Chapter 21 – Ciara's kidnapping
"Ciara is awfully quiet outside, don't you think?" Abe remarks a couple of minutes after Ciara left.
"Yeah, I know, but ever since she has dreamed up this Giovanni-fellow she's always played very quietly, when she is inside I hear her very softly talking to herself. She must know on some level that he is just imaginary, so she's a bit embarrassed about talking to loudly to herself."
"You really think so? Kids don't usually get embarrassed about talking loudly to nothing but air."
"Well, she must be, why else would she be talking so softly?"
"I suppose because she's never been a loud child..."
They carry on working for another two minutes, then Abe looks up again.
"But I heard a car pull away right after she left."
"Geez, Abe, relax, she's been going to the park with this guy and having tea parties for weeks now. I'm telling you, it is just an invisible friend, you can even ask Hope if you don't believe me."
"Okay, okay, but something doesn't feel right about this."
"Would you relax, Abe, your being paranoid." Billy pipes up from the couch in the living room.
"Relax, Partner, she'll be back in another half an hour or so, bringing us imaginary ice cream." Bo says fondly, smiling as he makes the last remark.
A beeping sound fills the room, Bo takes out his phone and reads.
"Hope will be late, her plane has been delayed. Just as well, perhaps we can wrap up this thing today and I get to spend the whole day with her tomorrow."
Abe still doesn't look completely convinced that Ciara is alright, but nevertheless returns to the paperwork on the table.
John carries Ciara into the Dimera mansion, and down the stairs where Rolf has created "Ice cream world". Rolf greets them with a smile, and takes Ciara from John's arms, putting her on her feet and taking her hand while bending down in front of her.
"Are you ready for "Ice cream world"?"
She giggles.
"Yes!"
"Well, then come with me, today we'll make our very own ice cream. Any flavor you want."
"Chocolate!"
John bends down as well, realizing that he must be very quick to get to the hospital so that he isn't connected with her disappearance.
"I'll come back a bit later, I have to meet someone."
"No!" Ciara grabs onto his sleeve .
"Come now, Baby-girl. You have to make me some yummy ice cream while I am gone. I am counting on you."
"Okay." she hangs her head slightly deflated.
"There's a good girl, remember I am counting on you, otherwise I'll end up going to bed hungry."
She nods, brightening a bit, then throws her arms around his neck.
"I'll make you the biggest and yummiest bowl of ice cream ever!"
Getting into the car Stefano has ready for him, he feels a pang of guilt, not knowing when he'll be able to slip away and return to see her. He doesn't want her to have a single moment of being afraid or feeling heart ache. Stefano was right, he is getting too attached to her.
At University hospital John slips into the back entrance then goes up the fire staircase next to the elevator, then straight into Dr. Westerfield office, without knocking.
As he barges in, she looks up and recognition flashes over her face.
Confused and hostile, Stefano had said. That is what he'll give them.
"Are you the psychiatrist around here?" he asks brashly.
"Yes, come sit..." she looks like she wants to add a name, then thinks better of it.
"Good, I need one of you." he sits down on the couch and then fidgets around, throwing shifting looks around the office as if he is very uncomfortable.
"Well, in that case, I can help. What is your name?"
He looks at her as if she has grown two heads, then with a dead pan face, he answers.
"John Doe." he thrusts the note left on his pillow at her.
"What is this?" she looks confused after reading it.
"A note." again the deadpan expression.
"Well, yes I can see that, but what does it mean."
"I found it on my pillow this morning."
"And you know who left it to you?"
"No."
She putts the note to her nose to inhale the expensive fragrance.
"Perhaps a lady friend you met last night after too many drinks, and wants to set you up in a hotel for when she wants to meet you incognito?"
"I don't know. I just woke up in a strange hotel room this morning, with a killer headache and that note next to my head on the pillow, and all the cupboards stuffed with hundreds of copies of the uniform I am wearing." he points to the black jeans and white T-shirt.
Dr. Westerfield sits back, pushes her glasses up on the bridge of her nose, and takes out her notebook and pen.
"Tell me sir, what do you remember about last night?"
"Nothing."
"Anything, sir, what is your last memory, what did you do, where did you go yesterday before the blackout?"
"I don't know, for God's sake, woman, the note says "John Doe", whoever left the note knows that I can't remember a thing. I don't even remember my own name." he jumps up as he scream the words at her.
Alarmed, she pulls herself upright.
"Please sir, try to calm down. I have a colleague next door who specializes in extracting suppressed memories through hypnoses. Let me fetch her for you."
"Fine, whatever." he throws himself back on the couch, crossing his arms. She leaves the room, and he hears the key turn in the lock.
He grins too himself. She fell for it, hook, line and sinker, and now she is off calling Marlena, telling her that her dead husband is sitting on her couch. He was so convincing, she felt the need to lock the door so he doesn't run of. Now he will have to keep his wits about him. It will take all his acting skills and self control to not burst out laughing when he sees Marlena's reaction to seeing him.
He suppose the entertainment aspect of Stefano's plan will make up for the discomfort.
He sits back, folding his arms again, and rearranging his features into the deadpan expression he gave Dr. Joline Westerfield.
Abe looks up from the photo's he had been inspecting for more clues. They have questioned Chelsea again, and she cannot remember anything new to help her case. The he looks at his watch.
"Bo, it's been two hours already, I think we'd better go check up on Ciara." Bo looks up and checks his own watch, the he stretches and massages the creak in his neck.
"Chelsea why don't you make us some coffee for all our trouble. I am going out to check up on Ciara."
Chelsea pulls herself from the couch with a huge groan, and lazily makes her way to the kitchen. This unofficial house arrest she's experiencing lately from her dad and commander Carver has made her feel very lazy.
Bo and Abe goes into the garden, both stretching.
"Ciara!" Bo calls. "Hey, Doodlebug, where is our ice cream!" he smiles at Abe as he says this. Silence stretches after his words.
"I hope she hasn't fallen asleep in the sun, Hope will never forgive me if she comes back tonight and Ciara is red all over!"
The both move out to opposite sides of the garden, calling her name as they check behind every shrub and tree. By the time they meet in the middle of the garden, opposite the door they came out from, they are both feeling alarmed.
"Do you think perhaps she came back inside while we were working?"
Abe feels the uneasy feeling returning that he had earlier, but decides to remain calm as he answers Bo's question.
"It's possible, we were concentrating very well, and Billy and Chelsea had their eyes glued to the screen with that thriller they had been watching."
They both rush inside.
"Chelsea, Billy, did you see Ciara?"
They both shake their heads.
"Try checking upstairs." Chelsea offers as she pours water into their cups.
They both rush upstairs to find nothing in any of the rooms.
"Oh, God, Abe. What are we going to do! She's gone!" he remembers Abe's earlier remark about hearing a car pull away, and an uneasy feeling churns in his stomach. "We have to find my little girl!!!!"
They both rush downstairs and search the garden again, then they start combing the front garden.
Nothing.
Eventually they decide to start asking the neighbors. As Abe moves off in the other direction, Bo calls him back.
"Hey, partner."as Abe turns, Bo rush over to him, pulling his wallet from his pocket. "Here's a photo of her." he pulls one of the photo's from his wallet and hands it to Abe, then badge in one hand, and a photo for himself he rushes on to the other side of the street.
John looks up as he hears a key turning in the lock, and hears Dr. Westerfield whispering something to Marlena to not look to alarmed. The the door opens and Dr. Westerfield enters, with Marlena right behind her. When her eyes fall on him, she makes a yelping sound, with her hands flying to her mouth.
John uses all his self control to keep the deadpan expression on his face, and the smile from tugging at his mouth corners and the amusement from entering his eyes.
Marlena walks like a zombie and stretches her hand behind her as she feels for the seat of the desk chair. Her eyes never leaves his face, as she rather clumsily sits down.
"Stop staring. I had a good long look in the mirror this morning and there is no scarring or anything else out of the ordinary about my face." John spits at her, with the same deadpan expression he was wearing when she came in.
She shakes her head, without saying a word.
He looks over at Dr. Westerfield and sneers.
"I thought you were bringing a professional over, Blondie over there can do nothing but gape at me."
"That is because she knows you, or at least knew you. You were presumed dead a couple of months ago. Well, presumed apparently, everyone saw you die, I saw them wheeling out your corpse."
"Then why aren't you gaping at me like a fish?" John throws at her, then directing his gaze towards Marlena he fills it with suspicion. "You must be the dame who left me the note. What the hell are you playing at?"
Marlena speaks for the first time.
"No! No, I never left you any note, I had no idea...I..." then she jumps up and runs over to him to touch his face. "I am your wife..." Tears are streaming over her face.
He shoves her away, violently and she hits her head on the side of the desk.
"Get away from me."
He says it without a hint of emotion.
She stares at him, rubbing her head, hurt filling her eyes, then she questioningly looks up at Dr. Westerfield as if begging her for help.
Perhaps the shove was a little too violent, he has to keep the hostility in check a bit, the last thing he needs is to get constraint to hospital bed. He needs to be back in his hotel room tonight to receive further instructions.
"Sorry." then feeling that perhaps it wasn't enough to keep that possibility from happening he continues, sighing and feigning confusion: "...I don't remember you. I prefer to keep my personal space to myself. Just don't touch me and we'll be fine."
Marlena nods, standing up slowly and going back to the desk chair she was occupying earlier.
Two hours later Bo and Abe meet again in front of Billy's house.
"Anything?"
"Nope, you?"
"Uh-uh." Bo shakes his head feeling defeated.
A car pull up in the drive across from them and a lady climbs out, then she opens the boot of her car to take out some groceries.
Bo and Abe, look at one another, then both turn and walk towards.
"Hi, Mam, Sorry to bother you. I'm commander Abe Carver from the Salem PD and this is my partner Detective Brady." Abe flashes his badge at her. "we were hoping to ask you some questions."
The lady puts down her bags and turn to face them properly.
"Sure, no problem."
Abe looks over at Bo, then takes out the photo of Ciara.
"We were wondering if you have seen this girl?"
The lady tilts her head to see the photo properly, then smiles brightly.
"Sure did, she got into a car this morning as I was driving off to go do some shopping."
Bo steps forward, looking alarmed.
"Are you sure it was the same girl."
"Definitely."
Bo pushes his hands through his hair and start trippling around in one spot.
"Could you recognize the car ?"
The lady shakes her head.
"I remember it was a dark colored SUV, I didn't really take note, I have to be honest. I just remembered the girl because she waved at me."
"Numberplate?"
"No, sorry."
"Did you see the person who drove the vehicle?"
"Not clearly, the sun shines straight from that side in the mornings. It was a man, I can tell you that much, and I think he had dark hair, but that can also be the sun playing tricks on my eyes..."
"Could you tell his age perhaps?"
"No, not really. He was fairly well built though and his posture was very upright like a soldier's."
"Thanks, Mam, here is my card, call me if you remember anything else."
"Will do."
They walk back over the street. Bo rubbing his face and neck, looking close to tears.
"Oh, God! What are we going to do? Abe? If only I listened to you! What now? How will we find my little girl? What will I tell Hope?!"
Thousands of emotions are clashing with another inside Bo's heart. Fear, anger, regret, and hopelessness.
"We'll find her buddy. I promise you we will..."
Hope stubs out a cigarette and pulls herself of the bench, stretching. She's been sitting there, waiting for nearly seven hours now, awaiting the results. The lab wanted her to come back tomorrow for the results but she explained to them that she needs to catch a plane and they promised to mark it as priority.
She has been making plans all day, feeling more optimistic with each hour that passes. She is related to Lucas, she is a Horton, she must be Hope. That settles it. She cannot wait to return home to her husband and her precious little girl. And this time she'll make a real effort to avoid John.
An hour later John is sitting in the Bradys' living room, musing about the amusing situation he is finding himself in. While he was sitting in the office at the hospital, Marlena still very wary and emotional, and Dr. Westerfield trying to calm the situation, the call came through from Abe. Marlena must come through, Ciara has been kidnapped, Abe feels Bo needs some counseling and they all need a bit of support breaking the news to Hope when she comes home. Marlena explained the whole situation about him, and it was decided that he cannot be left there alone, so he got dragged along. It is a pity he never got to see Abe's initial reaction. His reaction as he walked in with Marlena, while still somewhat shocked, was not as satisfying as seeing someone's expression that has no idea that he is alive. Bo's reaction was also nothing to write home about. He is in such a state, John wonders if he even noticed him, He is just sitting on the couch rocking back and forth, muttering about how he is supposed to tell Hope. Not satisfying at all. Besides, she'll be more mad with him than with Bo in any case. He just hopes she doesn't forget herself and insist upon seeing Ciara in front of anyone, blowing his cover.
Seems he will have to break the news and situation to her first , before anyone else has a change to do so...