The Fourth Life: Chapter 32

Todd walked into John's office.  John said, "I can see where your son gets his manners."


"Yeah, probably Blair.  So, I came to tell you something."


"What is it, Manning?"


"This," he said, taking the skinner and placing it on McBain's desk.  John looked at it, and then back at Todd.


"You had this?"


"Yes."


"It's police property, Todd.  And I don't even want to know how you got it."  He looked at Todd and back to the item.  "You want to tell me why?"


Todd heard Sister Rebecca Katherine in his head.  "The truth is, I took it because I was having problems letting go of my hatred for Carlo.  I wanted to kill him and make him feel everything he did to me.  I became fixated on the knife and what it meant and what it did.  I also...I'd just remembered new things about what happened to me, and it made me feel better."


John listened carefully.  "New things.  Do any of these new things help our case?"


"I don't know.  If you need me to tell you, I will.  It was the things I remembered that made me angry.  The rage got the best of me."


John fingered the tool, thinking of the marks he had seen on Todd when he was brought to the emergency room in Ireland.  "I can understand rage, I think."  John said, sipping from his coffee cup.


"Not this kind.  Turns out Michael Leona had a thing for me.  He made Peter Manning look like Mother Teresa."  John spit his coffee back into his mug, and got up with it, crossing the room.  Todd continued, "I'm getting over it, slowly.  I know what you're thinking.  I deserved it, because I raped Marty.  I can only say, 'maybe' to that.  Not sure about the every day for eight years thing, but I'm willing to negotiate."


John put the cup down and realized his hands were shaking.  Without turning around he said, "Are you saying he...sexually assaulted you?"


"Yeah, that sounds about right.  It was part of his ritual.  His mating dance in his sick world.  I didn't know it all until I was healing.  I wasn't cognizant of it until the day I killed him, and then verbalized it on Halloween, to Blair.  She was the first one I could tell.  She actually knew, but she got it out of me.  It's been getting slowly better ever since.  So, now I've decided I don't need the knife anymore.  I know there might be a punishment for this, but I just have to have it out of my life.  Don't want to kill Carlo anymore, because of this redemption thing I'm working on."


John turned to Todd.  "Manning, I run out of things to say to you, quite easily."


"What did you want to say, McBain?"


"I wanted to say, I'm sorry about what you went through, and no, I don't think you deserved it.  I'll just put this back.  No harm done."


Todd was flabbergasted, "That's all?"


"That's all.  Now go get redeemed or whatever you're into."


"Thanks," he said, heading for the door, "And by the way, that McPain thing, it's totally cleared up with my sons."


John looked at the door after him, and wiped his brow.  "How does he do it?"


Todd was whistling on his way out of the precinct when he ran into Zeus, literally.  "Hey!  What are you doing here?"


"They let me out.  I have an appointment with John McBain to get my bracelet.  I get monitored for about six months."


"Been there, done that.  Not much of a fashion statement, but it's black and goes with everything."


Zeus chuckled.  "Okay, cool."


"Hey listen.  Call this guy here on this card," he said scribbling, " he's a real estate agent.  I'll have a talk with him.  He can find you a place to live."


"You don't have to do this, Todd."


"No, I don't but, I'm going to.  Call him, later today, and use my name, all right?" he said, rushing off.


"That guy is ... something else," he said aloud, and went to John's door.


***


Marty was expecting Patrick, and soon he wandered into the family area and went to embrace her.  She hugged him tightly, sniffing his hair and cologne.  She said, "So much to tell you."


"And I'm here to listen and glad to."


"We're uncovering a lot in therapy.  My breakdown is not exactly what you would think."


"It's not about the babe you lost, or the relationship with John McBain?"


"Of course that added to my mental distress.  But I'm starting to uncover memories that I never realized I had before."


"Is this about when Zeus Zelenko, posing as Todd, took advantage of ya?"


"No, not even that.  This has to do with the time I was kidnapped and held in Ireland."


He readied himself.  "What about that, Margaret?"


"I was kept by these men, one of whom sounded a lot like Carlo Hesser.  He wasn't always there.  When he was, he was on the phone to the states a lot.  Weird thing was, John got me out just as they found and took you in.  Todd was already being held since 2003.  That I can't even imagine."


He said, "Did they hurt you?  Anything?"


"No, mostly just tried to scare me.  But I heard a lot, Patrick.  I was blindfolded, almost all the time, but I heard so much."


"Do you want to tell me what ya heard, Angel?"


"I know I heard Carlo Hesser on the phone to someone a lot.  He called him 'Leona.'  There were others, like Baker, something else with a K, maybe a few others.  The one he talked to most was Leona.  I remember the name because it sounded pretty, like a woman's.  Of course, I had no idea they were holding Todd, or what the conversations meant.  I remember....something else."


"Go ahead.  Maybe saying it will bring more memories forth."


"Something about 'Operation PM.'  Not sure what that meant.  He talked about it with Leona and others often."  Patrick made a mental note of it, and would ask John McBain the very next time he was in town. 


"Anything else, Margaret?"


"Not that I can think of now, at least, but there will probably be more.  Does this help?"


"Yes, Angel, it helps.  You've got the most important part of the case against Hesser, and you didn't even realize it.  This could be enough to put him away."


***


Todd raced up the stairs, and found Blair, in The Sun office, organizing the desk.  "Hey, beautiful."


"Hey, Mr. Manning."


"Don't exert yourself."


"Oh yeah, pushing papers around is going to overexert me.  I'm fine, really."


He walked behind her, leaning down to smell her hair.  "Mmm, glad to be home."


"What happened with John McBain?"


"I got ten years." 


"What?  Ten years?"


"No.  He let me go, Blair.  I told him the truth and he let me go.  He almost spit up his coffee though."


"Well, Todd, your truths can do that to people."


"I ran into Zeus,"  he said.


"That guy's everywhere.  Isn't he supposed to be an inmate?"


"He's out.  Was getting fitted for a bracelet.  Remember, like mine.  'Someone protect me from the convict.'"


"Oh, stop.  He's out, huh?"


"Yep.  And I set him up with a realtor.  He's going to need a place to live."


"Not sure I think you should be helping him all that much, after what he did to us.  To the boys."


Todd said, "Blair, you know he didn't mean those things.  He wasn't...it was the brainwashing."


"Maybe, but it still happened.  You can do what you want, just don't expect me to give him too much attention."


"He hurt you."


"Yes, he did.  And my kids.  And then he dumped me and chose Tea.  I should have known right then he just might not have been you."


"Yeah, you should have, but that's over now.  We're together, that's what counts.  And we're headed for great things."


"Yes.  Sommer is kicking me all day long, what's why I had to get up and move a bit.  She's going to be a football star like her Daddy was."


He smiled, the side of his mouth curling up.  "Now, the last hurdle."


"The trial?"


"Yeah, that." he said.


"It won't be long, Hesser will be out of our lives,"  she said, pushing his hair back off his shoulders and kissing his ear.


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