The Ties That Bind: A Scarecrow and Mrs. King Continuing Story Book 1

Chapter 14

Day 7

"Billy, I should have known," Lee paced Billy's office and ran a hand over his hair. "You'd think by now I'd know to listen to Amanda's hunches."

"There was no way to know, Scarecrow," Billy sat calmly behind his desk. "Don't get down on yourself. Fred's worked here for years; he had all of us fooled."

Lee turned around, strode to a chair in front of Billy's desk and dropped into it. "Yeah, well, what I don't get yet is why. Why would Fred hook up with Davy, and what in the world does June have to do with all of this?"

"I have a feeling those are the million-dollar questions."

There was a knock at the door; Billy motioned for Francine and Amanda to enter. "So, did you find anything?" Lee asked as they came in.

"It took a lot of digging; but, oh, did we find something," Francine held up the file in her hand and waved it back and forth.

"Well?" Lee was impatient. He wanted this to be over and his wife to be safe.

"You wanna give us the short version?" Billy prompted.

"Yes, Sir," Amanda sat in the chair next to Lee's. "It seems that Fred and Davy go way back. Way, way back."

"Yeah, like 'back to childhood' back," Francine inserted.

"No..." Lee drew out the word in disbelief. "Let me see that," He grabbed the file from Francine's hand before she even had a chance to offer it to him. "Are they family?" He opened the file and skimmed the first page.

"Not really," Amanda answered. "But they did grow up together in the same boys' home in Bethesda."

"That's not in either of their files," Billy pointed out. "Why is that not in their files?"

"I don't know," Francine shrugged. "It should have been. How could the agency have missed something like that?"

"Hmmm..."

Lee looked over at his wife to see her brow furrowed. "Amanda?"

"I just had a thought." Her gazed bounced between the three of them.

"Just say it, Amanda," Lee encouraged her.

"Okay, but I don't even know if it's important." She looked around again. "You remember three years ago when that Buzz Blade actor tried to kill Lee?"

"Russell Sinclair." Francine sighed. "Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?"

Lee held up his hand, shot Francine a frown, then looked back at Amanda. "Go on, Sweetheart." Francine rolled her eyes. She rarely followed Amanda's logistical gymnastics.

"What was that lady's name in personnel who hired him and left information out of his file?"

"Patsy," Billy stood abruptly. "Patsy Peters!"

Francine's eyes went wide. "You don't think she..."

"...Did the same thing with Frank's and Davy's files?" Lee shook his head. "Well, that would explain some things, but honestly, Amanda, I'm not sure how that helps us at this point."

Amanda bit her lip. "Yeah, I know. But it at least answers the questions about why they would be working together and why we didn't make the connection." She looked around at the other three in the room. "And it might create some more questions that need answers like, 'who else did she do this with, and do we need to go back over all those files?'"

"More importantly," Francine brought the conversation back around to their current situation and nodded toward the file in Lee's hand. "Maybe this answers the question as to what Davy and Frank are up to and why." The other three looked over at her, waiting for her to continue. "Oh, come on." She rolled her eyes. "Who put Davy away?" She shot a pointed look at Lee. "It wasn't Santa Claus."