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The Triumph Of AJ Quartermaine
Chapter Seventy Six
Dress Up
Half past three, a street away from the courthouse. Carly and Emily with Michael are in the back of the limo. "Are you sure about this?" Emily asks grimacing as she checks out her reflection in a mirror that Carly holds up.
"You saw the crowd there. Believe me-- this is a must. It's all the city's fault. If they had their information on computer we could have done this from home. Is this straight?" Carly shakes her head experimentally.
"Yeah," Emily tugs Carly's long red hair just a little. "But it really makes you look like Bobbie."
Carly laughs. "Well then maybe when we go by Luke's after we're done he might even treat me nice." Carly considers Emily one more time. "I never pictured you as a blonde before. It's different. It's kind of a Joey Heatherton thing. Cute, but how did you get all that hair under that short wig?"
"Who's Joey Heatherton? I was more worried about Mrs. Brady. Next time I get to be the red head, okay?" Emily tugs on the very conservative business suit that would have had Grandfather turning cartwheels of joy. "How is this going to work?"
"We go in get our info then get the heck out. We're suppose to meet Irene Chang at Luke's after we're done. We should have some time for some cheese fries before she gets off work. If the fit hits the shan, you get Michael out of there and meet me at Luke's. I'll distract the press." Carly takes a deep breath. "Let's do it." The long haired redhead and the tall blond with the pixie haircut climb out of the limo. The redhead gets the stroller from the trunk while the blonde holds the baby with the bluejays cap and sunglasses. Both are dressed in outfits that would draw no notice at a courthouse. Emily had even brought along a brief case to complete her lawyer outfit. The only concession to their concerns of being recognized are the flats that they are wearing. The easier to get the heck out of dodge if they have to make a run for it. Emily takes her cues from Carly; sliding into character, they powerwalk to the courthouse. Carly pushes Michael's stroller and Emily carries her briefcase. As they near the hoard of press they angle toward another door that leads more directly to the clerk's office. Their movements are unhurried and smooth as the go unnoticed into the court house.
Emily reaches out to Carly as they go just out of sight. There is a quick high five. "Yes! Oh that was fun." Emily giggles.
"Don't get too confident yet." Carly reminds. "We still have to get out of here." Looking at the legend on the wall next to the elevator she finds where they are suppose to go. "Come on, lets go make Katherine Bell's life hell."
"Lead on." Emily makes a sweeping motion as the elevator doors open. Both of them straighten up and get back into character as they see that the elevator isn't empty. "Could you push basement please?" Emily asks politely to the yuppie male standing next to the keypad. She and Carly take up places at the back of the elevator staring forward watching the floors changed. Both pretend to not notice the yuppie checking out Emily. Without saying a word they get off at the basement floor and follow the signs to the clerk's office.
"I guess it's true." Carly says out of nowhere.
"What?"
"Blondes have more fun." Both start laughing. "Did you see him? I thought he was going to slip his phone number in your pocket or something. I was going to hand him Michael's towel to wipe up the drool."
"Knock it off." Emily insists even as she pats the wig. Maybe blonde wasn't a bad idea. Arriving at the clerk's office they are pointed in the direction of research that they need to get the information on the property above the spa. While they are at it they decide to research the spa itself to see if there are any loopholes they might to find to their advantage.
Three floors above them in Judge Porter's chambers JD Porter is meeting with Judge Carter. "I want to know why you are so interested in the Evans case, Bill. I have to wonder if it has anything to do with Edward Quartermaine."
Carter winces. Sometimes having Edward pulling his strings made his life hell. "You know, I do have a life outside of playing golf with Edward. My caseload is kind of light right now and I'm due for something outside of the boring crud I normally get stuck with."
"You've never shown any interest in criminal cases before." Judge comments suspiciously. He glances down at his watch and swears under his breath. He was going to have to wind this up and get downstairs fast. There was no way that he was going to miss Cook or give her any reason to back out. "Fine, but I'm going to be keeping my eye on this case. I've sent too many people to Ferncliffe for treatment to not want to know what the hell was going on in that place. And that it was Taggart that broke the case concerns me."
"Why is that?" Carter was being truthful when he said he didn't hear too many criminal cases. "Is there a credibility problem there?"
"No, not really." Judge sighs. "He makes good arrests as long as it has nothing to do with Sonny Corninthos or Jason Morgan." Carters ears prick up as he hears the name of Edward's grandson. Was this the reason why Edward had told him to grab this case? Judge continues. "I'll make the assignment. Have your office make the announcement, hopefully that will get the press out of the flowers. Facilities management has been having a coronary over the damage that they are doing to the landscaping." Judge looks at his watch again.
"You have another appointment? That's the second time that you've looked at your watch." Carter asks curiously.
"Not really. I just cleared my calendar-- was hoping to get out of here early today." Judge hints.
"Well I'll let you get out of here then." Carter takes the hint rising from his seat. "I'll take care of the announcement." Carter is barely out the door before Judge is grabbing his jacket stuffing things into his briefcase and making his way to the staff elevator. He waves off anyone that tries to detain him taking a deep breath as he clears the double doors at the front of the court house. He looks around him intently and sees who he's looking for standing off under a budding cherry tree. Cook is staring at the reporters with a trainwreck expression. Judge makes his way over.
"Hey, thanks for coming." He says almost breathlessly then clears his throat. Damn this was going to be awkward.
"Will you look at those vultures." Cook sneers.
"The Evan's case. I'm glad that I'm not the one hearing it." Judge informs Cook.
Cook stares at JD. "Evans? Dr. Evans, like in Ferncliffe, Dr. Evans?"
"Yeah," Judge takes in Cook's flushed face. "You know something about the guy?"
"More than I want to. He get arrested yesterday?"
"Yeah, Yesterday."
"I haven't read the news lately and didn't see anything when I was in New York."
"How did that go, anyway? The butler at the Q's said some cooking seminar. I was thinking maybe that we could go to Luke's. It's the closest thing in town to your folks place back in New York. Did you get to see them while you were in the city?"
"Sure whatever." Cook allows herself to be escorted away from the courthouse but can't resist looking over her shoulder. She mutters to herself. "I'm going to have to find out what the old goat had to do with this." Her voice returns to normal. "No, I didn't see the folks when I was back in the city. I was kind of busy with the seminar. Luke's is fine." Judge leads the distracted Cook to his car. He keeps all his moves unthreatening, not wanting to scare her off.
Downstairs in the basement. "I think that's it." Carly stretches then winces as she pulls at the stitches again. "Damn."
"Your arm hurt?" Emily asks sympathetically.
"Only when I do something stupid." Carly admits more honest than Emily knows. "Let's get out of here. I want to finally met Irene Chang. AJ has been raving about her since Jakarta. We're suppose to roll out the welcome wagon for her since he credits her for part of getting his ass out of the flames over there. She evidently had a list of people all ready to go when he showed up and said the word-- evacuate."
"I still can't believe the way that you just flew off with AJ like that." Emily shakes her head. "That was so cool. Nothing like that ever happens to me."
"That's what I thought until I was staring at four walls in Darwin wondering what the heck was going on. How did I end up half way around the world all by myself knowing absolutely nobody and wondering if I was ever going to see AJ again. He doesn't really talk about it too much but when I was dancing with Jordan, that's the friend of AJ's that is flying in today, he says that they were thisclose to being caught by the mob that was tearing apart the building. If there hadn't been a helicopter on the roof. We'd probably still be trying to bail AJ out of that jam that Edward put him in. And they wouldn't have had the helicopter if it hadn't been for Jerry. AJ cut it too close."
Emily falls silent. She surveys the mob scene outside the doors then mutters under her breath. "Kind of like we are right now?"
"Gees there are even more of them aren't there." Carly grimaces. "Remember if we get separated-- Luke's."
"Right." Emily takes a deep breath and straightens to her full height. "Come on. Let's get this over with." Emily adjusts Michael's hat and sunglasses and puts on a pair of her own. Carly tugs slightly on her wig. Together they walk out of the courthouse making sure that they stay to the fringes of the press as they make their way back to the car. Neither breath easy until they are back in the cocoon of the waiting limo. The driver had been sweating bullets knowing that the women had been safer without his obvious presence but knowing he was dead meat if they hadn't made it back safely.
"Where to?" He asks through the intercom.
"Luke's." Carly sighs. "I need a drink."