CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE "Oh, God, Felicia," Carly moaned as she suddenly gripped her stomach through the layers of bright orange fabric and stuffing. "Something is wrong." "That figures," Felicia muttered as she noticed that something wet had stained the bottom of Carly's costume. "We've got to find a place for you to stay while I get help." "But he'll be back...he'll kill me." "Not if he can't find you." Felicia looked around them, at the wooded area from which they'd just emerged, and said, "Or not if we kill him first." "Kill him?" Carly gasped, horrified at the thought. "You've got a problem with that? Ryan is as nutty as a fruitcake, nuttier, even. He's killed several women that I know of, and you can bet that he'll kill more, starting with us, if he gets the chance." "But why hasn't he done it already?" Carly asked. "Good question," Felicia answered, pondering this problem. "He did mention something about your being valuable to him. Maybe he thinks that he can cut a deal with the Cassadines or Bobbie to have you returned." "Bobbie wouldn't give a nickel unless it was to pay him to get rid of me." Carly's tone was sour, bitter and resigned. "Not that I'd blame her." "So that leaves the Cassadines." "And what would they want with me?" "I want my money." Ryan spoke into the pay phone a few miles down the road from the cabin which he'd left Felicia and Carly. "I can't get confirmation from Switzerland on the transfer." "Thing have changed," came the voice from the other end of the line. "Where are the other women?" "Where's my money?" "You'll get your money when the time is right." "That wasn't our agreement." " You're in no position to argue." "Give me a break. You think that you're the only one with an interest in these women? You've got one hour. One hour to make the arrangements for my money to be deposited and then I go to my other contact." "Other contact?" "How do you think I've survived this long? I always have a backup plan. One hour." Ryan hung up the phone and smiled. One more hour, and he could take Felicia and head out. Sooner or later, she'd come around. They always did. "It becomes more interesting," Julian mentioned to Jade who had been monitoring the phone call with him. "But this wasn't unanticipated. Indeed, he is making a projected move. He'll pull one of our targets into position..." "And then?" "What does one do with a target?" "This isn't making any sense," Frisco told Sean. "None of it does. The only man who ever seriously had a screw loose in regards to Felicia was Ryan, and he's dead." "Is he?" Sean asked. "I know that we all think he's dead, but you and I have been both considered dead in the past. Dead is the best camouflage you can get." "It makes a certain sick sort of sense," Frisco muttered as Jamie spoke up. "You're talking about Ryan Chamberlain, right? Kevin's brother? I read about that." "Yeah," Frisco nodded. "He was obsessed with Felicia, and we'd thought that it was over after he 'died' in a fire at an abandoned carnival some years ago. No body was ever found, but the place was incinerated, so it was no big surprise." "Not even teeth?" "Zip." "Then he's got to be considered a suspect," Jamie agreed. "But if he's obsessed with her, then maybe he won't kill her." "And Carly?" "We're still assuming that they're together, that they're both alive. We could be wrong," Sean told him. "Until we hear something to the contrary, we're operating under those assumptions." He turned and walked out the door, leaving Frisco and Jamie alone. "Why did you leave her?" Jamie asked, suddenly. "I was a stupid, adventure-hungry fool," Frisco answered, honestly, "with an inflated notion of my value to the world." "You realize that she's mine, if she'll have me. I'm no longer the penniless, scam artist that I once was." Jamie smiled. "We did have some good times together, and I can promise you, she's interested." "You'll both have to take a number," Jerry grinned as he walked in the door. "And if this was anything else, I wouldn't tell you what I just learned, but as it's Felicia's life..." "Spill it," Frisco said. "What have you got?" "A lead on the scythe. Want to hear about it?" Bobbie hung up the telephone, stark horror on her face. Had she heard what she'd thought she heard? Was Stefan behind the disappearances of three women? Had he arranged to have Kathryn Bell murdered? Looking up, she met his questioning eyes from the doorway. "What seems to be the trouble, Barbara Jean?" he asked, his tone even and almost sweet. Cajoling, like one might an errant child. "Is something amiss?" "Who were you talking with?" she asked as soon as she found her voice. "Who was that on the phone?" "An investigator," he answered smoothly. "I hired several when our daughter disappeared." "That's not how it sounded." Bobbie was scared, and when she was, she tended to shoot first and ask questions later. "So tell me how it sounded," Stefan said, coming closer. "Tell me what you think I am capable of doing." "You tell me," Bobbie answered, backing away from him. "What happened to Kathryn Bell?" "How would I know?" "But the man on the phone spoke of a previous agreement." "Of course. I had promised him a considerable reward if he found them. Now he wants to renegotiate the agreement. He wants more money, which I will probably give him, but I want to make certain that our daughter and Felicia are returned to us unharmed." "I see." Bobbie shook her head, then sighed in remorse. "I'm sorry, Stefan. I'm just so jumpy that I'm starting to doubt even you. Especially since Luke has..." "You spoke with him?" "Yeah," she admitted, allowing him to draw her into his arms. "I don't see how I can ever trust anything he tells me again." "I know the feeling," Stefan commiserated. "Betrayal upon betrayal, lie upon lie, until the truth is obscured, perhaps forever." "You do understand, don't you?" "More than you'll ever know," he whispered into her fiery red hair. "My own family has been embroiled in lies and deceptions for my entire life. Yet, I persevered, doing what I thought to be best, bringing up Nikolas as the son I wished to have. Now, as the lies are revealed, I find that he's not my son at all, but that Lucky is, and we've begun a very delicate relationship. I am hoping that I can begin a relationship with our daughter, that someday you will forgive me for all of the transgressions of my past, of our past." He held her closely, stroking her hair, willing her to trust him. "I never meant to harm you, Barbara. I would never have allowed a child of my own to do without, to suffer, or to be raised by someone else, had I known." "Giving her up was the hardest thing I've ever done." "I bitterly regret all the pain you suffered. I did return to look for you-but no one could tell me where 'Raven' had gone. Perhaps that is what drew me to you in the first place-perhaps I recognized you from that night when you comforted a heartsick young man." Bobbie lay her head against his shoulder, grateful that he'd understood her fears. "I'm sorry that I doubted you, Stefan. You're the only one who has loved me for me. I brought nothing into this relationship-nothing but a broken heart and the promise that I would stand beside you." "That's not so. You brought light and giving into my life, and hope where there was none. I'd never thought to love again, but you've given me that, too." Bobbie leaned her head back and met his lips, thrilling in the depths of passion that he could evoke within her. "Why don't I we go upstairs?" "Go on," he smiled. "I'll join you in a moment. I want to get a special bottle of wine from the cellar." Watching as she headed up the staircase, Stefan waited until she was out of earshot, then took his cellular phone out of his pocket. He headed towards the cellar door, entering the numbers into the phone. "Reece?" "Sir?" "We have a problem. You have been monitoring the phone calls to the house?" "As always, sir. The last one came from a payphone on the outskirts of town." "Excellent. Dispose of the problem, and rescue the young ladies in question." "A permanent solution?" "Of course. The problem mentioned additional contacts. Learn what you can and apprise me of them." Stefan switched off the phone, and, taking a bottle of the finest champagne, headed up the staircase to Bobbie. Only a few more days, he told himself. A few more moves and his veil of lies would be impenetrable. And, with any luck, only a few more people would have to die.