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When Cassadines Fall ~ The Detour
Ricky is waiting outside the Port Charles Country Club when Edward Quartermaine comes out after a holiday brunch with his cronies. He steps out of the car and does a quick rap on the roof of the car to get Edward’s attention.
Edward makes his way over. “What are you doing sitting out here? Why didn’t you come in?”
“Puleeze.” Ricky shudders at the thought. “Get in. We’ve got to talk.”
“What did you find out?” Edward asks greedily as he climbs into the car.
“That you’re a careless son of a bitch. What the hell were you thinking?!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Maddy gets to your wife before you do; you won’t be sleeping on the couch. You’ll be sleeping in the doghouse. That sweet tooth of yours is a major downfall, Old Man.”
Edward thinks about it for a minute and then groans. “The kiosk.”
“Damn straight the kiosk. Anything that happens at those kiosks goes straight back to Maddy. And I got one question before we have a little chat– you say anything to the FBI that would jam up me or my father?”
“Of course not!” Edward blusters. “I was just...” But he can’t really talk about or justify what he did.
“If it were Enron you’d be talking.” Ricky puts the car in motion and glances over at the old man. “I don’t know why you did what you did but I think you should know exactly what happened from what you did.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Michael’s nanny is keeping a low profile, Old Man. Not just from the cops or the feds but from her family. They don’t think like us. The feds show up on their doorstep... on my doorstep.” Ricky gives Edward a dirty look. “Didn’t you learn anything about the FBI after the way they handled when Rita and your granddaughter were kidnaped? You don’t think that the Chows have had enough stress with Harry just getting out of prison?!”
“What did they do?” Edward mutters. He’s already got a bad feeling.
“Oh called Li a whore to her father’s face. Told them they were trying to track her down so that she could testify about all the other whores.” Ricky keeps his eyes on the road and his hands firmly on the wheel of the car. “Yuen basically hasn’t gotten out of bed since. She is the one who put Li on that ship– better than prison right?”
“Those idiots! Can’t they do anything right?!”
“The situation was handled.” Ricky looks over at Edward. “And you are so busted... so you better start talking or I will turn you over to Maddy and her Aunt. And after they get done with you... I bet Emily will have a little something to say too.”
Edward gets even paler. He knows he is skating on thin ice with his granddaughter. Lila had counseled to give it time. Give the presents time to take hold. Take a more hands on approach to the Prominade where Emily is doing the most ELQ public relations. “Ricky...”
“Oh no. I’m not cleaning this up for you. I’m just telling you the train is coming and it’s an express.” Ricky looks over at the old man and shaking his head sighs. “Fine. Tell me what the hell you were thinking.”
Edward starts muttering. “AJ has Carly. Ned has Alexis. Emily is too damn young but she’s got Johnny looking out for her. Lila and I aren’t going to live forever.”
“You were matchmaking?! You were f’ing matchmaking– using the FBI?!”
“Lila was watching this movie with this French guy....”
“Oh just stop.” Ricky pulls the car up to the front of the Quartermaine Mansion and turns it off. He unfastens his seat belt so that he can look at Edward. “You are not going to blame this on Miz Lila right? You just got the idea because of the movie.” Ricky sighs. “I get where you were going... but the FBI?! Damn Man! You should have talked to me about this. I could have told ya. You’re always trying to use a sledge hammer when you got to have some finesse.”
“Hindsight is twenty/twenty.” Edward grumbles. He’s never appreciated a Monday morning quarterback unless he is the one doing the quarterbacking.
“And the best indication of future performance is past performance! You got any other pithy sayings to throw out there?!” Ricky shakes his head. “Damn. I think it would have worked without the freaking FBI. I mean it. These people don’t think like us. Morgan might have married her just to get her back in good with her folks not the whole high pressure Green Card Wedding thing. Blowing her deal like this... Li might get kicked out of the country– ya think your grandson might go with her?!”
“Monica will kill me.” Edward slumps in the passenger seat.
“She’ll have to get in line.”
“What am I supposed to do now?”
“In a perfect world, kill the FBI agent so that he doesn’t tell anyone where he got his info. But since we’re living in this one and one of Maddy’s people has already seen you with the FBI...” Ricky shakes his head. “If you’ve got a Senator in your pocket I’d start chatting with him or her. Make sure Li has deal which ever way this plays out.” Edward starts to get out of the car. Ricky leans over. “Oh yeah, and buy a new van for the Queen of Angels school– theirs has already received last rites... twice.”
“How is that going to help?!”
“You can’t buy Judge Porter to get him on your side... so you better be keeping Cookie and Rita happy. It’ll make Emily suspicious but probably soft on ya. Not to mention that the church sponsored the Chows. I can’t believe you, Old Man. What a mess.”
“You’ll talk to Maddy– before she tells Em or Lila?”
“I should make you talk to her.” Ricky mutters. “Yeah, yeah fine. I’ll talk to her. No guarantees though. She’s going to do what she’s going to do. You might want to give her call and tell her you’d consider it a personal favor if she keeps this quiet. She might go for that.”
“Oh my gosh did you leave anything in New Orleans?” Liz demands as she comes downstairs from the carriage house apartment. Where Maddy and the driver of a rental van are unloading no just packages but furniture. Liz had seen the limo pull up to the house. It had ended up looking like a mini convoy.
“This was not me. It was Poppi and Nik. Poppi sent a bunch of stuff back for Ricky. Then Nik went a little crazy on Magazine St.” Maddy laughs. “Maddy, wouldn’t this look great in Lulu’s room. Maddy, wouldn’t this just finish off the spare room. Maddy, wouldn’t this look good on the mantle. And that’s just the antique-y stuff.
He and Granny Sophia gave me the slip and she took him shopping. All kinds of shopping. The kitchen is restocked. That’s where he is right now. Getting the cooler into the kitchen.” Maddy pulls out her phone and calls over to Wyndmere. “Mrs Lansbury? It’s Maddy. We just arrived back. Granny Sophia sent back everything needed to make seafood gumbo but I scorch the roux every time. Roux, gravy-- both of them I have a time. Great! If you want you can invite Mr C and Dr Ryan but let them know it will be kitchen table rather than dining room. Great!” Maddy hangs up the phone. “There. Thats out of the way. We’re going to have to use up that shrimp while it’s fresh.”“For fresh shrimp, Lucky will put up with Vlad.” Liz makes little quote motions in the air as she says Vlad.
“As much as both of them are wired into their computers you’d think they’d get along.” Maddy shakes her head. “I think they just bluster for show. Look how fast they were working together busting Larkin.”
“Monday is Johnny’s night off.” Liz remembers changing the subject. “You want me to call Em and see if they want to come over too? We could put the guys to work cleaning shrimp and Johnny’s a pro so that would make things faster.”
“Call them. I’m going to head up to the house and see what all else has happened while we’ve been gone.”
“I’ll be right up to help.” Liz runs back upstairs to make her phone calls.
Maddy finishes up supervising the unloading of the booty and tips the driver. “Thanks.” Maddy walks up to the house checking out the changes while they were gone. Nik must have been paying the double time for working on the holiday. The backyard is now totally secure. The doors have been changed on the carriage house so that there are keycodes to open up the garage portion. Probably an easy bet that the local boys had their own codes to get the snow blower.
Should probably talk to Nik or Miz Lila about what they would need come summer. Ah summer. Maddy shivers. It would come someday but definitely quicker to New Orleans than New York. Walking in the kitchen door she kicks off her shoes and undoes her coat and scarf. “Mrs Lansbury is coming over to make the roux for the gumbo and is going to extend an invitation to Mr C and KC. Liz is going to invite Johnny and Em over. Johnny will probably help with cleaning the shrimp. You boys can make a party of it.”“Really.” Nik shakes his head at that and knows it’s all about getting out of cleaning the shrimp and later the kitchen.
“We should invite Ricky over and tell him to bring his car so he can get the stuff Poppi sent him out of the carriage house.”
“And find what Edward Quartermaine is doing.”
“Definitely.”
“Fine but you call him.” Nik ducks um... delegates that responsibility. “How many are going to come over?”
Maddy shrugs. “Everybody. So you might as well break out all the bowls.” She reaches for her cell phone to check in on everything.
Nik takes the phone out of her hand and puts it back in her purse. “You checked messages on the plane. The plan is already in place until tomorrow morning. You can be on holiday for one more day.”
Maddy cuddles up to him. “Not much of a holiday when it’s not just the two of us.”
Nik gives her a kiss and gathers her even closer. Liz comes in as is her habit without knocking and then winces. She knocks on the open door. “Sorry, I’d leave you two in peace but evidently this is going to be party central in about ten minutes anyway.”
Maddy grins and pulls away. “Oh yeah, and Candy here needs a lot longer than ten minutes. He’s got stamina.” She waits a second and then adds. “And he blushes too.”
“I’m going to check in with grandmother.” Nik retreats from the kitchen and takes some of the bags with him.
“That was so mean.”
“Nah. I said he’s a bull.”
“So?” Liz tucks a leg under her as she takes a seat at the kitchen table.
“Oh yeah. Boy has got stamina, pacing, can definitely keep up. More than willing to break into a sweat.”
“Oh my.” Liz makes a fanning motion.
“And that’s just when we went on an early run.”
Liz balls up a napkin from the table and throws it at Maddy. “Tease!”
Ricky pulls up to the back gate of Wyndemere Lite and gives Lucky a call on his cell phone.
“What’s the password?” Lucky asks.
“Open the GD door. It’s freaking cold out here.”
“That will work.” Lucky laughs. “I’ll be right down.” Lucky goes down to the garage portion of the carriage house and opens up the door. “I’m glad you brought the car.”
Ricky shakes his head. “Guess this makes it official that I’m going to be up here for the next few years. I thought Dad had sent everything up at Christmas. I don’t think there is anything left down there.” He starts tossing boxes and bags into the trunk of the car and the back seat too.
“Maddy didn’t want you to leave until she’d talked to you.”
“Oh I bet.”
“The bribe is in place.” Lucky shrugs. “Your luggage wasn’t the only thing that Maddy brought back from New Orleans. Or maybe it was Nikolas teaming up with Granny Sophia. Maddy has already started the red beans. Johnny should be showing up any time now to start cleaning the shrimp for gumbo.”
“Damn, the big guns.” Ricky lets himself be persuaded but it was part of the plan all along. How in the hell Old Man Quartermaine gets him in this mess he has no idea. After the car is loaded, Ricky locks it up and goes with Lucky up to the house. Knowing that the Mir is in the house, Ricky lets Lucky take the lead.
The kitchen is already controlled chaos with everyone talking at once. Mir is snoring by the door to the basement.
“Some watchdog.” Lucky calls out to Maddy.
“He’s a lightweight. He’s still sleeping off the sedative from the trip back.” Maddy explains.
“He’s catching up on his sleep from the French Poodles Ricky’s arranged for his entertainment.” Nik suggests wryly.
“Excuse me?”
“Poppi says they snuck through the gate.” Maddy’s tone lets Ricky know how much she believes that. “Once I might have believed. Once I did believe but Sunday morning and Monday?! Different bitch every night– I don’t even want to know how Poppi arranged it.”
“Your dad hooked up Mir?! Now that’s service.” Lucky laughs as he pulls up a stool at the breakfast bar next to the coffee maker.
“Forget it, Bub. You aren’t going to New Orleans without me!” Liz wraps an arm around Lucky’s neck. He grabs her by the waist and pulls her around so she’s standing between his knees. This way they can both keep an eye on what is happening on the other side of the counter.
Maddy leaves out the directions for the bread pudding. “I’ll be back way before you need me to make the topping.”
“Use the study.” Nik nods.
Only once Ricky and Maddy are in the study does Ricky say anything. He picks the most comfortable seat in the house, the one behind the desk and leans way back. “So... check your messages lately?”
“I’m on holiday. Who called?”
“The Old Man.”
