Dance with the Devil: Chapter 75

The next morning, Helena Cassadine was trotted into John McBain’s former office at the LPD, having spent an uneasy night in lockup.  John looked at the elegantly dressed prisoner, who had not one hair out of place.  “How was your evening, Mrs. Cassadine?” he asked politely.

“I wish to speak to my attorney,” came her reply. 

“Well, I spoke with your step-daughter, Alexis Davis, but she said she wouldn’t be representing you.  Do you have the name of another attorney we can contact for you?”  John got no reply.  “Alright then, is there anyone else we can contact on your behalf, say your grandson, Nikolas Cassadine?”  Still no response.  “Well, then, nice having this chat,” John concluded, signaling the officer to remove the suspect.

“Wait, don’t you want to know what happened to Mrs. Lord?” Helena asked.

“Well, as I can’t speak to you without an attorney present, I guess I’ll have to wait,” John said.  “Unless you want to talk.”

“You’ll want me to talk, or Mrs. Lord may become very ill,” Helena told him.

“Is that a threat?”

“More like a warning.”

John thought about it for a minute.  “I’m guessing you want something for your information.  Sorry, but I’m all out of great-grandsons.”

“I want immunity from prosecution for my information,” Helena said.  “If you can promise me that, then I will tell you everything.”

“Well, I can say with certainty that won’t be happening.  You’ve been arrested for kidnapping, attempted murder, unlawful imprisonment and a whole laundry list of crimes.  And that’s just in this case.  I’ve found you on Interpol’s most wanted list for multiple murder inquiries, some going back nearly half a century.”  John sorted through papers on his desk until he found the one he was looking for.  “A Kristen Bergmann, murdered in the late 1960’s.  And here’s an interesting one.  One Irina Cassadine, your daughter, is it?  I’m sure my boss, Commissioner Devane up in Port Charles,  will want to speak to you about that one.” 

Helena remained imperiously silent.  Just then, there was a commotion in the squad room.  John walked past the prisoner before saying, “Have a seat, Mrs. Cassadine.  We are not done talking.”  He opened the door to find an unknown man arguing with an officer. 

“I want to see my grandmother,” the man said.

“Nikolas Cassadine?” John asked as the man turned around and nodded.  “John McBain, formerly of  Llanview Police Department, now with the PCPD.  Thank you for coming.”  He led Nikolas off to the side.

“I heard from my aunt about what my grandmother has been up to,” he said.  “You have her in custody?”

“Yes, in fact, she’s right in the next room.  We were just having a chat.  Would you like to join us?” John asked.

Nikolas followed him into the office.  Helena turned in her chair at the sound of the door opening.  “Nikolas, what a wonderful surprise.  And here Lt. McBain thought I’d be left all by myself.”

“Grandmother,” Nikolas said simply.

“And how is my wonderful great-grandson?” Helena asked, gushing.

“Spencer is doing just fine,” he answered, smiling at his grandmother’s obvious distaste of the name.  “Unfortunately, I had to leave him when Alexis called me about you, because there was, of course, no way I would bring my son within a hundred miles of you.”  He moved closer to the older woman.  “My aunt filled me in on Sam and her son.  And then I spoke to my sister.”  Helena just glared at him.  “I knew our family was twisted, but I will admit, that caught me off guard.  And you knew about it all this time.  That my father raped Alexis and left her pregnant and that Sam was the product of the crime.” 

“That little mouse seduced my son and got herself into that state on her own.  Sam Morgan is not fit to be a Cassadine,” Helena said, chin raised.

Nikolas let out a hallow laugh.  “Samantha is more of a Cassadine then I even am.”  He turned to the cop.  “Lieutenant, may we speak in private?”

John nodded and Helena was removed from the room.  He then turned to Nikolas.  “Mr. Cassadine, I’ll tell you, I thought I had witnessed the world’s strangest family last year when I saw a mother take pride in the kidnapping and torture of one son and the brainwashing of another.  Yours, though, takes the cake.”

“Really?  I’d like to meet them.  We can compare notes,” Nikolas said as he tried to come off nonchalantly.  “What has my grandmother done now, besides the attempted kidnapping of Sam’s son?”

It took John a good half-hour to got through the whole convoluted story about Victor Lord, Jr, Allison Perkins and Heather Webber, adding the side notes of Todd Manning’s shooting.  Nikolas asked a number of questions throughout the discussion.  Then McBain told him of the talk he had just had with Helena.  Nikolas stepped to the side of the office and made a quick call.  When he was through with that, he turned back to the detective.  “I believe I have a way to get my grandmother to talk, since no lawyer will be forthcoming.  I will ask you to allow me leeway for the time being.”

“Whatever, you need, within the confines of the law.  I just want the information she has on whatever she has done to Tea Delgado,” John agreed. 

Helena was escorted back in.  Nikolas look over at her.  “The lieutenant tells me you have made a threat against a woman, Tea Delgado.  You will tell me what it is you have done to her.”

“I can be assured you have secured immunity for me, Nikolas?” she asked.

“Why would I do that when I would like to see nothing more than you lock away for the rest of your life?” he asked.

“Then I have no more information to give,” she retorted.

Nikolas nodded and walked to John’s desk.  After dialing a number, Sam’s voice came through the speakers.  “And how are you and my nephew doing?” he asked.

“Alexander and I are fine.  He wants to meet his uncle,” Sam replied.

“I will be there shortly.  We can sign the papers then.  Alexis sent them to me and I am sure you have your copies,” he said as he pulled out legal sheets from his jacket pocket.

Helena became curious.  “What papers?”

“Oh, the papers to abdicate the title and turn it over to Sam for her son,” he said.

“You cannot do that.  You are the Prince,” Helena stated.

“Its was never a title I wanted for myself, much less my son.  Uncle and I got into this argument many times when I was growing up,” he said.  “Now, I’ve learned that I am not even the firstborn of my father and although that honor goes to my sister who cannot herself take the title, she has a son she can pass it on to and for the time being act as a regent.”

John had to smile at the exchange.  He may not have understood all the details of what was going on, but he could tell from Helena’s reaction, this was not close to anything she wanted.  John decided to allow Nikolas more time to play his game.

“There is one way you can stop this.”  He eyes his grandmother carefully.  “Tell the detective everything, and I mean everything he needs to know and I will stop all of this.”

“I would listen to my brother if I were you Helena.  I have no problem in running Cassadine Industries, with the help of my mother, of course,” Sam said from the other end.

With that comment, John realized that Helena had been caught.  The woman’s entire demeanor changed and she slid her eyes over to McBain.  He, in turn, looked to Nikolas and smiled as he said, “Well, played, Mr. Cassadine.  Well played.”

Victor Lord, Junior had been only lightly dozing in the chair next to Tea when he heard the door open.  There, he saw Danie hold the baby carrier.  He checked and saw his wife was asleep then got up and walked into the hall to be with his niece and son.  “When did you get here?” he asked has he hugged her.

“Just now.  Natalie and Liam cam down with us.  We all figured that Mom would want to see the baby as soon as possible,” she said looking over his shoulder.  “How is she doing?”

He looked back into the room.  “Well, the doctors think she’ll be alright, but they want to make sure, so she’s going to be here a few days.”  Then he picked up his son.  “But I bet she’ll feel a whole lot better when she sees him.”  He tilted his head towards the door and they went it. 

Tea began to stir when she felt soft skin beside her.  Opening her eyes, she saw Victor holding a baby.  For a moment, she shook her head.  “No, it’s a dream, they’re dead,” she whispered.

“No, Mom, they are here, alive,” Danie’s voice told her.

“Mija?” she asked, disbelief in her voice.  Danie launched herself into her mother’s arms.  “Oh, Dios, it is you!”

“Mom,” Danie cried, the tears falling from her eyes.  They parted and Victor stepped forward, a baby in his arm.

“There’s someone here who wants to meet you, Mom,” he said, a goofy smile on his face.

Tea’s held out her arms and accepted the baby.  Now, it was her time to cry.  “On my God, this is really happening,” she said in amazement.  Then she looked down at her son.  “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this moment.”  As if understanding, he grasped her finger and held on tight.  His blue eyes lit up and he even seemed to laugh.  “Victor Lord the Third,” she whispered.

Her husband’s eyes dimmed momentarily.  “Yeah, about that name…” he began hesitantly.  Then he rubbed his son head.  “I can see why you would want him to have that name.  But in all honesty, it’s a name that carries too much weight with it.  Hell, Viki didn’t even want to give it to her son.  And I have to agree with her.”

Tea looked at him.  “I wanted to honor you…”

“I know that.  But now, you don’t need to.  I’m here and I think he needs a different name,” Victor replied.

“Do you have any ideas?” Tea asked.

Victor looked over to Danie.  She nodded and he turned back to Tea.  “I was thinking we should name him after his uncles.”

“You want to name him Todd?” she asked incredulously.  “How can you…I don’t understand…”

“Well, your brother’s name is Tomas and legally Todd’s name is…”his voice faded off.  “Tea, I hate to admit this but if it wasn’t for Todd,  he wouldn’t be here.”  When he continued to get that look from Tea, he chose a different tactic.  “Hey, look at it this way.  Todd’s always hated that name.”

Before she could answer, Larry Wolek rushed into the room with some nurses.  Tea and Victor looked around at them as she handed the baby off to her husband.  “What’s going on?” she asked, getting worried.

“We need to get you into surgery, right away.  We learned what Helena Cassadine did to you,” he said to her.  “The sooner we can get you into the OR, the better it will be.   

As they nurses moved around the wires, Tea looked at Victor.  “Leo, after my father Leon.  Then we can add the Thomas,” she told him as the wheeled her away. 

Victor stepped into the hallway holding his son with Danie standing next to him.  He turned to her and looked at his son.  “Can you tell the family about this?” he asked.

Danie was not sure of what he meant.  “What do you want them to know?’

“That it looks like Tea will be alright.  And that the newest member of the family is Leo Thomas Lord,” Victor said as he kissed his son’s head.  


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