WHAT GOES AROUND, PART TEN

    Shane wheeled himself into the living room, and was surprised to find the curtains tightly closed.  He started to open them.

    "No, leave them!"

    "Carl?  What are you doin', sittin' in the dark?"

    "The light hurts my eyes."

    "Do you have a headache?"  said Shane, slipping into Doctor mode.

    "I woke up with one."  Carl admitted.

    "Have you been havin' a lot of headaches lately?"

    Before Carl could answer, Cass arrived.

    "Why did you want to see me, Carl?"

    "Actually, it's Shane who needs your services." said Carl, wincing as Shane opened the drapes,and sunlight flooded the room. "I'll leave you two to talk." he said, and exited.

    "Ah've got two matters that need takin' care of."  Shane said, "First of all, Ah want to change my name, legally, to Robert Ryan Reno."

    "Really? " said Cass, " I'd have thought you'd want to forget Bobby Reno ."

    "Ah didn't find the life Ah'm meant to live until Ah became Bobby."

    "It shouldn't be a problem." said Cass, "What else?"

    "Lila is havin' my baby." said Shane, "Ah want to arrange to pay child support."

    "Your baby?  Matt thinks its His baby."

    "WHAT?"

    "Lila denies that it's his." said Cass, "But Matt has her medical file - long story - and it says that Lila conceived in February, which is when Matt says they had sex."

    "February?" said Shane, "Lila and Ah spent the night together in January!  It can't be my baby!"

    "Matt is insisting that Lila have a DNA test done, but apparently that can't happen until the baby is born."

    "Not without riskin' harm to the baby." said Shane, "Thank you, Cass."

    "I take it you've changed your mind about paying child support?"

    "You got it!"

                                                    ************

    Meanwhile, Nick was following up his story on corruption at City Hall when he stopped for a red light  and happened to see his brother-in-law entering a motel room.  He wouldn't have thought anything about it - there could be plenty of reasons for Joe's presence in such a place - except for the furtive way he looked around before entering the room.

    "That's not police business." Nick told himself, "It's monkey business!"

    He parked his car and went to a nearby drugstore, where he bought one of those instant cameras, the kind that comes with the film already in it.  Then he went to the motel room.  Room 23 - he had made a note of the number.

    Nick looked at his watch; it had been ten minutes since Joe had entered the room.  That ought to be enough time.  Nick tried the door, which turned out not to be locked.  He threw the door open , camera at the ready.

    The couple on the bed were so engrossed that they didn't notice Nick until he started snapping pictures.

    "What the -?"  Joe was predictably furious.  Nick retreated, still snapping photos, as Joe scrambled into his pants.  When the camera ran out of film, he ran for his car, with Joe right behind him.  He made it - just barely - locked all the car doors, and burned rubber out of there, leaving Joe cursing.

    Knowing Joe, Nick knew there was no time to waste; he headed straight to Carlino's.

    "Paulina!" he said, as he burst into the restaurant, "Get this developed, quick!"  He thrust the camera into her hands.

    "What is it?"  she said.

    "It's gonna keep Joe from taking Dante away from you!"

    "Nick?  What is this about?" said Sofia.

    "Don't just stand there!" said Nick, "Take it to a One-Hour Photo place, quick!"

    Seeing how serious he was, Paulina nodded and went out the back door of the restaurant,  just as Joe burst in through the front.

`"Where is it?' Joe demanded.

    "Paulina has it." said Nick.

    "You - !"  Never articulate, Joe didn't waste time on conversation; instead, he proceeded to beat Nick to a bloody pulp.  

    Nick tried to defend himself, but it was no contest; Joe was berserk with rage.

    "Joey, Stop!" cried Sofia, You're killing him!"  She tried to pull Joe off her husband, but he shrugged off her efforts.

    Joe was beating Nick's head against the marble top of the counter when Sofia ended the fight by  smashing Joe over the head with an iron skillet.  Then she called 911.

                                                     *********

    "Something smells good," Amanda  said, as she entered the living room.

    "Helen is cooking bouillabaisse." said Rachel, "I've invited Cass and Felicia for dinner.  You're welcome to join us."

    "Thanks, I'll pass."

    "We are supposed to be a family, Amanda, but you refuse to even sit down to a meal with Carl and myself.  Are you punishing us?"

    "I just can't win where Carl is concerned!" Amanda whined, "If I say anything, or do anything, I'm being manipulative!  And if I don'[t do anything, I'm avoiding you!"

]

    "If the shoe fits - "

    The doorbell interrupted her.  It was Cass, looking agitated.

    As soon as they had enchanged hellos, he said, "Can I speak to you, Rachel   - alone?"

    "Excuse me!"  Amanda sashayed out of the living room and into the foyer, where she hid behind a pillar in order to eavesdrop.

    "What is this about, Cass?"said Rachel.

    "I had no idea that Carl was planning a complete restructuring of Cory Publishing!"

    This was news to Rachel as well, but she said, "Well, obviously, Carl didn't feel that he needed legal counsel at this stage."

    "On the contrary, it's exactly when Carl needs to consult me!" said Cass.

    "Carl doesn't Need to consult anyone, Cass," Rachel pointed out, "When I turned the company over to him, I gave him complete control."

    Cass opened his briefcase, "I've made copies of all the relevant documents.  Do you know and approve of what Carl is doing?"

    "Yes, I do." Rachel took the sheaf of documents he held out to her.

    Cass was skeptical:  "Then - why does only Carl's signature appear on them?"

    "Obviously, Carl hasn't had the chance to get me to sign them - yet."

    Rachel locked the documents in the desk drawer.  She was going to have to confront Carl about this, after the guests had gone home.

    Amanda scurried upstairs as the doorbell rang again; it was Felicia.

                                                    *********

    "You are under arrest for Aggravated Assault." said Josie, as she put the handcuffs on Joe, "You'd better hope Nick doesn't die, or it will be Manslaughter."

                                                   ********

    While Rachel, Carl, Felicia, Cass,  Shane and Patrice were eating dinner, Amanda sneaked downstairs , opened the desk, and took the documents to her own room.  After glancing through them, she called her brother.

    "Carl's changing everything at Cory!" she told him,"He's putting all the power in his own hands!  We're going to wind up with nothing!"

    "Can you get hold of something of Carl's?" Matthew asked, "One of his monogrammed handkerchiefs?"

    "I guess so. Why?"

    "Just do it!"

                                                  ***********

    "When Ah'm feelin' better, Ah'll cook jambalaya."  Shane promised.

    "I look forward to it." said Carl.

    "Are you tired, Shane?" said Patrice, "You mustn't overdo it."

    "Ah'm good for a while yet."

    "Then - let the games begin!" said Carl.

    They were playing Charades when Amanda came downstairs.

    "Ah've got one!"  Shane wheeled himself into the centre of the floor, and pantomimed holding a movie camera.

    "Movie Title!"

    Shane nodded, and pointed at Carl.

    "Hair!" said Rachel.

    "The Man Who Would Be King." said Amanda, in such a cold, hostile voice that everyone stared at her.

    "Actually, Rachel was r-i -"

    "Rachel! " Paulina burst in through the French doors and flung herself into her stepmother's arms.

    "Paulina, What's happened?"

    "Joe's been arrested!" Paulina cried, "He beat Nick unconscious, because of these!"

    She handed around the envelope of photos she held clutched in her hand.

    "Who is the woman?" asked Patrice.

    "Toni Burrell!" said Cass, "Nice ti - "  Felicia kicked him in the ankle, "I mean, you won't have any trouble proving adultery."

To be continued.