In His Corner, Chapter 13

Chapter 13

John knocked on the familiar door and waited until Sam opened it.

“This is becoming a daily routine, John.”  Then she noted the cop’s expression.  “What’s going on?”

“I know I’m asking a lot, considering what Todd did to you, but I need your help,” he answered.

Sam automatically figured out what he would be asking.  For a minute, the petty part of her was ready to slam the door in his face but something about his demeanor stopped her.  She opened the door wider and John came in.  “This is about Todd, right?”  John nodded.  “Look, right after we buried my ‘son’, Spinelli and I ran a background check on him, and from that I’m really not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“Alright then.  Thank you for your time.”  John headed towards the door. 

“But after what you told me a few days ago, I’d be willing to at least look into it for you.”  She held up her hand, stopping him.  “Even if I find the evidence to convict him.”

“That’s all I’m asking.  Thank you.”  John headed back out the door.  Sam closed it and turned her attention to her son.  She was imagining what her life would have been like if she had really lost Daniel, especially after losing Jason.  She couldn’t bear to think of what Tea Delgado was still going through.

John headed to the courthouse.  When he got there, he saw Todd at the defense table.  The man was as stoic as he had been the day he had arrested him for Victor’s murder. 

As expected, Todd was granted bail and released into Blair’s custody.  Because of the ankle monitor, John escorted him by police car to the apartment.  Once Blair unlocked the door and let them in along with Starr and Viki, John slapped the monitor on him. 

Todd looked at it then at the accommodations.  “Clint Buchanan gets a mansion, I get four rooms,” he grumbled.

“Yeah, well, if you didn’t try so many hair-brained schemes, you wouldn’t even need it.  It’s you own damn fault,” John replied, not feeling an ounce of pity. 

Todd looked to Viki but saw no sympathy.  “Well, look, since I now have a measure of privacy, I’m going to go take a shower.”  With that, he left the women and McBain alone.

“Listen, I want to let you know, I’m looking into some things regarding the case.  It’s still being pursued as a rape, but the pieces aren’t really fitting in right for some reason,” John said, directing his comments more towards Blair.

“Thank you, John,” Blair said, a smile gracing her lips.  Then she headed into the bedroom.

John was about to leave when Viki stopped him.  “I want to apologize to you,” she said.  When John furrowed his brow, she added, “Natalie and Clint have gone totally overboard with this custody fight.  I have tried to talk Natalie down, but I’m afraid she’s channeling her Buchanan roots.  And Clint…”  She let out a sigh.  “The engagement’s on hold.”

John nodded.  “Thank you.  I’ve been reluctant to see you since you got to town.  I didn’t know if both sides of the family would be gunning for me.”  Then he nodded in the direction of the running shower.  “In a way, both sides did.”

“Well, when I get a moment, I will let Todd have it, don’t you worry about that,” she said, flashing a mirthless smile.  John recognized it as one that often played on Todd’s face.  Then she reached for her purse.  “I wanted you to have these.  They’re from Christmas.” 

John looked at the pictures of Liam on a tricycle and Liam with the Santa at Logan’s.  It hit him again how hard it was to be separated from his son.  “Thank you for these.”  With that, he turned around and left.

Viki closed the door and noticed Blair in the bedroom.  The other woman was pacing the room, waiting for Todd to emerge.  When he did, sweatpants on, Blair took the image of him in. 

He was still so amazingly handsome to her.  And the years, though rough on him, had only made him more so. 

But when Todd saw her, gazing at him, he turned away, looking for the closet.  When he found it, he grabbed the first shirt he could find and buttoned it up, wrapping his arms around his chest after doing so.  “Uh, thanks again.  Don’t worry, I’ll stay put.”

Blair was caught off-guard by his more than mercurial mood.  “You don’t have to thank me.  Todd, I told you at the station when I got here, I believe in you.”  She took a step towards him and he took three steps back.  Blair read his body language and backed off.  “I wanted to show you the setup we have for work.”

She came back into the main room and walked over to the computer.  It booted up and asked for a password.  “I set it to the same one you have on your office computer.”  Hazel eyes flashed at her, but she chose not to acknowledge them.  “I have this program so we can video conference as long as necessary.  I spoke to Briggs, and we can add him to the chat if needed.”

“Briggs still has everything well under control down in Llanview,” Todd commented.

Blair nodded in agreement.  “Now, I noticed you’ve been going through assistants like pages from a calendar, and with the case, I don’t think it’s smart to have anyone close to you, so Starr as agreed to be your assistant for the duration.”

Todd turned to his daughter and noticed her conspiratorial smile, but he shook his head.  “I don’t think that’s a great idea.”

“Why not, that’s how I started out at The Banner, as Father’s assistant.”  It was one of the few memories she was ever able to keep of Victor Lord, working with him as a young woman in a day and age when society expected her to marry and be a social doyenne.  Perhaps it was because when she thought of those times, she thought of Joe Riley.

“Yeah, that was my thought exactly,” Todd replied sullenly. 

Starr’s face fell, but Viki pushed on.  “Hey, we had this conversation years ago.  You are not Father.  There is no bone in your body that would go there with your own daughter.”

Todd closed his eyes then opened them at Starr and made the slightest nod of his head.  A brilliant smile appeared on her face. 

Blair’s smile mirrored her daughter’s.  “Well, now that that is settled, I need to get to the office.  I expect your ‘friend’ will be rearing for a fight about the eviction notice.  Thank god you’re smarter in business then you are in your schemes.  Baldwin said that lease is iron clad.”  She grabbed her things and headed out the door, a wink aimed at Starr.  She returned it.

“And I need to get back to the hotel.  I have some business I need to deal with, but I will be back for dinner.  I heard there’s a very good Italian restaurant in town so I’ll be bringing over some for all of us.”  She gave him a kiss in the cheek.  Into his ear, she whispered, “And when I get back, you and I are going to have a long talk about my grandchildren, understand?”

When she stepped back, he swallowed.  It was a tone he recognized all too well.  He was in for a lecture and had a pretty good idea what the topic was.  Despite that, he actually welcomed it.  There was something he truly missed about a Viki lecture.  He nodded to her, and replied, “Can’t wait, sis.”

She headed for the door, smiling at Todd and Starr.  “Have fun today, kids.”  With that, she, too, left.

Todd turned to Starr, unsure of what to do or say

******

The doorbell rang at the Quartermaines and Alice went to open it.  “Mr. Michael, nice to see you.  What brings you by today?”

“He’s here to see me, Alice,” AJ said as he descended the staircase.  Alice could tell by the looks on their faces, it wasn’t going to be a pleasant talk.  She scurried away.

“Well, I’m here.  Say what you want.”  Michael’s tone was brusquer than AJ had expected.  Unresponsively, AJ headed into the study and over to the desk.  On it was a wide-spine binder, nearly filled.  On the front was the name TODD MANNING.

“Confession:  From the day I met Starr, I looked into her background and that of her family,” AJ started.  “Nothing terrible on her, but a lot of interesting info on her family.  This alone is what I found on her father.  You want all the gory details, go ahead.”

Michael didn’t make a move to the desk.  He looked at AJ expectantly.  He nodded to his son.  “Did you know that Todd tried to kidnap his kids a few times also?  Once after he came home from being presumed dead and finding his wife with another man and another time that landed him on an island with his lawyer and now-widowed sister-in-law?  There’s some question about him in connection to the death of a British businessman named Armitage.  He faked DID to get out of hundreds of years of jail time and after it was exposed, high-tailed it out of town.  He faked his own son’s death at birth because he thought the baby was another man’s.” 

AJ placed his palm on the binder, his voice softer.  “Did you also know that he was physically abused as a boy by the man he thought was his father?  That the only reason that guy agreed to raise him was because he’d get paid a million dollars by time Todd was twenty-five?  Did you know that one of his buddies in the attack on Marty Saybrooke went completely psycho and went on to rape numerous women at the local hospital, a number of crimes that Todd was accused of by the cops.  That the rapist was caught because he took Todd hostage and he later escaped and took Marty, Tea Delgado, Blair and the guy they all thought was Todd hostage and back to the scene of the original crime.”  Then AJ’s voice was no louder than a whisper.  “Did you know his father sexually abused his sister and that Todd feared he would do that to his own daughter?”

“Are you trying to make me loathe him even more?” Michael asked.

“Alright, did you know he left his pregnant bride to go bring Marty back to a young patient who was dying of AIDS?  He paid for that attempt at a good deed with three bullets in the back and being tossed into the ocean.  Or that, when he escaped from prison, he rescued his victim and two kids from a car wreck.  Those two kids turned out to be his niece and his nephew.  The boy lobbied the Governor of Pennsylvania for a pardon for Todd.  Or that, he went after a man who kidnapped Blair and paid for that by being kidnapped himself and lost to his family for eight years?  He’s done awful things to protect his family, his nieces, his sister, the woman he loves.  A woman who, ironically enough lied to him and married him so she could share in a thirty million dollar windfall she knew was coming to him.”  Pausing for a minute, AJ shook his head.  “When I read that, I’ll tell you Michael, I was jealous.  He’s had something in his life I have never had—someone who want to make a life with him, terrible choices and all.  And still does, from what I can see.”    

“I’m only saying, there’s a lot more to him. Some good, lot bad.  And not a whole lot different than me.”  He patted the binder again.  “Sit down and read.  It’s very enlightening.”

“Mom said…”

“I know what your mom said.  She also said to my parents I was bombed out of my mind in an alley,” AJ told him.  “Your mom has a habit of using a person’s past, something they are utterly ashamed of and turning on them with both barrels. I just want you to keep that in mind.”

Michael looked at the binder and backed up a step.  He was unsure of what to do.  In his head, he knew that part of his mother.  But at the same time, he couldn’t believe she’d take something so terrible that had happened to him and use it as a tool of revenge.  “No, she wouldn’t do that to me.”  Michael took off in a run, headed for the front door. 

AJ was so utterly confused by his son’s change in mood, he didn’t follow him.  In his stunned silence, AJ started to worry what had really happened to Michael.