CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE "Marty? Taggert here. Something interesting just came up in regards to this Kathryn Bell case. We may just have connected it to something you're working on." Marty became instantly alert. "Go ahead." "You know that we had to search her apartment-nobody came forward to claim her things by the way, and in doing so, we collected pictures, etc. You know the kind of thing. Anyway, somebody knocked one over, breaking the picture frame, and another picture fell out of the back." "Don't keep me in suspense." "There's this picture-looks like some sort of wedding picture-with Kat and, are you ready for this-Faison, or his identical twin. On the back is a date-7-25-87, Paris. The initials K&J are on the back. Didn't you say that you were checking out a guy who was a dead ringer for Faison?" "I did. This is interesting. Very interesting. So, you're suggesting that Kat may have been married to Julian Rose?" "Julian Rose is his name?" "Yes, but keep that out of your records for the moment. This could be really big, Tag, and we don't want him to find out. But, this looks like a wedding picture?" "That's my guess. She's wearing a white dress, has a bouquet of flowers and is wearing a big smile. She's very young here-and not nearly as blonde. Sort of a mousy brown, as a matter of fact, but it's definitely Kat." "A lady's hair color is her own business, but I'll have this checked out. By the way, what kind of flowers is she carrying? Roses?" "How'd you know?" "I don't like this," Felicia muttered as she jogged down the highway, hoping to find a motorist, a store, or anybody other than Ryan Chamberlain to help her. She thought of Carly and hoped that she'd be okay. "I should have stayed with her," Felicia told herself. "I should have! Just because this is a first baby doesn't mean that it will be a long labor. I should have...Hey Mister!!!" Jamie Jacks nearly cheered as he came over the hill and saw the black-leotard clad jogger jumping up and down. "Felicia!" he shouted, slamming on the brakes just next to her. He leapt from the car and ran to her. "Thank God!!!" "Jamie?" And, suddenly, she was in his arms, swept into a hard embrace. "Jamie!" "Are you okay?" he demanded, once their kiss ended. "I mean, did he hurt you?" "I'm fine, but Carly is in labor-a few miles back down the road." "Okay, get in. We'll alert the others and head on down. What happened to Ryan?" "I don't know. He was going to call someone, but we managed to get loose while he was out." Jamie took the phone, and spread the word, calling in his fellow searchers, giving them the approximate coordinates by the mile markers on the road. While he drove towards the building where Carly was staying, Felicia took the phone and called the Donely household. "Tiff? Felicia. I'm fine. Let me speak with Maxie and Georgie." "Mommie?" "Mommie?" came another voice from an extension. "Mommie's fine," Felicia told them, tears choking her voice. "And I'll be home in a couple of hours." "Suzi? Marty here. We may have a break in the case." "It's about time," Suzi grumbled. "What have you got?" "How about a possible wedding date and the name of his bride?" Suzi sat up straighter. "For real?" "And you're not going to believe this one." "Try me." "Kathryn Bell. The date is 7-25-87 and the city is Paris. From the background of the picture that I just got from Taggert, I'd say France. The initials are J&K, so we can assume that the J in question is Julian. See what you can find." "Fax me the picture." "It's on the way as we speak." Luke strolled into Taggert's office, just as the news of Felicia's safety had been confirmed. "Glad to hear it," Luke commented, sitting down. "How about Carly, my ne'er-do-well niece?" "Unconfirmed as yet," Taggert responded. "But Felicia said that she was stashed somewhere. We should hear shortly." The policeman looked at Luke and asked, "Is that all you came in for?" "Actually, no," Luke told him. "I have a little information regarding Kat Bell that I thought I'd pass along. You guys figured out whodunit?" "Felicia said that it was Ryan Chamberlain, which lets Dr. Jones off the hook. Not that it is making much difference at the moment. He's still pretty messed up." "I can understand that. Ryan Chamberlain? That's interesting. I thought he was dead." "So did everybody else." "So why did he off Kat? Was this a hit?" "From what Felicia said, apparently. He did it for someone who was going to return a favor. Who or what the favor was, we don't know, but it may have involved helping get Ryan and Felicia out of the country." "Any idea as to motive?" "Nothing yet, though we know that Ms. Bell made her share of enemies." "Somebody somewhere knew that Ryan was alive and how to contact him." "So it would appear. We just have to find a motive and maybe then we'll have whoever hired Ryan." "I can give you a little information on Ms. Kitty Litter about her recent whereabouts." Taggert studied Luke and asked, "Is this something that should go to a mutual acquaintance of ours?" "Could be. Maybe we should talk elsewhere?" "You springing for lunch?" Several minutes later, the two were sitting at a table in the back room at Luke's, the one place that Luke felt was entirely his own. He'd gotten the title free and clear, and this time around, he had no silent partners. He poured a tonic water for Taggert and told him, "I don't know if this is important, but Kat was in Switzerland only a couple of days before she was killed. She was visiting The Rose Academy." Taggert's eyes opened a little wider. "You sure about this? I mean, really sure?" "Of course I'm sure. I'd have told you earlier, but I've been a little distracted with family matters. That and I don't like hanging around with cops." "Okay, just tell me what you know." "That's all I know. She visited The Rose Academy. I don't know who she came to see." "What were you doing there?" "Long story," Luke evaded. "And relatively unimportant." "Did you see Julian Rose?" Taggert asked. "I don't even know what he looks like," Luke admitted. "But I don' t think that we saw him." He didn't add that Jeremy hadn't seen him, and that he'd have known. Jeremy was still under his protection, and as such deserved to be left out of the story. Taggert reached into a pocket and pulled out a picture-the same one he'd faxed to Marty. "Take a good look, Luke." Luke studied the pictures, and then looked up at Taggert. "Kat was with Faison? Does Stefan know about this?" "This isn't Faison. At least, we don't think it's Faison. We believe that the man in this picture is Julian Rose." Luke sat back suddenly. "There were two of them?" "So it appears. All we know for certain is that Cesar Faison died that night a few months ago when Helena Cassadine put a bullet in his head. This man is said to be Julian Rose, of Rose Academy, and he may well have been married to Kathryn Bell some years ago." "Does Marty know about this?" "She does. We're researching this-off the PCPD books, of course. You're aware that Helena is missing. Julian's whereabouts are uncertain at this point." "I think that I need to have a few words with Marty," Luke began, just as the door to his back room opened. "My thoughts, exactly," Marty smiled, entering with Tim Spencer. Taggert did a double take. "That's your father?" Luke grimaced. "An unfortunate fact of life. Don't even ask about my mother. "Where's my baby?" Carly screamed as Felicia and Jamie entered the small place where Felicia had left her only a few hours earlier. "He took my baby!!" "Who?" Jamie asked, trying to calm the hysterical woman. He'd already called for a helicopter, fearing that the cold and recent childbirth might make medical help urgent. "Ryan." Carly's eyes were brimming with tears as she hugged herself tightly. "He helped me-he delivered the baby. A boy. A beautiful boy. He even said so," she sobbed. "He said that he was okay now, that he wasn't going to hurt us, but that he had to get away. He said that he'd watch out for my son-I couldn't stay awake." "It's okay, Carly," Felicia soothed. "Ryan never hurt any children. He's a pediatrician. He loves kids." "That's what he said. But he took my baby! He took my little boy!!" "I don't know what the man wants," Luke finally told Marty, Taggert and Tim who were still sitting around the table in the back room at his club discussing Julian Rose and whatever the heck was going on. "Let's just say that he's Faison's brother. Just before Helena plugged him between the eyes, he said something about being family, about being the grandson of Rasputin. That would mean that our boy Julian is, too." "That would follow," Marty agreed. "But the Romanov fortune has already been taken-claimed. We know that Rasputin had a reputation as a ladies' man-apparently he was involved with various noblewomen from the area, so there could be several children by him. Maybe Julian and Faison were descended from one of them. After all, the only Romanov's who weren't officially accounted for were Anastasia and Alexei." Her eyes widened. "Alexei? But..." "Maybe Rasputin was getting a little Royal treatment?" Tim suggested. "Helena pulled that on Mikkos with me." "I was researching it recently," Marty told him. "Records show that Alexandra met Rasputin in 1905, and Alexei was born in 1904." "Records? You believe official records?" Tim scoffed. "Records were made to be doctored. They officially read whatever the officials who made them want them to read." "Good point. You're suggesting that Rasputin may have fathered Alexei? Interesting. I know that he had considerable influence over Alexandra, and she had it over Nicholas II, the czar." "And according to Helena, Rasputin prophesied that his family line would save the country." "Given the man's lecherous leanings," Marty noted, "That leaves a lot of possibilities." "Maybe with Alexandra," Taggert injected. "That would have been quite a coup. His son as Czar of Russia? He was already advising and protecting him. Rasputin would have been the de facto ruler." "Scary thought," Luke observed. "Now, if Alexei survived and escaped..." "And if, by some chance he fathered children," Marty added, "Then is it possible that Faison and Julian thought that they're descended from him?" "That wouldn't cut them in for any of the Romanov fortune if it was known that Rasputin was their father," Luke pointed out. "So what were they wanting?" "That all depends," Marty answered. "And you guys keep forgetting the woman in all of this. Alexandra was Alexei's mother, regardless of who his father was. And, if Alexei did become a father, then there had to be a woman involved. All this patriarchy stuff, and you forget about women." "Never far from my mind," Tim admitted. "But, you have a point. Go on." "Regardless of who their father was, we know who Alexei's mother was. Alexandra, and we also know that she was royal in her own right. She was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England, and the daughter of Princess Alice Mary Maud and Louis IV of Hesse, Grand Duke, whose parents were Prince Charles of Hesse, and Princess Elizabeth of Prussia. The family tree is loaded with royal families." "Which means that little Alexei would have been royal, even if his father was Rasputin," Taggert finished. "And, if nobody else knew that, then Julian could claim to be the last male heir to the Russian throne." "I doubt that," Marty injected. "Nicholas abdicated, and his brother refused to take the throne-the monarchy ended then and there." "It's a place to start," Luke nodded. "I'll go and chat with Laura-maybe she has some information on this." He chuckled mirthlessly. "We haven't exactly done a lot of talking in the last few months. Maybe I need to play catch-up on the old family tree. Who knows what no-good SOB's I've yet to discover?"