 |
||
When Cassadines Fall
Double Life
2am
Dara rolls over but the spot beside her is cold. She recalls Marcus has a stake out tonight so he'd stayed at the Brownstone. He'd planned on coming over for a while before Bobbie roped him into babysitting just until Jerry and Maddy arrived from New Orleans. Unable to fall back asleep, she stares at the alarm clock. "Screw it." She mutters. Going to bed alone Dara'd undressed for comfort in a football jersey and thick fuzzy socks. Hopping from the bed, she slides into the ancient levis she's had since college: faded, thin and comfortable. She slams her feet into her running shoes. Dara kicked them off earlier without unlacing them so just leverages her feet back in. Running a quick brush through her hair, she grabs her coat and bag and walks out to her car.
Twenty minutes later she arrives at the Outback. Dara walks up just as the bartender is turning the sign around. "You ready to jam?" He asks.
"Past ready. Who all is here?"
"We got a couple. Claude said he'd be along after he close Lukes. You want your usual?" The bartender goes back behind the bar after locking the door and turning off half of the lights.
"No, make mine a Jack-- double."
"Last call was half an hour ago, Counselor." Dara just stares at the guy. "Double Jack coming right up." He shrugs.
The piano player who'd been taking requests and playing easy listening all night finishes counting his tips in the fishbowl on the piano and tucks them in his wallet. "You know the worst thing about working in a place called the Outback?"
"Waltzing Matilda?" Dara calls out a guess.
Shaking his head, "Dancing Queen. I swear if I get one more request for an ABBA song, I'm quitting." The guy starts noodling away on the piano finally playing the music he likes.
As the music changes the cook comes out of the back. Tossing his apron into the laundry bin, he grabs a case from the employee area and joins the piano player on the small stage. Unlatching his case he pulls out a clarinet and starts piecing it together. "Hey Dara! Couldn't sleep?"
"Nope, and I'm on leave until Monday. I was hoping you guys would be here tonight."
"Baby, we're here every night. Comes with not having a life." Wetting the reed he blows a few experimental notes blending them to the piano players noodling. The bartender starts flipping chairs onto tables cleaning and putting everything to rights for the next day. When he's done he slides into the seat by Dara. Exhaling he puts his feet up on an adjoining seat and shakes a Newport free of the box firing it up. "You think Mac will ever figure it out?"
"I'm not tellin'." Dara replies taking a sip of whiskey. "You?"
"Never. It's one of the few perks of the job." There is a rap on the door. The bartender makes a motion as if to get up.
"I got it." Dara offers. Getting up she goes to the door making sure it's Claude and only then unlocking the door. "Hey Claude-- you get fired today?"
"Luke's out of town." Claude replies. His answer says it all.
"Well Hallelluh! He's someone elses problem tonight!" Dara slides back into her seat and offers up a toast. Claude guffaws. He props his case on the stage and then unlocks it and puts together his trumpet. Going up on stage he slides into the jam already in progress. It's been awhile since Dara last dropped by but they remember the score-- there isn't a chance in hell of getting her on stage until she'd finished her first drink, normally something soft, that she sipped real slow letting the ice melt to a watery mess. It gave them time to just jam with Claude throwing in a vocal set when the mood hit him. The piano player is the first to notice Dara is down to the last sip of Jack and kicks into a gospel tune. Dara lifts the glass. "This one is for you, little sister." She takes the last swallow and shedding her jacket climbs on the stage. Her eyes closed, toe tapping and fingers snapping, she begins to sing the only music that had been allowed in the house when she was coming up. Using that as a jump off point, the guys start moving into the early jazz greats catering to her taste and style: Ethel Waters, Billie Holliday, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington with a little Nina Simone thrown in for variety.
V, who'd grown used to painting to the nightly jams in her apartment over the Outback, is startled to hear a female vocalist. Grabbing her sketch pad she sneaks down the back stairs. She curls up on the bottom step using the angle to see the stage she props her pad on her knee and the pastels on the stair above starting to sketch. Her hand flies over the page pausing only momentarily to smudge or grab a different pastel. The detail isn't as important as the mood and the posture. V silently curses her talent doing the best she can but still feeling humbled in her efforts to convey the energy before her.
5am.
Maddy rolls off of her futon onto the floor at the wake the dead level of her alarm clock. With a shudder and a groan she reaches over and flattens it. The alarm is stopped in mid squeal. Maddy climbs to her feet and stretches her arms over her head... stretch... stretch... yawn. Running both hands over her face she then pulls them back through her hair tying it back in a knot. Still half asleep but gradually coming to wake, Maddy heads to the shower. By the time she climbs out of the shower, Maddy is wide awake and her mind races ahead in her day. Layering her clothes to block the "brisk autumn" as Lucky called it, she grabs her coat and purse and goes up to the kitchen. She sniffs in gratitude the aroma of dripping coffee. Praise be to automatic coffee makers. Pouring a cup into her travel mug, Maddy sips. She takes the rest of the coffee and pours it into a vacumn pot to stay warm for when the rest wake. She tops the travel mug and grabs her keys. It's time.
6am.
The docks kiosk. This time of day it was the busiest with the start of day shift for the ELQ dock workers. Maddy assists with the a making of coffees going aside with occasional customers to make notes in her notebook. She's in the midst of one of these consultations when Johnny's van pulls up. Johnny pulls out a shallow plastic box filled with pastries. He greets the barrista by name. The barrista passes the empty box from the day before back to Johnny. "Maddy's van is here." The barrista nods in Maddy's direction.
Maddy sees him from the corner of her eye and gives him a wave. She finishes up the conversation with the customer and shakes his hand. Maddy recaps her pen and walks over to take a seat next to Johnny in the space exposed by the sliding side door of his van. "Hey Johnny."
"Welcome Back, Maddy. Swing by my place some time today. I have your receipts. Em didn't want there to be any questions about the money if it were at the mansion."
"The only one who'd have searched her room was Mr Q and he was with me!" Maddy laughs.
"And it was so quiet here in Port Charles." Johnny grins.
Maddy leans in as if telling a secret. "I hear Mr Q raised holy hell with New Orleans Police." Maddy puts on a gruff gravely voice. "Damnit Man! I want answers and I want them now... Do you know who I am?!"
"You have been spending way to much time with the old goat."
Maddy gets serious. "He was a big help, Johnny. I was up to my ass in alligators, and he was draining the swamp. You know how it is if anything happens to Mr Corinthos or Em's brother with the PCPD. They start throwing conniptions. It was the same kind of thing down there because I know Poppi. I have no idea what they would have tried to pull if Mr Q hadn't been there. Poppi couldn't get involved without making it even more messy but Mr Q could jump in with both feet and believe me he did.
"I guess I'll have to be nice to the guy." Johnny grumbles.
"Pralines. I got him hooked while we were down there. I need to get back to work. I'm playing catch up today. I can do the rest of the deliveries if you want." Maddy offers as she stands up.
"If you're going that way anyway." Johnny transfers four more boxes of pastries to Maddy's van.
"I owe you big time for this."
"I'll collect. This is going to be the first Christmas with the judge in the family. You might have to give me a few suggests of what to give the guy you haven't ever sent a Father's Day card to."
"I'll put a few feelers out."
7am.
Liz wanders into the kitchen of Wyndermere Lite. She had to be down at the PCPD to meet the forensic artist in about an hour. Nik comes into the kitchen from the rest of the house. Liz grabs another coffee cup and fills it. "Hey."
"Hey yourself." Nik replies.
Liz checks out what Nik is wearing. "First stop Sheba?"
"I'm sure everything is fine with Sheba but I didn't check in with Carly or the vet student while I was gone. And where the horses are concerned Carly is very big on cooperation."
"Really?" Liz's eyes go wide. "I wouldn't have thought that one was in her vocabulary. I always figured her for the what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine if you tick me off school of thought."
"Yes, yet another reason for me to check on my horse." Nik agrees jokingly. He happens to glance up at the dry erase board that had been installed in the kitchen during the construction to leave notes between the shifts. Maddy often left notes there if she was out and about.
Liz notices his interest. "Her van is already gone. But the coffee was in the vacumn pot... that's a good sign right?"
"I'll be having Thanksgiving here this year. You and Lucky are both invited. Your grandmother is invited."
"And Maddy is invited."
"I mentioned it to her last night." Nik admits. "I really should be going, Elizabeth. Tell Lucky I'll talk to him later in the day." He leaves before Liz can start questioning him further. There is many a time when he believes that if Liz doesn't follow the path of artist that she'll jump in to gossip columnist for some trashy rag with both feet.
8am.
Dara curses into her pillow and reaches over to grab the ringing phone. She'd finally gotten to bed at about 5am and this was prime REM time. If it was some guy calling on switching her long distance she was gonna ring his neck-- long distance. "Hello?" She says groggily.
"Dara, it's Justus; I need to see you in my office today."
"Justus, I'm off until Monday. All my cases are covered. I have barely slept in three days."
"I know all that, Dara. Believe me if it wasn't important I wouldn't call. How soon can you get down here?"
Dara sits up in bed suddenly wide awake. "What's going on, Justus? Did they find Emily's kidnappers or something? The guys who sent the letter bomb to Judge Porter?"
"It has nothing to do with an open case. At least I hope not."
"You know I really hate it when you get cryptic."
"How soon can you be here?"
Dara sighs and looks over at the clock. "Give me an hour. It'll probably be less." She hangs the phone back up. "This had better be important." Throwing back the covers she pads off to the bathroom.
9am
V yawns as she pours herself some coffee behind the conference table at L&B. The jam at the Outback had lasted until about 5am but then she'd been too inspired to sleep. If the alarm hadn't gone off she'd probably still be at home up to her ears in paints.
"Good Morning, V." Ned says cheerfully as he strides through the door with his wife. Alexis stops at the reception desk and picks up the mail frowning as she sees the messagered package on top. Dang. IF they didn't bother waiting for the US Mail then all heck was going to break loose. Alexis absently kisses Ned on the cheek and then heads up to her office. Ned looks after her and grins. "Someone is already on the clock."
"Yes, well sir... lawyers lawyer and singers sing." V hints. She had venues that would probably not be returning her calls if not for the other artists at L&B. Ned's rescheduling the few concert dates he accepted was driving the venues crazy and her right along with them.
"Isn't it a beautiful day?"
V frowns. "Sir, your grandfather is back in town. Miguel's new album is three weeks behind schedule for delivery to the stores. Alexis is in the midst of a particularly nasty negotiation with someone we haven't even signed yet. You still haven't picked an album cover which might actually be a silver lining since it would be nice to have a tour planned to support the new album."
"Details V. Mere Details. You aren't going to rain on my parade."
"Actually the forcast calls for partially sunny with a chance of precipitation this afternoon. And the highs are going to be in the forties...."
"V! Stop." Ned grabs a cup of coffee standing behind his seated assistant. He frowns as he stares at the top of her normally reddish brown hair. "V. Your hair is blue." Unable to resist he reaches out and touches another strand. "And pink... and yellow."
V pats his hand away from her impatiently. "I was working on a ... project last night."
"Another children's book? Brooke loves Dog and Bird." Ned reaches for the sketchbook at V's elbow.
"Hey give that back!" V tries to snatch it back from Ned but it is too late he has already flipped to the pages of rough sketches of the jam the night before.
He whistles and lays the sketchbook down on the table reverently. "V, these are amazing. Hot hot hot."
"Pardon my french, sir-- but they're crap." V snags her book back and makes to rip up the sketches.
Ned throws his body over the conference table and over the sketches and screeches at the top of his lungs. ALEXIS!!!
Alexis comes to the top of the stairs. Her glasses already perched on the end of her nose. "What? WHAT is going on?!"
"Stop her! Shoot her if necessary!"
"Oh for goodness sake, Ned." Alexis snorts. "I only carry my gun when Luke Spencer is in town."
"Counselor, I want to make a citizen's arrest." V internally flusters wishing she still had her badge. "Theft. Your husband has my property and refuses to return it."
"She is going to destroy them." Ned pleads.
"Oh please. V, step back from the conference table. Ned, give me the sketchbook."
"They are my sketches I can do what I like with them." V retorts as she takes a step back. Ned slides off the table careful to take the sketches with him keeping them out of V's reach.
"Look... look what she was about to desecrate." Ned holds the sketchbook to Alexis.
Alexis glances down at the sketchbook just to get Ned out of her face and then looks again. "Oh V, they're wonderful."
V bites her lower lip. "You really think so?" She asks hesitantly.
Alexis looks around the walls of the former Cafe Matisse. "Oh yes, and they'd be perfect for a record label. They need to be matted and framed and then hung on the walls here. They scream energy, intensity, vitality. They are just amazing." V and Ned are both shaking their heads in a no motion. "What?"
"I couldn't I would be too embarassed." V says.
"And I want this one for my album cover." Ned complains.
"Your record cover?!" V practically screeches.
"You said I need to pick one. I want this one." Ned holds up one of the more abstract renderings. You do want me to pick an album cover, don't you?"
"Yabbut..." V studders.
"Good then it's settled." Ned hugs the sketchpad to him not giving it up for anything.
Alexis sighs and shoves her glasses up on her nose. In a quiet voice but still loud enough to be heard by V she tells Ned. "That's it. No more morning nookie for you. Shoot her if you have to? This is settled. I'm going back to work. Ned, after you get them framed and matted I want one for my office." Feeling the problem is solved she walks away.
Ned turns on a dime and starts toward the door. V follows after him. "Where are you going? Where are you taking that?"
"You heard her. I'm going to the framer. Hold my calls."
10am.
District Attorney's Office City of Port Charles, County of Port Charles. Dara looks at her watch again. She'd been cooling her heels out here for over an hour on her day off. Justus' secretary had stopped her from entering telling her that Justus was in a conference and would call her when they were ready. Finally Justus comes out to the lobby area. One look at him and Dara can tell he is ticked. "Dara, come into my office."
"Yeah, that was the plan... an hour ago. What the hell is going on, Justus?"
"Big old can of worms and you opened it." Justus leans in close so that nobody else can hear. "Tape the damn conversation, Dara. They've got me leveraged ten ways from Sunday. They've already decided the outcome and I don't have a f'ing thing I can do."
Dara stops in her tracks and looks up at Justus. Looks much more closely and not through her own ire at being kept waiting. Justus had passed ticked and was clear to chew nails and spit paperclips. Dara reaches into her bag and pulls out the microrecorder that she dictated briefs into and slides it into her suit jacket pocket. "Who is in there?"
"Agent Ford and Agent Larkin. FBI."
Double Life
12pm
Dara strides through the doors of L&B. A flustered V is behind the reception desk covering while the normal person is on lunch. "Hey Dara."
"Is Alexis in?"
"Suurrreee." V draws out with a big question in her response. She knows Dara and Alexis are not and never will be pals.
"I need to see her ASAP." Dara exhales and realizes she's been rude. "Hey V, how is it going?"
"Life sucks and you?" V replies cheerfully.
"Ditto." Dara replies more seriously.
"You want some coffee while Alexis finishes her call? Or maybe some juice or water. Caffeine with the general sense of suckiness might not be for the best...."
Dara realizes V is going to continue talking until she interrupts. "Juice would be great."
V goes over to a small fridge in the break room and grabs Dara a juice and one for herself. She opens her mouth to say something and then closes it again and then finally blurts out, "You were awesome last night."
"Excuse me?"
"I rent the apartment above the Outback."
Dara inhales sharply and leans over the counter. "You didn't see anything last night."
"But..."
"Nothing, you didn't see anything."
"I didn't see anything."
"Right."
"Um Alexis is off her phone." V calls Alexis and informs her that Dara is there. "Yes, Dara Jensen" V hangs up. "She'll be right down."
"Dara, we didn't have an appointment for today?" Alexis frowns from the landing above.
"No, this is a private matter."
"Oh. Come on up." Alexis waits until Dara reaches the top of the stairs. "What is this about?" Alexis opens her office door and ushers Dara in closing the door behind her.
"How much do you charge for a consult?"
"Two hundred."
Dara leans over Alexis' desk and writes out a check ripping it from her checkbook and handing it to Alexis. "Cash it fast before they freeze my accounts."
"Whoa! What the hell is going on?!"
Dara pulls out the tape recorder, sets it on Alexis' desk and hits play.
1pm
The Quartermaine mansion in the room commandeered for the schooling. Instruction finished, assignments handed out. The instructor had asked the girls if they wanted to add a week to their schedule or to double some assignments before Thanksgiving. Em and Maddy had looked at each other and grimace. "Double it."
The instructor leaves to call tin the necessary book order. Em looks over at Maddy. "We volunteered for this."
"Don't remind me." Maddy groans. "Do you need a ride over to Deception?"
"I got my bike back from Jason. I want to ride it until the first snow at least. Deception until 6pm then Johnny wants me to come by Porters. He has to work but will make me something. And you know the great thing about his place?"
"The Quiet?"
"You got it."
"Johnny wants me to stop by and pick up the receipts."
"Well if it's after six you can keep me company. And you can finally tell me a) how Nikolas ended up buying a house and b) how you ended up living there!"
"And you can tell me how you have your family snowed enough to let you go over to your boyfriend's, your very grown, mature, gorgeous boyfriend's apartment without like armed guards or at least a chaperone."
"Did I say we didn't have a chaperone?" Em grins. "Grandmother has Johnny's schedule down pat. She knows how important the restaurant is to him. When it comes to it-- he just doesn't play. The safest time to have me over at Johnny's place is Friday or Saturday night. The poor guy doesn't have time to breathe down in the kitchen let alone sneak smooches with me. And the only person that Johnny would ever let relieve him on a Friday or Saturday is Cookie."
"And nothing is going on under her nose."
"Oh hell no. If Johnny does manage to get a break then Rita does too because she is working Friday and Saturday nights now as well as the Sunday Brunch. This is the way it will go tonight... Johnny will either just send something up to me in his apartment or if he manages to get a dinner break, then Rita will get one too and it's like family time around the table."
"But didn't Edward and Lila start having dinner hour after Carly made such a big stink about it for her husband?"
"Yep." Em nods. "And I'm to be there Sunday through Thursday. Monday night is Johnny's night off so he comes over to the mansion."
"Oh I bet he loves that."
"He adores Grandmother; everyone adores grandmother... and since he brings dessert Grandfather keeps his rumblings to a minimum. Although they get in some... heated discussions. Johnny calls him a robber baron when he's being nice. And Grandfather says Johnny is a communist. It's really kind of entertaining."
"I'll bet." Maddy tucks all her books away in her backpack and clutches her dayplanner... the lifeblood of her business to her. "Well I need to get going or I'll never get over to Johnny's or it will be a hell of a lot later than six. I'll see you tonight."
"See ya." Em says as Maddy leaves. After the door shuts Em says to the absent Maddy. "And don't think that just cause I love talking about my boyfriend doesn't mean I'm not going to find out what is going on with you."
2:30 pm.
Port Charles Elementary school. Jerry checks in at the front office before heading down to Lucas' classroom. Jerry leans against the wall waiting for the final bell to ring. He hadn't gotten to see the kid before school as he had slept in past the time Lucas had to catch the bus. Goodness knows how Bobbie had managed that one. Especially with presents to be had. The bell rings and a flood of kids hit the corridor. Lucas is one of the first ones out of his classroom. "Hey mate."
"Jerry!" Lucas grins. "About time you got home. Mom gets as crazy as Carly when you're not around. I was about to run away to New Orleans myself."
"Oh that would have gone over well. I seem to remember a promise of riding boots. Your mum is working a swing so we're flying solo until we go over to visit her on her dinner break. You've got plenty of time to fill me in on everything."
"Yeah, that's what you think." Lucas' grin widens. "AJ is taking Carly out of town this weekend and isn't tellin' where. He thinks she is getting stressed."
"Man, your sister doesn't get stress-- she gives it."
"Wish I would have thought of that to say." Lucas relinquishes his backpack to Jerry who strings it over one shoulder. "Your mom and dad have been hanging around the brownstone a lot. They're cool and all, even if they try too hard. Jax has even been stopping by. He's househunting for them here in Port Charles. I think he wants them out of the hotel. I heard him tell Lady Jane that there was a Brownstone for sale three doors down from ours."
"Oh you did, did you?" Damn Jax. He could see his little brother's fingers all over this one. Jax had probably gotten tired of having the 'rent show up for breakfast and a power walk every morning. It has surely cramped loverboy's extra curricular activities.
"It's true. The Lambs want to get out before winter really hits. They've already gotten a place down in Florida. Even if they don't sell I'm sure they wouldn't mind renting."
"Did you tell them that?" Jerry unlocks Lucas' back passenger door in the SUV. The kid was still on the short side and there was a front passenger side airbag that hadn't been disengaged.
"Nope, Mom did." Lucas climbs in and buckles up.
Jerry swallows a groan. Coming around to the other side of the vehicle he climbs in the drivers seat. Before putting the car in gear he looks in the rear view mirror to make eye contact with his stepson. "She invited them to Thanksgiving, didn't she?"
"Yep. And your dad wants you to call him. He figures you brought some great stuff back from New Orleans."
"Which I did. Your mum and I already made a dent in it while you were at school since she didn't feel like cooking. But there is still enough left for us to bach it. I even brought you back some CDs. But first the boots."
"I need to swing by the stables too. Check on Thunder." Lucas suggests. Heck if he was going to get new boots he might as well test drive them first thing. "You know this would be a lot easier if Thunder was up at Carly's stable and then we could all go riding together out in the woods instead of in the stupid ring."
"You'll be thanking me in February when you can go riding without getting frostbite."
3pm.
Ned comes back to L&B this time with not only the sketchbook but also some framed etchings all in a box. "I'm back; did you miss me?"
"Not really, sir."
"Now V, how many times have I told you to call me Ned?"
"Approximately 352, sir, but that was before you stole my sketchpad."
"Call Alexis, she can help us pick where to put these up."
"She's in a meeting. Has been since noon. She cancelled all her other appointments and doesn't want to be disturbed."
Ned doubletakes on his way up the stairs. "Really. What is up? It sounds important."
"Attorney Client priviledge, sir."
"Come on, V, you know you want to tell me."
"Nope, I really don't. Now that you're back you can handle the phones. I have my own work to do... even if you don't want to do yours."
"I could fire you, you know."
V quirks a brow at him. "Yes sir, you could. But I would still be working for Alexis as her investigator and since my office is part of her law offices all you'd have done is stopped me from answering your phones, finding your new talent, and giving your excuses to all the venues when you change your mind again about touring again."
"Has anyone ever compared you to Jiminy Cricket?"
"Jax, all the time. Why?"
"Nevermind. Do I have any messages?"
V hands over a handful of pink slips. Ned juggles it with the box he is carrying and then just drops them in the box. He hands V her sketchpad back. "What about the other ones?"
"You'll see them when Alexis sees them." Ned carries the box upstairs to his office across from Alexis. The office has a pristine appearance like nobody ever got any work done there-- which is true since he mostly did his work on the first floor at either the conference table or stretched out on the company couch. Ned sets the box on his desk pulling out one of the framed sketches that he thought would appeal to Alexis the most and goes across the hall. Rapping on the door once, he enters. "Alexis, I brought you the piece you wanted."
Alexis reaches across her desk and hits the stop button on the recorder in a flash. "Ned. Dang it!"
"Why Ms Jensen hello." Ned grins at Dara giving her the full effect of his dimples. "Did you stop by to sign with L&B finally? I know Brenda approached you before her death."
"No." Dara says flatly. "I don't perform." She looks over at Alexis. Alexis just shakes her head. Ned was really getting too much like Edward first telling her to shoot V and now this bursting in her office to find out what is going on.
"Dara, I think I have enough to get started. Let me keep this." Alexis refers to the tape.
"Then you'll take the case."
"Oh yeah. Let me clear some time and get V investigating. If you think of anything else let me know. Anything... further actions by the other party I want to know first thing. And any meetings they schedule I want to be there. Do they know you made the tape?"
"Justus does."
Alexis nods. She takes the tape from the recorder and drops it into an envelope sealing it up. "I'll get this transcribed so I can work from a hardcopy and save the original."
Dara rises and gathers her purse and her microcassette recorder. Passing Ned in the doorway she doesn't resist the impulse to look at the art he'd used as an excuse to bust in on the meeting. Her eyes widen. Putting back on her poker face she turns to Alexis. "I'll be expecting you call." Dara goes down the stairs where V is still trying to get her work done while answering the phones. "You... me... we're going to talk. I know where you live."
"I didn't see anything; I didn't hear anything."
"No, you just sketched it. At least you had the decency to not show our faces."
"I'm not that great at faces."
"We'll talk." Dara strides out of L&B. Damn the hits just keep coming.
4pm.
Wyndmere Lite. Nik is meeting with Larry's partner, the designer. The partner is going through the boxes that Nik brought back from New Orleans. "Nikolas, these are amazing! When you called me and told me to bring over a quilt hanger I cringed. Here I am trying to put together a modern representation of a victorian rehabilitation and you're saying quilt hangers! Where did you get this?"
"Down in New Orleans. They actually belong to my roommate, Maddy." Nik explains. "You know what happened the night of the party."
"I know it ended abruptly because there was a serious illness in her family."
"Her mother passed away."
"Oh that poor girl." Partner winces. Maddy really is a sweetheart, so helpful and so practical. "Do you know the origins of these pieces?"
"This one, according to Granny Sophia, is a crazy quilt that was made by Maddy's Granny Rosa. Rosa was known for her needlework evidently among other things. She could sew anything. Rosa passed away a couple of years ago. And this one is a quilt that Granny Sophia didn't know the origins of only that it had belonged to Maddy's blood grandmother. Stefan says she passed away when Maddy was about two."
Partner refers to the crazy quilt. "Well this one is beautiful and a perfect representation of the art. She even used the victorian style-- mixing silks and velvets with beautiful gold embroidery over the top of the quilt. It would look perfect in the living room. We'll have to figure out a way to light it just so. But this one...." Partner breathes lightly almost afraid to touch it. "This one should be professionally appraised. It wouldn't surprise me if it dates back to the mid eighteen hundreds-- maybe even earlier. The last time I saw something like this was in a textile museum. The origins are practical, of course; all quilts are, but this has crossed the line now to folk art. While it might never have been found in a Victorian such as this one... at least not in the front rooms, it is older than the house. It might even be pre Civil War! This is so exciting! I'll need to do some research and find out the safest way to display it. You can't just hang it. If it were damaged in some way that would be truly criminal." Partner carefully repacks it. "What else?" His eyes are aglow with the light of discovery.
"Granny Sophia sent these along. She made them." Nik opens up another box.
"Oh another lost art." Partner gushes. He pulls out the intricate crochet doilies. "You can get these of course made in Taiwan or something but there is nothing quite like the real thing." Draping the doilies over his arm he looks around the living room. One by one he places them around the living room, over the back of a chair, on top of a table and a runner along the mantle of the fireplace. "Yes, it is all starting to come together. It's not looking like just a building anymore."
"What about the crazy quilt?"
Partner looks around at the walls of the living room. "There." Very precisely he measures and then inserts the hangers. Then he carefully inserts the Crazy quilt into a clamp like bar and hangs the bar on the hangers. Stepping back he looks at it critically. "Amazing. It really brings the room together. It will look even better once I arrange the lighting properly. What else?"
"The other things are more sentimental. Some refrigerator magnets from Granny Sophia. Some odds and ends, a couple of scrapbooks, some crocheted afghans. A couple of her mother's Marti Gras costumes. These are the major things; I can do the rest. How soon can you tell me about the other quilt?"
"I'll make calls immediately. But it might take awhile for the people to get back to me." Partner takes a deep breath. "Nikolas, I know this is an imposition. But I was wondering how soon you could let me get a professional photographer in here? I really need to get pictures done for my presentation to the guild."
"The sooner the better." Nikolas tells him. "Right now the house is still a project, my uncle might say an obssession, but as soon as I start thinking of it as home you'll get photographers in here over my dead body."
"Of Course. I'll make those calls too then."
"I'd suggest Miss Anderson. She has a new studio down on the waterfront in the ELQ prominade. She does a lot of portrait work but I've seen a picture of Emily Quartermaine she did for a modeling shoot that crossed the line between representation to art."
"I'll check her out." Partner pulls out his dayplanner and makes a note of the name. "Let me go make those calls." Partner leaves.
Nik takes a box (that he'd marked kitchen in Greek just in case Maddy had come across the boxes) and sets the box on the table. As he had told Partner there was nothing of real value in the box. Just odds and ends. Looking around the kitchen he picks a cupboard. First things first. He grabs the empty Folger's can from the box and empties his pocket change into it and puts it away. Then he tears the grocery list from the pad next to the phone and hangs it on the refrigerator with one of the magnets from Granny Sophia's fridge. Then he starts putting away all the things that Granny Sophia told him are a must for any southern kitchen.
5pm
Maddy looks at her watch. Em might be ticked but she needed to pick up the receipts now from Johnny and make the deposits. Thankfully the bank stayed open late on Friday nights. She uses the night deposit when she has to but it gives her the heebies. Getting robbed at the kiosk was one thing but gettting hit with a week's worth of deposits for all five kiosks would be a bitch: cops, insurance premimum increases and that was the best case scenario-- worst case was something you planned for and avoided at all costs. Swinging by Porters, Maddy tells Rita she needs to speak to Johnny. She is led through the restaurant to the kitchen. Johnny sees her and checks that there is nothing pending. An hour from now the place would be slamming and wouldn't stop until around ten. He goes back into the large walk in refridgerator with Maddy following him. Johnny gets into his safe and pulls out 15 envelopes (5kiosks x 3 days) on the outside of each of them is the location, date and amount within.
"Thanks for this."
"No Problem." Johnny shrugs. "Em did most of the running. I handled any supply shortages and put them on your account over at Sonny's."
"If I could cook-- I'd return the favor." Maddy insists.
"Don't worry about it, Maddy."
"You mind if I go out the back? I parked out there." Johnny opens the back door for her watching as she gets in her black van. Since she climbed into the side door, he knows she is going to do the bookwork before leaving. Trusting Johnny's figures on the envelopes, she rips them open and starts counting. Her fingers fly over the cash: sorting, counting and then arranging it the way the bank preferred. Taking the total cash and a completed deposit slip, She puts all of it in the bank bag. Maddy climbs into the driver's seat, she glances at her watch again. She'd just make it.
Over at Dara's house Taggart paces in front of the door he'd been here awhile. Dara pulls in and winces when she sees him. Oh this is going to be so much fun. She thinks sarcastically. "Hey Taggart."
"Dara, what the hell happened? The whole PCPD is buzzing."
Dara unlocks her front door giving it a little kick as she opens it. "You know this town is total BS?''
"What happened?" Marcus insists.
"The commissioner is a former mercenary who blew things up for fun and profit. Judge Carter has his lips planted on Edward Quartermaine's wrinkled, white butt. Even Justus who beat out Schultz in the last election listed his major campaign contributor as Moreno. His cousin is the hammer for the Corinthos organization. But do they get busted? Oh no! Then there is me. The feds attended my sister's funeral.... her funeral . Nevermind that I have a 90% clearence by conviction rating, nevermind that I'm running at 1.4 FTE 'cause the city is too damn cheap to to hire another attorney. All they care about is my conviction rate against Moreno-- zero, Sorel-- zero and Corinthos-- big fat zero! "
"They can't do that!"
"Oh but you see that is just the icing. Here's the cake. They have pictures of me with Pete Robideau. When I had lunch with the man, the day I arrived. When I went to his house to tell him to leave Maddy alone and then at the funeral, procession and afterwards at Miz Sophia's place. And then there is the money..."
"What money?"
"I don't have any school loans. I don't have any credit card balances."
"What's wrong with that?"
"It's not the American way. Or so they told me. Evidently that puts up as many flags as being too deeply in debt. And then they got on me about my savings."
"The money you were saving for a house." Taggart might not know how much Dara has in the bank but he does know how frugal she is. He had no problem imagining how she paid off the school loans. He hadn't been able to come over to Dara's place for years after he met her because she was housesitting for an elderly lady in PC-- no rent or mortgage. She'd brown bagged her lunch for as long as he'd known her. Owing any body anything drove Dara nuts. She'd rather go without than owe anything.
"Oh yeah. Had to be a payoff right?" Dara flings up a hand. "I am so angry right now, Marcus, I could scream."
"And Justus just sat there."
"Yeah. He was angry but he didn't say a word. Just let the feds go for it-- three guys in that office. One who wouldn't have said boo if he was on fire and the other two, all accusing and insinuating, and me."
"I'll kill him." Taggart mutters.
"Oh don't bother. This isn't about Justus. It's isn't even about Moreno, Sorel or Corinthos."
"They want Robideau." Taggart's eyes narrow and he nods.
"And they want me to leverage Maddy into giving him to them. Well you know what? F'em. You don't treat people who haven't done a good GD thing wrong that way. You don't slander their name all over town so that they'll be lucky to get a job shoving a broom."
"Dara, they didn't..."
"You said it yourself. The PCPD is buzzing about what happened."
"But they are on your side."
"For now. Until I lose a case they think I should win and then they're going to start going hmm. From this point on my name is going to have a little asterik next to it And lets just pretend that I'm cleared of all these accusations, because it is all smoke and mirrors. My reputation is shot. My credibility is shot. My ability to get things done is shot. How am I suppose to get my job done? Innocent until proven guilty-- BS! You and I both know better. The attitude is more-- Well you must have done something?! I loved my job but it's over and I might as well get used to it."
"Dara, no matter how bad the conversation was that's all it was... a conversation."
"It's a suspension, Taggart. While they investigate. I'm over. But I'm not going easy. And that was the cherry on the top of the cake that was my day."
"What did you do?"
"I retained Alexis Davis to kick their collective asses." Taggart winces. He knows how much Dara really doesn't like Alexis. "Oh yeah, I spent three hours going over every bit of the conversation. I opened up my life to that woman and justified every dime, every investment I've ever made, every choice, every high profile case I ever lost. How lacking I was as a sister to Lisette and aunt to Maddy. And quite frankly all I want right now is a shower."
6pm.
V closes her eyes and just concentrates on the information coming in from the earphones. Her fingers fly over the keyboard. She might be a total klutz with the major muscle groups always tripping over things but she had better digital dexterity than 99.9% of the population. Some typists could just type. She was cursed with the ability to listen and type. Dara is so screwed. But it sounds as if she kept her cool despite only having about four hours sleep before the meeting.
"Why isn't Justus saying anything?" She mutters to herself. As she comes to the end of the meeting Justus finally says something. That Dara is suspended while the feds investigate the allegations into prosecutorial misconduct. "Oh golly. golly. golly." V mutters. She drags the earphones from her head hanging them around her neck and scrolls up to the top of the transcript. She quickly reviews the document and then saves to disc. She prints a copy off for Alexis and then blanks her screen, taking the disc, the tape and the hardcopy to Alexis. Seeing that Ned is with his wife she coughs to get their attention. "Alexis, can I talk to you privately."
Ned eyes their joint assistant and gets the message. "I'll go downstairs and call Lois about that guy she found. See if she's made any headway."
"Thanks Honey." Alexis agrees relieved to not have to tell Ned to get lost.
V shuts the door after Ned. "Dara is screwed. I saw something like this at the Sheriff's department. Even if she is totally cleared of everything she's going to have to like move to Idaho or something to get away from this."
"It was a private conversation." Alexis plays devil's advocate, a role she is well familiar with.
"There are no private conversations in the criminal justice building. Everyone knows everything. You can bet Justus' secretary told one person. And that is all it would take. Justus suspended her. What people don't know; they'll make up. And there is nobody who cops are harder on than one of their own. Maybe not in public... blue shield and all that but behind closed doors? They'll rip her to shreds and she knows it. And defense attorneys? If you had this kind of ammo on opposing counsel... wouldn't you use it to get your guy a better deal? I mean it's what you do. If I got this right-- Dara coming to you works both ways. If by some miracle she comes out of this-- you can't use it against her because that would violate your oath. And you're the one she normally loses to, when she loses. But as far as the rest of the community is concerned it confirms her guilt. Sorry Alexis, but between your family and then defending Jerry and Sonny...."
Alexis winces. Mob mouthpiece. Her reputation was spreading like mold in the tunnels under Wyndmere. "So what you're saying is this a forest fire and all we can do is contain it and maybe make some fire breaks around it."
"And even then there is going to be a hell of lot of scorched earth that is going to take years to recover."
"What's the old saying? Fight fire with fire. V, I want everything on Ford, Larkin and yes, Robideau too. I would prefer to leave Justus out of this not only because he is Ned's cousin but also because he did advise Dara to tape the conversation. But if I have to..." V nods. "Dara says this is all about getting her niece, Madeliene Reynolds, to either testify or snitch on Robideau."
"Well then they did this the wrong way." V shakes her head. "It's way heavy handed. Dara would have come through if they just would have asked. Why would she help now that they've basically destroyed her career here in Port Charles?"
"And the only way to salvage her career is to destroy those opposing her. Get me what I need, V."