In His Corner-Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Manning had been placed back in his jail cell for only a few minutes when John McBain came to see him.  Todd tried his best to ignore the cop who was staring at him, wordlessly.  At last, he said, “Gloat as much as you want.”

John shook his head.  “I’m not here to gloat at all.”

“Stare at the monster in his cage?”

“Is that what you think you are?”

Todd didn’t answer for a moment.  “Isn’t that what you think I am?”

John nodded, admitting the thought had passed through his mind.  He grabbed a chair and sat down.  “When you left my room the night of the premiere, when I found Baker tied up, he warned me that if I didn’t bring you back to his custody, the bodies would start to pile up.  Your behavior since that night has been…erratic, at best.”  John let out a deep breath.  “What was your relationship with Carly?”

Todd straightened up.  “Shouldn’t I have my lawyer present?”

John noticed the guard.  “Take a coffee break.  I’ll keep an eye on him.”  When the guard left, John turned back to Todd.  “Off the record, what was your relationship with her?”

Something about John’s demeanor brought down Todd’s well-deserved guard.  “She was my friend.”

“Your friend?”

“Yes, John, I found someone who I considered a friend.”  Todd stood up, playing over things in his head.  “I guess she found me charming and mysterious.  She helped me try to win back Blair and was there for me when it didn’t happen.  I listened to her tell me about how she had set up the father of her child and complimented her on her ingenuity.”  Then Todd looked at the floor, his head almost hung in shame.  “I lied to her…about a lot.  Not just the big things, like the baby or Johnny.  She asked me on New Year’s Eve if I was really over Blair.  She asked me what I would do it Blair walked in right there.  I told her I’d tell Blair I was with Carly.”  Todd face was contorted in pain as he added, “I’ve never had a friend, I never knew how to handle someone who said they were mine.”

John felt a flicker of sympathy for the man.  “What about Blair?”

Todd raised his head so quickly, he nearly gave himself whiplash.  “Blair was never my friend.”  John was shocked by that comment, until Todd added, “To have me call Blair my friend would be to…cheapen her.  She…saved me.  She gave me everything that was good in my life.”

“And you threw it away to attack Carly,” John said.

Todd let out a breath, turned back to the bunk and laid down.  “If that’s what you think…”

“I don’t know what to think, Manning.  Since that day on the docks, I’ve ping-ponged all over the place on you.  Victim, perpetrator.  Evil genius…” John cracked a smile, “complete dumbass.”  With that, the guard returned and John left the holding cells.  As he headed back up, he turned one thing Todd said over in his mind.  Seeing Anna, he walked over to her.  “Can I ask you a few questions in private?”

Anna, curious, led the way to her office.  “What do you want to know?”

“What do you know about Carly Jacks?”

Anna thought about her answer for a minute.  “Well, she’s the daughter of Bobbie Spencer, who had her when she was a teenage prostitute and gave her up for adoption.  When Carly was a young adult, she came to Port Charles looking for her and found that Bobbie had made a good life for herself, which Carly resent for a time.  She befriended Jason Morgan, who was dating my daughter then and had a one night stand with AJ Quartermaine that resulted in her son, Michael who she tried to pass off as Tony Jones, her boyfriend and her stepfather, and then tried to pass him off as Jason’s.”  She looked at John and then added, “Understand, most of this I learned from Robin, who wasn’t on the best of terms with her, to say the least.  In fact, if Robin where here, she would not hold back with her comments about Carly.”  Then she noticed the change in John’s face.  “Why do you want to know?  Has something else come up?”

 “I had a talk about Carly with Sam Morgan this morning after going over everything last night and I’ll tell you Anna, something in my gut is telling me this isn’t…”  John paused before coming out and saying it.  “I don’t think Todd raped her.”

Anna’s eyebrow’s shot up.  “That’s a very serious charge, John.”

“I know, but a part of me thinks she’s setting him up,” he replied.  “Hear me out.  They were friends, by Manning’s own admission to me today, off the record.  Also by his own admission, he lied to her about Daniel, about Johnny’s role in the accident, about his feeling for Blair.  I talked to Sam, who told me that Jason was a huge part of her life, to the point of interfering with him and any other woman he was with at the time, Sam included.  Sam also said that up until the accident on New Year’s, Carly totally believed Todd’s story about not knowing about the switch.  Hell, I saw that myself and called her on believing his lies.  And Todd also told me today that they had a conversation about Carly setting up the father of her son and Todd complimented her on it.”  He let out a breath.  “I also know Manning.  I’ve seen his reaction to rape.  Yes, he was convicted of it when he was younger, but last year, he learned his brother, as him, manipulated his victim into a similar scenario and he was shocked that his family would think he was capable of doing that.  Taking that into account…”

Anna held up her hand.  “I think I see where you’re going with this.  Pursue it, but do so with extreme caution.  There are a lot of variables here, not the least of which is Sonny Corinthos.  If he thinks you are going after Carly instead of Todd, he could go after you.”

John understood her tacit approval.  “You have my word, until I find anything definitive, I will be treating this as a rape.”  John left, determined to get to the bottom of all of this.

******

Blair unlocked the door to their new residence.  She was carrying a few shopping bags of groceries, as were Starr and Viki while AJ helped with the luggage.  Blair was impressed.  For a quick find, the place was actually very spacious, with an open living room and the two bedrooms on either side. 

Starr took the suitcases and put them in the bedrooms then came out and helped with the food.  Blair and Viki were bustling around and AJ was pitching in.  With all of them working together, it all got done fast.  Blair found a tea kettle and put it on.  As she was waiting for it to come to a boil, she turned to their guest.

“Tell me about Carly Jacks,” she stated immediately. 

Over the next hour or so, AJ laid out all his knowledge of and experiences with Carly.  He was basically repeating all that had been said in the report Rex had put together. 

Then, taking a deep breath, he told them, “I’m going to admit something to all of you.”  He slid his eyes to Starr then said, “There isn’t all altruism here for me.  I do believe that Carly is lying about being raped by Todd and I will defend him.  But I have lived with her how she has portrayed me to my son for his entire life.  I never got the chance to be a father to my son.  He was taken from me and I was bullied and threatened until I lost any rights I have to him.  She has shown time and again how she can manipulate anyone and everyone.  Knowing her, she probably tried to manipulate Todd against me since I came back to town.  I know how she can work and think and I want my son to see, for probably the first time in his life, what his mother is really like.”  He looked at them all.  “I have already tried to manipulate situations to that end.  I have probably just as much of a bad reputation in this town as Todd does in Llanview.  But I swear to you, I am positive that Carly is trying to him what she did do to me.”

Blair looked to Viki, but it was Starr who spoke up.  “I’ve seen how you work and I know what this is costing you right now.”  The image of Michael turning his back on AJ and the look of sorrow on the older man’s face at the courthouse flashed in her mind.  “Any help you can give us, thank you.  I know my mother and my aunt agree.”

There was a knock at the door, and Viki let in the court official for the inspection.  It was a short visit and he felt sure the judge would agree to Scott Baldwin’s recommendation.  When he left AJ was preparing to get his coat.  “I was wondering, I can see that you are still not set up here.  Why don’t you come over to my mother’s house?  You can talk to her, cause I know she has her opinions of Carly.  Maybe even my Aunt Tracy.  I think she had some hand in the payoff for the water toxin blackmail.  From what I heard, Todd spearheaded that action."

Viki turned to Blair and Starr, who both nodded.  “That is very generous.  Any other perspective on her can only help Todd.”

He opened the door, but before he left, he assured them he’d call as soon as he got back for a time for dinner.  He smiled and he was gone.

******

Michael had decided to go back to his apartment but Sonny felt someone needed to tell Carly about the developments at the courthouse.  He found her at the front desk reviewing something on the computer.  She caught sight of him, and came over.

“I just wanted to let you know, Manning is going to be making bail.  I’m sorry, but his lawyer felt that he could be in danger if he was sent to Pentonville for his trial.”  Sonny scratched the back of his head.  “My presence there may have had something to do with it.  From what Baldwin’s deal seems to be, he’ll be under house arrest.  He said that the ex, Blair, got them an apartment about a mile away from here.”

“Unbelievable,” Carly commented contemptuously.  “I can’t believe she’s standing up for him.”  Carly turned around and headed for the desk.  She grabbed a file and handed it to Sonny.  “You know, there are other victims of his.  Not just the woman in college, Marty Saybrooke.  There was another one, Carol Swift, I think and he was accused of raping his girlfriend, a Rebecca Lewis.  But, from what I read, he found an alibi for that one, the Saybrooke woman.  Kind of convenient, wouldn’t you say?”

Sonny flipped through the file.  “Does the DA know about this?”

“I went in to talk to him and he told me the DA down in Llanview has been all kinds of helpful.  She was his attorney from the gang rape.  He confessed to her and she ended up throwing the case.  She’s even trying to find the first victim, but she seems to have vanished,” Carly informed him.

Sonny looked up from the file and, for a minute, thought he saw something in her eyes.  He couldn’t put his finger on it.  He moved in to comfort her.

She leaned her head on his shoulder.  “You know, guys like this, they get off on it and they keep getting off on it.”

As those words were coming from her lips, Luke walked in and stopped for a minute.  He had heard what she said and his crime flashed before him.  He was about to approach her when she turned away from Sonny.  “I just want to get on with my life.  Part of me just wants it to be over.”

“Have you thought about going to counseling or talking to someone?  I know Liz Webber, it happened to her when she was still a kid—“

“No,” Carly said too harshly.  Then she composed herself.  “I don’t want any pity from her.”

“But she may be able to help.”

“I said no, Sonny.  Drop it.”  Then she turned back to Sonny and Luke saw the full force he knew as Carly Benson.  “I think AJ may be a problem.  He was here when Blair and Starr cleaned out Todd’s suite and he seems to have taken their side.”

“AJ is going to use them to manipulate Michael, but it won’t work.  He saw AJ after the arraignment and walked right past him,” Sonny told her.

“Are you sure?  We thought that about your little boxing match, but AJ copped to it.”

“This time, I’m sure,” Sonny assured her.  “Hey, you are one of the strongest women I know.  I will help you through this, okay?”

Carly nodded, a tear falling down her cheek.  Sonny kissed her on the cheek and left, never noticing Luke.  Neither did Carly, it seemed, because Luke saw that fiendish smile appear on his niece’s face.  He got on to the next elevator and made sure he was the only one on as he said, “Damn it, why did Baldwin have to be right!”