TANGLED WEB, PART FOUR

"Ah kin feel yo' eyes watchin' me!" said Lila, "Come out and face me, Jo'dan Stahk!"

When there was no reply, Lila climbed up onto the railing of the rooftop terrace.

"If you doan give me back mah baby, Ah'll jump! Ah swayuh Ah will!"

"LILA!" It was Zack Wilder.

Startled, Lila almost fell; Zack grabbed hold of her as she teetered for balance, and lifted her down to safety.

"Lila, what are you doing here?"

"Ah wawnt mah baby!"

"You've come to the right place - Jordan Stark can help you find her. Come with me."

Zack escorted Lila into a room full of electronic equipment. A black leather chair, like a dentist's chair, was the only furniture. Nikos spoke over the intercom in his 'Stark' voice.

"Hello, Lila. Jordan Stark here."

"Whut is this place?" said Lila, looking around.

"It's where the Lumina Foundation does its most important work - our

laboratory, if you will. Sit down, please."

"It's okay." said Zack soothingly, "Don't be nervous."

Lila perched on the edge of the seat.

"No, not like that," said 'Stark', "Sit back - relax. You haven't really slept since your baby disappeared, have you? You must be tired - so very tired -"

As Lila obeyed, the lights began to pulse rhythmically: dim/bright - dim/bright - dim/bright -

"Your eyelids are like lead - you just can't keep your eyes open - you are sinking back into the chair - deeper and deeper - "

Within moments, Lila fell into a hypnotic trance.

"She's under." said Zack. Nikos stepped out of hiding.

"Lila, you are having a dream." he said, as he opened the lid of a music box.

'Rockaby baby, in the treetop' it tinkled, 'When the wind blows, the cradle will rock' -

****

"I gotta admit, Rachel, at first I thought you were nuts!" said Gary.

"What changed your mind? You have changed it, haven't you?"

"I found out that forty minutes after the explosion and fire at BCUH, a private jet took off, with a flightplan for Key West."

"Of course!" said Rachel, "Where else would Carl go? When I went down to Florida to scatter his ashes - what I thought were his ashes - I smelled cigar smoke in the house! I thought I was imagining things! And one of Carl's shirts was in the living room. Carl must have left just before I got there!"

"Rachel - if Carl walked out on you and his kids - maybe you should just forget about him." said Gary.

"I can never forget him!" said Rachel, "Carl wouldn't have left us willingly. Those last few weeks, he was acting so strangely, and so many weird things kept happening - I think that Carl was convinced that some enemy of his was menacing us all, and that the only way to protect me and the children was for Carl to remove himself from the picture by faking his own death."

"Weird things are still happening." Gary pointed out.

"Yes, and I need Carl by my side to protect my family." said Rachel, "Find him!"

****

"You can't go in there!" Ms Allen's voice was shrill.

Nikos ducked out of sight as Matthew burst into the Lumina Lab.

"Lila!" he cried, seeing her limp in the chair, "What are you doing to her?"

"Helping her." said Zack.

"She doesn't need Your help!"

Lila was waking up, "Matt?" she said, "Matt, Ah Know wheah Jasmine is! Ah saw it in a dream!"

****

At Lila's insistence, Matthew drove her to Bayside Park.

"This is silly!" he said, "Let me take you home - or back to the hospital."

"Jasmine is heah!" Lila said, "Ah'm gonna find her, if Ah have to sea'ch every single inch of this pahk!"

"We should call the police."

"No time fo' that! Listen!"

The faint tinkle of a music box came from a grove of trees: 'Rockaby baby, in the treetop -'

"JASMINE!" Lila took off at a run, with Matthew right at her heels.

They found the music box under a tree. About ten feet above the ground,

wedged into the Vee where two branches met, was a wooden cradle, rocking as the tree swayed in the wind.

"Jasmine!" Lila cried, "Momma and Daddy ah heah!"

"I'll climb up." said Matthew.

Too late! As Matthew started to climb the trunk, a sudden stronger gust of wind made the branches pitch and toss, and the cradle come crashing down: 'When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall/ And down will come baby, cradle and all!"

"No!" Matthew jumped to the ground.

"OHMAGAWD!" Lila screamed, "She's daid! Mah baby's daid!"

"Lila, Lila, it's okay! The cradle is empty!"

"Empty? But - mah dream!"

"This must be Jordan Stark's idea of a joke." said Matthew, grim-faced. He put his arms around Lila as she wept. "Lila, I swear to you, I will find our daughter! And when I do, I want us to be a family! Will you marry me?"

****

Meanwhile, Nick had gone to Carlino's. "Paulina, I need to talk to you, in

private."

"Come into the kitchen." said Paulina, seeing the look on his face. "What is it?"

"It's about Remy." said Nick, "I found out that she - "

"Excuse me!" Wally burst in through the back door, "I found a baby in your dumpster! See?"

He held out a squirming bundle.

"Oh my goodness!" said Paulina, "It must be Jasmine!"

To be continued.