, I tell you, I would have taken him down to Home Depot and picked out the paint.  Instead, we spent some time coloring.  He made a few pictures for his Grandpa.  I promised to bring them to him.  Tell me, how did your visit with Lee go?”

“We had a pleasant chat.  Naturally, we spoke about you.  He’s rather worried about your health.”

“Mother, you know Lee worries about me as much as you do!”  Amanda remarked before placing another forkful of succotash into her mouth.

“You seem to have your appetite back,” Dotty noticed, as she smiled in relief.

Amanda swallowed before answering.  “Pot roast and succotash, Mother, you know they’re my favorites.”

“There’s plenty more if you want seconds,” her mother advised her.

“As tempting as the offer is, you gave me a rather large portion.  I think I’ve had enough,” she answered, putting the last bite of pot roast into her mouth and dropping her fork on her clean plate.  “Cindy is such a wonderful cook.  It seemed like all I did there was eat.  She and Andy made cupcakes and their cookie jar had homemade cookies in them.  I don’t know how Jamie stays so thin. Certainly, I nibbled more than I should have.”

Dotty smiled, pleased by the relaxed change in her daughter.  “I’m glad you had such a terrific visit.”

“I really did.  On my way home, I picked up a couple of movies for tonight,” Amanda announced,  “I’ll clean up the kitchen and you can decide which movie you want to watch first.”

“Good!” Dotty picked up her plate, went into the kitchen with it, and placed it on the counter.   Amanda was right behind her.  “I think we’ve seen every DVD in this house at least a half dozen times.”  Then Dotty went into the family room and looked for the movies.

“I know,” Amanda called out, as she began to load the dishwasher.  “That’s why I stopped before I got home!  It’s such a hassle getting through the throng of media outside.”

“I think some of them left.  If we’re lucky, maybe they won’t come back,” Dotty replied, as she read the movie titles her daughter had chosen.  Before she could make a selection, the doorbell rang.

They looked at each other for a moment before Amanda shook her head.  “Will they never quit?”

“Let me get the door.”

“No, Mother, you go pick out what movie you want to see first. I’m tired of being a prisoner in my own home.  I’ll give them a piece of my mind.”

Amanda hastily walked to the front door, ready to chase off the brazen reporter who had foolishly chosen to ring her doorbell.  She didn’t even look through the peephole to see who it was.  She unlocked the door and pulled on it vengefully.

“For the last time,” Amanda began to shout when she stopped suddenly, mid-sentence.  She stared at the two women standing on her doorstep.  She knew them both.  “Oh my gosh, Jeannie Melrose!?” she gasped with astonishment.

“Hello, Amanda,” Billy’s widow replied with a pleasant smile and warm voice.  “You remember my daughter, Janet?”

“Yes, of… of course,” she stammered, startled by the unannounced visit.  She hadn’t seen or heard from Jeannie Melrose since before Lee was arrested.  Having been recently terminated by the Agency, Amanda was somewhat mistrustful of this sudden surprise visit and was a bit apprehensive of inviting them inside.

“Amanda, I should have called you after Lee’s arrest, or have written a note…”

“Lee’s innocent,” Amanda stated definitively, clinging tightly to the half-opened door, still not certain she was buying Jeannie’s unexpected appearance as friendly support.

“You’re right,” Janet offered swiftly, lifting up a leather attaché case.  “Mrs. Stetson, could we please come inside?  I’d like to share some documents with you.”

Jeannie must have read the distrust on her face.  “Amanda, I can understand your skepticism given what you must have gone through over the last few months.  I assure you, our intention is to help.  We all know Lee Stetson is an honorable man, and I think it’s high time we bring the truth to light.”

Amanda was persuaded by the conviction in Jeannie’s voice.  Her daughter Janet’s eyes were pleading with her to believe them.  Not wanting to let her guard down totally, Amanda nodded ever so slightly before opening the door. “You can come in - for a few minutes…”

“Thank you,” Jeannie and Janet chorused as they walked inside.

Amanda led them to the family room, and pointed to the couch.   “Have a seat.”

“Amanda?!” Dotty whispered urgently, when she saw the women sit down.

Looking over her shoulder at her mother, she explained in an unruffled, but resolute voice.  “It’s all right, Mother, I know them.  They’re not reporters.  This is Jeannie Melrose and her daughter, Janet.  Mr. Melrose was my supervisor at the Agency for many years.”

“Yes, I remember meeting him,” Dotty replied flatly, obviously not warming up to their houseguests.

“They claim to have some information to help Lee’s case,” Amanda explained to her mother, but her tone was clear – Amanda Stetson was not naïve as her husband suggested in court.  She was cynical and more than a bit wary about her guests.  Turning back to her callers, she replied.  “I’m listening…”

“Amanda, is your house… have you…” Jeannie Melrose fidgeted uncomfortably, before finally finishing her sentence, “have you check…  You know, have you checked your house recently for listening devices?”

“Yes,” she nodded matter-of-factly.  “I swept it before dinner.”

“Good!”  Jeannie replied, obviously relieved as she nodded to her daughter to begin.

Janet didn’t waste any time.  She opened up her attaché case and removed a file that had more than a dozen sheets of paper inside.  “When I was promoted at NSA a few years back, my father visited me at my new office.  I thought he came over to congratulate me again on my promotion.  However, that wasn’t his intent.  Instead, he gave me copies of some files – highly classified files.  He explained to me that very few people were aware that these files existed, let alone knew what were in them.”

Amanda sat in the chair close by, listening very intently.

“At the time, I glanced through the files briefly, catching a few names that I had overheard my father mention over the years.  Some of them, like Mr. Stetson, I had met on more than one occasion. Dad often talked about Mr. Stetson; actually, he’d call him by his codename - ‘Scarecrow’.  He trusted and respected him.  My father was adamant that I keep these files under lock and key, but at my access because someday they might be needed.”

“Why didn’t you come forward sooner?” Amanda questioned accusingly.  “Lee was arrested in May.  It’s been on the news for the last three months.  Why not back then; why now?”

Janet truly had a look of remorse on her face.  “Mrs. Stetson, I am terribly sorry.  At the time Dad gave me the files, I didn’t understand their true value.  I was busy in my new position; I never read the files until… well until earlier today.  I hadn’t heard about Mr. Stetson being on trial until last week.”

“How could you not know?  It’s been on every news station, every night since the middle of June…” she began to shout angrily before Jeannie interrupted her.

“Amanda, please,” Jeannie pleaded with her to listen. “Janet’s marriage fell apart about the same time Lee was arrested.”

Amanda’s head turned from Janet who had a forlorn face, to Jeannie who patted her daughter’s arm, and then back to Janet again.

“Mrs. Stetson, I came home from work early one afternoon in May and found my husband and my so-called best friend in bed together.  I was devastated.  I packed my bags and the next day, I filed for divorce.  When my husband got served with the papers, he started calling me day and night begging for forgiveness, but that wasn’t the first time he’d cheated on me.  However, it would be the last.  I needed to get away, so I took a leave of absence, got in my car, and drove.   I wanted to get as far away from DC as I could, and ended up spending most of the summer in the remote parts of Alaska.”

“Without cell phone service!” Jeannie piped in, giving her daughter a reproving glare.

“I see,” Amanda answered, still not sure how any of this was going to help.

“Since I was in Alaska, I haven’t watched much television, or read many newspapers.  What little I did hear about television was about the upcoming election,” she paused staring at her mother for a moment, “As my mom already mentioned, I didn’t have cell phone service in many of the places I stayed.”

“Other than the occasional email from her, I wasn’t sure where she was, or if she was dead or alive,” Jeannie explained, giving her daughter a disproving shake of her head.  “The subject of Lee Stetson never came up because, well, I didn’t know she had any information to help him.”

“So you finally mentioned it to Janet?” Amanda guessed, glancing at both of the women.

“No, I met this guy at the place I was staying at about two weeks ago.  He looked like he could use a friend and I struck up a conversation.  Over the course of the week, it came up that he had passed the bar exam earlier in the year.  Then, he mentioned that his law career was probably over.  I asked him why, and he explained he had recently been fired from his job in Virginia.  Turns out, he was working for the District Attorney.”

“Quentin Broderick?”

“Yes!” Janet replied.  “At first, I assumed since the guy was a new attorney, maybe he messed something up and deserved to be fired.  I didn’t press the subject with him, but we kind of hit it off and talked to each other a lot.  We would hike together in the woods, and the more we talked, the more of the facts came to light.  I realized that poor Charlie, that’s the guys’ name, didn’t do anything wrong.  In fact, he was trying to do something right and got seriously screwed.”

Amanda was beginning to lose her skepticism.  She leaned closer, wanting to hear all the details and how it was going to help prove Lee’s innocence.   “Go on…”

“Apparently, Charlie Jefferson was assigned by the D.A. to dig up any dirt on Lee Stetson.  Being a new attorney, Charlie took on the assignment with zeal, assuming that Mr. Stetson really was guilty.  Since he worked for the Agency so long, his files were rather….”  Janet paused for a moment, appearing to be a little uneasy.

Amanda could read the women’s discomfort.  Knowing Lee often didn’t do things ‘by the book’, she was well aware of his rather colorful personnel file.  She knew it was filled with warnings, letters of reprimand, and the like.  She supplied Janet with a fitting description, “Bulky and eventful.”

Janet smiled jovially, flashing her bright white smile at Amanda.  “Yes, that would be a nice way of putting it.  Anyway, Charlie was extremely thorough and wanted to show the D.A. that he could tackle a tough assignment.  Somehow, he got a hold of my father’s files and eventually found out that the man they were prosecuting for being a traitor was anything but!”

Amanda put two and two together.  “Are those the same files your father gave to you?”

“From what Charlie told me, I figured they were.  I tried to convince Charlie to come back to Virginia with me, but no matter how hard I tried to persuade him, he wouldn’t budge.  I immediately made arrangements to fly back home and get a look at the files Dad asked me to safeguard,” Janet replied, opening up the file and handing the information to Amanda.

“Can this prove that Lee wasn’t a double agent?” Amanda asked excitedly.

“Well, not exactly,” Janet replied as Amanda’s interest swiftly turn to disappointment.  Janet promptly continued, “Quentin Broderick wasn’t totally off-base.  It is true that Lee Stetson was approached by Anton Yushenko to be a double agent.  Lee never did report that meeting to his superior in Berlin.  What Quentin Broderick failed to mention is Lee reported those meetings directly to his confidant back in the U.S.”

“He told Harry Thornton!” Amanda answered without missing a beat.

“Yeah!” Janet answered, astounded by Amanda’s perception.

“And Harry convinced him to become a triple agent!”

“You already know all this?” Janet asked, her mouth hanging open in total surprise.

“Oh my gosh, no!” Amanda answered, putting a comforting hand on Janet’s arm.

“But…” Janet was perplexed.

“I suspected it once Lee admitted in court that he was working as a double agent, but I had no proof.  Since Harry is dead, Lee probably didn’t know where to find proof either.  It makes perfect sense though.  Harry was like a father to Lee and Harry was a triple agent, too,” Amanda cried out in a mixture of joy and relief.  “Is this everything in Lee’s file?”

“No, Lee’s files are rather extensive.  I only brought what was pertinent to this case.”

“May I?” Amanda asked.

“Of course,” Janet nodded.

Amanda took the file from Janet and thumbed through the pages.  Then she scrutinized the pages carefully, reading them word by word, page by page.  It was all there.  Lee being a young agent with his first assignment behind the Iron Curtain who wasn’t sure which side the local security chief’s loyalty was.  Instead of reporting his contacts and meeting with Yushenko to the local security chief, he reported directly to the Agency founder and the man he fully trusted – Harry Thornton.

When she finished reading the documents, she looked back up to Janet.  Amanda style, she asked several rapid-fire questions.  “Will these documents be admissible in court?  Do we need the originals?  Can we get Charlie back here to testify?”

Shaking her head, she replied.  “I doubt Charlie will come back voluntarily.  Your attorney will need to issue a subpoena.  Broderick’s a powerful man and he scared the hell out of the guy.  The originals would certainly be better than these copies.  I’m sure the D.A. will argue their authenticity and will try to get them thrown out.  At the very least, if they’re allowed, this should give the jury reasonable doubt.”

“Broderick knows that Lee is innocent and he’s still going on with the case!  What did Broderick say to this Charlie person?” Amanda asked, furious at the thought.

“It seems Broderick tried to convince Charlie that the files were forgeries.  Charlie Jefferson may be an inexperienced attorney, but he’s not stupid.  He knew they were real,” Janet explained to them.  Her voice was steady, but clearly filled with anger.  “The day after Charlie showed the files to Quentin Broderick, he was abruptly terminated.  For a new attorney, being fired from your first position in the middle of a high profile case can be a deathblow to your career.  Charlie thought it was all a big mistake, so the guy hung around until Broderick left that night expecting to straighten things out.  That’s when Broderick threatened to have him disbarred if these documents came to light.”

“Doesn’t he realize that he’s playing with the life of an innocent man?” Dotty gasped in disbelief.

Now Jeannie Melrose spoke again.  Having been married to the Agency’s section chief for years, she obviously understood the politics of Washington, DC.  She remarked knowingly, “Mr. Broderick has too much invested in this case to turn back now.  He’s staked his career on putting away the ‘bad seed’ as he called Lee.  It wouldn’t end his career, but certainly it would be a severe blow to his reputation.”

“My mother’s right,” Janet agreed, putting in her two cents.  “Broderick made it perfectly clear that he wants to be considered for a judgeship.  The press would color him a fool.  This case could haunt him for the rest of his career.   At the very least, his chance for a seat on the bench would be off the fast track, perhaps even derailed for years.”

“There must be official records of your father’s files.  We need to get a hold of them,” Amanda remarked thoughtfully.  “I can keep these, can’t I?”

“Yes, of course,” Janet nodded.  “As for the official files, according to Charlie, they’re at the D.A.’s office.”

Amanda blinked at Janet’s last statement.  “They’re still in Broderick’s office?”

“Yeah,” she nodded.  “Charlie never expected to be fired.”

“I’ll have to contact Lee’s attorney and tell him the news.  You know, I’ve been dreading court tomorrow thinking Quentin Broderick seemed to be holding all the cards.  Now it appears that we’ve got the winning hand.”

“If the files are still intact, they’re quite extensive.  From what Charlie told me, he was reading through my father’s papers for weeks before he came across the paperwork that exonerates Lee.”

“The D.A. should be brought up on charges,” Dotty piped in.

“That’s not entirely out of the question given what we have here,” Janet answered.

“I need to call Jacob Goldberg.  He’s going to want to talk to you and see these files,” Amanda remarked, getting up to get her phone.  Before leaving the room, she first gave Janet a big hug and then Jeannie.  “Thank you, both.  I’m sorry I was so… rude to you.”

“Amanda, no apology needed,” Jeannie Melrose answered.  “My husband had the highest regards for both you and Lee.  You two were always there for him, and we’re happy to return the favor.”

“Can I get you two some coffee or something?” Amanda suggested eagerly.

“No, thank you,” Janet responded, standing up and helping her mother to her feet.  “It’s been a long day.”

“I can’t thank you enough,” Amanda replied as they walked to the door.  “There must be something I can do?”

“How about dinner when Lee gets home, I haven’t been to Randy’s for beer and steak in years,” Jeannie suggested.  “Last time we went there, I don’t think Janet was old enough to drink.”

“Oh, Mother!” Janet replied, rolling her eyes.

Amanda laughed.  “Then it’s decided, beer and steaks on Lee – soon!”

End Part Five
 

Go to:  Part Six
 

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