CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR "Tim! It's good to see you again. How's Sal?"
"Doing fine. You been checking on that young woman he mentioned?"
"Yeah, and it appears to have been a red herring, at least for the moment. Nobody with that description has arrived stateside via the airlines, at least not that we can find. This doesn't rule it out, but you understand."
"That I do." He scowled. "Had to tell Luke about Helena."
"Ooooh," Marty commiserated. "Rough one?"
"You could put it that way. He's not a happy camper."
"That's understandable. Where is he?"
"Headed back to the house to see Laura and the baby. Boys went, too."
"Good. Does Jer know that we know who he is? Or that we still haven't found his mother?"
"No to both. I don't even think that he knows that she's missing."
"All right-we'll have to work around that. Look, Tim, I hate to cut this short, but there are things going on here in Port Charles that you need to know about."
"Do I tell Luke about any of it?"
"Use your discretion. He doesn't need to know most of it at this point, and if he's going to be running around half-cocked, maybe he should be left out of the loop on at least some of it."
"I understand."
"Okay. Here's the situation....."
The tabloids were having a field day in Port Charles, special editions gleefully setting out scandal after scandal coming scant on the heels of Halloween. There was even a Sunday edition that outsold the Port Charles Herald, but with the shocking headline, WHO DUN DING DONG BELL?, that came as no surprise. Kat's own lurid past was exposed, making certain to mention that the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy man and his housekeeper had come a long way, inheriting her wealth from the late Damian Smith, son of former mob-boss Frank Smith. They detailed her relationship with General Hospital, the Cassadine family, but they paid particular interest to her 'marriage' to Ned Ashton, a man making his own headlines.
Yes, Ned Ashton was the focus of easily as much speculation as the late Kat herself, and one of the tabloids, eager to outsell the competition, was openly wondering at how Ashton's grandparents had suddenly died, one of whom had landed at the bottom of a staircase while Ned himself had been at the top. It was also noted that Ashton had produced documents showing that just prior to their deaths, they'd signed all of their shares of ELQ into his hands. There was much curiosity aroused at the sudden disappearance of Alan, Monica and Emily, and it took only the slightest leap of logic to deduce that perhaps there had been foul play.
Ned Ashton only smiled. He'd been quoted as saying, "It's ALL mine now."
If that wasn't enough to send sales soaring, still others were making serious bucks off the Cassadine storyline, printing extremely descriptive stories about the Outback Halloween party, detailing how Stefan had come dressed in funereal black, how he'd been casting evil glances at Kat all evening, and how he'd threatened to kill her if she ever came near his family again. The same tabloid also quoted an unidentified and therefore secure source as having quoted Kat herself as having told him/her that Stefan had threatened to kill her. Of course, this same source had reported that he'd been drinking heavily and threatened to kill everybody there, too. Another source, speaking anonymously, had told them of a shocking orgy that had taken place behind the bar, while yet another told that Felicia had been having an affair with Tony Jones and that was why she'd gone after him. That particular tale was contradicted by one that insisted that Felicia had just decided to skip town with a plumber for reasons unknown.
But the story that was to break later that day would move these off the front page.
Tony Jones woke up in a strange hotel, his head aching, and his heart numb with whatever release he'd found last night. A man wasn't supposed to cry, but he'd shed more than his share of tears over the past few years, and probably cried another river last night. If he could only remember. He lifted one hand to his eyes, and noted the straw poking out of his sleeves. Yeah, he was like the Scarecrow-no brain at all, and the little pumpkin, her bright eyes and perky smile had used his need to be needed to seduce her way into his battered heart.
Shaking his pounding head, he wondered that he hadn't noted the resemblance to Bobbie earlier, then realized that it might have been part of what had drawn him to Carly in the first place. They both had the big brown eyes, the winning smile, and the well rounded figure. Yes, she was very much her mother's daughter, and he ought to know. His stomach churned again with the knowledge that he'd bedded his ex-wife's daughter, the young woman who should have been his step-daughter. Worse yet, Carly had known, probably known all along! What twisted mind she must have had to seek revenge on her mother that way, the lies she'd told and he'd believed, the betrayal at every level. He recalled again the rage he'd felt as her tear-filled eyes had told him all he'd needed to know about the falsehoods she'd told, and once more he wanted nothing more than to...he turned away from that the way he'd left the Outback last night. To stay would have been to become violent, and Tony believed himself to be a peaceful man. He'd left rather than...
Than what? Try as he might, he couldn't quite remember what had happened after he'd left. Dimly he recalled Carly, or whoever she was, calling his name, and he had a vague memory of pushing her away, calling her disgusting things. But, there things just went blank. With a groan, he sat up and reflected that the real pity was that he couldn't just forget everything and everybody.
Yeah, he'd like that. Just forget everybody but Lucas. No, Lucas, too. How could he ever explain what he'd done to that innocent child? Better he just vanish from Port Charles than face the disaster his life had become.
Tony looked around at the scruffy room, at his scruffy appearance, and noted for the first time that both he and the room seemed unusually filthy. Oddly stained. Then he noticed that his hands were streaked with...those stains looked familiar to a surgeon. Blood stains?
"What the...?" he muttered, rising to his feet. He stood and headed to the bedroom, but stumbled over something in his way. He looked down and saw blonde hair, blood...
Dr. Tony Jones began screaming.........
"Marty?" Tim greeted as he entered the VIP lounge at the Port Charles Airport. He smiled at the fair haired woman who met him with a friendly embrace.
