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The Tessarae Inn |
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Suspicions In Scarlet Repose CHAPTER 20 Todd paced back and forth in front of the large bay window that looked out over the entryway to Toni’s house. The kids were all asleep upstairs safely tucked in by their fathers. RJ had taken a shower and eaten the dinner Cassie had fixed. On the other hand, he had done nothing except stand by this window and wait. He specifically told Blair to stay out of it. Out of it. And she promised him she would. Liar. Good thing Emily got on the phone and calmed him down or there would have been major fireworks when Blair came strolling through that door. He and RJ had been so determined to get back as soon as possible they had strapped themselves in, said a prayer, and let Logan fly them back on the private jet. They had expected Toni and Blair to be waiting for them. Instead they found Starr pissed off because Blair hadn’t taken her with her to Creedyville, Jack cranky because he didn’t want to go to sleep until mommy got home, Jason taking his emotional temperature from Starr, and Cassie drafted into babysitting duties because Keri had been called away for some extreme emergency with her fiancé’s parents. “A boiled pot never watches,” Cassie said. He stared at her. She was just getting to be so damn wacky. He was going to talk to Blair about it. Probably not a good idea to have her around the kids so much. I mean his family could be wacky but there was wacky then there was wacky. Cassie sighed. “I was joking, Todd.” “What did Blair tell you?” “Actually, Blair didn’t tell me anything. Starr is the one who told me that Blair and Toni had gone to Creedyville without her …and me by the way.” “I swear sometimes I hate that stupid town.” Cassie looked at him for a long three count then said, “I can see that.” Oh, what the hell now. He didn’t need Cassie to remind him that the reason Blair stumbled into Creedyville in the first place was because of him. He knew that already and— “Todd, why don’t you come into the living room with me and RJ,” Cassie said. “They will get here soon enough and maybe you could take the time to relax a bit.” “I’m all right.” “No, you’re not. You’re a live wire waiting to trip as soon as she walks through that door. I think you need to remember why she’s here.” “She’s not here. That’s the point.” “She made a choice to come home to you from Creedyville, Todd, but she didn’t make a choice to be under your thumb or to let you run her life. I think you need to remember that.” What in the hell was going on with Cassie? Lecturing him. Stating the obvious like it was some profound fact. He turned toward her but just then heard the sound of a car crunching along the gravel in Toni’s driveway. He glanced at Cassie then bolted for the door. He stepped out onto the landing and stared at the car. For a moment, it seemed to hover in place then Blair cut the engine. After a few seconds, Toni and Blair emerged from the two sides of the car simultaneously. “Is something wrong?” Toni asked. “Are the children okay?” Todd ignored Toni and trained in eyes on Blair. “Where have you been?” Blair flipped her hair. “Just had a few things to check on.” “I hope you found someone to make the trip worthwhile.” “He’s still in Europe with Robyn Shuttlesworth unfortunately.” Todd bit his lower lip and glared at her. Where was all of this anger coming from? Felt like he was standing on shifting sand. He knew what it felt like to lose her and he’d dealt with it and then put it away so why was he picking this fight now? Toni rushed past him into the house. Todd approached Blair slowly. She stood perfectly still and rigid and watched him suspiciously. He reached for her with one hand and pulled her close to him then kissed her so hard he tried to fuse himself to her. Her body finally relaxed and melted into him. He pulled back and stared at her then grabbed her hand. “Come on,” he said. “We’ve got some things to tell you.” “Look, I’m sorry,” Cassie said. “It can’t be Treyscott.” Todd noted that Blair took a sip of her wine and glanced over at Toni. Either she realized that Cassie was losing it or... “Bryan Treyscott was tight with Carmen for years,” RJ said. “As best we can figure, he was a three or four years ahead of her in high school.” Toni tapped the dining room table lightly with the tips of her fingers. “High school sweethearts?” Todd shrugged. “He and her brother went off to college together on football scholarships.” Blair leaned forward. “And her brother died a few years after that?” Todd glanced at RJ then said, “Looks that way?” “How did you find this out, Todd?” Cassie asked. “I mean how did you decide to go checking on Treyscott in Louisiana?” Todd gritted his teeth. “I wasn’t looking for Treyscott, Cassie. He’s the lead that we found. And, no, I don’t believe for one minute that his failure to mention his involvement was innocent. He and Carmen were thick as thieves yet he hasn’t said one word about her death. I had to go all the way to Louisiana to find out he even knew her. That wasn’t a mere oversight on his part.” Toni took a big gulp of wine and then studied the liquid as she gently swirled it in her glass. “I guess he’s been hiding something.” Cassie frowned. “What happened after her brother died? You said she left town. Where did she go?” “Dropped off the face of the earth as far as we can tell,” RJ said. “I mean her track stops dead cold at the county line. Seems no one heard anything about or from her until she showed up in Creedyville all those years later.” “Then came chasing after RJ,” Toni said. “Why? What did she want, RJ? I mean what did she really want?” “A job.” Toni narrowed her eyes. “Why you?” Todd cleared his throat. “Can we get back on track here? What did you find out in Creedyville, Blair? Anybody know where she claimed to come from?” “No, but I don’t think she came to Llanview chasing RJ.” RJ harrumphed. “I thought that was obvious to most people.” Toni tapped her wine glass and said, “Guess who was spotted in Creedyville looking for Carmen before she hightailed it here?” Todd sat up straight. “Bryan Treyscott?” “Give the man a thousand dollars, Alex.” “So it looks like Carmen was probably on the move to better her life,” Blair said. “She’s traveling on the down low for whatever reason. Somehow she wound up in Creedyville for no special reason other than it was in her path.” “That sounds kind of weak,” RJ said. “That’s how I ended up there.” RJ glanced at Blair then nodded. “Yeah, okay. So did she contact Treyscott or was he the one chasing her to begin with?” “That’s one of the things we need to find out.” Blair picked up the plate of cheese, sliced apples and crackers from the kitchen counter. She balanced it carefully and tried to decide whether she could carry a bottle of wine this trip too. Todd and RJ were sitting out on the deck after checking on the children, while she and Toni whipped up a snack. None of them wanted anything heavy. It was late and they’d all been traveling too far, too fast. Needed to go to bed but none of them, except Cassie, who had gone home, were quite ready to let go yet. Blair decided against trying to grab a bottle of wine. Toni had already left with two bottles and that really should be more than enough. She turned and noticed that Toni was still in the room. She was standing perfectly still just outside of the doorway that led to the deck. “What’s going on?” Blair asked. Toni turned suddenly and looked at her with a face lined with something akin to horror. “What is it? For God’s sake, Toni, tell me what’s going on.” Toni stared at her with wide eyes and swayed slightly from side to side. Blair put the cheese plate back on the counter then rushed next to Toni and took the wine bottles out of her hands and then placed them carefully on the floor and out of the way. She gently put her hands on Toni’s shoulders. “Tell me what happened.” Toni stared down at the floor and tears streamed down her cheeks. Blair glanced out on the deck and saw Todd and RJ standing next to the railing. They were in a heated discussion but their voices were hushed so all she could make out was a heated buzz. Every alarm bell in her head blasted at the same time. A wave of anger from an unknown origin skimped across her consciousness. Without one bit of evidence she knew their voices had not always been so low. Toni began to sink to her knees but Blair gripped her under her elbows and pulled her up. “Get up. Whatever it is, don’t do this.” Toni’s body felt like lead. She yelled Toni’s name. She didn’t try to moderate her voice. Toni’s head rocketed up finally and she looked at her straight in the eye. RJ and Todd rushed into the kitchen. RJ looked around the room quickly then at she and Toni. “What the hell is going on?” Toni pulled herself straight and nodded at Blair. “Thank you,” she said softly. She walked over to RJ. “You knew her.” “Who?” “Carmen. Carmen Duvet.” RJ shrugged. “Of course I knew her. She worked for me.” Blair felt a churning sensation in the pit of her stomach. She had always thought it was a blessing that Toni was so distracted by the wedding melodramatics that she hadn’t picked up on the vibe between RJ and Carmen that was there from day one. She always suspected that RJ had known Carmen before he ran into her in Creedyville. It was funny, though, how she pushed that suspicion to some dark corner of her mind after Carmen died. The woman was murdered and she never let it dawned on her that RJ’s probable prior connection might have been at the very least worth noting. “You knew her before then. I heard you.” RJ glanced at Todd but then smiled broadly. “Okay, I’m caught. We crossed paths years and years and years ago. But it wasn’t important.” “Not important?” “I suspect, but you know I’ve never asked, that there were plenty of men in the years we weren’t together. Your past is past. So is mine.” Toni bit her lower lip for a second, tilted her head to the left and shook it slowly. She aligned her face with RJ’s then rose up on her tippy toes. “When were you going to tell me you were married to her?” Blair’s head snapped back. “Who? What? Married to who?” Toni glanced at Blair. “He told Todd that it was good I didn’t ask any more questions and Todd said like whether you were married to Carmen.” “Never said she was married to him,” Todd said quickly. Blair whipped her head toward Todd. “RJ was married to Carmen? You knew and you didn’t tell me.” “How did this get to be about me?” RJ took a deep breath. “Look, it was only for a short time and it was years and years ago.” Toni moved close to RJ. “When were you going to tell me?” Her voice was slow and measured. “Were you ever going to tell me? Just going to lie to me?” RJ dipped his head. “I didn’t think there was any reason you needed to know. She was just like a bad penny passing through. I didn’t want her to hurt you with her twisted take on things.” “You don’t think she came after me? You don’t think she tried to rub my face in it even though I didn’t know what the hell she was talking about?” “No, look, she promised not to talk to you. That was the only reason I let her work at Capricorn.” “And she could be trusted to keep her word?” “When it was in her best interest.” “She was murdered, RJ. Didn’t you think this little tidbit about you being married to her once was going to eventually make it into the hands of the police? Then my children and I would have learned about your past by reading the front page of The Sun, because you sure as hell wouldn’t have cared enough about any of us to tell us what was going on.” “Front page? I don’t think so,” Todd said. “Maybe the second or third page in the local news section.” RJ’s eyes flashed. “That’s what you think of me?” “You didn’t trust me,” Toni said softly. “I get that. And I understand even.” RJ’s eyes softened. “Look, Toni—“ “No. I get it. You made a mistake. God knows I made my share. I’ve been waiting for it all to catch up with me. I knew the wedding was never going to come off.” RJ moved close to her and put his hands on her shoulders. “Wait a minute. That’s not true. What are you talking about? The wedding is just a few days off.” “That’s why I’ve been so crazy. Trying to hold onto something you know is going crumble in your hands makes you damn crazy.” “No,” RJ said, “don’t do this.” Toni shook her head slowly from side to side. “I kept your children from you and there is no way karma was going to let that slide. The bad you do never goes away. It just circles around your life waiting for you to shift your focus or turn you back before it swoops in again. I swear I just didn’t see it coming this way.” “Carmen was my past. My distant past. She didn’t have anything to do with my life, with you.” “You don’t trust me. And I don’t blame you but I can’t live this way.” “It’s not that.” Toni walked away then leaned on the counter at the far end of the kitchen and folded her arms over her chest. “You need to go home, RJ. You can pick up the rest of your stuff tomorrow or the day after.” “Wait a minute. What the hell are you saying?” “I’ll make all the calls tomorrow. There is no need of inconveniencing people more than necessary. They need to know as soon as possible about the wedding.” “Are you saying the wedding is off?” “Yes.” Toni switched her gaze to Todd. “Thank you for agreeing to let Keri’s fiancé’s parents stay in your guest suite but that won’t be necessary anymore. I’ll bring Starr and Jack home first thing in the morning.” “Like hell. My children will come with me and Blair.” Toni nodded her head. “Fine. I just thought since they were sleeping there was no reason to disturb them.” Blair moved next to Toni. “No need to worry, Todd. I’m staying here tonight. They’ll come home with me tomorrow.” “What the hell are you talking about, Blair.” “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Todd glared at her then stalked out of the kitchen. RJ hung back and stared at Toni. She turned away and finally he walked after Todd. His gait was slow and labored as if the world had suddenly shifted and landed on his shoulders. Toni threw her head back and took another sip of wine directly from the bottle. Her bare legs were stretched across the seat of a dining room chair pulled close to the one she was sitting in. She was furiously scribbling names and addresses across embossed wedding cancellation cards. Blair had been shocked when she pulled the boxes of cards, stamps, and envelops out of the bottom drawer of the credenza. She looked over at Blair. “You didn’t have to stay. I appreciate it but you didn’t have to stay. I’m not going to fall apart. It’s actually kind of a relieved. I’ve been holding my breath and waiting. Now I can finally exhale.” “You don’t know the circumstances, Toni.” “Maybe, but I can fill in the gaps. It was a really long time ago. They divorced years ago. She was his past. She didn’t matter to him.” “That’s true.” “So why did he lie about it?” “He was trying to protect you.” “From what, Blair? What else is he keeping from me?” “I don’t know.” “Well, Carmen said they were taking trips on the love train again. Described it to me in vivid detail.” “You didn’t believe that.” “Not then. But back then I thought she was the liar. Seems I was wrong about that.” “Toni, don’t do this to yourself.” Toni stared at her for a second then raked her fingers through her hair. “I want to thank you.” “For what?” “I’ve been happy here, Blair. I know I’m all crazy and shit and we’ve worked with a raving psychopath, had our children kidnapped and all sorts of crazy shit but as strange as it sounds for just a little while my life made sense and I was happy.” “That was RJ’s doing.” Toni picked at her finger. “He was part of it. He was a second chance and a do-over all wrapped in a fine package. I should have read the fine print though. But you were the rest of it. You were a good friend. And for that I want to thank you.” “Stop talking in the past tense.” “We’ll always be friends, I hope, but I’ve got to go. I can’t stay here. Think I’m going to San Diego. Beautiful place.” Blair studied her for a second. Just a few hours ago Toni was planning her wedding and digging her roots deeper and deeper into Llanview. Now, in the snap of a suspicion, she was packing up her life and would soon be gone. "I always liked San Diego," Toni said as she addressed another card. "The water. The climate. The culture. It's a good place for an artist-- for a creative person. I have a friend from college who lives out there and she has a son about Jason's age." "I guess it helps that it's on the other side of the country." Toni looked up quickly. "Doesn't hurt." Her eyes softened. "I can't stay, Blair." "Well, you'll need some time to set things up." "Not really. I have a house out there...well, it was my father's house and the cousin who's staying there now is moving back to Aruba in a couple of weeks. In fact, she hadn't left already because of the wedding so now that that's off, she'll probably leave even sooner." "Seems like you've thought it through." Blair glanced at the stack of cards on the table. "Or did you always have this as a backup plan?" Toni nodded then bit her lower lip for a second. "It's kind of foolish at my age and after all I've done to believe in love, you know. I was just playing the odds. And the odds of me marrying RJ and living happily ever after were always pretty damn slim. The Carmen thing was just the final straw. When it's over, it's over. I don't believe in hanging on." Blair shifted in her seat. She had hung on so many times with Todd when suspicion reared its ugly head. And how often had she laughed in the face of fate and a foregone conclusion? What had she gained? She was happy now but at the price of so much pain. Suppose instead of staying all those years ago she’d cut her losses and put Starr on her hip and left to create a new life for herself somewhere else? Would she have been better off? Tonight the answer to that questioned seemed far away and shrouded in mist. Blair tapped the table. "Who do think killed Carmen?" "I don't know." "Well, you started this with me so you need to stick around until we find out." Toni dipped her head. "Maybe I don't care anymore." "You care." "Okay, then maybe I don't want to know the answer anymore."
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Suspicions In Scarlet Repose FAN FICTION SLIDESHOWS
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