In His Corner, Chapter 18

Chapter 18

It had been a busy morning for Blair, but exhilarating.  She had forgotten how much she had enjoyed working with Todd.  The bonus, of course, was that Tea was nowhere to be seen.  She still shivered at the memories of the other woman coming in when she and Todd were working together.

There was a knock at the closed office door that made Blair shiver.  She had a feeling it was Todd’s other female companion.  Carly Jacks was rapidly getting up there with the worst times of Tea. “Who is it?” she called.

The door opened and Scott Baldwin stuck his head in.  “You got some time to talk?” Todd’s lawyer asked.

Blair smiled.   “For you, anything.  What can I help you with?”

Scott sat down and opened his briefcase on his lap.  Out came a stack of folders.  “I need to go over some things about Todd and I need to see how I can play them for a jury.  If you’ll allow me?”

“Certainly, anything to help Todd,” she said.

Scott opened one of the files, taking out a note pad as well.  “When was the first time you met Todd Manning?”

Blair thought back, the smell of stale beer and peanuts wafting into the office.  Rodi’s had changed so much over the years and it made her miss the old bar, dank but colorful.  She missed the significance of the old bar.  Before she slipped further into her memories, she answered his question.  They were followed by other and Blair, in essence, took Baldwin on an early tour of their relationship.

“Now, this is very important in his defense.  Was there any time in your relationship that you felt…unsafe around him?  Was there ever any violence in your relationship?” Scott asked. 

“No, there was never a time,” Blair said with confidence.  “Todd has always done what he had to to protect Starr and our son Jack and I.  Sometimes, they are the most hair-brained schemes you will ever see.  Sometimes, they did more harm than good.  And sometimes…sometimes, they’ve taken him away from us.”  The image of him confronting Mitch Laurence years ago still could bring her to tears.

“Are you sure, because he has not one, but two DA’s after him.  He’s lit a fire under Nora Buchanan’s ass down in Llanview with walking on Victor’s murder and now she’s relishing this,” Scott said.  “Are you sure that no one would contradict you?”

Blair blinked, and one of her worst memories of Todd rushed to the forefront.  Scott noted the look.  “Blair, is there something?”

She looked to the side, unwilling to reveal it.  It really was nothing, in the grand view of all their years together and it certainly never happened after that day.  But Scott needed to know, he was right.  And any damage control could be managed, if needed.  “You know that I told Todd that our first night together got me pregnant.  That was why we got married down in Key West.  And I did actually get pregnant on our wedding night.  Well, I lost that baby.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice soft.  “I guess I thought that Starr was that baby.”

“No, it would have…would have been a son.  Anyway, when I miscarried, the doctor noted on his chart that I was only three months pregnant.  Well, my aunt, who’s a doctor, told him he was wrong, that I was five months along.  He insisted and she begged him to fudge the date.  He wouldn’t do that.”  Blair took out a deep breath.  “We waited a bit and started trying again.  At the same time, Todd had pissed off a local businessman that I had been involved with.  He was looking for ways to get back at me and he was tipped off by my mother that I hadn’t gotten pregnant when I had told Todd.  They had a heated conversation one night and he spilled to Todd about my lie.”

“What happened?”

“Todd went looking for the information in my medical chart and he found it…with the actual conception date,” Blair said.  “He confronted me and we got into a nasty argument…that escalated.”

“Escalated how?”  Now Scott was getting worried.

“I ran into the bedroom of our penthouse and he followed, breaking down the door.  We kept going at it and finally…he pushed me down on the bed and he reached for his belt,” Blair said, the emotions washing over her. 

“What did he do then?”

“He stopped.  He got back up, grabbed his jacket and left.  I was screaming at him, egging him on to keep going, to…go there.  But he just ignored me.”

“He was going to rape you?”

“He stopped.  He realized what he was doing, and he stopped,” she stated defiantly. 

Scott shook his head.  “Who else knows about this?”

“My Aunt Dorian, my cousin Cassie,” she replied, think of who else may.  “I don’t think Viki knows, at the time, they weren’t really close and Viki had a lot of issues to deal with.”

“What happened right afterwards?”  Scott knew that was a critical question.

 “He left and he filed for an annulment.  The marriage was over, hell, it had never existed,” she said.  “And then, we started to work our way back to each other.  I eventually learned I was pregnant with Starr and we got remarried.”

“And you never felt he would harm you at any other time?”

“No, not physically.  We’ve had our fits, but he has never once gone at me like that,” she said.  “Scott, you should know, that happened in July.  He still didn’t have the full picture of who he was…or who his father was then.”

“When did he learn about Victor Lord?”  Scott had read up on the man in preparation for the murder trial the year before.  He figured it would be useful and it was. 

“He learned about his father the night before we were remarried,” she told him.  “I think you should talk to Viki about that.”

Scott nodded, collecting his papers.  “I think I’ll do that now.  Thank you, Ms. Cramer.”

******

Natalie had decided to consult her lawyer before she went to look for John.  He had said there was nothing in the restraining order that said Natalie herself could not bring Liam to see his father.  In her heart, she knew how much John was missing the little boy and how much Liam missed his daddy.

She arrived at the PCPD and was about to ask the desk sergeant to see John when she heard his voice from the other end of the room.  “Thanks Sam.  I know Todd isn’t one of your favorite people…”

“Don’t thank me yet.  If I find the evidence to convict him, I will hand it over, gladly,” the dark-haired woman said.  “And Spinelli has been huffing and puffing about doing this anyway, so I want to make sure he’s actually working on it.”

The mere sight of John talking to this woman was enough to piss her off, but what she was saying made it worse.  How dare she and how dare he for going to the skank for help!  Liam still in her arms, she marched over and cleared her throat, loudly.

John looked over and his eye grew wide.  The woman turned and Natalie saw she was right.  It was the woman in the picture that Todd had sent her.  “Well, guess my uncle was right.  Really should thank him for being helpful.”

The other woman had the good grace to look shamefaced.  “John, I think I’ll leave you two alone.  I need to go back to work.”  With that, she was gone, scurried off to whatever hole she’d sprung out of and destroyed her life.

“Natalie, you came here…?” John began to ask.

“I came here for Todd, actually.  Jessica and I arrived yesterday and I had a talk with him about…things,” she said.

“About the case?” he asked.

“And other things.”  Liam had begun to squirm in her arms and she let him down.  He immediately ran to his father.

John picked him up but kept his eyes on Natalie.  She made no comment about what he was doing.  “Hey buddy how are you doing?”  Liam smiled at him as John picked him up.  He looked at Natalie.  “How long are you going to be in town?”

“As long as I’m needed.  Mom and Jess are staying, so so am I,” Natalie said. 

“You believe Todd?” he asked.

Natalie lifted her chin in defiance.  “Yes.”  Then she held her arms out to John.  “It’s time for Liam’s nap.”  John handed the boy back.  “We’re staying at the MetroCourt Hotel.  When you get a chance, you can come and see him.”

“I’ll do that,” he replied. 

Natalie nodded and walked out the door.  It hurt to see John.  If they were over, then why, she wondered, was that then?

******

Scott found Viki in her room.  He didn’t know how to quite broach this topic, fearing he could trigger some unforeseen reaction.  But Viki warmly greeted him.  “I’m guessing you need some information on the case,” she said.

“Yes, I spoke to Blair and she let me in on some things regarding your brother.  I have some questions, hoping you can fill in the blanks.  I know you may have been over this before, but it could help in his defense,” Scott said cautiously.

“Alright, I do the best to help you,” Viki replied, taking a seat.

Baldwin let out a sigh.  “When did you learn that Todd was you brother?  Like, what month?”

Viki thought for a moment.  “It was February or March.  He and Blair got married a few weeks earlier and then one night, he had a confrontation with our sister, Tina.  She slipped up and made reference to it in some way and he came to me for the answers.”  She let out a breath.  “Unfortunately, I wasn’t exactly ‘me’ then.  I was in the midst of my breakdown.”

“When all of your alters came out?”

She nodded.  “Yes.  Todd actually met ‘Jean’ the gatekeeper that night.  She denied it was probable, but was aware that it was possible.  He then went through the rigmarole set up by our father—blood tests, questions about his childhood and a safety deposit box key, which had actually been stolen from him.  Then he came into the money.”

“What was your relationship like after all that?” Scott questioned.

“We didn’t really have one, or we wouldn’t if another alter hadn’t provoked him.  One, Tori, was determined to destroy everything Victor Lord built.  She gave him files, scoops, anything to push his brand new paper ahead of The Banner.  Some he took, then he began to get suspicious and he backed off, until I returned to Llanview.  He came to Llanfair, welcomed me back and wanted to start to know about whom he was, who his family was.  Unfortunately, it set me off again.”      

“And by this time, Blair and Todd were separated?”

“Yes, but I think it may have been shortly afterwards that they reconnected.  I know that at Halloween, they flew down to Key West and got engaged again.  That was also when he found out she was pregnant with Starr.”  A smile touched her lips.

Now they were getting into the meat of what he was looking for.  “Can you tell me what your reaction was to that?  Were you supportive, concerned, anything like that?”

Viki smiled at the memory.  “Tina was fuming over it.  She and Blair never did get along.  But I was happy for him, if that was what he wanted.”  She held his gaze.  “He wanted us to be there for the wedding the next day.  Tina’s children were excited but Tina wouldn’t go.”

“Did you talk about that?” Scott prodded.

“No,” she stated simply.  Then she got this faraway look in her eyes, caught up in the past.  “He asked me about our father.  He told me Blair was expecting and he wanted to know what his own father was like.”  Viki stood up and walked to the window.  “That was the night…I told him what my father had done to me.”

Scott came to stand next to her.  “You don’t need to tell me any of that.  It’s all public record.  The thing I’m looking for is, how did he react to the…information?”

She was staring again, the night returning.  “How would any man react to that?  To know what kind of person…does that.  And someone with Todd’s past?  Someone who was that kind of man?”  She turned back and looked at Scott.  “He said to me, ‘Like father, like son.’”

Scotty only nodded.  “What happened next?”

“He left Llanfair.  No one could find him.  The minister, who was married to Blair’s cousin, he called me a few time looking for him, and I know Dorian was furious at the thought of Todd not showing.”  Then she offered, “I knew where to look.  He was in the family mausoleum.  When I arrived, he had decided he could go through with the wedding.”  Viki smiled sadly, remembering it all.  “Blair thought, correctly as it turned out, that she was having a girl.  Todd feared…he would do to his daughter what…”

“Do don’t have to say any more to me, Mrs. Davidson.  But that may be needed for his defense.  My argument is that, despite his crimes, knowing his past, his…family’s past, would stop him from doing it again.  Do you think you can do that?  Give that testimony in court?”

Viki nodded.  “Yes, I know I can.  Because, it is the truth.  Because of that, Todd could never rape anyone again.”