Finding Phillip…
 
 

Late Wednesday afternoon
 

The chilly winter day was waning, and the sun was filtering through the leaf barren trees.  They drove south towards Philip’s college as fast as Lee dared without being pulled over by local police.  He glanced at his wife who was nervously trying to reach her son to no avail.

“Still no answer at his dorm room,” Amanda grumbled anxiously, hanging up her cell phone in obvious frustration.

“If security did what you asked them to, he’s probably sitting in their office now wondering what the hell’s going on,” he suggested, hoping to improve her mood or at least temporarily ease her mind.  “That’s why he’s not answering his phone.”

“I hope you’re right.  Maybe I should call security again…”

“Sweetheart, we’ll be there in a few minutes,” he reminded her as he pulled off the highway and started the short drive through town.  “He’ll be fine.”

“Lee, you heard what Tippy said about ‘taking care’ of somebody.  What if…” she paused for a moment and with a voice filled with fear, she speculated, “what if my father didn’t actually have a heart attack?  What if it was made to look like a heart attack?  He was only 45 when he died.”

Lee swallowed hard.  It was something he’d wondered since their conversation several days ago, but he didn’t want to worry his wife.  “It’s probably just a coincidence that your father died around the same time.   After all, Tippy refused to help him, and we don’t have any other suspects…”

“Let's hope you’re right,” she replied nervously, as she unconsciously tapped on her cell phone.  “What if Woody tries to hurt Philip?”

“We’re not going to let anything happen to our son,” Lee replied determinedly as he glanced at his wife.  "Besides, Woody's probably still in DC."

“I’ve had a feeling for a while now that Woody’s trying to cover up more than stolen money.  Maybe he’s also trying to cover up a murder,” she grumbled angrily, turning away from him and staring out the window, frustrated and upset. “And we can’t let him get away with murder.”

“Let’s make sure Philip is safe; then we’ll delve a little deeper into Woody’s whereabouts and motive.”  Soon, Lee pulled onto the campus and drove straight for the campus security office.  Before he applied the parking brake, Amanda darted out, almost in a run for the building.  Lee followed her a few seconds later, at a brisk pace.  When he caught up to her inside, she was interrogating the officer on duty.

“Did you check his room?” Amanda pressed.

“Yes, Mrs. Stetson, but he wasn’t there,” the officer replied.

Not allowing him to finish his sentence, she thrust another question at the man, “Is there an officer waiting outside his dorm room and outside each entrance?”

“No, ma’am, we don’t have the resources to do that,” he explained.

Amanda was starting to panic over her son’s safety.  Lee gently put his hand on her shoulder and asked calmly.  “Where have you looked so far?”

“We sent an officer to his classroom, but apparently there was a quiz today.  When the students finished, they were allowed to leave.  Philip King was already gone when the officer got there.  Next, the officer went to his dorm, but he hadn’t returned.  A message was slipped under his door to contact campus security ASAP, and the Resident Assistant at his dorm was notified to keep an eye out for him.”

“Where is the officer now?” Amanda pressed, her temper beginning to flail.

“One of the students mentioned that he might have gone to shoot some hoops.  The officer went over to the rec center.  That’s a huge complex, and he hasn’t located him yet….”

“If you find him, you have our cell phone numbers, right?” “Lee asked.

“Yes, sir,” the officer answered, apparently relieved that Lee had diffused a potentially difficult situation.

“Good.  Come on, Amanda, if we split up we can find him a lot faster…” Lee replied, reaching for her hand and guiding her out of the security building.

“Where are we going to start?  He could be anywhere, the rec center, the library, the student union…”

“It’s late in the afternoon, Amanda.  Think like your son; he’s probably hungry.  My hunch is he’s on the way to the dining hall for something to eat.  Then he’ll probably head back to his room after he’s eaten to see what’s going on.”

Amanda sighed heavily, and shook her head in a silent admonishment.  “You’re right.  I’m letting my emotions get the best of me.  Do you want to go over to the dining hall or his dorm?”

“How about you go to his dorm room and wait for him there.  If his mother comes looking for him on the chow line, he might never live it down,” Lee teased knowingly as he helped his wife back into the car.

As anxious as Amanda was, she had to smile at that idea.  “Yeah, he wouldn’t forgive me for that now, would he?”

Lee laughed.  “I’ll drop you off by his dorm.  Leave a note on his car’s windshield, and check his room.”

“I wonder if his girlfriend is back at school yet?” Amanda remarked with an arched brow.  “If she’s back, he could be over at her dorm.”

“Ask around if he’s not in his room.  Maybe his roommate or one of his buddies will know.”

“I will,” she nodded appearing nervous.

“Are you all right?  Would you prefer I stay with you?” he questioned as they pulled up in front of Philip’s dorm.

Amanda took a deep breath.  “No, you’re right; we can cover more ground if we split up.  I need to start acting like an agent, and not a worried mom.”

“Not always easy to separate the two,” he answered with a kiss to her cheek.  “Keep your cell phone on, and call me as soon as you see or hear from him.”

“I will,” she nodded as she got out of his car and watched him drive away.
 

****
 

Amanda went inside the dorm in search of her son.  When she got to his room, the door was open.  A relieved feeling washed over her and she knocked twice on the door.  Unfortunately, her relief was short lived when her son’s roommate called out to her.

“Come in… Mrs. Stetson!  What are you doing here?” his roommate called out, as he attempted to kick some dirty clothes under his bed.

“Hi Gary,” she greeted his roommate cheerfully.  “I’m looking for Philip.  Do you know where he is?”

“It’s Wednesday... hmm, I think he had a late afternoon class today.”

“Yeah he did, but he’d left already,” she answered, remembering what campus security told her.

The young man shrugged before suggesting, “He’ll probably go to dinner after that.  Did he know you were coming?”

“No, this visit came up at the last minute,” she smiled anxiously.

“Is he in some kind of trouble?  I heard that the campus police were looking for him.”

“No, I had asked campus security to try to locate him.  I just need to find him.  Do you think he’ll come here after eating?” she asked his roommate.

“Yeah, probably, a bunch of us guys are planning to go to the basketball game tonight.  His girlfriend’s still not back, so he’s been hanging with us guys most of the week.”

“Would you mind if I waited here for him?” she asked politely.

“Naw, that’s fine,” he shrugged.  “I’m gonna head down to dinner myself.  If I see him, I’ll tell him you’re here.”

“Thanks, Gary.”

Amanda glanced around the messy dorm room, neither bed was made; clothes were scattered on the floor.  Textbooks and half-written papers were in piles around the room in disarray, and the trashcan was overflowing with garbage.  She tried to ignore the mess, but their was little else to do in the small room.

Motherly instincts took over, and soon she began to pick the dirty clothes off the floor and shove them into a smelly hamper in the corner.  Once the floor was again visible, she went over to Philips desk and began to tidy, organizing his pens and pencils, and putting his books onto the bookshelf above his desk.  A few minutes later, she came across a small tape recorder that he’d gotten for Christmas to record lectures.

“I wonder how often you’ve used this?” she asked, opening it up and being surprised by the fact that it had a tape inside.  She was about to put it back on his desk, when she was startled by a voice.

“Philip?” a man called out.

Amanda slipped the tape recorder into her pocket, and turned to face the person at the door.  “Hello, Elwood.”

“A.. Amanda…. What are you doing here?” he stammered nervously when he came into the room.

“Visiting my son, and you?” she answered coolly, without missing a beat.

“I uh, I um, wanted to ask him a few more questions about who he got the counterfeit money from,” Woody answered apprehensively.  “My boss is pressuring me for answers.”

“Is he?” she challenged with a raised eyebrow.  “Our sources tell us that the money isn’t counterfeit at all.”

There was a long pause before Woody replied.  “You’re right, it’s not counterfeit.  I’m sure Lee told you the money was used in wet operations back in the early 60’s.  We’d like to find out where the money came from…”

“Save it,” she snapped, holding up her hand for him to stop talking.  “We both know that you were the source.  You’ve been trying to cover your tracks for almost thirty years now.”

Shaking his head, he started to walk towards Amanda.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Stop right where you are, Woody,” Amanda warned him, wishing now her weapon was in her hand and not in her purse.  “I know the truth about you.  You stole the money from the Greenbrier, and thought you got away with it.  However, my father figured it out.  Admit it!”

Woody stared at her in a mixture of disbelief and confusion.  Finally, he chuckled. “That’s some story you’ve concocted to protect your son.  Amanda, I assure you, I know he got the money accidentally.  If he tells me who gave him the money, he’ll be totally exonerated.”

“All right,” she replied in a patronizing tone as she glared at the man, “he got the money from his grandfather, you remember him, Frank West?”

Again, there was a long silence.  “Your father was Frank West?” he gulped fretfully.

“Yes,” she answered, staring at him with angry eyes.  “So quit stalling and tell me the truth.”

Woody couldn’t endure her deliberate stare any longer, and turned away.  For a while, neither of them spoke.  Woody fidgeted while he attempted to come up with a plausible excuse. “You want the truth?”

Amanda nodded, not uttering a sound.

“The truth is your father stole the money.  I always suspected him, but never had any proof.  I could never find the money.”  With as much pity as he could muster, he topped off his lie with false condolences.  “I’m sorry you had to find out about this, Amanda.”

“You’re a liar!” she shouted.

“Amanda, the truth isn’t always an easy thing to face.”

Swallowing hard, Amanda’s anger began to surge, but she forced herself to stay composed.  “You’re right, Woody.  The truth is hard to face.  I guess that’s why you still refuse to face it.  Based on what we’ve uncovered, I believe it went a lot differently.  You met my father at the Greenbrier construction project.  He didn’t suspect you at first, or maybe he did, and you convinced him otherwise.”

“This is all conjecture.  Your father has been dead since 1969,” he scoffed skeptically.

Amanda’s mouth dropped open at his last statement.   It was then, she knew for sure, she was right.  The fact that Woody, a mere acquaintance of her father would recollect, so effortlessly, the exact year he died, told her that her earlier suspicions were right on target.  She had to push past the horror of it all, and get Woody to confirm what her heart already knew.

Trying to keep her voice steady, she uttered her accusation.  “Funny how you remember what year he was murdered.  Of course, that’s because you had him killed, didn’t you?”

Woody’s face lost all color, and he stammered apprehensively before attempting to deny the truth.  “I… I um, I don’t, uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about.  I uh, had a friend named Frank West who died back in 69.”

Amanda wasn’t buying his story.  The panicked look on Woody’s face, and the anxiety level in his voice told her she was close to the truth.  “When he was working on rewiring the White House back in 1969, he came across more of the money.  He confronted you and you had him killed.”

“Amanda, your father died of a massive heart attack, pure and simple,” Woody tried to reason, but he was beginning to perspire despite it being cold outside and cool in the dorm.

“I didn’t know you were a doctor, Woody!  Your time at the National Institute of Health was well spent.”  Amanda was using all her Agency training to remain focused, despite the fact the man who arranged her father’s murder stood in front of her.  She took a deep breath, before she asked, “Why did you have to kill him?  They probably would have given you probation, like they gave George Tipton.”

“Your father died of a heart attack, Amanda,” Woody argued, but hearing the name George Tipton, made him more panicky.  “Honestly, I had nothing to do with his murd… death.  I’ll admit, I was a stupid, young kid and took the money, but that’s it.”

“Come on Woody, your accomplices are spilling the beans about you.  You used people, and they figured it out.  They’re tired of your threats; they don’t intend to take the rap for conspiracy or murder…” Amanda paused for a moment, praying her conjecture would prod him to confess.

“I kept that bitch out of trouble!  How the hell did she figure it out?  What did she tell you?” Woody growled furiously.

Amanda wasn’t sure what woman he was talking about, but she had to know more.   It wasn’t a full confession, but at least he wasn’t denying it any longer.   Despite wanting to cry and scream, she forced herself to remain calm and extract more answers, realizing she might not get another chance.  “Why did you have to kill him?”

Shouting now, he answered.  “Because your father wouldn’t let it go.  I thought I’d gotten the money clean until your father started to poke around.  The government flagged the money, so I couldn’t spend it, except in small amounts.  I was sitting on a gold mine and could only spend a few bucks at a time.  Do you have any idea how hard that was?”

Sickened by his greed, she persisted with more questions.  “Why did you hide the money at the White House?”

Woody tossed his head back, and laughed.  “My wife found some of the money one day when she was cleaning the garage.  It took some fast-talking to get out of that jam.  Thank God she only found a small portion of what I had left.  From then on, I hid small amounts in different locations just to be safe.  What could have been safer than hiding it at the White House?  Secret Service can go just about anywhere in the White House without question.”

Amanda was appalled by the man in front of her, more concerned about hiding the money, than her father’s life.  “I still don’t understand why you had him killed.  The government would have wanted to keep the theft quiet.”

His face suddenly appeared sad.  “My wife had a baby in late February, of ‘69.  There were complications.  I took a leave of absence to take care of her and the baby while she was recuperating.  I didn’t know your father found the money until he showed up at my front door one evening.  I panicked.  I saw my whole life, as I knew it, ending.”

“You could have given him all the money and been done with it,” she suggested, trying to hold herself together emotionally.

“That’s what your father wanted me to do,” he huffed before continuing.  “I couldn’t take the risk; my wife would have left me.  She would have taken my son with her.  I needed a way to get rid of Frank, but make it look… natural.”

Amanda was repulsed by how casually Woody admitted to her father’s murder.  It was taking every bit of Agency training to remain in control of her emotions.  She knew Woody’s employment background; that he worked at the National Institute of Health.  Had that played a role in all this, she wondered?  Instinct took over, and she gambled on a long shot, “So you revisited the NIH?”

“Yeah, I did.  Did you know that in the two years I was gone, they never changed the key to the drug dispensary?” Woody laughed, actually proud of his handiwork.  “When I worked there, I made a duplicate master key.  It was like visiting a candy store.  They didn’t notice for months; then they blamed it on one of the lab girls.  She was an easy mark, very gullible, but I didn’t let her take the rap.  I gave her an alibi.”

“How very chivalrous of you,” Amanda mocked.

He shrugged, unfazed by her reaction.  “I visited the ‘old gang’ at NIH a few days after your father paid me that fateful visit.  Everyone was so glad to see me,” he chuckled.  “It didn’t take much of an effort to get inside the drug dispensary.  I got what I needed, and then called your father to meet me for lunch on the premise that I would give myself up.  I slipped something into his drink.”

“You bastard!” she screamed.  “I hope you rot in jail.”

“Amanda, that happened a lifetime ago.  Think of my family, please,” he begged.

“Like you thought about mine?” she argued as her cell phone in her purse began to ring.  They both glanced at the sound coming from on top of the desk.  She started for the phone.

“Don’t answer that,” he ordered, lifting his jacket just enough to show her he was carrying a weapon.  “Let me guess, it’s probably Scarecrow?”

“Yes, he’s on his way here with Philip,” she replied before the phone stopped ringing.

“I’m going to walk out of here tonight.  Let me talk to my wife, you know, one last goodbye.  Then I promise I’ll turn myself in,” he pleaded.

Amanda was shaking her head.  “Do you really think I believe you?”

“How are you going to stop me?” Woody shrugged and slowly began to step back out of the room and into the hallway.  “You’re not going to be able to prove any of this.  It was too long ago.  The drug made them think it was a heart attack from the beginning.”

“You’re a murderer!”

“I promise you, he went quickly.  It happened over twenty years ago.  Can’t you just let it go?”

“My father deserves justice,” she choked out as tears began to stream down her face.

“Putting me in prison for the rest of my life won’t bring him back.”  That was the last thing Woody said to her before he raced down the hallway.

Amanda felt like the wind had been knocked out of her, and didn’t have the fortitude to follow. Instead, she hastily grabbed her purse, searched for her cell phone, and called Lee.  On the second ring, he answered.

“Lee, Woody’s getting away!” she shouted into the phone.

“Where is he now?” Lee pressed.

“He just left Philip’s room.  He said he’d turn himself in after he explained things to his wife, but I think he’s going to run.  Did you find Philip?”

“Yeah, Philip’s safe with me.  We’ll keep our eyes out for him; we're heading back to the dorm now.”

“Be careful, Lee, he's armed," she warned him.

“I will, sweetheart,” he reassured his wife before ending the call.

Reaching for her purse, she tucked the phone inside, and rushed down the hall.  Soon she was outside the dorm building, hurrying towards the parking lot.  Amanda glanced around, but in the encroaching darkness could only make out shapes of what appeared to be students.  Then a few seconds later, Amanda watched powerlessly as a black Mercedes, driven by Woody, raced out of the parking lot.

While Amanda waited for her husband, she called campus security again, giving them a description of the car. However, she knew Woody wouldn’t hang around the campus now.  She held out hope that Lee would cross his path, but a few minutes later, Lee pulled the car up to where Amanda was standing.  “We looked for him on our way here; what was he driving?”

“A new model, black Mercedes with Virginia tags,” she answered with disappointment.

“Damn it, he must have taken a different route off the campus!  We’ll need to call the local police and have them put out a BOLO on the car,” Lee replied.  “Let me go park and we’ll be right in.”

When Lee and Philip came into the dorm room, Amanda gave her son a big hug.  “You have no idea how worried I was about you,” Amanda remarked with relief.  “Thank God that Lee found you.”

”Mom!” Philip groaned at the attention.  “I’m fine.  I can take care of myself.”

“You should come home with us until we find Woody,” Amanda offered, glancing first at her son, then over to Lee.  Neither of them looked like they were agreeable to the idea.  “Just to be safe.”

“I don’t think Woody will come back.  He knows we’re on to him.  I think Philip will be fine here.” Then turning towards Philip, Lee continued.  “We expect you to take precautions, and call us if you see, or hear from him.  If that happens, you head straight over to campus security.  Understood?”

“Yeah, I understand,” he nodded, but he noticed his mother was less than convinced.  “Mom, I missed class last week when I drove Sharon home.  You wouldn’t want me to miss class again, would you?”

Reluctantly, she relented, “OK, you can stay, but be extra careful.”

Then glancing at Lee, he asked, “Does this mean I’m not in trouble anymore?”

“Yeah, sport,” Lee nodded.  “You’re off the hook.”

“Would you mind if I went to the basketball game tonight?”

“Sure, go on,” Amanda nodded.  “Just be careful!”

“Thanks, Mom.  I want to catch up with the guys.  See ya,” Philip cheered, and without another word, quickly left his room.

“We need to make some phone calls,” Lee suggested, taking his cell phone and starting to call the local police.

“Wait,” Amanda interrupted, pulling the tape recorder from her pocket.  “There’s something I want you to hear.”

“What’s that?”

Wielding a triumphant grin, she explained.  “I was tidying up Philip’s room while I waited for him to show up, and came across his tape recorder.  That’s when Woody came in.  I slipped it in my pocket, and turned it on.  I taped our whole conversation.”

“Let’s hear it,” he urged.

Amanda rewound the tape and let the whole conversation play.  The quality of the sound, despite being inside her pocket was remarkable.  The entire discussion was audible.

“You nailed him, but good,” Lee grinned with delight.  “He admitted to everything.  Stealing the money and…” he stopped when he saw her face.  Hearing it again, had hit her hard.  He went over to the door and closed it so they would have privacy.  “Sweetheart, I’m sorry. I know how tough that had to have been.”

Amanda sat down on the closest chair.  At first, she tried to blink back the tears, and hold everything in, but now that the threat had passed, it overwhelmed her.  “He murdered my father, Lee.”

“I know, sweetheart,” he whispered as he knelt down next to her and wrapped his arms around her.

She couldn’t hold the tears back any longer.  The anguish of the day was more than she could endure and the tears came in a flood.

When they finally subsided, Lee promised his wife one thing.  “We’re going to find him, Amanda, and make him pay...”

End Part Ten
 

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