Knots Landing: Memories of Abby

by zooman

This story is set during the tenth and eleventh seasons of Knots Landing, and is about Abby and Greg hatching a scheme to flood Lotus Point, in order to collect on the insurance money.

Knots Landing: Memories of Abby (this story is set during the tenth and eleventh seasons of Knots landing). Prologue-Abby made her way carefully through the busy, afternoon streets of Tokyo. The streets were jam packed with people everywhere). Abby sighed as she slowly pushed her way past a group of bystanders walking out of a small supermarket. "I've left Brian at the hotel for the rest of the day so I could do some shopping, "she thought to herself as she carried her purse with both hands. Her light green dress was stained with perspiration from the hot afternoon japanese sun. She moved past a small movie theater which had posters along the walls advertising the James Bond hit You Only Live Twice. (the theater specialized in showing older movies). Abby stepped up to the front of a shopping mall. She quickly walked through the automatic doors and found herself in a grocery store. She reached into her purse and pulled out her tiny japanese phrase book. She slowly glanced down at the text, while frantically flipping through the pages. "It'll take me forever to learn this stuff," she thought to herself in frustration. She casually sauntered furthur into the grocery store, a look of confusion of her features as she tried to read the foreign labels on the food cans.

A few minutes later, Abby jogged out of the shopping mall, a small grocery bag full of goods being carried under her left arm, and she raced in the direction of her hotel. "This is unbelievable," she thought, while crossing the busy street,"how am I going to be a successful business woman here, when I can barely speak the language?" She sighed, as she hailed a taxi: her hand reached into her purse and whipped out the japanese phrase book. "Konbanwa," she greeted the young, white haired male taxi driver, as she opened the rear left door in her other hand, and jumped into the yellow checkered vehicle. "Watashi wa watashi no hoteru ni ikitaidesu" "This is going to be some trip," she thought uneasily, as she slid into the rear seat of the cab. Her mind went back, back to her last few weeks in the United States, back, back, back...

ACT ONE-It was a warm spring day in Lotus Point, that Sunday morning. Abby, her hubby Greg, Karen, Gary, Mac and quite a few other people all gathered around the new statute that just been erected at the front of the park. The statute was a bronzed image of the original founder of Lotus Point-Amanda Prevot :the bronzed image was of the beautiful black woman standing in a dress with her arms folded over her breasts, a wide smile on her face. A plaque was set up at the feet of the statue. The small crowd all clapped, as Karen, Abby, Greg and Gary all walked to the front of the group, stood in front of the statue, and grinned and clapped enthusiastically with everyone else. "We felt this it was only fair to finally give rememberance to the one who first created Lotus Point fifty years ago," said Karen, grinning, "this statute will make sure that Amanda Prevot's memory stays alive for all time." "Well it's only fair after all," added Gary, while slowly glancing behind himself at the smiling bronze figure. A light drizzle of rain left wet spots all over his gray business suit and dark blue tie. Karen pulled the red jacket she wore over her brown dress tighter around her, as the rain began to increase in intensity. "This statue will be a reminder of what hard work and determination and a strong vision can do," spoke Abby to the crowd, as a fierce gust of wind blew her long, flowing blonde hair over her yellow dress. She fingered the red, beaded necklace hung about her neck. "Amanda Prevot had a dream, and this place-Lotus Point-will ensure that her dream remains a reality for future generation to come." She and Karen and Gary and Greg all then quickly turned their heads to glance at the immense statute. They then turned to face the cheering crowd. "I think I speak for all of us when I say that Amanda Prevot was an inspiration for visonaries everywhere," crooned Abby as she shook from the cold gust of wind blowing all over her, "her name should be right up there with every other successful business woman. Lotus Point could never have happened without her ideas, her stamina, her imagination." Greg took a step closer to Abby and put his arm around her. The drizzle of rain was really picking up now. His brand new blue suit and black tie was becoming saturated with the increasing rain. "I think would be fair to say that Amanda Prevot would be very very pleased if she could still be with us today,"imagined Abby, as the crowd cheered along with her words, "to see what a great place Lotus Point has now become." She put her other arm around Greg's waist. "There aren't many like her," said Karen, with a slight frown, "not many have her intelligence or her courage to accomplish would she did, in creating Lotus Point all those decades ago." Greg and Abby hugged while Greg chuckled a little. The wind and the rain had gotten so bad that everyone was now running away from the statue and heading for the indoors area, way way in the back of the grassy area. "Hot coffee and chocolate cookies everybody!" shouted Karen, as they all darted away from the giant bronze figure as fast as they could

Abby lay her head back along the top edge of her seat as the cab skidded the road in the direction of her hotel. "I wonder what Brian's been up to all this time," thought Abby smiling, her bag of groceries lying on her lap. She thought back again to her last few weeks back in the United States. Her mind went back to that day in Lotus Point, back, back, back

Inside the brightly lit blue green building, everybody cheerfully walked around the many tables laden with cups and pots of steaming coffee and plates of chocolate cookies, just as Karen had promised. Everybody was making happy chit chat amongst themselves. All except Abby. Abby just frowned while she slowly poured herself a large cup of coffee and walked to the back of the room, carefully holding her cup in both hands. Greg noticed her behaviour and followed right behind her. "Wow! I'd never even heard of Amanda Prevot before!" A young woman's voice shouted joyfully amidst the happy crowd. "Well mabey the erecting of the statue will change that," replied Gary, overhearing the woman's comment, as he walked past carrying a hot cup of coffee in both hands, "there's no booze huh? Hahahahahahhahahahahahah." Several people laughed along with Gary. "Amanda Prevot must have been a remarkable woman," said a man's voice in the crowd. "It's a shame she's no longer with us," said a woman's voice in the crowd in a tone of sadness. "Without her Lotus Point would a shopping mall now," a man's voice. "The steelers beat the dolphins again," a man's voice mentioned. "It was my idea," said Karen cheerfully to a man in the crowd, as she stood at the table pouring herself a large cup of coffee. Some of the coffee sloshed over the sides of her cup. "I felt it was only fair to give Miss Prevot the proper dignity and memorial that she deserves, but never got in her lifetime..." "Despite all her hard work," interrupted Gary, as he walked up beside Karen to refill his now empty cup. "is there any cream?!"

Abby stood silently way at the back of the building, away from the crowd, craddling her coffee cup in both hands, while occasionally taking a sip. Greg crept to her side, smiling. "Join the party," he encouraged. Abby shook her head and sighed. She frowned as she took another sip of coffee. Greg looked at her sternly. "Ok what's going on?" Abby leaned against the wall and drank up her coffee. "C'mon babe," he said gently, "you can't be married to a guy and not have the guy know when something's not right..." "HEY EVERYBODY!" A man's voice shouted loudly, chuckling, above the din of everybody else's voice," DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT THE DUMB BLONDE SECRETARY WHO..." Greg pushed his hand in the direction of the man, then put both his hands on Abby's shoulders. "What's wrong babe?" he repeated,"is it serious?" Abby just sighed as she walked in the direction of the tables, while everyone laughed uproariously at the man's joke. "You and I need to talk later," replied Abby, "yes, yes it is quite serious." Greg followed her to the tables. "You don't have somebody else buried underneath here do you?" he joked. Abby smirked. "I'll tell you later," she said again.

Abby and Greg just sat in their living room together, anxiously looking over the massive pile of papers scattered all over the coffee table. "This is crazy!" said Greg loudly, she he desperately paged through one business paper after another over and over and over again. "How can this be?!" Greg shook his head. Abby also shook her head and lifted up some business papers. "This is one is from Jan last year," she said as her eyes scanned the fine print-the complicated financial figures, "and there's no mistake. Someone embezzeled EVERYTHING of Lotus Point corporate holdiings! And I mean everything!" Abby was near tears. She set the paper down on the table. Greg put both of his hands to his face in shock. "I'd like to get my hands on who?" He took off his tie, and slammed his fist down on the coffee table. His eyes slanted. "This is a nightmare!" Abby leaned down to the coffee table and desperately paged through every paper she could find. "It's no nightmare it's now reality, " she said uneasily, "and we better start thinking..." "When did you first find out?" asked Greg as he quickly stacked up all the papers into a neat pile. Abby leaned back in the sofa, sighed, and rested her forehead against her hand. "I found out last week," she muttered, "I was just checking through my business files, and I found that Lotus Point has been sucked dry." Greg leaned down on the coffee table and folded his arms over the papers. "And you don't know who?" he asked, "well it doesn't matter. The question now is what do you do now?" Abby stood up and began a slow pace back and forth across the living room. "Greg, as the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures." Greg lay down on the sofa. "What do you have in mind babe?" he asked suspicously. Abby turned her head to look down on him, and she smiled a wicked smile. "The one thing we can do to recoup the losses, the only thing that will pay it all back is insurance." Greg rubbed his face with both hands. "I don't like the sound of this," he replied. "And the only way we can collect insurance money is if Lotus Point is destroyed," Abby said warily. "Oh boy," said Greg. There was a long pause, then Greg said, "how do we proceed?" Abby's smiled widened.

The next day Abby and Greg walked briskly through the halls of their place of work. Paige and Greg both greeted each other as Paige moved into her office, then Greg turned to her and requested,"oh Paige, if anybody asks for me and Abby tell the person that we're unavailable all day today." Paige looked a bit puzzled. She adjusted her white dress, while slowly closing the door to her office. "Yes alright Greg," she said. Greg and Abby went straight into Greg's office and slammed the door.

Greg and Abby both sat around a table in his office, looking at a large map of Lotus Point. Abby pointed her finger to an area at the top left corner of the map. "If we start here, then the damage would be even more sure to look like a bad accident." Abby stood up and bent over the massive colourful map. The sunlight from the office window spilling all over her white shirt and black blouse. Greg took off the jacket of his tan business suit and draped it over his chair. He nodded. "Mmmmhmmmmmmm," he said," but it has to look like a very convincing natural disaster." His eyes focused on the Lotus Point map. His brows pushed together. "I know just the guy who can carry it out." He got to his feet and went to the phone on his desk. He picked up the phone and dialed a number. Abby slowly sunk down in her seat. "Oh boy," she thought to herself," we have a chance to regain every penny, but the price is that I'm going to be looking over my shoulder." She rested her head in her hands on the table. "It's my fault too," she thought wearily to herself," I should have had my mind on the budget all along. Before the whoever managed to swipe it." "Hello Sal?" asked Greg into the phone as he stood in front of his desk, "it's Greg. Sal...yeah I know it's been a longtime. How's Miranda? Uh huh...uh huh...uh huh. Listen Phil I got a job for you, could you meet me in my office after work...around six?" Greg cleared his throat. "I want to talk to you about destroying Lotus Point. Make it look like a natural disaster...yeah...well we can discuss your current price later this evening...yeah...yeah...right...interest too...right..." Abby listened to the whole conversation, while putting her hands to the sides of her head. She then put her finger on a spot in the centre of the map and ran her finger sideways over the full colour illustration. "I wonder if the statue will end up underwater as well," she thought to herself.

Paige opened the door of Greg's office and looked in. Greg looked at her in annoyance. "Hey Paige that's including you!" he shouted, the phone in his ear. Paige quickly slammed the door, and that was that. Abby just shook her head.

The taxi approached the front of the Hilton. "Kore wa bashodesu," Abby said to the driver. The taxi ground to a halt. Abby reached into her purse, pulled out some money, handed it to the driver and walked out of the rear of the car, carrying her purse and her bag of groceries.

As Abby walked past the desk in the lobby, the thin young woman behind the desk in the sky blue outfit called out her name with a smile. Abby stopped and turned to her. "Mr. Greg samuna kara anata no tame no mess..." Abby moved towards the desk. The hotel clerk continued. "Oriba kara mo messeji.. Abby thanked the clerk and walked down the hall towards her hotel room. Her mind raced back in time again...

It had been awhile since she'd last been at the ranch. She drove her car right up to the front entrance and got of the red jaguar while slipping off her sunglasses and putting them in the pocket of her white shirt. She couldn't help noticing Pat and Frank's car also parked right outside. It was a sunny day. Abby saw a group of horses go walking past the left of the huge ranch house. She opened the door of the house and walked in. As Abby walked through the massive ranch home, she heard Gary's and Pat's and Olivia's voices coming from the kitchen. Abby went into the kitchen and saw Gary and Pat and Olivia all sitting around the table drinking cups of coffee. All three looked up and greeted her. Abby smiled and greeted them back. "Well this is a surprise," said Abby as she looked at Pat, "I didn't expect to find you here." "Pat's a closet fan of the old west," joked Gary as he and Pat turned to look into each other's eyes for a few minutes. Gary spilled a little coffee on his plaid, blue cowboy shirt. Pat just chuckled and guzzled down her coffee. The gorgeous dark skinned woman's eyes sparkled as she locked eyes with Gary. Olivia looked and beamed at her mother. "Do you want some coffee mom?" "I'd love some," answered Abby as she pulled up a chair and joined her friends at the table. She sat down between Pat and Olivia. "We'll leave here in about twenty minutes," Abby said to Olivia as she poured herself a small white cup of coffee. She noticed Pat and Gary both gazing at each other as they raised their coffee cups to their lips. "So Roy Rogers, what have you been up to today?" asked Abby. Gary didn't hear at first. He seemed to be too busy looking at Pat in between drinking his sanka. Gary then turned and glanced at his ex wife. "Oh...uh...nothing much. I was just showing...uh...showing Pat here the ranch grounds." "I'll bet," whispered Abby, setting down her coffee cup. "Gary's showing me how to ride," grinned Pat, as she also set down her coffee cup, and brushed some crumbs off of her red turtle neck shirt. "He's an awesome teacher. I always wanted to learn to ride." Abby looked suspicously at both Pat and Gary then lifted up her cup and took another sip of her coffee. "Well Olivia how was your day?" she casually asked her daughter. Olivia just shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, nothing just the same old thing," she replied. "I have my next drug AA meeting later tonight, so I'm kinda thinking all about that."

Twenty minutes later Abby escorted Olivia through the living room of the ranch house and towards the front door. "See you later Gary, Pat!" she called out and turned her head behind her to see Gary and Pat both standing facing each other in the hallway: Pat was leaning against the wall, her blue jeaned left leg crossed behind her right leg, her one black boot playing footsie with Gary's leg, while Gary had his left hand on the wall, near Pat's head. The two were smiling and engaged in a quiet conversation together. As Abby turned her head away she saw, just for a minute, Gary and Pat kiss very very gently on the lips. Gary and Pat then turned to look at Abby and Olivia. "See you two later!" they both called out. Abby just smiled, shook her head and hustled Olivia out the door.

Abby and Olivia both got into the car, slammed the doors shut and the car sped off, away from the ranch.

Abby showed up again back at the office building, and was greeted by a most interesting sight: as soon as she stepped out of the elevator she saw, to her utter amazement, Richard Avery standing beside a tall, attractive long dark haired filipino looking woman. Abby broke into a huge grin as soon as she laid eyes on her ex boyfriend. "RICHARD!" she exclaimed happily. "ABBY!" exclaimed Richard, equally happily, also breaking into a wide grin as he stretched his arms out to embrace her. Abby jumped into his arms and hugged him back. "Richard, Richard, Richard, it's so good to see you." She gripped the back of Richard's brown corduroy jacket with both hands. "It's so good to finally see you again after all this time." After a minute, the two dropped their arms and both turned to look at the attractive filipino woman, who stood quietly smiling at Abby. "Abby this is my wife Henrietta," introduced Richard to the still surprised Abby, as Abby and Henrietta shook hands, both smiling. "Nice to meet you," said Henrietta, she grinned, "Richard's told me so much about you." "I met Henrietta on a business trip to the Philippines awhile ago," remembered Richard, grinning and looking down at the floor, "and from the first time I saw her i couldn't take my eyes off her." Abby looked the filipino woman up and down. Abby judged her to be about forty or so. Henrietta slung a large, green and red striped shopping bag over the front of her white, short sleeved shirt. She stuffed both of her hands into the pockets yellow pants. "I'm married to Greg now, " said Abby. "So we heard," replied Richard. "Congraulations." "Thanks." Henrietta put her arm around Richard and pulled him closer to herself. "Richard says that you two used to live next door to each other, in some place called...uh...Knots Landing?" "Yeah that's right," grinned Abby. "What brings you out here Richard? How's the restaurant business?" "The biz is still going strong," answered Richard, as he looked at the clock on the wall. "Well we came down to see the Amanda Prevot ceremony, but unfortunately, a flat tire kept us a bit late." Abby chuckled. "It was nice of you to finally credit the woman." "Yes well..."Abby looked at the clock herself. "Well look, I know your pressed for time right now," said Richard, "but what say we meet up for drinks later. Why don't the three of us get together at seven tonight, after your done with work, at that one bar Martinis at Seven. Drinks on me." "Great," said Abby, "I'd love to catch up with all the latest Richard gossip." The trio all laughed. "I'd love to get to know you better," said Henrietta in a weird tone of voice. Abby looked right at her, a puzzled look on her face at the woman's bizarre tone, the shrugged her shoulders. "Well look I'm busy now, so seven at Martinis at Seven." They all laughed again. Abby walked away from Richard and Henrietta. "Good to finally meet you Abby!, "Henrietta called out as Abby headed for her office. Abby turned her head and smiled at Henrietta and Richard. Richard and Henrietta then turned and walked towards the elevator. Henrietta never turned her head away from Abby and never took her eyes off of her. Abby opened the door of her office at the end of the hallway and made one last glance in Richard's and Henrietta's direction, and noticed that even as the couple stepped into the elevator, the filipino woman never took her eyes off of Abby.

It was early evening. Abby, Greg and a short, stocky, sixty something year old, short gray haired man dressed in an overcoat wandered slowly all over the grounds of Lotus Point. There was a drizzle of rain. The weather was getting much colder. "Well, it can be done so authorities will never suspect a thing alright," offered the man as he slowly turned his head from left to right, and studied the whole area of Lotus Point. "I've done plenty of jobs like this, and I'm very good at them. Nobody's even found a slight trace of evidence on me yet." Greg pulled Abby closer to him. "I told you, Sal's our man," he whispered to Abby. The two then kissed on the lips. "What's your stake in Lotus Point Greg?" asked Sal, as he kicked a small stone. "I helped with the variance," said Greg, "handling the coastal commission. There was that mess with Wolfbridge..." "How much?" asked Abby as she took a step towards Sal, with a look of total unease on her face. "This is serious stuff! If we muck this up we all go to jail." Sal smiled and adjusted his overcoat. "Wish I'd brought an umbrella, "he said regretfully. "How much?" repeated Abby sternly. "Well we can discuss the nitty gritty back at Greg's office." Sal shaded his hand over his eyes, as he looked over at the sunset. "Man this is one gorgeous place. A shame you two want to destroy it like that. But I guess the insurance is big bucks." Sal turned around and looked over at the statue far behind them. "Poor ole Amy is going to be turning over in her grave. But I got a job to do, and I'm a professional..." Sal turned to face both Abby and Greg. A surge of strength came into his features. "No way, I've never mucked up a job yet and this job will be no different. Okay. You're looking at roughly...about...two million." Abby and Greg both quickly looked at each other, then back at Sal. "That much?" asked Abby. Sal stretched his body and buttoned up the last button on his overcoat. "We're talking about my personal money here. " "You want the best job, then two million," demanded Sal. "No less." "Well being that the Lotus Point holdings is non existent right now, then I guess two million it is," agreed Abby.

Abby, Greg and Sal sat around a park bench in Lotus Point discussing, very quietly, some of the details of the job that Sal had been hired to do. "Believe me, it will look like a flash flood came overnight and did it," assured Sal, calmly, "nobody'll ever know, and you'll collect your insurance...every last Benjamin Franklin." Sal then gestured with his gloved hands to different areas of the large park. "One explosive could go there," he suggested as he pointed to the far left corner of Lotus Point, "another could near the statute." Greg and Abby both shook a little when Sal mentioned the statute. Greg pulled Abby closer to him. "Yes sir. Everybody will think that Lotus Point got hit by a flash flood. All we need now is to build a giant wooden ship and fill it up with animals two by two," joked Sal. Abby quickly put her head in her hands. "Oh one more thing," brought up Sal as he leaned his face across the table towards Abby's. "I don't take check. Only cash." Greg shook his head. "It's amazing how desperate we finally got," Greg said to Abby.

ACT TWO-Abby walked to the door of her hotel room. She opened the door and saw Brian sitting in the living room watching tv. Godzilla and King Kong confronted each other on the small colour screen. In one scene Godzilla virtually smashed a nice parklike area. The incident reminded Abby of what had happened at Lotus Point...

Abby and Greg and Sal sat around the table in Greg's office, studying the large, full colour map of Lotus Point laid down on the square table. All three of them pointed to different areas of the map, each one made suggestions, Sal circled an area on the map with a pencil. Abby circled another area on the map with a pencil, Sal got up at one point and called up a dynamite expert, he knew, using the phone on Greg's desk, Greg made a suggestion, Abby made a suggestion and so on.

Later that evening, after Abby had left the office she parked her car right outside the bar Martinis at Seven. She walked in and saw Richard and Henrietta both seated at the bar counter, enjoying small glasses of whiskey (Abby saw the whiskey bottle on the counter). The couple grinned at Abby as she walked into the bar and sat down at the counter next to Richard. Henrietta looked at Abby with this extremely odd expression on her face, then picked up and sipped her drink. Abby was a bit perplexed again.

For over an hour the three talked quietly amongst themselves. Richard and Abby both spent much of the time just catching up. Abby told Richard about her failed marriage to Gary, Richard told Abby all about his restaurant, Henrietta told Abby a bit about how she and Richard had recently gone surfing in the Philippines and how they'd first met during Richard's business trip there (she had been working as a deputy principal at a high school over there, when she'd first met Richard, but now she just helped out with the restaurant.). Abby and Richard talked some about Laura and their kids. Abby mentioned the time Richard had lost it with Laura and their son. Richard turned red with embarrassment and poured himself another whiskey. At one point, Henrietta rested her face on her palm on the bar counter and glared for a second at Abby. Just for a second. Then she turned and sipped her whiskey. Abby stared at Henrietta for a second then the three just went back to their friendly chit chat. Richard told Abby about what a poor husband he'd been with Laura, Abby spoke about Olivia's drug problem, Henrietta talked some about when she and Richard had their honeymoon in her hometown in the Philippines.

Afterwards, the three stood outside the bar, Abby and Richard hugged, Abby and Henrietta hugged, then Abby got into her car and drove off.

Abby parked her car right outside her home. She didn't see Greg's car anywhere, so obviously he hadn't come home yet. She got out of the jaguar and unlocked the door of her house. She walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa.

The doorbell rang. Abby got up and opened the door. The filipino woman, Henrietta just stood there glaring in rage at Abby. Abby was stunned and shook her head in shock. "Henrietta? What's all this..." Henrietta barged into the home and slammed the door shut behind her. She raised a pointing finger at Abby and grit her teeth. "LISTEN BITCH!" Henrietta's voice was shouting like a mad woman. She slowly walked towards Abby, who in turn, just tried to back away, "RICHARD TOLD ME ALL ABOUT YOUR PAST ROMANCE! I KNOW YOU TWO WERE LOVERS ONCE!" Abby stumbled on the carpet as she walked backwards. "That was ages ago," defended Abby in horror. "YOU SLEPT WITH EVERY MAN IN TOWN!" Henrietta pulled out a switchblade from her pants pocket and aimed the deadly weopon right at Abby's heart. Abby's eyes opened wide in fear. "I THINK YOUR HOPING TO WIN HIM BACK ! RIGHT!" Henrietta waved the switchblade in a circle in front of her. "YOUR OUT OF YOUR MIND!" Abby screamed back at the enraged, crazed filipino woman, "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" "LISTEN BITCH, YOU WANT TO WIN RICHARD BACK BUT YOU CAN'T! HE'S MINE NOW! IF I SEE YOU WITH RICHARD AGAIN, I KILL YOU!" Henrietta took a large step towards Abby and aimed the switchblade right at Abby's throat. Abby raised her hands to her face. Henrietta then turned around, ran to the front door, whipped open the door and ran out as fast as she could. Abby just stood there in shock.

Abby and Lieutenant Garcia and his partner, a slim, young chinese woman with short dark hair and wearing an overcoat, all stood together in the living room as Abby recounted the horrible events. Lieutenant Garcia was holding a notepad in his hands, over his black suit, as he jotted down all the details. "And you never saw her before?" he asked Abby, as he looked up from his notepad. "No never...not till tonight." Abby sat down on the couch and folded her arms over her breasts. "Ok well look, we'll go over to Avery's hotel right now and check this out." Garcia shoved the notepad into his left pants pocket. "We'll check it out right now," repeated the chinese woman, as she and Garcia turned and headed for the door, as they opened the door, Greg happened to walk in and looked at both of the investigators in surprise. "Hey Greg Sumner, it's been a longtime," greeted Garcia as he and Greg shook hands. Greg still looking very surprised. "Yeah Garcia, right?" said Greg, "what's going on?"

At that moment, Mac walked through the entrance way. Mac walked in front of Gracia, his partner and Greg and looked sharply at Abby. "Abby, I just heard what happened." "Your wife will fill you in," smiled Garcia, as he and the chinese woman stepped out of the house. "Hiya Mac. Goodnight everyone." He shut the door behind him. "This is going to be some night," said Greg.

It was three in the morning. Abby and Greg stood at the very edge of the right barrier of Lotus Point, watching Sal and five other men and women setting up the explosives all over the wide grassy area. Everybody used flashlights to see what they were doing. Sal finally ran towards Greg and Abby. The flashlight illuminating his craggy features. "Ok, we're all set up here, now I've got the other explosives set up up the hill. " He pointed in a southern direction. "That'll be what causes the flash flood, to go down the hill, and totally demolish the whole area." Abby and Greg both looked at each other and grinned. "And the other explosives here will keep the flood going for a few more water will set off all the fireworks here." Sal chuckled, as did Abby and Greg. Then they and Sal and all the other people involved quickly ran out of the park and ran across the road.

As Abby was running she heard a very, VERY loud explosion! It was so loud it seemed to literally shake all of Lotus Point. "LOTUS POINT BYE BYE!" shouted Sal as he and Abby and Greg and everybody else ran. Just then, Abby turned around, as she ran, and saw a monster flood come from nowhere's and submerge the whole area. The flood destroyed all the playground equipment, the flood rose to the waist level of the statue...then the sounds of the other explosives going off! The flood became even more intense! The flood pounded out of the park, into the parking lot and into the road. Abby and the others screamed in fright! "OH BOYYYYYYYYY!" shouted Sal above the roar of the waters, "I NEVER EXPECTED THAT!" "THAT'S JUST GREAT SAL!" shouted Greg as the flood washed over him and Abby and Sal and everybody else, as they screamed. Abby fell face first into the oncoming water surrounding her whole body. She and Greg were screaming in fear as they were taken away by the flood waters. "GREG! HELP ME!" Abby screamed at the top of her lungs. She and Sal and Greg were being washed by an uncontrollable force all across the road. Greg tried to swim against the flood waters. he grabbed Abby's left hand. Sal stood up but was then knocked down backwards into the water. He shouted in pain. Abby found herself underwater. She quickly swam up from the water gasping for breath. She saw the bronze statute pushed over, face first, by the raging torrents! The statute was coming straight towards she and Greg. She and Greg both swam in the opposite direction from the bronze figure headed in their direction. Everybody else of Sal's crew was swimming against the current and screaming. Abby and Greg and Sal all swam out of the way just barely in the nick of time, as the statute came at Abby's head. Abby swam downwards below the surface. Greg joined her. It was a night they'd never forget. When Abby and Greg and Sal rose up from the waters, gasping for breath, Abby saw the park bench and table being pushed by the currents, headed in her direction! Abby and Greg and Sal dived back under the water again and tried to swim to the right, but were pushed forwards by the deadly currents. When Abby again rose to the surface gasping for breath she saw all their cars submerged by the floods.

A half an hour later, Abby and Greg and Sal stood on a grassy knoll some distance away from the man made mini lake and watched as quite a few policemen and firemen tried everything to get the situation under control. Some people walked up up to Abby and Greg and Sal and just stared at the whole area totally submerged underwater. Abby and Greg and Sal were saturated and Abby shook with freezing cold. Sal's work crew stood way behind, Abby and Greg and Sal also saturated and freezing. "Lord, oh lord, oh lord,"mumbled Greg. Abby just put her head in her hands, and shook, chilled to the bone. Abby then removed her hands and watched as the waters now lay perfectly still.

Abby and Greg and Sal stood in Greg's office, still sopping wet, as Greg opened up a briefcase lying on the table on the map, and showed Sal the two million in cash inside the case. Another briefcase lay on the floor behind Greg. "One million there," described Greg to Sal as he showed him the money. Sal's eyes lit up. Abby collapsed with exhaustion in a chair at the table, in front of Greg and Sal. Her messed up, dirty, sopping wet hair dripped all over the table. "The other case has the other million," laughed Greg, as he zipped up the briefcase. Sal picked up both of the heavy briefcases in each hands with much effort. "Ok, ok," he snickered playfully. "Wonderful doing business with you." He then glided towards the closed door of the office. "Just get out of here," barked Abby, as she put her head in her hands again. Sal laughed as he opened the door...

Later that night, or rather morning, Abby and Greg were both lying in bed sleeping, when the phone rang on the dresser right beside Abby's head. Abby yawned, rubbed her eyes, and picked up the phone and put it to her ear. Greg was still sound asleep. Both Abby and Greg wore light blue pajamas. "Hellllllll...ooooooooo," yawned Abby half asleep. "YOU BITCH!" Henrietta's voice screamed back to her. Abby sat up in bed with a start. Her eyes opened wide with terror. "Henrietta?!" "GARCIA HAD NOTHING TO ARREST ME FOR, NO PROOF, JUST YOUR WORD AGAINST MINE! AND RICHARD DOESN'T BELIEVE! WH'D BELIEVE A LYING SLUT LIKE YOU! STAY AWAY FROM RICHARD, BECAUSE NEXT TIME I'LL GET YOU!" The phone went silent. Abby dropped the phone down on the floor and lay back down. "Man, this is like when I was living in a small town, under an assumed name to hide from Jeff for awhile, and I was dating that one DJ, and he was stalked by that one woman who asked him to play the same song every night," Abby thought to herself, as she trembled. She covered her face with her pillow.

The next afternoon, Abby, Greg, Paige, Anne, Mac, Karen and Gary and Val all surveyed the freshly flooded Lotus Point, surrounded by a few reporters, and a couple of firemen. The three walked about the whole area wearing rain jackets and thick galoshes. It was raining out. Karen just shook her head in disgust. She waved her arms about. "THIS IS LUDICROUS!" she shouted in anger. "THE WHOLE LOTUS POINT!" A young lady reporter walked up to Karen, but Karen just waved her off. "No comment now," grunted Karen. Mac moved to Karen and put his hand on her shoulder. "How could the whole place just flood overnight like that!" he exclaimed. Val shook her head. "This is too weird for words." Gary tramped over the remains of some playground equipment. He sighed. "I can only imagine the cost and effort to drain the mud pool, and get everything up and running again. "Oh brother," said Anne. "HOW?!" shouted Paige in exasperation. "WHAT ON EARTH?!"

Later that day, Abby and Greg both stood in Greg's office together having a serious business conversation, about how much insurance money Lotus Point was liable to collect. Greg leaned against his desk in his orange tweed suit, while Abby stood in front of him,in her grey dress and hat. She was holding up a calculator and eagerly typing in various numbers, while Greg reeled off the amount of profits she was liable to get. Abby then frowned and looked with fear at Greg. "Greg, I forgot to tell you but last night again that psycho Henrietta called." There was a pause as Greg took a deep breath and sat up on his desk. "One problem at a time. After this, call Garcia again, but right now my mind has got all it can handle with this crap." Abby looked back down the calculator in her hands and whistled in joy. She smiled. "Well one good thing about it Greg." She tapped her right foot. "The new holdings will be twenty times more than they were before! That insurance money is going to be a wow!"

As Abby was driving down the freeway, later that evening, she spent almost the whole time on her car phone to the insurance company. "All of Lotus Point is currentlyl underwater," she said into the phone, "it took the fire department hours to salvage my car, and I understand that the insurance on the whole place, is worth almost a billion." She drove past a Burger King. "Yeah...uh huh," Abby spoke into the phone, "yes, yes I get it Mr. Gillman. Ok. Well I could stop by around ten in the morning tomorrow and fill out the forms? Great. see you then. "She hung up the car phone.

Abby's jaguar pulled up right outside Gary's ranch house. "I can't believe I forgot my makeup kit," Abby thought to herself as she got out of the jaguar and walked up to the front doors of the massive ranch house. "This whole destroying Lotus Point thing must have my nerves frayed." She sighed. "Don't panic," she thought, "you did what you had to do. You needed to the insurance money and that's all there is to it. If they ever catch whoever ran off with the corporate holdings ok." She went over the whole thing nervously in her mind. "But right now, I needed to get the insurance money and flooding Lotus Point was the only way. Sal assured me that I'll never get found out. Greg trusts his reputation. Abby rang the doorbell on the ranch house doors. She then got out her key from her purse. She unlocked the door and opened the door and went inside. "GARY!" she called out, her voice echoing all over the large estate, "it's me, Abby! I left my makeup kit here the other day..." She stopped suddenly. She heard Gary's (and Pat's?) voices coming from up the staircase. Abby raised her eyebrows and dashed up the staircase. "Gary!" she called again.

At the top of the stairs, Abby moved down the hallway. She heard Gary's (and Pat's?) voices coming from Gary's room at the end of the hallway. She went to the room and opened the door. Her mouth opened in shock! Gary and Pat were both lying in bed together nude! (the foot of the bed faced the doorway). Pat was in Gary's arms. Gary and Pat both turned beet red. Both looked worried and embarrassed. "Oh boy," said Pat as she stared up in shock at Abby. "Oh brother," said Gary, his face turning even redder as he too stared up at Abby. Abby just stood there looking down on them, as she quietly tiptoed to the bedroom closet. Pat both both her hands on her face and shook her head. "No, no, no," she whimpered, "this is really, really being caught on the spot."She then giggled a little. Gary folded both his arms over his chest. "Oh brother," he said again, smiling and looking down at the floor. "This is going to be one of those days." Abby just stood silently for a minute, looking at the nude couple. Her tongue in her cheek. "Well I heard that you'd had a crush on Gary, Pat, but have you told him yet?" snickered Abby, as her left hand slowly opened the closet door. "I wouldn't tell Frank if I were you," she added comically. Gary just lay back on the bed. He put his hands on his face. "My, oh my ,oh my, oh my, oh my," he kept repeating. Pat just lay next to Gary looking up at the sneering Abby, shaking with nervousness and embarrassment. Abby turned to look in the closet. "Well, I still haven't moved all my clothes out of here...ah good...two of my dresses are still there." "Uh, Abby," said Gary. "Let's see," said Abby, "do I wear the blue dress or the brown one? Hmmmmmmmm" Pat turned on her belly and put her face in the pillow.

Abby walked into her hotel room, and said hello to Brian who said hello back. His focus was still on the monster movie on the tv. She sat down on the sofa behind Brian. Her mind went back in time again...

Abby pulled up the jaguar outside her own home. As she was getting out of the car, she happened to see Richard Avery's purple toyota also parked right outside her on the driveway. Richard and Henrietta both stepped out of the toyota. It was raining heavily. All three people wore raincoats. "STAY AWAY FROM ME CRAZY BITCH!" Abby screamed at Henrietta, as she hurried to her front door. Henrietta just stood next to the left of her purple vehicle, setting up a green and yellow spotted umbrella, while Richard ran towards Abby, his arms waving. "Abby!" he called, "look, I can explain Henrietta's behaviour..." "GET AWAY FROM ME RICHARD!" shouted Abby, "marrying a psycho like that! Why don't you two jump in the river!" Abby's face was hysterical with fear and anger. She was shaking as she unlocked the front door of her home. Richard still came towards her. His arms waving in desperation. "But Abby I came to explain!" he shouted over the boom of thunder and lightening and heavy rain. "Henrietta gets jealous sometimes that's all..." "STAY AWAY FROM ME BEFORE I CALL THE COPS AGAIN!" screamed Abby as she opened the door of her home, she was shaking violently now in fear. "Yeah, yeah that guy Garcia came to our hotel and questioned us for over an hour! Look i can explain her behaviour!" "GET AWAY!" screamed Abby as she jumped into her home and slammed the door on Richard's face. She saw Henrietta stepping beside him.

ACT THREE-It was still a very hot afternoon in Japan. Abby got up out of her seat and moved steadily into the kitchen carrying her small grocery bag of goods. She thought back again to one of her last weeks in the United States...

Abby and Olivia sat on the beach together each in their yellow bathing suits. It was a nice sunny day for a change. Some people in shorts were tossing a giant pink beach ball back and forth, far behind Abby and Olivia. "So that's it," Abby said to Olivia, as she moved into a cross legged position in the sand. "Garcia had another talk with the bitch but so far he has nothing solid to go on." Olivia frowned and shook her head. "Just I say and she says." Abby sighed. "She denies everything of course." Olivia put her hand on Abby's shoulder. "I'm so sorry mom, "she said to Abby in a soothing tone. Abby ran her fingers through her hair. "What a sick crazy bitch she is," whispered Abby, "and Richard is one stupid dude for marrying the loony in the first place." Olivia scooped some sand in her hands. "And you say he still stands by her even after all this?" "Yup that's right," replied Abby in frustration. "Well Richard's a lawyer. What did you expect?" said Olivia. She and Abby both laughed. They then just sat and watched the ocean for awhile.

Then, Richard Avery's purple toyota drove into sight right on the beach, directly ahead of Abby and Olivia. Abby tapped Olivia on the shoulder and both turned to look at the car in shock. Richard and Henrietta stepped out of the car. Abby and Olivia both stood up and gazed at the oncoming couple with their mouths open. Henrietta was walking right in front of Richard who held a small handgun at her back. Henrietta kicked sand back on Richard's green suit. Some sand scattered all over her silver jumpsuit. "WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW!? screamed Olivia, as she cowered behind her mother in fear. "As you can see I got Henrietta at gunpoint right now," bragged Richard, as he pointed the gun even closer to his wife's back. "I remembered when you and I used to come to this beach every Saturday, and I thought you'd be here, "Richard spoke to Abby, "anyways I want to resolve this thing between you and my wife right." He clicked the gun at Henrietta's back. Henrietta shot an angry glance back at her husband . "This is a mistake Richard," she grunted. "Shut up!" shouted Richard. "Now there's some issue between you two-you been threatening Abby with jealous baloney-and your going to apologize to Abby right and then both of you are going to explain it to me." He jammed the gun into Henrietta's back. His wife looked at Abby and made a leering grin. Abby took a step back and grabbed Olivia. The two women looked very frightened. "Mom!" shouted Olivia in fear. "C'mon Olivia," comforted Abby as she pulled her daughter, while she walked quickly towards the jaguar parked on the beach a short distance ahead of them. "Apologize to her now!" ordered Richard as he then lifted up the handgun a little ways and aimed it at the back of Henrietta's head. "Get lost!" hollered Henrietta in rage. The filipino woman slowly turned to glare at her husband. "I won't!" "Listen Hen darling!" threatened Richard as he pushed his wife using the handgun, "I knew you had a jealous temper on you when we married but I never thought it was this bad!" Richard pushed his lips together in intense anger. "APOLOGIZE TO ABBY NOW! I WAS STUPID TO ALWAYS OVERLOOK YOUR JEALOUS MOOD SWINGS AND THEN PRETEND WHAT A WONDERFUL GAL YOU ARE!" Henrietta turned her head and growled at her enraged husband. The beautiful but crazed filipino woman bunched her hands into fists. "Let's get out of here," Abby spoke hurriedly to Olivia as she pushed her scared daughter away from the turmoil, and in the direction of the jaguar. "DON"T FOLLOW US RICHARD...BITCH!" Abby screamed at the Avery couple, moving towards her.

As Abby and Olivia broke into a run for Abby's car, Henrietta turned her whole body around to face Richard and immediately pushed the handgun away from her, and pushed Richard hard back first into the headlights of the toyota. She then bent down, scooped up a big thing of sand and tossed it in Richard's face. She then pulled out the large switchblade from her back pants pocket and took off after Abby and Olivia. Abby and Olivia ran faster and faster towards the jaguar. Henrietta was right behind them waving the switchblade. "I"LL GET YOU NOW BITCH!" she shrieked in jealous rage, "YOU'LL NEVER GET RICHARD AGAIN! NEVER!" Abby and Olivia both ran over the sand in fright. The crazy filipino woman was right behind them flashing the huge switchblade. "SOMEBODY CALL THE POLICE!" Abby heard one of the other beachers shout. As she ran Abby turned her head and saw Henrietta coming closer gripping the massive knife in her hand. Her long black hair waving in the breeze, her mouth curled in a raging bear like snarl, the filipino was gaining on Abby and Olivia as the three of them ran across the sands to Abby's car. Abby turned her head around again, her eyes opened wide with terror as she now saw the dazed Richard racing after his wife, while waving the handgun. Olivia also turned to look at Richard as she ran alongside her mom.

As Abby and Olivia reached the left side of the car, Henrietta came closer than ever to Abby, and grabbed the back of her neck. Olivia screamed as the enraged filipino pulled the terrified Abby right to her and got ready to stab her with the knife. Just then, Abby turned her head and saw Richard running right up behind all of them, and heard loud shots ring out as Richard shot Henrietta in both of her legs. While bleeding, and shouting in agony, the crazed filipino got ready to plunge the knife into Abby's shoulder. Abby turned her head again and saw Richard shoot Henrietta again, this time in the back. Henrietta screamed in pain as blood stained her whole outfit, and she fell down face first, dead on the ground. Abby and Olivia opened the door of the jaguar, and Abby drove the car away from the beach as fast as the car could go. She and Olivia both sat shaking with fear in the front seats of the car. Olivia broke down and cried. As Abby drove the car onto the highway, she happened to see Richard through the side window, standing over his wife's body and staring down at the corpse in shock.

Abby, Karen, Paige, Gary, Greg, and Bobbi Nichols, the insurance investigator all walked about the flooded Lotus Point-all of them wore blue overalls and boots. The short, plump dark skinned female investigator just shook her head in surprise, as the whole lot of them went over the entire man made lake. It was a cloudy day outside, and another cool gust of wind blew over the group. The fifty something year old investigator gave a coarse laugh as she almost tripped on a broken piece of playground equipment, from one of the jungle gyms. As they walked Greg put his arm around Abby and pulled her close. "Just as long as your ok that's all that matters, "said Greg as Abby cried a slight bit. "Thank god that weirdo is dead! Gone for good, "whispered Abby in fear. Paige, who was walking ahead of Abby and Greg (alongside Karen and Gary and Bobbi) turned to look with sorrow at Abby. "I'm so sorry what happened," said Paige, "I'm glad you and Olivia are okay." Karen and Gary the turned to look at Abby. "I too am glad your okay Abby," added Karen. Both she and Gary then turned away from Bobbi and moved to Abby. They both put their hands on her shoulders. "It's over now Abby," reminded Gary. "Just forget it. Richard was stupid for marrying a psycho." Abby touched Gary's shoulder. "I'm glad your okay," Karen said again, "Mac and Garcia both questioned Richard for hours about what happened. Mac says that Richard said that Henrietta seemed like really nice lady at first," continued Karen," but then he began to see that jealous part of her." "I don't want to think about it anymore," said Abby, tears coming out of her eyes. Bobbi Nichols turned around and slooshed through the muddy water towards the group. "Well from my own damage assessment, " Bobbi said while putting her hands on her hips, "I mean Im just an insurance investigator, I'm not a fire woman,..." "Cut to the chase, "interrupted Karen, as she got her boot stuck in a muddy hole, from beneath the water. She yanked her boot out of the water with as much force as she could muster. Bobbi bit her lip as she looked all around the entire flooded Lotus Point. "Well, uh, I'd say it'll take mabey a week to drain the swamp land," she continued sarcastically, "then I'd say another week to repair the jungle gym..." Her voice just tuned off as she walked towards a ruined seesaw just ahead of her, and behind everyone else. "I should have taken swimming lessons," she said as she trotted through the grassy muddy water. "As for how much it'll cost to get Lotus Point set up again? Hmmmmmmmmmmm." Bobbi just stood still staring at the ruined seesaw. "That's a nice seesaw," she observed, while kicking up some mud with her boot. "Give us a rough estimate of the cost, "ordered Gary, as he took a step back, and looked around him. "Well you lot are looking at mabey a ten thousand dollar repair job," thought Bobbi out loud. Abby and Greg both looked at each other and smiled.

Later that day, Abby and Greg both sat in Greg's office at their place of work. Abby perched herself on the edge of Greg's desk, while Greg did some paperwork. The window was open. the wind ruffled Abby's hair and her lavender dress. Greg sat silently doing his paperwork, his tan tweed suit gleaming in the sunlight. "Well we did it," marveled Abby as she looked down at her husband, "we pulled off the big one." Greg continued his paperwork. He allowed himself a smile. "Did we ever," he agreed, filling out a form, "the insurance loot arrives in a day or so, and Lotus Point is back in the running." Abby grinned at the window. "It was touch and go for awhile, but boy did we pull it off. We're the Bonny and Clyde of Lotus Point." Greg just kept on with his paperwork.

The door to his office opened. Paige stomped into the room. She slammed the door shut behind her. Her brows lowered in anger as she glared at both Abby and Greg. She folded her arms over her breasts of her yellow turtle neck shirt. She then put her fists on her hips over her yellow blouse. Greg looked up in surprise. Abby turned around to look at her. "What is this?" asked Greg, "I'm really busy right now. This better be good." "Uh oh," Abby said as she slid off the desk. "I'm not stupid!' said Paige in anger to the couple, " I ran a check over the financial papers, figures and I find that Lotus Point was broke just before the flood, and now it's full up with the insurance profits!" Greg sighed and raised his eyes to the ceiling. "Paige, sit down," he pointed to the table in the office behind her, "it's a long story. " He calmly got to his feet. "I don't suppose you'd accept three thousand not to say anything?" Paige looked with bewilderment at Greg and Abby.

EPILOGUE-The next morning Abby walked with authority into the japanese business japanese business men and women all sat around the table eagerly waiting for the meeting to start. "Ohayo minna," Abby said to the whole conference group, as she walked around the table in her dark blue silk dress and hat, "watashi wa, watashi wa, kaisha no boeki daihy." Everyone clapped as she took her seat at the table.