Chapter
15
Viki
had been on the phone with The Banner
for most of the morning. What her
managing editor had told her wasn’t good.
Their source at the LPD painted both Bo and Nora as licking their lips
in anticipation of the mere thought of Todd on trial. Nora was offering the DA’s office all the
help she could give. She was even ready
to hunt down Marty Saybrooke and have her testify for the state. Viki knew that Marty and Patrick weren’t
going to be found. They hadn’t even
returned to Llanview for the funerals of their son and granddaughter.
Viki
looked at the clock and realized it was nearly lunchtime. She made a move to call for room service when
her cell phone went off. She felt a
measure of relief when she saw the Christmas photo of Bree and Ryder. “Hello Jessie.”
“Mom,
what the hell happened?”
“To
be honest, I don’t know. All that is
certain is, Todd’s going on trial for rape,” Viki told her.
Jessica
stood in the library of Llanfair, shaking her head. “I can’t believe he’d do that! Not with everything he went through and then
because of…”
“I
know, sweetie.” Viki couldn’t think if
what else to say.
“You
should know, Bo and Nora are…”
“Yes,
I spoke to the paper. I’m well aware
that they are on this.” Viki let out a
sigh. “At least Todd’s out of jail. They granted bail, but he’s tethered to an
apartment…” She realized she was just
about to say Blair’s name.
Jessica
knew what would be coming after the last word.
“I’m guessing Blair’s up there?”
She had known Todd’s ex had been at Llanfair from Lois, but she also
knew Blair. While Todd was capable of a
lot of things, she knew that Blair knew this was not who Todd would ever be
again.
“Yes,
she was with me when Starr called. She
insisted.”
A
smile settled on Jessica’s face. “I’m
glad she’s there for him, but I know it’ll cause problems with Tea.”
“It
already has, but Blair, well, she’s cut ties to Tomas Delgado,” Viki said. “She and Tea have already spoken and it was
not a happy conversation.”
Jessica
could only imagine. “Do you need any
help, Mom? I can come up and bring the
kids. Todd seemed to charm them while he
was still living here. I could even
bring Sam and Jack up with me.”
“You
know, I think you bringing Bree and Ryder up could lift his spirits. Skye Chandler-Quartermaine is here with Lila
Rae and it could do them both some good, and you know Todd will appreciate your
support.” Then she let out a sigh. “As for Sam and Jack, I know Sam wants to see
his uncle, but Jack is a whole other story.
I think its best we leave them to Blair’s decisions.”
“Okay. Let me get their stuff together and get a
flight. I can be up there by tonight, if
everything moves along.” Jess paused,
adding, “Tell Uncle Todd I’m by his side.
I’ll see you soon.” With that,
she ended the call.
She
turned to head upstairs and pack some things when she saw her twin sister
standing in the doorway. “Really, Jess,
you’re going to defend Todd?” Nat asked, bewildered.
“Natalie,
you really don’t know the real Todd. I
do and I know he could never do this,” she answered as she headed out of the
room.
“And
how do you know that?” was her sister’s response.
Jessica
stopped and turned around. “The night he
and Blair got remarried, when she was pregnant with Starr, Mom told him what
our grandfather did to her, right here in these stairs. He was so afraid he could do that to his
daughter, he nearly left Blair at the altar.
When Mom told him about Mitch Lawrence, he could still remember what he
did to Marty Saybrooke.” Jessica stood
there, arms folded over her chest. “You
want answers, come with me. Bring Liam,
and ask him yourself.”
Natalie
stood there, unsure. While they may not
have been identical twins, they had gained enough insight in each other to
strengthen their trust in each other’s intuition. “Fine, I’ll come. I want to hear him explain it himself.” She went past her sister and began to get
ready.
******
It
was unusually quiet in the lobby of the MetroCourt and Carly was glad for
it. Not too many people were staring at
her, thinking they knew what had happened.
The staff was still walking on eggshells around her, but that was quite
normal.
It
all seemed to be going her way. Sonny
was ready to kill Todd, Michael looked like he was done with AJ, and Todd was
going to pay for what he did to her.
What he did to Jason. This would
be her sweetest revenge.
It
was amazing how all the pieces fell into place.
Trashing Todd’s room and falling asleep drunk and naked in it had helped
to set the scene. The nurse-cum-makeup
salesman had aided even more. Who knew a
door-to-door salesman could be that effective.
Now,
all she had to do was keep up the façade and Todd Manning would soon be
roadkill.
There
were some minor bumps, though. Blair
Cramer kept arguing that she knew Todd was not capable of doing something like
this again. When Carly had finally
looked at the information there was on him, on his family, the thought did pass
through her brain that it may not work.
But who would argue with a woman who claimed rape? Well, Scott Baldwin, it seemed, but she
figured the old animosity between him and Luke was fueling his defense of
Todd. That, and the nice fat check she
was sure Todd was writing.
AJ
was also going to be a problem, but one that she felt was manageable. AJ’s reputation in town was just as bad as
Todd’s, now that everyone knew he had switched Sam’s baby and obstructed
justice in the death of his granddaughter.
AJ would side with Todd on principle, but she expected little to come
from it.
As
she thought of all this, she caught sight on Sam Morgan. Sam had an unreadable look on her face and
Carly turned away. Just looking at Sam
made her feel her betrayal of Jason down to her bones.
When
she turned back, Sam was at the desk.
The dark-hair woman looked at her, wordless.
“Come
to say more, ‘I told you sos’?” she asked bitterly.
“Carly…”
her voice trailed off.
“Cause
you were right, Sam. You were right
about Todd. You and Jason, you warned me
about him but I didn’t listen. I
defended him at every turn. I confided
in him when Jason was gone,” She was trying hard to fight the tears. They, at least, were genuine.
The
things that Carly was saying seemed unusual to Sam. They bespoke more of a betrayal than an
attack. “Carly, what he did to you…I can
imagine what you are going through, because I’ve been there.”
Carly
gave her a cold glare. “Franco was a
monster. Todd used me, manipulated
me…then he…” She slapped her two hands
on top of the counter. “You know
what? I’m done talking about it. I’ll do it at the trial, but no more. I want to move on.” Then she froze in place.
Sam
turned and saw an elegant older lady approach.
“Mrs. Jacks, I’m going to need another room. My daughters will be coming to see me and
they are bringing three children with them.”
“More
for the Todd Support Brigade?” Carly snarked.
“Yes,
if you want to look at it that way,” the woman answered. “Please add the charges to my card.” The woman turned and stopped dead in her
tracks. “I’m going to guess you are Sam
Morgan.”
“And
how would you guess that?”
“Because
McBain is the father of her grandson, right?” came the snide answer from Carly.
Realization
dawned on Sam. “You’re Natalie’s
mother,” she murmured.
“Viki
Davidson,” she replied holding out her hand.
It was an unexpected gesture but couldn’t refuse it.
“Mrs.
Davidson…I don’t…I don’t know what to say.”
“You
don’t need to say anything,” she assured Sam calmly. Then her face changed. “But I am going to warn you, Natalie is on
her way up and the last time she faced a woman trying to come between her and a
man, a shotgun was involved.”
Sam
took the warning to heart. “I’ll keep
out of the way.” Sam started to leave
when, seeing Carly was gone from the lobby, said. “John asked me to look into
the case independently. I’m not
promising anything…”
“Thank
you,” Viki replied and headed back towards the elevators. Sam sighed and pulled out her phone. “Spinelli, can you meet me at the
office? I need your help with a case.”
Sam
was heading out of the hotel when Carly came back out. She was at the desk and answered the phone
that had just rung. “MetroCourt Hotel,
how can I help you?”
“Is
this Carly Jacks?” a feminine voice asked.
“Yes
this is,” Carly answered.
“Then
the question is, how can I help you?”
******
Blair’s
face had disappeared from the screen and Todd sat back. It was weird on a number of levels what had
been going on in his life lately. Not
just the arrests, he was use to that, but working together again with Blair, having
her on his side. If things were
different, he’d relish having her back, at least in this way.
But
he feared himself. He knew what he was
capable of and he knew that he could destroy Blair with his words and his
actions. That was the last thing he
wanted to so.
“You
want me to get us some lunch?” Starr asked, bring Todd out of his musings.
“Yeah,
head down to Kelly’s, get me a burger with the works.” Todd stood up grabbing cash out of his
pocket. As Starr put on her coat, Todd
opened the door and found Luke Spencer standing outside it.
“Can
I come in?” he asked.
Starr
looked to the man, then to her dad. “I
can stay…” she offered.
“No,
go on. I’ll probably be alright.” Starr left and Luke walked in. Closing the door, Todd put his hands in his
pockets. “Well…you were right.”
“How
so?” the older man asked.
“You
told me I had not yet met the real Carly.
I’m guessing this is what you meant.”
Luke
walked around the room, as if circling his prey. “That depends.” He turned and looked Todd squarely in the
eyes. “Did you rape my niece?”
There
was no hesitation in Todd’s voice. He
met the man head on. “No, I did not.”
“Then
what in the hell did you do to rain down the wrath of Caroline on you?”
“I
lied to her,” Todd said simply.
“Well,
my sweet niece is an expert in that department.
You must have told her a whopper,” Luke said to him. “What did you lie to her about?”
“Everything.” Luke sat down and waited for further
explanation. “I lied when I took Sam
Morgan’s baby and switched it with my stillborn nephew, though the idea wasn’t
mine originally. I lied when I never
told her I knew the baby was in fact Jason Morgan’s. I lied when I told her I had no idea why
Johnny Zacchara married Kate Howard, excuse me, Connie Falconeri. I lied when I told her I was ready to move on
from the only woman who has ever loved me.
I even lied when I told her my son was a hockey player after she found a
mask I had in my room from when I was forced to go check up on a hostage
Heather had in the woods.” Todd sat down
and looked at Luke.
“Yeah,
I knew it was you.” Todd looked at him,
questioningly. “Next time you have to
pull a job like that, change into crappy old shoes, not Italian leather.”
“They’re
English,’ Todd retorted.
Luke
smiled at him. “So this is all about
getting back at you for lying? Little
over the top, don’t you think?”
“Well,
Diane Miller said she’d flatten me when she found out the truth. Consider me flattened…and leashed.” He lifted his leg and flashed the monitor.
“Yeah,
your lawyer informed me,” Luke said, standing to take his coat off. Then he looked back at Todd. “You gonna offer me a drink?”
“It’s
a little early, even by my standards,” Todd winced.
“Sadly,
I’m dry as a bone. But a soda would be
appreciated.” Todd went to the
refrigerator and got out two cans. He
handed one to his guest, and opened his own.
Luke opened his and before taking a sip, told his host, “Baldwin told me
he told you about me.”
Todd
stared, stone-faced. After blinking a
few times, he said, “None of my concern.
What you do behind closed doors…”
“While
I appreciate the sentiment, I do understand where you’re coming from,” Luke
said.
“You
have no idea where I’m coming from.”
Todd stood up and walked to the counter dividing the kitchen from the
living area.
Luke
watched him then noticed a picture on the desk.
It was of a beautiful blonde and two small children. The older one, a girl, he recognized as the
young woman who had left to get lunch.
“Your kids?”
Todd
turned his head. “Yeah, Starr and
Jack. It’s an old picture. Jack’s in high school now and Starr, well,
you saw her.”
“When
I mentioned a daughter that night, you were ready to release me. I’m guessing your daughter means as much to
you as mine does to me,” Luke said.
“She
was the best thing I ever did,” he said.
“And I was so scared of the mere thought of her, even before she was
born. My own father…well, you ever hear
of Victor Lord?”
“Newspaper
publisher. I have a vague memory of a
biography on him, years ago. But then
again, I was never a big reader.” Luke’s
eyes softened. “I do know other things
about him.”
Todd
merely nodded.
Luke
took another slug of the soda. “Caroline
is running a hustle here. I know it in
my bones. I’m going to look into things
for you. May even have to cozy up to the
enemy. But, considering the hypocrisy
she’s displaying right now, I won’t let her get away with it.” As he opened the door, Luke asked, “Is there
any hint you can give that may expose her?”
Todd
remained silent. “Look, I appreciate
what you want to do, but I have to face the fact that I used her, that I made
her my pawn, against Zacchara, against Sonny, hell, even against Blair a
bit. She was my friend and I used her.”
Luke
smiled for some reason. “Well, there’s
the fault in your logic.” At Todd’s
look, he explained, “Carly doesn’t have friends, save for one person. I’d bet every dollar I have socked away
overseas, she was just using you too.
Don’t let your guilt get to you.
She’ll use it to pull you under even more.”
Luke
left Todd thinking. He had always
considered himself some great schemer, the master of the endgame. Had he finally met his match?
