In His Corner-Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“So you’re dumping me too?” Todd asked Scott as the lawyer sat down in from of him.

“What?” Baldwin asked, confused.  Then what Todd had said processed through his head and he shook it quickly.  “Hell, no.  This is the case I’ve been looking for for a while.  But at the same time, it brings up some of my own history.  If you’ll allow me?” At Todd’s begrudging nod, Scott continued.  “When I was fresh out of law school, I married a girl who wasn’t even out of high school.  She was beautiful and sweet and kind-hearted.  Well, I was working at my dad’s law firm, long hours, money was tight and Laura, my wife, offered to help with the bills by getting a job.  I didn’t like it and liked it even less when she went to work at a disco.  In fact, I expressly forbade her from working there.  But she was stubborn and insisted on doing it.”

“Her boss, he was connected to the local mob boss.  He also had begun to develop a crush on Laura.  Well, one night, his boss ordered him to kill someone.  The guy was wracked with guilt and after the club closed up, Laura saw the guy was not doing so good.  He was also drinking himself into doing the hit.  Laura asked what was wrong but the guy wouldn’t open up about it.  He did, though, confess that he had fallen in love with her and to stall what he had been ordered to do, he begged her to dance with him.”

“I’ve never been certain of how things escalated from there, but he kept trying to get closer and she started to get frightened, but he…wouldn’t stop.  She kept saying no and he still wouldn’t stop.”

Todd eyes closed, the image of the room in the KAD house beginning to overwhelm him.

“She never really admitted to me or her parents what he did to her.  I figured it out and went after him, but she defended him.  They eventually went on the run together and a few years later, ended up getting married.  They even have two kids.”

“IS THIS WOMAN SICK?” Todd roared.  “Getting involved in…marrying…”  He couldn’t even fathom the words.  For a minute, images of Victor and Marty danced in his head.

Scott wasn’t prepared for Todd’s reaction.  “I never understood it myself, but Laura, that was the type of person she was and still is,” he said, calmly.  “The point here Manning, isn’t the act, it’s the perpetrator.  Its Carly’s uncle, Luke Spencer.  It just so happens that I had a little chat with him before coming here.”

Todd truly didn’t know what to say about learning about Luke Spencer’s past.  But he did remember the man.  “He warned me about meeting the real Carly.”

“Well, he and she don’t have a great relationship.  When she first hit town, from what I’m told, he was the one who figured out she was his sister’s kid and held it over her head for a long time.  Bobbie, Luke’s sister, wasn’t too pleased with that secret being kept from her by the two of them.”  Then Scott smiled.  “Anyway, I started to plant seeds of doubt with him.  He’s already generally suspicious of her.  It can only help you.”

Todd sat back and crossed his arms.  He didn’t like the direction his lawyer was taking and he said so.  “Baldwin, while I absolutely deny…what I’m accused of…I don’t deny that I hurt her.  I think you need to back off this plan of attack.”

“What are you saying?”

Todd let out a sigh as he stood up.  “Maybe I led her on.  She was someone who was a friend.  She shared things with me…her concern when her son’s father came back, her sorrow over the dead hitman, even what she thought had happened to Sam’s kid.”

“And how did you react?”

“I did what I thought was right.  I listened.  I advised.  She told me so much about herself,” Todd said.  But in thinking about it, she hadn’t revealed much more about herself than he has about himself.

“And what did you tell her about yourself?”

“That I had a daughter and a son.  That my sister may forgive me for killing my brother eventually,” Todd recollected.  “Stuff about Blair.”

“Did you tell her about the rape?”

“She saw a good in me.  Why would I tell her that?”

“Did anyone else in town know about it?”

Todd thought for a minute.  “I’d guess Sam Morgan and her weirdo partner may have.  Especially after the births.  Sam almost brought in up in front of Carly right after Christmas.”

Scott wrote down a few notes.  “When you first met her, what did she know about you?”

Todd closed his eyes, remembering their first meeting.  He let out a short laugh.  “When we first met, I had skipped out of Llanview because my daughter had been in an accident.  I needed a hotel room and anonymity, so I paid in cash with no name and assurances of no trouble.”  He turned back to Scott.  “When I got back here after your magnificent job, she had read up on me.  She knew who my father was and what I was, a newspaper publisher.”

“Did she say anything about Victor Lord?”

“No, not until today, in fact.”  At Scott’s look, he expounded.  “She made a comment about the old man just as my sister heard it.  It was not a pleasant exchange, from what Blair told me.”

The shark smile appeared again on Scott’s face.  “Then that’s how we’ll go.”  He put his things back in his briefcase.  “I’ll see you in a bit.  I have some things to look into.”  He left before Todd could say other word.

******

Starr found her mother behind the desk at ME.  Subconsciously, she knew her mother was a businesswoman, but it had never been very evident in her lifetime.  She found it comforting, though, that Blair was looking out for her father’s interest despite everything.

“Mom,” she said as she walked in.  “They took the police tape down from around Dad’s room and I was told we can get his stuff now.”

Blair only nodded and headed for the suite.  After Starr slid the keycard into the door, the two women entered and looked around.  It was still a bit of a mess.  “Okay, I’ll go into the bedroom and pack up his suitcases.”  Blair walked in and couldn’t take a step further.  The bed was unmade, the sheets in a pile.  She didn’t want to think about anything Todd had done there.  She back up and turned to Starr.  “Um, why don’t you tackle the bedroom, I’ll look through here.”

Starr nodded and wrote something on a piece of paper.  “Here’s the code for the wall safe.  Knowing Dad, he’s got things in there.”  She headed past her mother and Blair walked around the room looking for the safe.  When she found it, she inputted the code and opened it up.  Inside were stacks of bills but it didn’t seem like much else.  Blair removed them but then found a small box behind them.  Her breath caught in her throat.

He still had the ring he had tried to give her in the summer.  She picked it up and opened it.  It truly was a magnificent piece.  Big without being gaudy.  Memories flooded back to her.  This is the ring that you deserve.  This is the ring you should be wearing.  Yes, because it is bigger!  And because it is mine! 

And what would have happened if she had taken that ring?  She knew he had a secret that night.  But just how many were there?

She must have been staring at the ring for a while, because Starr came back into the living area with the bags packed.  “Mom?” she asked cautiously.

“Yes, baby girl?”

Starr saw what her mother was holding.  “It really is beautiful.  Say this about Dad, he has excellent taste in jewelry.”

Blair couldn’t answer.  “You about ready?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Starr replied.

They did one more go around of the room and were leaving when, as they opened the door, Carly was standing there in front of it.

“What the hell are you doing here, Carly?” Blair demanded.  “Returning to the scene of the crime?”

“I was just making sure you cleared out of here,” she informed them, indignation in her eyes.

Blair noted the master keycard in her hand.  “Were you just gonna come in here unannounced?”

“It’s my hotel,” Carly stated.

“But Jax gave it to you,” a new voice said.  “Sorry, old argument in my family.  My dad gave my mom our house as a wedding present and she hasn’t let the Quartermaines forget it ever since.”  AJ shrugged and smirked.  “It just sounded familiar.”

Carly wheeled at AJ.  “Keep your nose out of this.  It has nothing to do with you.”

“In a direct sense,” AJ agreed.  “Ms. Cramer, Starr, I was wondering if we could talk?”

Blair looked at her watch.  “Actually, we have to get to the courthouse.  Todd’s arraignment is soon.”

“Allow me to drive you, please,” he pleaded gently.  “I was thinking about our conversation from last night and I have some questions.”

Blair looked to Starr for guidance.  She knew her daughter was wary of this man, but she herself wanted to talk to him.

Starr eyed AJ but then looked at Carly.  Something was making Michael’s mother nervous and she too wanted to know what it was.  Very slightly, she nodded to her mother.

Blair turned back and gave AJ a wide, bitchy smile.  “Thank you, Mr. Quartermaine, that is most generous,” she replied in her sweetest, most syrupy Southern tone.  The three left together but before turning the corner, Blair said to Carly, “I guess I’ll be seeing you shortly.  I’m sure you’ll want to look at the man you’ve falsely accused of rape in the face.”  Then, they disappeared from Carly’s sight.