Garcia and Taggert stood just inside the Spencer house, both feeling extremely uncomfortable with the questions that they were about to ask Laura. Not all that long ago, they’d had her in jail, charged with the murder of Damian Smith. She’d been found not guilty, but Garcia had always harbored a few doubts. There was something about Laura that was a little too good to be true, a little insincere. Maybe it was just the current climate of politics that made him want to distrust everybody, to carefully parse everybody’s words, and to generally regard all events cynically.

"Would you care for some coffee?" Laura asked, ever the gracious hostess.

"No thanks," Taggert answered. "We’d just like to ask you a few questions."

"Questions? I doubt if I’ll be much help—I just got back to Port Charles yesterday."

"That’s not what we heard," Garcia countered. "We’ve heard that you were on Spoon Island the day before, visiting Stefan Cassadine."

Laura looked mildly troubled. "Actually, that’s true. I came back that day and then left town again. I arrived at my home here, yesterday."

"Can you tell us why you were visiting Stefan?"

Laura smiled, and shrugged. "You know that my husband doesn’t get along with Stefan or with my son, Nikolas. He hates it whenever I talk with Stefan or Nikolas. I wanted a few minutes with them before I officially returned home."

"Did you talk with both of them?"

"Only Stefan," Laura answered. "Nikolas wasn’t around."

"Did you see Kathryn Bell?"

"No," Laura answered. "Though I have heard about her tragic death. Do you know who did it?"

"No," Taggert replied. "But we’re working on it. Word is that she saw you and Stefan talking and left to confront Luke about it."

"I can’t imagine why. After all, Nikolas is my son, and Stefan is his legal guardian."

"She thought that you were asking Stefan for help, that there was the possibility of some involvement between the two of you."

"You’re kidding. Stefan and me? That’s preposterous."

Garcia looked at Laura and felt again, his inner radar pick up on something that wasn’t quite right. "You were on the Cassadine Island for a while, weren’t you?"

"Yes, but Stefan was my brother-in-law, not my husband."

"So you’re denying any physical relationship with him? Past or present? I can have you brought in and questioned under oath."

Laura looked at Garcia, her eyes suddenly filling with tears, and then she looked away. There was a long moment of silence.

"Mrs. Spencer? I’d like to make this as easy on you as possible, but I need answers to these questions."

Finally, the silence was broken, and Laura whimpered. "He saved my sanity," she explained, her voice barely audible. "Stavros was so cruel. So brutal. Stefan was all that stood between me and suicide. They told me that Luke was dead, that I was dead to everybody that I’d ever known and loved, but Stefan was kind and gentle. We...we.."

"Yes?"

"We were lovers on the island," she whispered. "Luke just found out that’s why he’s not here."

"Kat told him?"

"I think so," Laura sobbed. "He was so angry with me. He didn’t understand."

"Did he tell you that he found Kat’s body?"

She nodded, and Garcia continued. "Did he tell you that he’s a suspect?"

"Luke? I know that he had no use for Kathryn, but I don’t think that he’d kill her." She shook her head. "No, Luke wouldn’t have killed Kat."

"Did you know about the argument that they had in his club yesterday?"

Laura shrugged. "He said that she told him things."

"About who?"

Laura shrugged again. "I don’t know."

"About Lucy Coe?" Taggert prompted. There seemed to be something calculated about Laura’s tears, and he wanted to shake her into an outburst. "Did you know about Lucy Coe and Puerto Rico?"

Laura’s eyes grew guarded, and she asked, "What about Lucy Coe?"

"You know that she gave Luke an alibi yesterday."

"I didn’t know that."

"She said that Kat found out about them."

"About Lucy and Luke?" Laura’s expression was confused. "I know that they’re friends and former partners."

"Then you don’t know..."

Garcia looked at Taggert and shook his head. "Not now, Tag. This is between them."

Laura’s expression changed as she caught their meaning. "Luke and Lucy? You think that they’re having an affair?" Laura laughed. "They wouldn’t do that." Catching their shared glances, Laura’s face changed again. "An affair?" Suddenly, she surged to her feet, a wild and crazy light in her eyes. "I’ll kill him! I’ll kill Luke Spencer for that!"

Um, Doc," Lucy began, entering the lighthouse she shared with Kevin Chamberlain. "Doc?"

"I’m here, Lucy," he answered, moving back from the canvas on which he’d been daubing paint. With a feeling of anxiety growing, Lucy walked over to him.

"You know that I love you, Doc."

"And that I love you. Why is it that I’m beginning to get the feeling that I’m not going to like this conversation very well?" He studied his painting, and then once again, lifted the brush to it.

"Um, Doc, you see, Garcia and Taggert think that Luke and I are having an affair."

"Do they? And, how did they arrive at this conclusion?"

"Um, I sort of helped them along."

"You told them that you were having an affair with Luke?"

"Sort of. You see, I had to do it. I had to give Kat a reason to come and talk with Luke, a reason to get into an argument with her." Lucy explained briefly, and Kevin followed the explanation carefully, stopping her when she wandered too far afield.

"You lied to the police?"

"I, er, uh, yes."

"I see. So they think that you and Luke have a thing going, and that dumb old doc has no clue?"

"You could cooperate with me," Lucy told him. "You could just..."‘

"No, thanks, Lucy. You read the papers. Do the terms, ‘perjury’ and ‘suborning perjury’ mean anything to you?" Kevin tossed the brush aside. "You got into this against my wishes, and now you’re already telling lies to the authorities? And you’re trying to drag me into it? No, thanks, Lucy."

"But Kevin..." she began. "I told them that you didn’t know."

"But I do know, Lucy. And given my past, the last thing that I need to do is to have more trouble with the law. Sorry, but this time, I can't play."

"Kevin, you can’t give me away."

"I can’t lie for you, Lucy. Even if I wanted to, I can’t."

"But Kevin, they’ll want to talk with you."

"Sorry, Lucy." He shook his head and said, "It’s time to make some choices, Lucy. I’ve been thinking about us, about where we’re going as a couple, and I’ve come to the conclusion that we need to spend some time apart. All this business about Stanton, Serena, Scotty, and now this mess with Luke has made me think about priorities. Yours aren’t with mine."

"But Doc, this will all be over soon."

"Will it? Or, will there be something else? There’s always something else, Lucy. Always. I think that you sense it, too, and that’s why you keep finding some new roadblock to marriage. Hell, Lucy. You even married Rex."

"To save Serena."

"And now, you’re saving Luke. It’s always something. Lucy, Luke is a grown man. He can save himself."

"I have to do this. I’m already committed."

"Then do it, Lucy. I’m leaving tonight for France. Don’t come to me until and unless you’re ready to marry me."

"But Doc..."

"I love you, Lucy, and I know that you love me-but I’m not sure that it’s the right kind of love. I’m just now beginning to realize that." He pulled her into his arms, and kissed the top of her head. "I’m setting you free, Lucy, to get it all sorted out, one way or another. I won’t lie for you and Luke, but I won’t get in your way, either."

Lucy backed away from Kevin and looked up at him, seeing him for the first time in a different light. "You’ve been thinking about this for a while, haven’t you? This trip to France isn’t spur of the moment, is it?"

"No."

"I’ll have to think about this," Lucy said slowly, withdrawing from him. "You’ll write? Or call?"

"No, Lucy. Not this time." Kevin’s expression was calm, and he appeared to be at ease with himself. "I’m doing what I need to do Lucy....."

Helena watched the young girls playing in the park, ever aware of their mother who was sitting next to her on the bench.

"Are they yours?" She asked.

"Yes," Felicia answered.

"They’re lovely. What are their names?"

Felicia turned to look at the older woman sitting beside her. "I don’t believe we’ve met."

"You’re a wise young woman," Helena told her. "I’m Helena Cassadine."

"Cassadine?" Felicia stared at her. "Are you related to Stefan and Nikolas?"

"Mother and grandmother. Like you, I want to make certain of the well-being of my children and grandchildren."

Felicia paused, and then said, "I have to go now. Girls!! Come on! Now."

"But Mom," Maxie protested. "We just got here."

"Sorry, girls," Felicia told them. "But I just remembered something very important. Pizza tonight to make up. Okay?"

"Okay!"

Helena watched as they disappeared from view. "Keep an eye on them, Philipe," she ordered her agent who had appeared as if by magic. "I need to know everything. Everything."

"Who was that creepy old lady?" Asked Maxie as Felicia almost dragged her daughters from the park. "She looked a little like you, only old and creepy-looking."

"Creepy," agreed Georgie. She liked the word, and lisped it in her baby voice. "Creepy. Creepy."

"Yeah, she’s creepy, all right," Felicia agreed. "How do we treat creepy people?"

"We get away from them," Maxie answered. "Like now. Is that why we couldn’t stay in the park?"

Felicia nodded. "Yes. Sometimes, you might not know why a person gives you the creeps, but if they do, you need to get away from them. Hide if you have to, but get away."

Both girls nodded in understanding, and Felicia continued. "That creepy feeling is your natural instinct kicking in—and you have to learn to listen to your instincts. They’ll help protect you from creepy people."

Suddenly, Felicia stopped, and, with one daughter’s hand in each of hers, she turned around. There was that nagging feeling, like being watched, she realized. It was creepy, she decided, and taking a firmer grip on the her girls’ hands, she said, "Let’s run."

Back in her apartment, Felicia picked up her phone, and called her best friend. "Mac? What do you know about Helena Cassadine?"