Episode 142

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Episode 142

Scene 1:

Noah watched as Tyler entered the visitor's room. He needed a haircut and had lost some weight, but mostly he was how Noah remembered. Tyler caught his eye and nodded, half smiling at him as he took a seat across from him.

"I wondered when you'd get here to see me," Tyler said.

"Sorry, about that. I should have come by sooner. But things have been...well, you probably know," Noah returned.

"Yeah I know about Dinah's dad. Nicky told me. How is Dinah? Have you seen her?" He asked eagerly, leaning forward in his chair.

"No...but Piper has," Noah replied carefully. Piper had told him about her impromptu visit to Dinah and even expressed her desire to regain her friendship with Dinah. He was pleased about that but the fact that she had taken it upon herself to visit Tyler unsettled him just a little. "She told me she came to see you."

Tyler nodded. "She did. You don't mind do you? I think she was just trying to be nice."

"Sure she was," Noah assured him. "That's how Piper is." He paused and looked around the sparse room. "This place is real inviting," he muttered sarcastically.

"You should see the rest of the accommodations."

Noah nodded and grinned half-heartedly. There was something he felt he needed to say to Tyler. But he wasn't exactly sure how to put it into words. "Look, I guess there's a real reason for this visit. I mean...well, hell. I know you're innocent. And if there's anything I can do, you just tell me. Okay?"

"Thanks Noah. That means a lot. There is actually something you could do for me. Well, two things actually."

"Name it."

"Can you get Dinah here? I want to see her. I have make sure she's all right. No one will tell me anything." His eyes shadowed briefly. "My brother is supposed to be watching out for her but so far he's only interested in getting me out of here."

"That's understandable..."

"Sure it is, but I'll feel a lot better when I know she's all right. You know?"

Noah nodded. "I'll try. You know her mother left town? Just left her. Didn't even bother to go see her or anything."

"Really? Shit. Why would they do that?" Noah shrugged in response but kept his thoughts on Barbara Stafford to himself. "Okay, second request? Can you call my sister? She lives in New Orleans. Her name is Angelina Tejera, works for the Times Picayune. Let her know what's going on and see if she can come."

"Sure. I can do that," Noah answered easily. "Sure you don't want your brother to do that?"

"No way. He's barely doing what I ask him to do for me right now as it is. Asking him to call Lina would not go over well. But you'll do it?"

"Yeah no problem. Hey, not that this is any of my business, Ty...but when this is over, what are you going to do?"

Tyler mulled the question over thoughtfully for a moment before answering Noah's question with a slight hesitation. "I'd like to be just a nobody college kid again. That's what I'd like to do."

Scene 2:

Jillie pushed through her bedroom door, dragging her feet as she headed towards her bed. The day had been entirely too long and all she wanted now was a hot bath and her silk sheets. It was depressing. Only months ago, she would have been ready and raring for a night of dancing and drinking, some laughs, maybe a few numbers, an escort home to tuck her into bed as dawn was just beginning to break.

She wasn't even working. She shouldn't be this tired. Although, her unemployment was beginning to weigh heavily on her mind. Yes, she had her savings. But they wouldn't last forever. And the thought of moving back into the Conlan house - especially when Kevin was probably having his "lady friend" over on a regular basis - made her stomach churn. Her situation was utterly depressing. But it got worse.

Not only was she unemployed and without a stable income, but the infuriating Leo Kingston had managed to drag her into a murder that wasn't really a murder. Well, it was. But there was no body. There were no clues. One minute she'd seen Leo standing over Dr. Adams' body and the next thing they knew, there wasn't a shred of evidence to prove that anything had ever been amiss.

Jillie fell back onto her bed, flinging an arm to cover her eyes and block out the sunshine that still filtered through her open window. It wasn't just a murder. It wasn't just a cover-up. She'd been able to pry every last condemning word from Leo, and God, how she wished she hadn't. She'd thought he was just some stuffy professor, a nerdy guy she'd known forever, who'd just happened to turn into this obnoxiously gorgeous man. Little did she know he had aspirations of becoming Indiana Jones. He was a tomb raider. A grave robber. A desecrater of the ancient civilizations he claimed to revere. He was no better than any other two-bit thief, except that he got paid extraordinary amounts of money to procure these items for his "clients" - wealthy collectors with too much time on their hands.

One such collector was the Wall Street tycoon, Alexander Montgomery. Jillie was familiar with the name and knew his type. He had scientists, judges, humanitarians, politicians...all in his back pocket, paid to say what he wanted them to say and do what he wanted them to do.

And he was currently employing Leo Kingston to find and acquire the equivalent of one huge-ass, flawless diamond. At least, that's how Leo put it in layman's terms. What Alex Montgomery would need with a diamond, Jillie didn't know. Maybe he wanted it for an engagement ring. She didn't particularly care. All she knew was that Dr. Albert Adams had been an example - an <b>incentive</b> for Leo to get up and get busy.

Seemed cut and dry to Jillie. Except Leo claimed not to know where the damn thing was. Which meant not only were they keeping a crime from the police, but pretty soon, they'd also be running from Alex Montgomery's goons.

So yeah. She was tired. She was more than a little stressed.

Jillie rolled over and looked at the alarm clock on her bedside table. Reaching for her phone, she dialed the number she knew by heart. Only one person could help her now, and even he might not be able to tell her what she should do.

Scene 3:

She hated the hospital. If she never saw it again, it would be too soon, Dinah decided while she waited for the orderly to bring a wheelchair to take her downstairs. Stupid hospital policy, she added to her "hate list." All she could imagine were eyes on her as she made her way to the parking lot. Accusing eyes all saying the same thing. "Why couldn't it have been you? Why did he have to die for you?" And the worst part was knowing that they would all be right. Why was it her that lived now and not her father? What had he done to deserve that.

She sighed and threw the last of her things into her backpack. She didn't have much with her in the hospital, just what Piper had brought her before her mother had abruptly left town with Kelly. The rest Galen had salvaged from the street before the garbage man could haul it away. It waited for her at Galen's home along with his family who had adopted her now that the rest of her family couldn't stand to look at her. And who could blame them? Certainly not Dinah herself.

A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts and she called a soft "come in" over her shoulder. "I'll be done in just a minute," she said as the door opened.

"Going home today?" Noah asked her with a grin.

Dinah spun around catching sight of him as he closed the door behind him. Her heart pounded and color flooded her face at his appearance, replaced suddenly by a desire to cry on his shoulder. Here was Noah, the one person she had always felt comfortable enough around to say anything, to ask anything and all she wanted was to have him make everything all right. But he wasn't hers any more than she belonged to anyone else. She felt hot stinging tears form at the edges of her eyes and spill down her cheeks. No one else had brought this reaction out of her and she marveled at how alone she really was.

"Not home," she choked out. "Didn't you know? My mother left."

"Oh, god, I'm sorry Dinah!" Noah exclaimed moving quickly to her side. "Piper told me about your mother. I...I shouldn't have said that."

"Don't worry about it," Dinah replied swiping at a runaway tear. "You didn't know it would set me off. I'm sorry for doing that. You didn't need to see it."

"Hey I understand. I know what it's like to lose someone you love."

Sure you do, Dinah thought viciously, but not when you practically pulled the trigger. "This is different, Noah. My dad died because of me. Do you understand that? Me. Not because some nut decided to burn a building down." Noah flinched at the savage tone. "It was my fault he was even there in the line of fire. My fault the police even fired. This is my fault. Galen and Piper and Liza all tell me it isn't my fault but the one person who I'd believe right now is gone because she couldn't stand to look at me. What does that say?"

"Well, to me it says that she's hurting just as much as you are and doesn't know how to handle it, Dinah. Let's sit for a minute." He moved to the bed, pushing her bag off to the side. Dinah followed obediently and sat next to him, wanting nothing more than to curl up next to him. "Look, you and your dad...you two never saw eye to eye on anything. Anything you wanted for yourself, he wanted the opposite. This whole thing started because he didn't want to believe in you or trust you. It's not an excuse or anything, but all I'm saying is, no matter what you said or did, he would have found a way to oppose it."

"Then I should have been a better daughter! I should have done what he told me!"

"But that's not you."

She sniffled slightly and reached for a Kleenex. "I know, but I could have tried harder."

"So could he," Noah replied. "What are you going to do now?" He asked, easing the conversation away from John Stafford's death.

Dinah shrugged and eased off the bed. "Stay with Galen I guess. Where else can I go?"

"Well, that's probably a good idea at any rate. But before you head over to Galen's, I told Tyler I would bring you by to see him. He's worried about you."

Tyler. What would she do about him? He was still in prison and that was now her fault too. She should have forced him to come back a long time ago. Even if he was guilty, which she knew he wasn't, it would have eased things considerably for him. Then maybe none of this would have happened. Still, she had made her bed and now she had to lie in it. She would still help Tyler even after everything that had happened to her. After all, none of it was his fault.

"All right. I'd like to see him too," she agreed easily. She and Tyler had several things to talk about. Not the least of which was how to get him out of prison.

Scene 4:

Jack Creighton surveyed the building site briefly before nodding his head in appreciation. "Yes, this will do," he told the man next to him in a cultured British accent. "It isn't much yet though. When can I expect construction to be finished?"

The man to his left consulted a clip board, flipping a few pages before finding what he wanted. "Looks like it should be up by October."

"Really? That soon?" Creighton purred happily. "Well, then...that means, it should be complete by November. Just in time for the holidays. I think that will work wonderfully well. Thank you, Mr. King," he added dismissing the foreman. His cell phone rang as the man disappeared into the construction office. "Yes?" He barked, answering it on his way to his car.

"I thought you might like to know Tejera's mother is being transferred to Virginia."

Jack smiled at the sound of his informant's voice. Emilio Vega was loyal to no one except himself and the almighty dollar. He was expensive but well worth it. "Really? How interesting, Emilio. Tell me, how do you keep Nicolas from finding out about your spying?"

"I'm good at it," Emilio replied stiffly. "And I 've got more on that other matter we discussed." Jack stopped at Emilio's words and waited for more. "Seems he didn't cover all of his tracks as well as he thought he did."

"Now that is interesting," Jack echoed himself. "What did you find?"

"It's not much...just a shred really. One of the bookkeepers came to me with a question about some missing money. I thought it was probably just Nicky borrowing again, and he did, but it's what he did with the money that is really interesting."

"The suspense is killing me," Jack told him dryly. "Get on with it."

"According to the bookkeeper, Nicky borrowed $500, 000. I asked around a little and one of the waitresses remembers seeing him with a woman...with an Irish accent just after he took it."

"The woman with his brother when he disappeared," Jack supplied with a grin. Oh, Nicky wasn't as clever as he liked to pretend he was, was he? "How certain are you that he gave her the money?"

"About 50%, actually. I wish I could be more but I'm having a helluva time getting anyone to talk."

Jack nodded more to himself than to Emilio's statement. Closed mouths weren't uncommon in their work. "All right. Concentrate on the woman, then. We know she was Irish and that she supposedly died with Rey Tejera in the boating accident. If Nicky paid her to sabotage Rey's boat, then she's still alive. Surely someone saw her after the accident. Keep looking Emilio. I want that woman found."

He ended the phone call and continued on to his car. He wasn't finished with Nicolas Tejera yet. Not by a long shot. Jack still fumed when he thought of the easy way Tejera had gotten out of the business. Just when they had him where they wanted him, Nicky faked amnesia and Jack's partner got soft. Let him go without so much as a warning. And look at what had happened in the three years since he'd walked away.

Nicolas had kept his word and stayed silent about Creighton's business but he had prospered on Creighton's name nonetheless, using Jack's name whenever he needed an in somewhere. That was going to end and Nicolas' hard earned freedom would soon be over too. Jack would make certain of that. If he had to use every member of Nicolas' family to do it, Jack would make certain that Nicolas lost everything he ever had. And then, when Nicolas had no where else to turn to, Jack would bring him back into the business and do away with him as he had intended to three years ago. Nicolas could not be allowed to betray him again.