MARTYWRITES.COM Presents "THE SEVENTH ROSE" a GH Fan Fiction "The Seventh Rose"

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE




"Three little pumpkins sitting in a row, which one was the first to go?" wondered the Grim Reaper as the hideous creature stared at the corpse where it sat. The pumpkin costume was slashed, gashed as was the woman wearing it. Chuckling maniacally, the Reaper strode off, a bloody scythe in one hand, and a bloody bag in the other. "Two more pumpkins running off in fright...this one is enough.........tonight!"


Caroline was his daughter? Stefan had returned to Wyndemere almost immediately following Bobbie's revelation, unwilling to share his reactions with the rest of Port Charles. He was still reeling from that information as he drank another glass of the shockingly expensive brandy that he usually reserved for more celebratory occasions. He recalled the look on Caroline's face as she'd stared at him. He'd returned the look, both faces stunned and more than a little horrified at the thought. He lifted the glass and then picked up the telephone. "Reece? Any luck finding Ms. Roberts?"

Suddenly, sober, Stefan's glass crashed to the floor. "What? Are you certain?"


"I can't believe that we missed her," Lucy grumbled as she sat in Tim's office again. "That was probably Brenda Barrett Jacks, and we let her get away."

"You really think that she survived the accident?" Tim asked. "You were just accusing my friend, Father Sal of her murder." He looked over at Lucy for whom he'd developed a sudden interest. There was something about her, something that reminded him of when he'd been younger, braver, ready to take on the world. Those were the Tim BH days, he thought. Before HERSELF. Yes, Lucy was special. Now, if only he was about forty years younger. Thirty, even. Okay, twenty. What the hell? If she'd have him, he'd cheerfully find a hole and toss her wandering husband in it! No man in his right mind would let a fine filly like Lucy run around loose.

Lucy nodded. "Well, I'm sorry about that. I know that it probably seem strange to you, but yes, I still think that Brenda survived. The very fact that the nuns said that she mentioned something about Port Charles only makes me think so even more."

"That's where you live--right?"

"Yes," Lucy answered. "As does your son and his family-when they're together."

"They're not?"

"I was telling you that there have been problems with the Cassadine family-and Luke wasn't taking some of what he learned in a mature, adult fashion."

"Sulking in the mountains, you said."

"That's what Laura said. She also told me to tell Luke that she and Lulu are going back to Port Charles."

"All roads lead to Port Charles," Tim observed. "So you think that if I want to settle things with the Cassadine family, that's the place to do it?"

"It's a good place to start," Lucy conceded. "But I can't go yet. I have to stay and find Kevin."

Tim looked at Lucy and shook his head. "Lucy, darlin',"

But, before he could complete the sentence, the door to his office swung open and the bouncer asked, "Boss, there's a call from Charlie. He thought that you'd like to know that some guy who looks like you is trying to get some passports made."

Tim took the call. "Charlie? He's in Monte Carlo? You're kidding?" Tim touched the top of his head and grinned broadly. "All of them? Him, too? Okay. We're on the way."

Tim clicked the phone off and looked at Lucy. "Darlin', you're about to go home but there's something that you need to know.........."


Bobbie had stumbled across the body in the park first, and sobered up instantly. Nothing in her past had prepared her for finding a headless body in a bloody pumpkin suit sitting on the park bench. She was still trembling violently when Stefan entered the police station where she waited for him. Her face was white against the black silk of her witch's costume.

"Barbara?" His eyes met hers. "Was it?"

Wordlessly shrugging her head, Bobbie continued to sit mutely. Then, lifting tear-filled eyes, Bobbie shook her head again. "I don't know. They can't find Felicia either."

"But can't they identify the body?"

Bobbie shook her head, and began to tremble all over again.


The Outback was in an uproar. "What murder? What the hell are you talking about?" Frisco demanded of Taggert. "Where's Felicia?"

Taggert looked at Frisco and said, "I was hoping that you could tell me."

"I don't like the sound of this," Jerry said, coming to stand in front of the officer. "Has something happened?"

Taggert nodded. "There was a murder this evening-not far from here. A woman in a pumpkin costume was killed."

"What? Felicia was wearing one of those," Frisco injected. His mind moving quickly, he didn't like the directions that it was taking him. "I take it you haven't identified the body?"

"Not yet. We're running fingerprints. Felicia's are on file. I'm hoping that we can rule her out right away." Taggert admitted. He'd seen the body and had already been sick immediately following that. "We don't think that the body belonged to Carly Roberts-she's pregnant and the woman doesn't appear to be in any advanced stage of pregnancy. But we do know that there were at least three women at this club tonight who were wearing pumpkin costumes- Ms. Roberts, Kathryn Bell, and Felicia Jones. We have a body and so far, two missing women. There may be more, but we have to start somewhere. Did you see anybody strange here tonight?" He glanced around, seeing the garish decorations, the skeletons, the pumpkins, the dismembered hands holding candles on the tables. "Damn! Okay, did anybody follow them out of the bar?"

Jerry was a bit ashen beneath his mad scientist's suit. "Yeah, somebody in a Grim Reaper's costume. We've got to find Felicia."

At that point, Taggert's cell phone rang. "Tag here. You're sure? Okay. She's not at her home? Keep looking. Thanks."

He looked at Frisco and Jerry and smiled wanly. "I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that the body we have isn't Felicia's. The bad news is that she's missing."

"Not for long," Frisco vowed. "Not for long."


"What do you mean we can't report this?" Tiffany demanded of Sean Donely who was at headquarters. "This is a murder, for heaven's sake."

"Tiffany," Sean ground out. "There is a madman out there, someone walking around with a head-probably belonging to Kat Bell, and Felicia is still missing. It's three a.m. and you should be home in bed."

"With a head?" Tiff whispered, stunned. "You mean..."

"Not with a head-with me. I mean, yes. Word is that there was somebody at the Outback dressed in a Grim Reaper's costume this evening-maybe the killer. We don't know. Nobody saw his or her face-but there were comments that the scythe seemed very realistic."

Tiffany shuddered. "My God! I can see the headlines-The Grim Reaper Stalks Port Charles."