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When Cassadines Fall
Pick Your Battles
Jane knocks on the door to the Quartermaine Mansion. She'd called Lila earlier to see if she was up for visitors. Sally opens the door. "Mrs Jacks, Mrs Quartermaine is expecting you. She is with the girls in the front room having tea." Sally takes Jane's coat and hangs it up in a nearby closet.
"The girls?"
"Miss Emily and Miss Maddy. They just finished up with their classwork for today."
"I hope I haven't come at a bad time or too early."
"Oh not at all, ma'am. Both of them have afternoon appointments and will soon be on their way."
Even as Sally is speaking the double doors of the front room open and Edward comes out bookended by Maddy and Emily. They are laughing and joking with him. He is eating it up like jam on biscuits. Sally gets their coats ready. Edward takes them from her and assists first Emily and then Maddy with their coats. "So it's a deal." Edward demands. "Brunch at the Grille on Sunday."
"Weather permiting." Maddy agrees. "I can fill you in on everything Granny Sophia said last night when she called to help Nik make dinner."
"I know why you're being so agreeable!" Edward grumbles. "You just don't want to eat his cooking again."
"It didn't turn out to bad for a first effort. At least he didn't blow up the microwave."
"One Microwave! Over two years ago and I'll never hear the end of it." Edward pouts.
"Oh Grandfather!" Emily shakes her head. "It's just so cute. How can we ever forget?"
"But do you have to tell everyone about it?" Edward gives Em a kiss on the cheek. "You be careful on the roads. And call if you get stuck. Not that damn Reginald either. You call me."
Maddy gives him a hug. "Don't worry, Mr Q. I'll call you if I get stuck."
"Ha! You just put that damn dog on a lead and let her pull you out." Edward glances down at his watch. "I need to get back to the office myself. I have an appointment this afternoon." He grabs his coat from the closet. "Reginald! Bring the car around."
Reggie opens the front door from the outside startling all of them "Around where? It's already out front." Reggie turns around and walks back to the car. He opens up the back door of the bentley and then leaving it open goes to the drivers seat.
"Damn impudence. Why Lila won't let me fire him..." Edward strides off to the bentley He slides into the back and shuts the door firmly.
"Let me guess? Michael is at daycare today?"
"Every Friday." Emily agrees.
Maddy whistles for Cinnamon who breaks off her game of tug with Raoul. Maddy opens the side door of the van and climbs in following Cinnamon. "Let me know if you're going to work on that Econ project this weekend.... and where."
"I'll call you later." Em agrees. "Hey Mrs Jacks. Grandmother is in the front room."
"Thank you, Emily. That girl that just left..."
"My partner in scholastic torture." Em glances down at her watch. "I really have to get to Deception; I'll tell Jax I saw ya. Have a great day." Em almost runs to her new car and is soon on her way.
Jane turns around and goes through the open doors to the front room. Lila is relaxing next to the fire a small book of poetry in her lap. "Lila."
"Jane, my dear. Come in." Lila urges. She indicates the couch. "Please. Sally will be in momentarily with a fresh pot of tea. How are things going with Carly? Have you made any inroads?"
"Unfortunately not." Jane takes a seat. "Bobbie is being reasonable."
"She is a peacemaker. It hasn't always been so."
"You're having your granddaughter homeschooled?"
"After the kidnapping it was too much for Emily to be going to the local high school with all of her other obligations and stressors. Edward arranged it."
"And the black girl with her-- the one with a southern accent?"
"Madeliene Reynolds. Lovely girl. Between Emily and Maddy, they keep Edward occupied and out of mischief. She runs the coffee kiosks down by the docks."
Maddy pulls open the door to Luke's place. She'd talked things over with Em (before Edward took over the conversation) and been advised that Carly is the best person to touch base with this one on.
"Hey Sweet Young Thing!" Luke says from behind the bar where he is reading his paper and drinking from a coffee cup.
"Hey Mr Spencer." Maddy slides into a seat at the bar.
"What can I get for you and it's Luke, babe."
"Soda's fine or water. I'm meeting Carly here."
Both of Luke's brows go up. "Oh really! And what mischief is my niece dragging you into?"
"It's vice versa. I'm in need of a professional."
"In Mischief making? You've come to the right place, darlin'. Nobody makes mischief like a Spencer." Luke puts a glass of cola in front of her and leans over the bar. "Tell Uncle Luke everything."
"Back off, Uncle Luke." Carly says from the door.
Luke looks around Carly. "Where is the short stuff?"
"With his papa learning the family business. Which frees me up to get things done. Can I get a coke too?"
"You'll never believe who was in a few nights ago, Caroline." Luke begins conversationally. "Why I was graced with the presence of not only Eddie Q but also the wonder from downunder, John Jacks. I wonder what their topic of conversation was?"
Carly's eyes narrow. "I wonder."
"You got 'em running scared, babe. It's a joy to see." Luke pulls out a cigar and prepares to light one up.
Carly pulls out a little personal fan from her bottomless shoulder bag. and aims in Luke's direction. "No offense, Luke. But I'm not suppose to be around smoke... caffeine either... so I have to pick my vices right now and I really need the caffeine."
Luke grunts but puts the cigar away. "That's what I get for letting little mamas in the club. You manage to not screw up having this one and we'll celebrate with a cigar right there in General Hospital under Quartermaine's nose."
"Come on, Maddy; lets go in the back room. I think better when I'm playing pool and you said this was a brain pickin' session."
Maddy picks up both of their drinks and follows Carly back to the back room. "What did he mean screw up and how cold was that?"
"It was actually kind of sweet. Or as sweet as the old reprobate gets." Carly shrugs. Maddy sets the drinks on a table. Carly sets down her purse and goes over to the pool table and quickly organizes the balls within the wooden triangle. "Just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong with Michael. He was born with a hole in his heart and had to have surgery. I had to have an emergency C cause I was hemorraging and they almost couldn't get it to stop. I started hemorraging when I was home alone. Jason and one of his guys, Rinaldo, found me luckily and got me to the hospital. So when Luke says if I don't manage to screw this one up...."
"In his own twisted way he's wishing you luck." Maddy nods.
"Yeah. You break and start talking." Carly hands Maddy a cue.
"I'm actually better at organizing pool tournaments than playing." Maddy warns. She lines up the cue ball at the far end of the table and bends over to line up her stick for a smooth assault on the table. "I need to know how to take down a mental hospital if I have to. Emily told me you were the woman with a plan." Maddy makes a good break scattering balls all over the table but none of them drop. She steps away from the table.
Carly steps up. "I think I need a little more info than that!" She calls her shot and makes it moving on to the next easy shot.
"VA hospital has a friend of mine, Larry. The guy who owns the dog that I've been taking care of. I already talked to Dr Collins and he's trying to find out what the heck is going on. But if that doesn't work I want to have plan B."
"Is Larry nuts?" Carly looks up from her shot.
"Situationally. He's got the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder." Maddy admits. "But he was doing fine here... in the GH psych ward. And I had it all lined up to have Cinnamon come visit him at GH until the VA snatched him up."
Carly tries a longshot complicated with a couple of banks and almost pulls it off but no go. Maddy takes over. "Well couple of different problems I see. Despite popular opinion... when I was locked up in Ferncliffe, I wasn't crazy. So I knew everything that was going around. I didn't try to mess with the place until after I was out. And I knew somebody who could go in undercover to work there. The place was dirtier than hell-- criminal from top to bottom. All I did was get all the info and then turned it over to Taggart. He's the one that actually shut the place down. Do you think that the VA is dirty? Corrupt?" Maddy plays pool like Jason. Short and to the point. With a little practice she might even be good.
"I don't know about the VA. I hope not. I'm just worried cause the last time I talked to Larry he wasn't making much sense. Marcus kind of has his hands full right now. He's working a drug case that is going all over the place and then there's what is going on with my Aunt Dara and her getting suspended."
"And pulling people out of snowbanks." Carly nods in agreement. After Maddy misses a shot, Carly steps up. "Did Dr Collins find out anything?"
Maddy shakes her head. "Not yet. He consulted with the doctor down there. The doctor is suppose to get the releases signed today so he can find out what is going on-- all legal and ethical. Hopefully he will call me today. Niknik says that Dr Collins is cool but..."
"Well he's on the approved list of shrinks that my father in law gave me. But I don't hold the profession in too high of a regard." Carly chalks up her cue and takes in the remaining shots on the table. "If you can't get the info call me back. I can put you in touch with the gal who went in undercover for me into Ferncliffe. She's an RN who works agency. Hospitals are always short staffed. Lorraine will probably go in for you but it will cost and cost. Blackmail is more lucrative than nursing."
"I'm just so worried about Larry... he was so... out of it on the phone." Maddy describes the pills that Larry described to her.
Carly nods. "Happy pills at least that's what we always called them. It's a so called mild sedative. Keeps the patients in line and makes it easier on the staff. I had quite a collection of them when I finally got released. If he's out of it then he must either be taking them or the staff there is better at monitoring that the patients aren't tonguing them." Carly finishes off the table and sinks the eight ball. "You want me to call Lorraine for you?"
Maddy bites her lip. "Not yet. If the Doctor hasn't called me by Monday I figure that means they are ducking him. Then I'll get the info anyway I can. I do have another question for you while you're here.... You're tight with Johnny's father, the judge?"
"We get along."
"What do you think he'd like for Christmas?"
"You're kidding right?"
"No, Johnny has no idea what to get him."
Carly runs her hand over the pooltable. "One of these. The Judge is good but the only time he gets to play is when he comes over to my place or when he and Cookie stop in here to listen to music. Tell you what... if Johnny decides to go with a table... I'll go shopping with Rita and pick up the other stuff." Carly holds up her cue to show what she means.
"I'll pass it on. And you might get a call from me on Monday."
"Hope it doesn't come to that. Be careful, Maddy-- Your friend is kind of a captive audience. Whatever you do could be held against him. And they, people on the outside, won't believe him-- 'cause he's nuts."
"Is this guy nuts?" Lucky mutters as he stares at the document coming out of the fax.
"Who?" Nik asks as he comes upstairs into the carriage house. He looks around. It's the first time he'd been up here since moving into the main house. Liz had definitely been nesting. No restriction on money had made little difference in her taste just the way she applied it. Instead of a mural like over the motorcycle shop she'd gone with a plain color on the wall but incorporated some texture. Pictures she'd done or some she liked of others decorate the walls. There is a sheer drape surrounding the bed and separating it from the rest of the room. The small kitchenette is tidy and looks barely used. The source of heat for the small flat is a woodburning pellet stove in the corner. There are a few pieces of Lucky in the room.. his guitar, stereo and a really intense computer set up.
"Rick Roberts aka Ricky Robideau." Lucky picks up the first page of the fax and hands it to Nik. "I started getting this stuff a few days ago. It's internal memos from the DA's office as well as anything interesting in Larkin and Ford's desk. Cheese curl?" Lucky offers Nik the bag of cheetos.
"No thanks." Nik shakes his head absently. He picks up another page and scans it. "This is fascinating. Larkin has Ford totally in the dark."
"Which is the good news. Means that Ford isn't in on it."
"Do you have any way of getting hold of Ricky?"
"Not really." Lucky admits. "I gave him my number after we went car shopping. He knows I'm looking into Larkin on my own since he was at the diner when Liz called me. But he didn't say anything about the info that was given to Alexis. No clue as to where he is staying or even what exactly his job is although its giving him great access."
"Are you ready to go to Alexis with the findings?"
"Yeah," Lucky nods. "The accounts were the last thing. This is all just gravy. There is enough to take Larkin down easy. It's the not messing up Maddy's Aunt that's the time consumer. We could go to Larkin right now and say disappear, buddy. And he would but..."
"Yeah, But. That wouldn't help Dara. Has Elizabeth said that Robideau stopped in since then?"
"Yeah, as a matter of fact."
"Lets go to Kelly's then. Robideau needs to back off. If he should get caught now..." Nik shakes his head. "It would ruin everything. We can have Stefan meet us at L&B after."
"Hey short stuff. Is this stool taken?" Ricky plants himself at the counter at Kelly's.
Rita half turns on her stool still sucking up a chocolate shake. She swallows. "Is now. What you doing? I thought this was your sleep time?"
"Yeah, but I have the night off. Don't have to go in until Sunday. I swung by the school but you'd already gone. I need to pick a criminal brain."
"Then pick your own." Rita quips.
"Wait-- what are you doing here anyway? Don't you work tonight? I thought I was going to have to catch you at Porters until I walked by and saw you."
"Yeah, but Vicki called me. Meeting her at the house or at the restaurant is out."
"What does big sister want?"
"Dunno. But she was being sweet."
"Uhoh. Does that put the hair up on the back of your neck the way it does mine?"
"You saw my sister once... just once." Rita protests and then pauses. "Yeah. It does. You going to hang around-- just in case? I don't want Cookie or Dad involved in this."
"Got nothing better to do unless someone comes in that can't see me yet. But you can take her. My money is on you, slugger. Head's up; it's show time." Ricky nods in the direction of the door. Rita turns around and seeing Vicki entering grabs her chocolate shake and moves to a nearby table. Ricky positions himself to hear everything if the munchkin needs back up. Vicki takes the seat opposite Rita and places a quick order when the waitress shows up. Ricky is so busy being lookout he is surprised when he gets slap on the back. "Lucky, Cassidy."
"It's Cassadine." Nik rolls his eyes. Ricky was so predictable. "Lets get a table."
"Let's not." Ricky says quietly. "I got a nice seat right here and I'm kinda busy." Nik is about to protest but Lucky scans the room and sees what is in Rick's clear view.
"Yeah, counter is fine." Lucky nudges Nik onto a stool. He goes behind the counter and serves himself and Nik. He stays behind the counter so he doesn't block Ricky's view of the two girls talking. "You keep on watching and we'll just talk. You got to stop pulling stuff from the offices... we're too close for you to get caught."
"I don't get caught."
"Right. That's why my girlfriend had to hide you in the kitchen." Lucky reminds.
"I didn't get caught then either." Ricky reminds. Vicki is starting to get flushed and Rita is shaking her head no.
"Listen you know they've got to be keeping track of the numbers being called into the fax machine... or counting the number of copies made on the Xerox. It's going to be the stupid bean counting thing that is going to get you busted."
"This will be long over before it comes down to that." Ricky tells him. "Ward is filing charges for abuse of power today. He's getting a huge push from Larkin and Ford. Wouldn't surprise me if Taggart has to arrest his own girlfriend by end of business today." Vicki is rising from her seat putting her finger right in Rita's face. Rita keeps her seat and keeps her cool, keeping her voice low and controlled conscious of Ricky watching. "You want to help Madeliene's aunt then keep her next to her mouthpiece. It'll make the processing go faster." Ricky comes off of the stool in a smooth motion and grabs Vicki's hand as it comes across in a swing. He helps her back to her seat with some force. "You already had your freebie, Babe."
"Who the hell are you?! Take your hands off me!" Vicki demands.
"Someone who believes in picking on people in their own weight class. And the munchkin might be the toughest thing pound for pound in the seventh grade over at Queen of Angels-- and God knows she has you outclassed by far but you've got her on weight, reach and age. Course that can't be said of stepmama. I'd pay to see that fight. Munchkin, you're late for work. Get your coat."
Rita slides away from the table and grabs her coat. Ricky throws some money down on the table. Rick helps her on with her coat. "What happened to my money is on you... and you can take her." Rita mutters as she slides her bookbag up on her shoulder. And steps through the door that Ricky is holding for her.
"Still think that. Also think that you wouldn't be able to explain away the signs of the fight when you're suppose to be at work. But hey if you want to call in to work I won't say a word if you call her out." Ricky turns around to go back inside of Kelly's.
Rita grabs him by the back of the coat. "Come on, Let's go. I'd rather make money than give it to her."
"That's what she wanted? Money?"
"Yeah, She blew up the engine on her car and doesn't want Dad to know."
"What's the big deal about that?" Ricky asks. "It could happen."
"Yeah, but two different things. Daddy told her that the car was her responsibility-- she had to make sure she got the oil changed and everything and anything went wrong she had to pay for it. And B) Daddy gives her a lot of money to go to school-- I mean in addition to tuition and books. He'll want to know where all her money is going."
"And she's coming to you for money. Business that good, short stuff?"
"I do okay. I'm saving up for a horse now though. And I've got Christmas expenses coming up. Giving Vicki four hundred dollars was more than I planned on spending on her for Christmas."
"Wow you are rich aren't ya? Loan me twenty?" Ricky jokes.
"Nope, but I'll buy you an early dinner over at Porter's for giving me a lift to work. I get a discount."
"Deal."
Back at Kelly's. Nik watches as Vicki stalks out of Kelly's. "What just happened?"
"Excellent question." Lucky agrees. "That was Rita Porter right? The girl that left with Ricky."
"Yes." Nik nods. While they didn't run in the same circles he'd been at Rita's father's wedding to the Quartermaine cook, her being kidnapped along with Emily and now with Rita riding all the time up at the stables with Carly.
"And she seems to know the guy... or rather he knows her. Knows her family dynamic, knows what school she goes to, what grade she is in."
"What does Rita have to do with Maddy?" Nik wonders. "Damn. We have to get to Alexis and let her know what is going on. Justus wouldn't be so stupid as to actually press charges would he? Fire her maybe but charges?"
Lucky just looks at him. "Lets go. You call Alexis on the way and tell her we're coming in. Are you going to call Maddy?"
"Once we get there and get some facts verified. This could be a strategy to bring Maddy to them." Nik jumps up into the passenger side of Lucky's pickup. "Aw hell." He reaches for his cell phone and dials Maddy. "Where are you?"
"Working. Why are you calling?"
"Why would Ricky break up a fight between Rita Porter and her sister?"
"Long story/short story?"
"Short."
"Poppi likes Rita."