by Gary Sapp
assignation target for an agent of A House in Chains or even a private citizen and I have planned accordingly.”
“I’m not sure that Serena’s assignation is your biggest concern.”
“Then spit it out, Doctor what is my biggest concern?”
“She is anticipating an assignation attempt on her life. She is going to use the increased security against your people. Pandora has a stupid codename for everything. I believe they call it Operation Deliverance. Serena is plotting her escape.”
Thomas
Lindsey Harmon Attorney at Law:
She was a slender former beauty with dark circles loitering underneath her green eyes. She had laugh lines boarding the corners of her mouth she reeked of stale cigarette smoke from her red hair and beige suit.
Thomas Pepper hoped for his sake that she knew her way around the law better than she did the bedroom. So far, so good, he thought, she seemed to be holding her own for round two against both of the FBI agents crowding him in this stuffy interrogation room.
Agent Tabitha Blue was about ten years to young…and by her naked ring finger, too single for his liking, but he couldn’t deny the woman a certain sex appeal. She tried to bury it behind her tough talk and that badge clipped to her hip.
And the fact that she may be attempting to link him to Serna Tennyson and Pandora wasn’t enduring him to her either.
“I was speaking to you about time, Agent Blue, especially in light of how much of my client’s that you and your partner are wasting with this so called interview with him.” Lindsey was giving her hell. “You have Atlanta citizens who have been slaughtered. Our esteemed Mayor has been assassinated. And now, there is some type of unknown threat that has been lodged at the children of this city. My client’s home was broken to, he did this interview with Serena Tennyson fearing for his life, and you two are busy trying to tie him to these terrorist.” She paused for effect, her wrinkled finger flicking a pencil back in forth. “Am I missing something here?”
“We’re trying to cover all of our bases, Counselor.” Agent Blue said. “I’m not sure why he even felt the need to call you at all. We are just having a quiet, civilized conversation.”
“Civilized,” Lindsey inhaled audibly and peeked over at Agent Prince who was sitting on the other side of the table, his legs dangling off of the floor. He was playing the role of The Good Cop in this game. “This conversation stopped being civilized, as you say, a long time ago.” His attorney used the pencil to flip through her notes and added: “Furthermore, Agent Blue, I see no formal charges lying on this table in front of us. So my client is exercising his rights to exit these proceedings at the time of his choosing. Either we move along to a different line of questioning or we will walk. Have I made myself clear, lady? ”
Blue smiled, highlighting her overbite, reached back, and handed Agent Prince a slim pile of documents. Thomas couldn’t see what they were…and not for a lack of trying. Prince scanned them without taking them. If it didn’t involve him directly, he would actually find this interplay quite fascinating in fact. Thomas knew hundreds of law enforcement across the country, this good cop/bad copy routine wasn’t a new thing, but the way it was playing out was something else entirely. Blue and Prince were more along the lines of impatient cop/ distracted cop. Since they’d reentered the room a few minutes ago, Prince had settled for sitting like a hermit on the other side of the table with a look of…preoccupation buried on his dark, hairless brow. He’d even gone as far to ignore two phone calls that had buzzed in his pocket.
“Okay Miss Harmon, you’ve made your point, let’s move on then.” Blue dropped those same documents within Lindsey’s grasp. Thomas’ mouth went dry and he felt a gnawing in his gut. “It has already been established that your client is at least of questionable character and these papers prove it.”
“What are these?” His attorney asked.
“The first one is a DUI. The next two are separate disorderly conduct citations.”
Thomas hopped out of his seat.
“What is this really about?” He asked. He snatched the papers from Lindsey who was pleading with him with her green eyes to sit back down and let her handle this. “The DUI was in college. I was a kid. These other charges were five and ten years ago.”
Blue pushed another sheet of paper with a government letterhead at him. “This audit done by our sister agency, The IRS, was just two years ago.”
“Again, that’s old news.” Lindsey chimed in from her seat. “My firm handled this case—
“And I’ve paid that money back, with interest.” Thomas stuck his hands in his pocket.
“In legal terms this is all ancient history, Agent Blue.” Lindsey scratched at the back of her left ear with her fingernail. Thomas knew from past experience that she was getting irritable and needed a cigarette. She gathered all her notes in a pile and rose to leave.
“I do in fact.” Blue thumbed methodically through a separate file of papers, sensing his attorney’s inpatients, for exactly what she wanted. “And in fact, knowing your client’s reputation, this doesn’t surprise me a bit. I have a sexual harassment claim against Mr. Pepper by a female columnist he worked with at The Washington Post back in January while they completed an expose.”
Thomas found his seat without looking at it, his anger hovering dangerously prevalent near the surface. “We worked jointly on the piece that ran in the paper over four consecutive weeks.” He said. “I wasn’t in DC for very long.”
Blue smiled, “That means you had to work really fast, Thomas. The harassment—“
“The harassment consisted of us going out and having a few drinks…a few sessions. She thought it was the start of something more permanent. She was wrong.”
“Thomas Pepper, she filed for divorce from her husband in the short time while you were in Washington.”
“Their marriage was already on the rocks, Agent Blue.” Thomas rubbed at the two day old beard on his face.”
“You’ll see two separate files for files of divorce, two more requests for legal separation, and half a dozen claims and counter of claims of domestic battery. That relationship was in shambles. Someone should thank Mr. Pepper for providing a public service by helping to finish sinking a ship that had been treading water.” Although Thomas could have lived without her last comment, Lindsey was doing his person and his wallet justice. “We’re done here.” Lindsey began to rise again.
“One last thing, Counselor,” Blue flashed her overbite again. Lindsey bobtailed into her seat, her smoke break denied again. Thomas fluttered in his seat, perspiration building along his thick neck and under his arms.
This time she slid some colored photos at Lindsey. She directed her conversation at Thomas. “After we apprehended Serena Tennyson and started our investigation, we took these pictures inside your townhouse.”
The FBI had dozens of pictures of his wall that he had dedicated to Serena Tennyson’s likeness. He had magazine clippings, artist renditions, internet postings, and the entire works there now apparently, for the entire world to see.
Lindsey was shaking her head. “What my client does in his place of residence—“
“It’s not just these pictures that I want you to see, Counselor.” Agent Blue supplied a packet apparently with more photos and dumped the stash on table, so many in fact that many fell to the floor. “This is the picture of the woman in Washington, DC, do you see the resemblance between her and Serena Tennyson. Look at the picture of this woman, Miss Harmon, who Thomas has been seen with socially on his frequent visits back to his hometown in Chicago. Again, the striking resemblance to the woman we have locked up in here.”
In the next five minutes Agent Tabitha Blue flashed three more women who shared at least some of Serena’s features or characteristics of pastel colored skin, a slim frame, long legs, or red hair…like even the style Lucy Burgess had worn for a time when they first began their affair.
“Even you share some of these features, Miss Harmon?” Agent Blue said as
a matter of fact. “You’re a smart woman, Counselor. You weren’t out of line when you reminded me of what has transpired over the past few days. It is my job to help prevent more atrocities like these from occurring. And part of my job is questioning if this man has deeper ties to the most ruthless woman in the entire world right now?”
“My client is not the subject on your investigation.” Lindsey’s tone hardened with each word. “Furthermore, his private life, who he see, who he sleeps with, their marital status, and what these women look like are not your business—“
“It’s alright,” Thomas squeezed his lawyer’s wrist and focused all his attention and energy on Agent Blue. “I’ll take this one.”
Lindsey was still shaking her head, her green eyes cutting at him, reminding him to tread carefully; there was blood in the water…blood and a hungry shark.
“I’m attracted to Serena Tennyson. The shrine I’ve dedicated to her in my home speaks to that.” Thomas said. “And, in some cases, I have fraternized with women—especially involved women who share some of her features. I am a man who is energized by the prospect of bedding forbidden fruit.” The most immoral of men are often the most honest. They have a clear understanding of who they are. Mayor Ernestine Johnson had said in truth to him from her dying bed. They know what they want, and they prepare to sacrifice whatever they feel