Through the Darkness, Chapter Twenty Four

CHAPTER 24

August, 2013

Todd was so amped up to leave the hospital, he didn’t want to wait for a change of clothes Viki had promised to bring.  It took Blair a lot of sexy promises to finally calm him down and wait until he was properly clothed for him to stay put.  When Viki got there, Blair insisted on helping him get dressed alone, one of the promised Blair had used as a bargaining chip.  It had taken longer than normal for them to emerge from the room, to which they found looks ranging from amused (Starr) to appalled (Jack).

Once they were on the Buchanan jet, Viki said, “When we get back to Llanview, I think you ought to go straight to the hospital.  Larry will want to check you over and he may have the answers he was looking for in those labs Dani got.”

Unsurprising to Blair, Todd shook his head.  “Dani told me that Victor was being arraigned this afternoon.  I want to go to the courthouse and be there for it.”

“You want to make sure Nora does her job?” Jack asked, a little snider than he had intended.

Todd just smirked at his son.  “If you want to know, come along.”  Then he turned to Viki.  “Look, after that, I’ll check in with Larry, alright mother?”

Viki merely rolled her eyes.

The plane landed and a car waited to pick them up.  Viki agreed to come along to the courthouse, with Blair, Todd, Jack and Starr, but Dani backed out, saying she had to meet someone.  When Todd asked who it was, she gave a very vague answer and left.

“Okay, someone want to tell me who this person is?” Todd asked, having caught looks from both Blair and Jack.

“That can wait, Blair said as they made their way to the courthouse.  When they arrived they found the courtroom they were looking for and saw the proceeding had begun.

“Your Honor, the Commonwealth is charging Mr. Lord with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder,” Nora Buchanan began.

The judge looked to Victor.  “How do you plead, Mr. Lord?”

“Your Honor, may I speak?” Todd asked, hobbling on his crutches.  Nora and Tea both turned to see him, Tea with a surprised look, Nora with an annoyed one.

The judge looked at him.  “And who are you?”

“Todd Manning.  I’m the two attempted murders,” he answered.

“Well, this is an arraignment.  It’s highly unusual…”

“Trust me, you’ll want to hear what I have to say,” Todd said. 

Next to him, under her breath, Nora hissed “What the hell are you doing?”  Tea didn’t say anything, just stood there with her arms crossed.

The judged looked between the two lawyers.  “If there are no objections.”

“None from me,” Tea replied.  She sent a look to Nora, who just threw her hands up.

The judge nodded and Todd began to speak.  “Look, I think there’s been a big misunderstanding.  See, the attempted murder charges, they’re really nothing.”

“They aren’t?” The judge asked, as he narrowed his eyes.

“Yeah, see, my brother and I, well, we were horsing around and it got out of hand.  We tend to think we’re younger and sprier than we are.  All in good fun but he panicked and that was why he left without calling for help,” Todd explained in his most charming manner.

“Really?” came Nora sarcastic question.  When Todd nodded his head, Nora threw her head back and rolled her eyes before continuing, “What about all the information found on Tea’s computer about arsenic?  You were the one who accused him of poisoning you in the first place.”

“All a misunderstanding,” Todd said as he leveled a gaze at Victor.  His twin looked at him cautiously as Todd continued.  “He noticed a day or so before that I wasn’t looking so healthy and he knew I’d been fine before that.  He was concerned and he went looking up what could possibly make me so sick so quickly.  That was how those pages on arsenic poisoning came up on his web search.”  He moved over to the defense table.  “My brother and I were just kidnapped and while we were held together, we had a long talk.  It’s brought us closer together as brothers.  He explained it all to me then.”

Nora snorted loud enough to catch a reprimanding look from the judge.  He turned to Todd.  “While that is all well and good, there is still the murder charge.”

“He told me that was in self-defense,” Todd said to the judge.  “He’d escaped and was on the run and the guy was after him.”

The judge’s gaze fell to Victor.  Tea leaned over and whispered in his ear Victor nodded to whatever she had just said.  Then she stood up.  “You Honor, my client just informed me that he did indeed tell Mr. Manning that.”

“I take it then that will be your plea?  Not guilty by reason of self-defense?” 

Todd moved to the gallery and watched the rest of the hearing.  Blair leaned over towards him and asked him, “Did Victor really tell you that?”  Todd nodded.  “And the horsing around and concerned brother?”  With those questions came an arched eyebrow.

“You said I owed him, I just repaid the debt,” Todd said.

“So, the plea is entered.  Having reviewed some of Mr. Lord’s records, I am also going to order a psychiatric evaluation be done on him.  It is claimed that he has undergone a trauma this past year or so.  I would like the workup to be done before trial begins.  And I am putting bail at $1 million dollars. Court is adjourned.”

When the judge exited, Nora turned to Victor then to Todd.  “You’re playing a game.   I know it.  I’m just trying to figure out what it is and why.”

“No game, Madame Prosecutor.  He did confess it was self-defense,” Todd confirmed.

“Yeah, he’ll lie and you’ll swear to it.  Why, I don’t know,” Nora huffed.  Without another word to anyone, she walked out of the courtroom.

Tea turned to Todd as well.  “I’d like to know why myself,” she said.

Todd looked to Blair and then to Victor.  “He pulled me out of there, even after I told him to get himself out.  Consider this a partial repayment.  Because the other part is going to Viki.”

His sister’s eyes went wide.  “Why to me?”

“Have we heard anything about Clint?” Todd asked, seemingly going off on a tangent.

The family looked around than to Viki.  She shook her head.  “I haven’t spoken to Cord or Tina in the last few days and quite frankly, my main concern has been on my brothers, not my ex-husband.”

Victor looked to Todd and Todd saw realization dawning in his brother’s face.  “Well, it does help, I guess, that the judge ordered an evaluation, then.”

“Wait,” Jack asked trying to understand.  “You want Victor to see what’s up with Clint at St. Ann’s?”

“Tea told me what about the drug theory with you.  And if no one has gotten to see Clint…” Victor began.

“It’s a good idea if someone went in to find out,” Todd concluded.

Starr looked between her father and her uncle.  “They’re starting to sound like twins,” she observed.

Tea looked to Todd, then to Victor.  “Well, I have to go post bail for you.  Then, I want to get home.  It’s been a long couple of days.”

Blair turned to Tea.  “Yeah, you…we all need to get some rest.  And I know Larry Wolek wants to see you.”  And so the family split up.  Tea and Victor headed to their house, Viki called Jessica to come and pick her up and Todd, Blair and their kids drove to the hospital.  They walked in and found Larry.

“Todd, it’s good to see you,” he said.

“Yeah, uh, good to see you.  You have any information for me?” Todd asked.

Larry nodded to the family and they made their way into his office.  He sat behind his desk and looked to Starr.  “I remember years ago, Viki told me how good you were in the sciences.  I can see that is still true.”

“She was right?” Jack questioned, though his voice was not sounding too surprised.

Larry nodded.  “The traces weren’t in as high a concentration as I found in Clint, but they were there.  You were being drugged Todd, but by whom?”

“What was the name of the doctor who was your expert witness?” Blair asked.  She had rolled her eyes when Todd’s attorney had called the man to the stand during the trial and had written off most of the testimony at the time as bullshit.  As such, she struggled to remember even the little details.

“His name was Dr. Weatherly, Bernard Weatherly.  My lawyer recommended him, said he’d testified for him before,” Todd answered.

Larry took the name down.  “I’m going to look into him. See if there’s a connection between him and the drugs we found in Clint’s office.”

Todd stood up.  “Is there anything else you need to know?”

“Yes, do you have the records from this latest hospitalization?  I want to see if there’s any more of the drug present in your system.”

Blair pulled out the records but Todd scoffed at the idea.  “I can tell you, my head’s been on right for a while now.  I think even Blair will agree, I haven’t done anything crazy since I’ve been back in town.”

“Depends on how you define crazy,” she said.  “You did just absolve your brother of attempted murder in court.”

Todd chose not to respond.  “If there’s nothing else, I’d like to get home.”

Larry paged through the notes as he said, “If I find anything, I’ll let you know.  Also, I want to check that leg in a day or so.”  But he let the Mannings leave after that.

Todd got into the car.  “Well, at least that’s over,” he said.  “Now, we have to deal with the rest of my family.”

“Hey,” Jack said, “it could be worse.  You may have had to deal with Dorian.”

Todd thought about it and admitted his son was right.  But even so, as the car pulled up to Llanfair, he wasn’t ready to see his annoying sister.  As he walked into foyer, he heard Tina’s voice coming from the library.  He let out a sigh and braced himself when he heard her say, “Face it, Dorian, you’re never going to break them up.  I came to realize that, so suck it up and deal.”

“Your brother is a sociopathic…maniac and Blair needs to realize that.  And I am here to see she does.  Now, tell me when she will be back,” Dorian shouted back.

That was met with a typical “Oh, Dorian!” from Viki and Todd had to smile.  He knew he’d enjoy his sisters teaming up against the head harpy, especially when he saw Blair looking ready to blow her top.