Through the Darkness, Chapter Thirteen

CHAPTER 13

August, 2013

Dawn broke on Llanview.  It was a late summer morning.  At Llanfair, the great house was busier than normal.  Sam Manning, not wanting to be separated from his best friend, Bree Brennan, had begged to sleep over.  Blair had agreed and, because it had been decided so late, Viki had invited Blair to stay overnight as well.  Since Blair didn’t much like the idea of returning to an empty home of her own, she agreed and had stayed in the room that had been Todd’s when he had returned two years ago.

She had changed back into her clothes from the day before when he phone rang.  “Where are you, Mom?” Jack had asked as soon as she answered it.

“Oh, Jack, sorry, I forgot to call.  Viki invited Sam and I over to dinner and Sam didn’t want to go home.  He wanted to spend more time with Bree and at that point, it was so late, Viki asked me to stay too,” Blair said, almost apologetically.

“You’re at Llanfair?  Okay, no problem.  Look, I’ll be over there soon,” he said, hanging up the phone before his mother could say anything else.  He went into her bedroom and found the notes that Todd had been sent, which he handed over to Bo.  The police commissioner looked them over.  “Okay, we’ll see you there Bo,” he said as he took his sister’s hand.

Meanwhile, at Llanfair, Blair just stared at her phone.  She wondered why Jack would be coming to Viki’s.  She continued to ponder that as she made her way down the stairs.  When she hit the foyer, the doorbell rang.  Lois wasn’t around, so she answered it herself.

Tea stood on the other side of the door.  “Blair, you got here quick,” she said as she walked in.

“Sam and I were visiting last night and we stayed so late, Viki told us to just sleep over,” Blair explained.  “Why are you here?”

“Bo called me.  He said he had some news he wanted to tell the entire family,” Tea said.

“Well, that wouldn’t include you,” Tina Lord Robert’s voice piped up.  She was coming down the stairs with Cord and wore a superior smile.

“Well, as it just so happens, Jack is coming over here to meet me, so, I guess I’m close enough to family for it,” Blair retorted.

Tina merely narrowed her eyes and walked into the library.  Cord offered an apologetic smile. 

Before Blair could go in as well, Tea grabbed her by the arm.  “Do you think this has to do with the body Todd was trying to pass off as Victor’s?”

Blair thought about it for a minute.  “Why would Bo want to see the entire family?” she asked.  A shiver ran down her spine.  “No, I don’t think it would have to do with that.”

They went in as the front door opened and Natalie, Liam, Dani and Matthew arrived.  “Does anyone know what’s going on?” Natalie asked as Liam caught sight of Ryder and scurried into the kitchen to join him.

The group all shook their heads as Viki joined them.  “Well, this is a lovely surprise.  I guess we’ll be having lots of the family for breakfast.”  Before she could notify the staff, the doorbell rang again.  Blair saw Jack and, surprisingly, Starr, come in.  Both of her children ran to her. 

“Starr, what are you doing here?” she asked, a sense of dread creeping through her.

Starr hugged Blair and said, “I missed you and I wanted to come home.”

Before Blair could respond to her daughter, the doorbell rang once again.  Bo and Nora arrived with Jessica and Brody and Blair’s fear lingered.  The police commissioner and the district attorney surveyed to room, looking at everyone there.

“Thank you for getting here so early,” Bo began.  “I apologize for the mystery surrounding why you all were called here.  We have a lot to get through, so let’s begin.”

When everyone was settled, Blair couldn’t help but notice that Jack, Starr, Jessica and Brody were all standing near Bo.  She looked to her son but his face was unreadable.  She turned her attention back to Bo.

“I’ve asked the LPD and the District Attorney’s office to reopen a number of cases.  One is the disappearance of Todd Manning from Llanview in 2003.  Another is what seemed to be the murder of Victor Lord Jr. by Todd Manning in 2011.  Now, you all know now that Victor wasn’t killed.  It was brought to my attention that before Todd returned to Llanview a few months ago, he was made aware of the fact that his brother was, in fact alive.”

Jack noted that the only people who were not surprised by this were Tina, Cord, Dani, Matthew and Natalie.  It was his cousin who spoke up.  “Todd knew that Victor was alive before he showed up at the hospital?”

Blair nodded.  “He received a note while he was in Port Charles, revealing that news to him.”  She looked to Bo.  “I have it back at La Boulie.”

Bo held it up.  “Jack got it for me before we came here.”

Blair flashed a gaze at Jack as Bo spoke to her.  “Blair, I’m going to have to reveal some things here that I know are supposed to be secret.”  He offered her a sad smile.

Blair bit her lip but indicated her allowance.  Bo continued.  “Now, most of you know that Victor made his presence known when Dani OD’ed the opening night of Shelter.  And he stayed in town for about a week.  Before he left, he and Todd had some kind of confrontation and Todd was nearly strangled to death.”

“So that really did happen?” Matthew asked.  “I know you thought it was a setup at first.”

“Todd’s neck…did show evidence of an attempt.  Plus, Natalie found arsenic residue on the stopper on the scotch decanter.”  Jack saw Bo raise his gaze to Tea.  She took a deep break and nodded her head ever so slightly.  “Evidence was found on Tea’s computer of internet searchs on ways to kill people, with a page coming up specifically for arsenic.”

“So, you think Victor tried to poison and strangle Todd?” Tina asked, confused.

“That’s the way the evidence point.  We still have an ABP out for Victor but now, Todd is out of town.  He told Viki and Jack it was for business,” Bo said.

“He also told me that too,” Dani added.

“What he didn’t reveal, expect to a few people is, he received two other note after the one about Victor being alive.  Now that one, it ordered him to ‘finish what you started or else’,” Bo quoted.  “The second note listed the names of many people here; Dani, Jack, Starr, Sam, Blair, Viki, Tea and Natalie.”  He looked at each person as he said their names.  “As of this morning, each of those people were in town, expect for his daughter Starr.”

Viki brought her hand to her mouth in shock.  “It was a threat, wasn’t it?”

Bo nodded again.  “The third note he received told him that whoever they were had Victor and that Todd had failed them.  The price for failure was he had to leave Llanview, leave his family.  That’s why he had to get out of town quickly and with a vague reason.”

Blair straightened her back and stood up.  She turned to the family.  “Before Todd left,” she said as she reached for her ring finger, “I wouldn’t let him leave without a promise to me.  I wouldn’t let him leave without marrying me.”

That got more of a reaction from the family than the news that Todd knew about Victor.  In fact, the loudest voice she heard wasn’t Tina’s, though the annoying woman let out with something between a squeak and a squawk, but from her daughter.  “You and Dad got married and you didn’t tell me?”  She turned to her brother and noticed his unsurprised expression.  “Did you know about this?”

Jack shrugged his shoulders.  “If we told you, it wouldn’t have been a secret,” was all he said.  “You’re kind of a blabbermouth.”

“Starr, the only person who knew at first was Tea.  She guessed that we were back together and I showed her the ring.  And I only told Jack and Viki a little while later,” Blair tried to reason.

“Look, there are other things more important than Blair and Todd’s secret marriage,” Bo interceded.  “Now, after Clint had the meltdown at the Veteran’s dinner, Natalie and Matthew went to the hospital.  There was a conflict in their memories of that night.  Matthew said she left with a member of staff to see her father, but initially, Natalie said she wasn’t allowed to see him and she left with Matthew.”  Bo turned to Jack.  “Jack learned of these inconsistencies and, in doing a little,” it was obvious Bo was searching for the best way to phrase this, “investigating on his own, found out that, not only was Matthew right, but that Allison Perkins was also there that night.”  Bo took out the picture from Jack’s laptop and passed it around.

“Allison was…” Natalie narrowed her eyes as she looked at the shot, then they flew open.  “Oh my God, she was in Dad’s room!”

Bo turned to her.  “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I remember.  He was tied to the bed and she was standing next to him with a syringe in her hand.  She must, she must have shot me with something so I wouldn’t remember!”

“Well, we have an APB out for her too.  But Jack was in my office most of yesterday and my detectives were going over his computer.  They found his ins with the hospital security network but also found another communications portal.  It was very sophisticated and it’s been routed through so many IP address, we still haven’t found the origin point,” Bo explained. 

“Todd…my father set it up,” Jack stepped forward and confessed.  Turning to Blair, he said, “That was what the second note to me was about.  It was the computer commands on how to link it up.”

Blair’s hands went to her heart.  “You talked to your father?” she asked in barely a whisper. 

Jack nodded.  “A couple of times,” he told her.

“The last time was yesterday.  Now, Jack had them both recorded.  The first one, we’ll get to later.  But, you all need to see the video from yesterday.”  Bo popped the DVD that had been burned into the machine.  As Todd’s face came up, Blair was so overcome with emotion, she didn’t notice her children come and stand beside her.

Todd appeared on screen and almost immediately began bickering with Bo.  But slowly, he almost sounded like he was cooperating with the man who had long been a nemesis of sorts.  Then, where were knocks at the door to his room, one louder than the other that had been heard a minute before.

“Do they not understand the term ‘do not disturb’?” he husband wondered aloud.  Todd got up to answer the door and it went crashing open, sending Todd hurtling backwards from the force.  Blair jumped at the sound and felt a pit open in her stomach at the next thing she saw; a stun gun being used on Todd.  He fell to the floor and was obviously unconscious.  In unison with her son’s voice that she thought she heard come from the video, she screamed, “TODD!”  She lunged for the screen, trying to get to him, not realizing for a minute that it was a recording. 

Jack and Starr fell to the floor besides their mother, who was wailing Todd’s name.  Jack looked up and saw the horrified expression on so many faces.  Jessica clutched her mother’s hand and Tina just stared at the screen, shaking her head as she kept repeating, “What happened?”  Even Tea and Dani were in tears holding each other as the screen went blank as a gun was turned on it.   

Blair was on her knees sobbing uncontrollably. Starr was trying to calm her down, but she too was crying.  It was Jack who finally spoke.  “I’m sorry, Mom, I’m so sorry.”  Blair looked at him as he continued.  “This happened yesterday and I couldn’t come home, I couldn’t see you.  Not knowing…”

Blair didn’t hear him.  She turned her attention back completely on the now blank screen.  “We have to find him, Bo.  We have to find him.”

“My people are working on it, Blair but Todd made it very difficult,” Bo responded.

Blair tried to gather her strength to stand but the minute she was erect, she collapsed again.  Jack and Starr managed to stop her from hitting the floor.  Her son looked at her and shook his head.  “She’s out cold,” he said.

Aunt Viki gathered herself together.  “Look, let’s get her upstairs into bed.”  Cord stepped forward and gathered Blair in his arms, carrying her up the stairs.  Starr followed along with Tina.

Jack turned to his aunt and saw her fighting tears.  He went to her and embraced her, whispering, “We’ll get him back.”

But he wasn’t sure that wasn’t a lie.