Intersection (31 page)

allon entered the room to find Congressman Christopher O’Brien far more alert and mobile than he expected. The ability to eat and to sit for long periods of time was helping to increase the congressman’s speech and concentration. “I see you are feeling better,” the agent greeted the man.

“Agent Fallon, what brings you here?”

Fallon pulled a chair alongside the hospital bed. “Well, Congressman, I had hoped you could shed some light on Mr. Fisher.”

“Carl Fisher was a photographer on my campaign.”

“Yes, I know, and Mrs. O’Brien asked you to dismiss him,” Fallon said.

“And I did.”

“For what reason?”

“I assume you know that, Mr. Fallon. Why don’t you get to your point?” The congressman said abruptly.

Fallon nodded. “Fine. What made you employ a CIA agent as a photographer?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about, Mr. Fallon. Mr. Fisher was recommended to me by a fraternity brother, Jon Krause.”

“I see. So, when Mrs. O’Brien first told you she had concerns about Mr. Fisher…you refused to let him go.”

“Look, Agent…not that it is any of your business…”

“Congressman, anything that might endanger Mrs. O’Brien, you or your son IS my business,” Brian Fallon asserted.

The congressman narrowed his gaze. “Not that it is your business, but Mrs. O’Brien was quite emotional then.”

“How so?” Fallon asked.

The congressman gave the agent a look of disgust, “we were trying to conceive and it was not going well. She was very distraught.”

“So you thought her distress over this inability to get pregnant made her hysterical?”

“Not hysterical, emotional,” Congressman O’Brien answered.

“But you finally let him go?”

“Yes. I did. Though I never thought he was a threat.”

“Well, we believe he IS a threat,” the agent offered.

“You also believe he is CIA,” the congressman rolled his eyes.

Agent Fallon nodded. He had spent many years as a detective interrogating suspects and he knew how to play nearly every game a suspect or witness wanted to engage in. Congressman O’Brien knew
something
. What it was, Fallon was not certain. Whatever Christopher O’Brien was hiding, he was willing to risk Cassidy’s safety to keep it a secret. “Congressman,” Agent Fallon rose to his feet and turned his back to the man in the bed, “I don’t, as you put it,
believe
that Carl Fisher was a CIA agent; I
KNOW
that he was…when he worked on your campaign.”

“Why would the CIA be interested in my campaign, Agent?”

“If I knew that Sir, I would not be here asking you.”

“Perhaps you should ask Cassie,” the congressman shot back.

“Why would Mrs. O’Brien have information about that?”

The congressman smirked as his girlfriend entered the room. “Jon Krause. He and Cassie were good friends when we were together.”

“Your fraternity brother?”

“That’s right. Cassidy studied in France for six months her senior year. Jon was working there at the time. They became close. That’s how Fisher got the job.” The congressman turned to his girlfriend. “Is that all, agent?’

Agent Fallon offered a fake smile. “For now.”

***

Alex put her mug in the sink and kissed Cassidy on the head. “Gotta’ go,” she said. “Cass?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“For what? The teacher inquired.

“For everything,” Alex smiled at her lover receiving a knowing smile in return. “See ya’ Speed Racer!” She called into the living room.

“BYE ALEX!” He yelled.

Alex opened the front door and stopped. “What the hell?” The agent slowly closed the door and headed back in the house to the kitchen, her hand gently resting on her sidearm.

“Forget something?” Cassidy called lightheartedly before looking up from her coffee to see Alex’s expression.

“Cass, go into the study with Dylan and lock the door until I come for you. Do you understand?”

“Alex, what’s…”

“Cassidy…just do it. Please.” Cassidy’s felt her heart drop and her stomach rise as she nodded and headed to retrieve her son.

“Mom!”

“Dylan,” Cassidy cautioned.

Alex walked to the doorway and looked directly at the boy. “Dylan, do as your mother says.” The boy saw the intensity in his hero’s eyes and obeyed. Cassidy looked at Alex in fear as she moved down the short hallway. “Cass, just go…I’ll be back.” The agent withdrew her side arm and began to sweep through the house. It was empty. She headed back to the door and opened it slowly. She pulled the phone from her pocket. “Fallon?”

“Toles? What’s wrong?”

“Fallon, he was here.”

Brian Fallon felt his heart begin to pound. “Fisher? How do you know?”

“There’s a letter on the door. It’s him, it’s definitely him. I need you to call that contact of yours at the P.D.”

“Toles…I’ll get Tate…”

Alex cut her partner off, “no….no Tate.”

“Why?” Fallon asked.

“NO TATE,” Alex answered forcefully, “just….Fallon…. shit…..”

“What? What is it?” Agent Toles remained silent. “Alex….. what the hell is going on?”

“Well Cassidy finally…we will see…you and I…she’ll be gone…. Will be soon…we will dance…you will die,” Alex read the words aloud.

“Is that the letter?”

“Yeah.” Alex felt sick. “I need to get this bagged and I need to get to Cassidy.”

“Where is she?”

“She’s here.”

“Look Toles, maybe this isn’t the time but….”

Alex was running low on patience. “What is it, Fallon?”

“Well, O’Brien…he told me he hired Fisher on a recommendation from some fraternity brother…said the guy was friends with Cassidy when she lived in France. Jon Krause.”

Alex went numb. “What was his name?”

“Krause. Why? Do you know him?”

“Not exactly. He knows Cassidy?” Alex pinched the bridge of her nose.

“According to O’Brien.”

“Shit. How does he? Never mind. Fallon, call that detective….and check on Brackett, see what case she’s working.”

Fallon was confused. “Why? What does Brackett’s…”

“Just do it, Fallon. I’ll call you later.” Alex took a deep breath. She made her way to the trunk of her car and retrieved her case. Slowly, she peeled the letter from the door, placed it in a bag and deposited it in her case. She took a deep breath, closed the door and headed for Cassidy and Dylan. “It’s me.”

Cassidy opened the door and looked at the agent. “Alex?” There was a distance in the agent’s eyes that scared Cassidy more than what had just happened. “Alex…what…”

“Call your mother,” Alex said. “See if she can come get Dylan.”

“Why?”

Alex looked at her lover with a vacancy in her stare. “We need to talk. I’ll be back in a few a minutes. Please call her.” Alex walked away through the front door and put her face in her hands. Why would Cassidy be involved with Jon Krause? What hadn’t Cassidy O’Brien told her? She sat on the stoop and tried to calm her anger and her doubt as a million questions collided with endless emotions. She walked to the car and sat in the passenger’s seat, opening the glove box and retrieving the small black flip phone she kept there. Why would Cassidy lie to her about anything? What was going on?

“Toles?” The voice came over the phone.

“Taylor, is Brady coming here?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Can you process something for me, here in New York if I give it to him?”

“Of course.”

“Can you put someone outside this afternoon?” Alex asked.

“Yeah. Toles…what the hell is going on?”

“What do you know about Jonathan Krause?” Alex asked her friend.

The phone was quiet for a few beats. “Smart, CIA… maybe more, connected. Why?”

“He knows Cassidy.”

“How?” Taylor asked.

“I don’t know, something about France,” Alex explained.

“She told you that?” He asked.

“No. She didn’t.”

“Toles…I’m sure it’s just…”

“There are no coincidences, Taylor. Wherever four corners meet…they meet for a reason.”

“Toles….”

“I gotta’ go,” Alex said dryly.

Rose scooted Dylan out the front door and Cassidy made her way to the living room. She sat down on the large sofa with her hands in her lap and looked at Alex. The agent seemed almost cold and Cassidy felt as if her heart were breaking in two. “Alex, please…. Tell me what is going on.”

“Jon Krause.” Alex said. Cassidy looked at her as if to ask why that name was important. The agent turned her back momentarily before facing the teacher again. “You know him.”

“Of course I know him,” Cassidy said as a pure matter of fact.

“How?” Alex asked pointedly.

“What does Jon Krause have to do…”

Alex interrupted her lover. “How, Cassidy?”

“He’s one of Chris’s fraternity brothers.”

“And?” Alex asked.

“And what?”

“Why were you in France with him?’

“What?” Cassidy asked, beginning to move from worried to angry.

“Well?” Alex pressed.

“I wasn’t in France with him.”

“That’s not what your husband says.”

“My
husband?
” Alex stared blankly at the blonde woman. Cassidy let out a sarcastic chuckle. “Well, my
ex-husband
might have told you that Jon and I lived in France at the same time. We did not live together.”

Alex’s temple twitched. “Why were you in France?”

Cassidy had reached her limit. “Why were you in the Army?”

“This isn’t about me, Cassidy.”

“Really? You sure about that, Agent Toles?”

“Why?” Alex asked again.

Cassidy nodded in disgust. “I studied French abroad for six months my senior year. It happened to be my minor.”

“And Krause?” Alex asked trying to suppress her emotion.

“He worked there for some contractor. He was a friend; an American friend in a foreign country.”

“That’s all?” Alex asked, the skepticism evident in her voice.

“Should there be more?”

“You tell me.” Another sarcastic chuckle erupted from the small blonde whose anger was now reaching the boiling point. “Why wouldn’t you tell me that?”

“Tell you WHAT? That I know Jon Krause or that I studied in France?” The agent did not answer. “I don’t know, it didn’t come up in the last WEEK.”

Alex took a deep breath. “Yeah. So what do you know about Krause?”

Cassidy was done with the questioning and disgusted by Alex’s apparent mistrust of her. “Well, okay…. He lived in France. He likes cappuccinos, but only with skim milk, old movies, he went to Stanford and he tried to put the moves on me once, unsuccessfully, I might add. What else do you want to know?”

“It’s not funny Cassidy. I’m trying to protect you.”

“No. You’re interrogating me like I have something to hide from you.” Cassidy rose to her feet and met the agent eye to eye. Pain and anger burned within her. “You know what, Alex? I don’t know what the hell this is about and I really don’t care. If you don’t love me enough to trust me then we have nowhere to go. I have no idea where this is coming from but I will be dammed if I will sit here after everything I have said to you, given you, and have you treat me like a common criminal. Whatever it is, Agent Toles,” she looked directly in the agent’s eyes, “figure it out. You know where I am.” Cassidy left the room. Alex stood silent as she heard the bedroom door slam, suddenly aware of what she had done.