Hey Guys! I can't believe we are getting so close to the end. It will certainly be the end of an era for me as this series has been a big part of life for so long now. I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you, including a special shout-out to MDexter who has never once missed a review, always warming my heart.
MDexter 2010 - I'm so glad you thought so. Yeah I think everyone just assumed Carmita, Emmett and Rein were dead. So it was nice to be able to show that Rein and Emmett actually survived the crash. But yes it was unfortunate that Emmett couldn't survive T.E's minion. Yes she will definitely be messed up when she finds out what's happened to her mom and her grandfather for sure. Naww thanks for saying it's been a great ride. It has been hasn't it? Yes it's funny that you call that a genius moment because it was a moment that was never meant to happen and then one day it just came to me. Thanks for the compliments. Hahaha you worked out my secret! I was hoping the names Maya, Spencer and Alison could just fly under the radar. But I loved that you picked it up! Yay! It's always good to go back and re-read, I've done it a few times myself with other books. Tell me what you find and where it leads you I so can't wait to hear.
Ursala.M. – Thank you Ursala. Yes Spencer is very smart isn't she? I'm glad you liked the mask thing. Yes it does beg the question, how long was Zandra, Zandra? Doesn't it. Jay was lucky Linds reacted well wasn't he? Hopefully she can help them find Andy and Lauren. Yes I can confirm that for sure.
Big Chapter…
Huge Answers…
Welcome to…
Love Hurts.
Chapter Twenty Four – Who is your father?
"People are being advised to lock their doors at night," A news anchor could be heard saying the following morning. "And to take common sense into consideration when letting someone into their homes. Just to repeat then; Richard Gilbourne and Emmett Hummington have been murdered and anyone with any information is asked to step forward."
"Yeah that's likely," Jay snarled sarcastically as Mel walked towards him with a cup of coffee. "Hi officers, I'd just like to tell you all about a person called T.E."
"Micah nearly did you know," Mel replied.
"What?!" Jay asked scandalized.
"Yeah B was telling me he accused T.E. of killing Emmett in front of an officer," Mel answered. "Fortunately B had enough sense to lie to the cops and tell them T.E. was some ex of Emmett's who committed suicide."
"Hopefully that get's them off T.E's radar," Jay mused. "If this is T.E's new game, kill 'em till they're all dead, the less the cops know the better."
"Morning," Spencer yawned as she took a seat on the empty couch next to Mel and Jay, with the former passing her an already made coffee. "Thank you, I got next to no sleep last night."
"You're preaching to the choir," Mel agreed. "I don't think anyone would have slept well last night."
"Except for T.E," Spencer replied.
The others nodded at her words.
After Micah and B had made their way back to Mel's and everyone had filled the group in on what they had found it was decided that some of the group would now stay at Andy and Jay's place. Considering there were way too many people now for even Mel's spacious home.
Mel, B, Spencer, Micah and Jay who had eventually given up hope that Linds was going to drop by had all agreed to go to Andy's, while Debbie, Jenny, Alison and Maya decided to stay at Mel's. Emily, much to everyone's understanding that she'd want to stay home, had insisted she would drive up each day when she could.
This only left Lindsay.
"Mel?" Jay asked nervously. "When will Lindsay be getting home?"
Mel had found out from Micah what Jay's plan was and though she had been upset to hear it, she realized he was right. She did need to know, especially so that Mel could insure she would be safe.
"I rang her last night," Mel replied. "She'll be back at noon. I also rang the firm everyone seemed really worried."
"Yeah, sorry about that," Spencer replied guilty. "I had to tell them something. Everyone was starting to wonder where you guys were."
"That's ok Spencer," Mel replied wrapping an arm around her. "I'm glad they know. I would've completely forgotten to call myself and probably would have been out of a job, same with Andy obviously. Did you call your parents?"
Spencer nodded.
"They don't really care about me," Spencer admitted. "I think mom was thrilled actually."
"I don't believe that," Mel replied, thinking of how much she would love to have a daughter like Spencer.
"No it's true," Spencer continued. "I think mom's exact words were with everything that's going on with Paula, its best that you're out of the way."
"Who's Paula?" Jay asked.
"My older sister," Spencer replied. "She's been through…well a lot. Nothing like this, but still…a lot."
No one pressed Spencer on the issue. In fact Jay's mind was still reeling with the thought of Linds coming home.
"So noon then?" Jay asked.
"Yes," Mel replied. "Noon. It's 9:45 now so why don't we all have some breakfast and we'll take things from there huh?"
Spencer and Jay smiled up at Mel as she left them in pursuit of the kitchen.
"So how'd you sleep?" Spencer asked.
As there were only 2 bedrooms in the house, Jay had willingly offered Micah and B Andy's room, naturally after washing the sheets and given Mel and Spencer the guest room.
"I didn't," Jay admitted. "Every minute I tried to sleep I just kept thinking about Andy and Lauren."
"Yeah I hear you," Spencer replied. "With…what's happened in the last 24 hours, it's hard not to think about them."
"Jay?" Mel enquired walking into the room holding the house phone that Jay hadn't even heard ring. "It's New Haven Hospital?"
The question stumped Jay and Spencer as much as Mel. With Emily taking care of Richard and Emmett having been moved to the mortuary, there seemed to be no reason whatsoever that they phoned the house. Let alone that they would ask for Jay.
"Hello?" Jay asked as he took the phone from Mel and proceeded to the guest room that thanks to both women being up would be vacant.
"Did you just say that was the hospital?" Micah asked as he made his way into the lounge room.
"Yeah, they wanted to talk to Jay," Mel answered. "You guys up now?"
"Yeah," Micah replied. "B's just having a shower, he'll be right in."
As Mel, Spencer and Micah sat down to eat, Jay was listening to the receptionist with wide-eyes.
"I'm sorry?" he asked. "I didn't quite catch that."
"Mr Taylor," the receptionist replied. "Rein Gilbourne was brought in last night. We've been trying to contact her mother but we've been unable to locate her, so she gave us this number. We hope you don't mind."
"No of course not," Jay answered. "Can I see her?"
"That would be great if you could," the receptionist replied. "She needs to see someone and no one's been in to see her."
"What about her grandm-" Jay started, but then recalling what Emily was going through, thought better of it. "No problems, I'll be down there as soon as I can. Thanks."
Jay hung up the phone and flew out of the room, bumping into B in the hall.
"Whoa!" B said stopping Jay. "Where's the fire sunshine?"
"Rein's just been admitted into New Haven Hospital," Jay said. "I need to get up there now."
"And they called you?" B asked surprised.
"I know," Jay replied. "Strange huh? Anyway, I'll get Mel to drive me, you have some breakfast. We're telling Linds today so we'll all need to be ready."
"Jay wait-" B started as Jay made to move off to the kitchen. "I'll drive you. Just give me 5 minutes to get dressed."
"But you haven't eaten," Jay implored.
"Hmmmm," B feigned. "Food or getting you to Rein, tough choice Jay. Give me five minutes."
Jay smiled in appreciation and walked into the kitchen to tell the others what was happening.
"*"
It didn't take long for Jay to get to the hospital and Mel had promised to text Jay the moment Linds was on her way. It was his plan to tell her after all and Mel was more than happy to let him do that, provided she was there of course.
"Rein Gilbourne," Jay panted, having elected to race up the stairs rather than take the elevator a move he was now regretting. "Someone phoned and told me she needed to see me."
"Are you Jay Taylor?" the receptionist asked.
"Yes I am," Jay answered. "Can I see her?"
"Not right now son," the receptionist advised. "She's getting some tests done. But you can wait in her room. Its 206, on your left."
Jay walked swiftly to the room and noticed right away that it was empty. Thankfully there were a few chairs in the room and Jay was just about to take off his coat when he felt something in the left pocket.
Reaching in Jay pulled out the letter Debbie had handed him yesterday from Simon. The word Jay glaring up at him as though knowing he still hadn't read it.
Figuring he didn't know how much longer he'd have, Jay took a seat and began to read it right away.
Dear Jay,
Normally I'd say I'm sorry things didn't work out between us, but I think in this instance it actually worked out for the best. Despite the obstacles you've had to overcome I know how much you love Andy and so rather than feel crushed I am honestly happy that you two found a way to make it work.
Debbie told me that he's gone missing, I'm sorry to hear it. I'm sure you'll find him soon. From what you described to me you two are like one. You are connected in a special way that almost transcends mortality.
I hope that we can still be friends Jay. We started out that way and I always appreciated the friendship we had. If you can't do that I understand, but if you can, please trust that there are no issues this end, as I mentioned earlier I truly am happy for you.
But I also wanted to warn you.
Debbie told me she was on the way to see you and I overheard her talking to someone saying she didn't trust everyone she knew. Please Jay, be safe. Keep your wits about you. I don't want anything to happen to you.
Your friend,
Simon.
All in all it was a beautiful letter and Jay was quick to agree that they could go back to being friends. He knew also that he would heed Simon's advice and be careful around everyone.
He had already begun to think about it and was now thinking about it even more. The stabbing of Richard, while sad, was puzzling more than anything else. Considering Jay had taken out all of the cameras, how was it that T.E. knew that Richard was going to be at Burger Palace? Unless it was as he feared, that there was a traitor in their midst.
It had happened last time with B, so why not now?
The more Jay thought about it, the more he realized he was probably right. Who the traitor was, was very easy to determine. It had to be Alison. It just had to be. From the moment he had met her, he'd known there was something off about her. The way she held herself, the confident and cocky air she always seemed to hold, even under these circumstances. None of it made sense.
Why then he wondered was everyone else willing to tell everyone, everything that had happened?
Yes, he wanted to tell Lindsay. But that was only because he was sure it wasn't her. But would he have decided to let Ali, Spencer or even Maya in on everything? Certainly not.
Jay was pulled out of his thoughts as the door opened and Rein was being pushed back through.
She looked horrible.
Her once pristine face was now lined with scars and bruises and there were cuts all over her hands and arms.
"Thank you," Rein said softly as two male nurses helped her back into bed.
"Jay?!" she questioned excitedly. "Thank you for coming."
But Jay was routed to the spot. Seeing Rein like this, he knew he should be grateful that she was alive. But as people had said before, he now knew what they meant when they said you'll be surprised at what you can live through.
"*"
"Jay," Rein said quietly. "It's ok. Really. I'm…well…alive, that's something right?"
Jay couldn't help but smile at that. He always did like Rein after all and despite her many injuries he was glad to see that she had made it out alive, especially considering what had happened to Emmett and Carmita.
"Can I hug you or?" Jay started.
"I'd be disappointed if you didn't," Rein replied holding her hands out as Jay wrapped himself around her.
"I've missed you," Rein said as Jay took a seat. "I've missed you all. The tour was stressful, but fun at the same time. But I haven't been able to get on to mom or Andy or anyone really. I know Emmett's around here somewhere, we were both transferred together. But I haven't seen him since. Sadly Carmita is…"
"Dead," Jay replied morosely. "I know. There's…um…"
Tears began to fall down Jay's face as he tried desperately hard to control himself.
"There's…a lot that…you don't…know," he finally concluded.
"I know," Rein agreed having assumed as such. "But Jay…why are you crying? What's happened?"
"Rein many things have happened since you guys left," he replied. "Why don't you tell me what happened to you guys first?"
"Oh," Rein said quickly. "Well we were in the plane headed to Zurich. The show in Tuscany had gone really well and we had this huge after party with many bravissima's to go round."
She smiled recalling the memory of the charming residents of the land.
"But then we realized it was getting late and so we headed to the airport as Carmita had another show the very next night."
Jay smiled up at Rein, who now was staring off into the distance as if recalling the memory.
"There was trouble with the plane, I don't remember what, but it took ages to depart. When it finally did, we all sat back feeling rather pleased with ourselves. But then…"
A flash appeared before Rein's eyes, almost as though she was being transported back through time to that very moment.
"Oh Chica, I loooove Italy!" Carmita was saying, before taking a sip from her wine glass.
"I think we all did," Rein agreed. "Hey Emmett, did you get that guys number?"
"Which guy?" Emmett asked, pretending not to know.
"Which guy?" Carmita laughed. "The hombre that was spinning you around on the dance floor!"
"Oh Anton?" Emmett laughed. "Might've…maybe…yeah, I did."
Carmita cheered and Rein joined in.
"Excuse me ma'am," said one of the flight attendants, though it wasn't to the threesome. "Ma'am! This is business class! Your seat is back-"
"Excuse me!" came a voice. "But my friend is in there and I need to see her NOW!"
"Who was it?" Jay asked as Rein came snapping out of the memory.
"Someone we didn't expect to see until after we got back," Rein admitted.
Another flash appeared as Rein recalled the moment.
"Who is that?" Carmita asked, not being able to really see the person.
"Carmita?!" a voice called out.
"Dios Mio Zandra?!" Carmita squealed. "Chica what are you doing here?!"
"I came to find you!" Zandra replied.
"Let her through, let her through," Carmita said effectively shooing the flight attendant away. "It's great to see you!"
"We need to talk," Zandra said calmly.
"Ok," Carmita replied. "Em, Rein can you give us a-"
"No!" Zandra chimed-in. "All of us!"
"What did she want?" Jay asked.
It was the only question he could manage.
With everything they'd missed he was hardly surprised that the threesome had willingly let one of their number-one T.E. suspect's walk into their section of the plane.
But he needed to hold that together, for now.
"She had some big news to tell us," Rein said slowly as a final flash took her back to the incident one last time.
"There's no easy way to say this," Zandra said with a very worried look on her face.
"Then just say it Chica," Carmita pushed. "Did something happen to Andy? Or her mom? Or their friends?"
"Not yet," Zandra replied. "But…there is a new T.E."
"What?!" All three chorused at once.
"When?" Carmita asked.
"How?" Rein asked.
"Lindsay?" Emmett questioned.
"It's true," Zandra replied. "I had to get away because of it. It started a little while ago. I got sent a text but didn't want to worry you."
"Argh Dios Mio Zandra!" Carmita replied frustrated. "You know if something like this happens you tell me right away!"
"I don't know how," Zandra went on looking at Rein and ignoring Carmita.
"But no," she concluded looking at Emmett. "I'm pretty sure it's not Lindsay as it all started when she was in the sanatorium."
"We have to get back home!" Rein said quickly. "Our friends…our families…they're in danger!"
"No!" Zandra said. "You need to stay away from home! If you go back now, T.E. will get you too!"
"I'm not leaving my mother!" Rein yelled.
"B may be strong enough, but Micah's not!" Emmett agreed.
"Andy is not going through this again!" Carmita joined in.
"No you're not listening!" Zandra yelled even louder.
By now a flight attendant walked over to see what was going on.
"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to-"
BOOM!
Rein's mind came rushing back to the present.
"That's…that's all I remember," she said quietly. "She was trying to warn us about some T.E. thing and the next thing I knew I woke up in a hospital in Tuscany. Thank god I know Italian. Emmett was there, but we couldn't find Carmita or Zandra. Do you- do you know where they are?"
It took all of Jay to remain calm as he opened his mouth to explain.
"I don't know what happened to Zandra, I'm sorry Rein. I'm so sorry!" Jay exclaimed not being able to hold it in any longer.
"That's ok Jay," Rein soothed. "I'm sure she's in a room here somewhere."
"S-she might be," Jay stuttered. "But Carmita…Carmita…Carmita…"
"Esta Muerto?" Rein choked.
"Si," Jay replied, before balling his eyes out.
"But-But-But," Rein stammered. "Emmett and I made it out! How did she-?"
"No," Jay said simply as that was all he could say.
"I saw him," Rein said. "Emmett made it-"
"No," Jay cried again. "Emmett made it here, but he's…dead too."
"Wh-What?!" Rein stammered. "H-How?"
"Zandra was right," Jay replied. "T.E. is back and they killed Emmett and-"
Jay stopped himself in the nick of time, how the hell was he going to say the next part to her?
Presently there was a knock at the door.
It was B.
Jay beckoned him in.
"I noticed the tears and held the yelling," he said softly. "How much does she know?"
"Sh-she knows about Carmita and Em-Em-Emmett," Jay stuttered.
B hugged Jay and then walked over to the bed.
"Rein I'm so sorry to have to tell you this," B said as Jay tried his best to muffle the sound of his crying. "But the sooner you know the better."
"Wh-What B?" Rein asked scared to hear whatever it was that he had to say.
Whatever it was that was worse than Emmett and Carmita's passing.
"It's about your mom," B went on.
"N-no, she's not?" Rein choked.
"Not that we know of," B replied. "But she is missing."
"Missing?!" Rein demanded. "What do you mean missing?!"
"T.E. TOOK HER!" Jay belted. "And R-R-R-.."
"I got this kid," B said soothingly. "Rein, T.E. took your mom somewhere, we don't know where. But they also…your grandfather's…"
"My Grandfather's what B?" Rein asked nervously.
"T.E. Killed your grandfather Rein," B said. "I'm so sorry."
"*"
Moments later Emily had made her way in to see Rein after arguing with the nurses for not getting in contact with her. Leaving her with her Granddaughter, B and Jay made their way into the waiting room.
"That's right," A news anchor was saying on the waiting room TV. "It seems that the TSY flight from Tuscany to Zurich crash was no accident after all. Investigators found an exploded bomb at the site and are looking for where it may have come from. We go live now to officer Greenly who has more."
"We have received intelligence," An officer fronting the press was saying. "That the TSY flight from Tuscany to Zurich crash was no mere coincidence. At 11:25pm a woman by the name of Zandra Handerson boarded the flight with a bomb disguised as a cell phone battery…"
"What?!" Jay exclaimed. "Zandra caused it to happen?"
"Ms Handerson a Californian resident who was believed to have been staying in New Haven for at least 8 months prior to boarding the flight was found among the deceased and was one of the unfortunate to not survive the incident. Only 4 people survived the crash; Peter Givens of Boston, Mary Chamberland of Brisbane Australia, Emmett Hummington of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and Rein Gilbourne of New Haven, Connecticut. As many of you know regrettably Mr. Hummington was murdered last night, but Ms Gilbourne, Ms Chamberland and Mr. Givens though in serious condition are still alive and being treated in their respective hospitals. This was NOT ladies and gentlemen, we repeat NOT an accident. And anyone with any information regarding Ms Handerson or the person she received the bomb from is asked to step forward during this difficult time."
"So did Zandra put the bomb in her bag or did-" B started.
"Don't even finish that sentence," Jay replied. "I'm going to say goodbye to Rein and then we're off to see Lindsay."
"*"
After saying goodbye and with Emily promising to update anyone if any changes occurred, B and Jay made their way back to Mel's place. While B continued to think about whether Zandra knew or didn't know about the bomb, Jay was thinking about how exactly he was going to tell Lindsay.
It was 11:30 by the time the pair rocked up at Mel's place and she opened the door grateful to see them.
"She's on the way," Mel instructed. "How's Rein?"
By now everyone else was seated around the living room area and Jay proceeded to tell them everything.
"She's in a really bad state," he said. "She's very lucky to be alive."
"Honey," Debbie replied. "Does she know about- about her mom?"
"Yeah," B answered for him. "And Richard. Apparently Zandra caught the same flight as them and tried to warn them all about T.E."
"Zandra?!" the collective mob said in unison.
"Haven't you seen the news?" Jay asked, picking up the remote and turning the TV on.
As predicted, the report on Zandra's bomb exploding the plane was still going and while everyone else watched what was happening, B and Jay made their way to the coffee pot to grab drinks.
"How you feeling sunshine?" B asked, knowing how nervous he could be.
"Honestly I'd feel better if half these people weren't here," Jay admitted. "It's one thing to tell Lindsay all of this and another to do it in front of everyone you know?"
"If you had the opportunity," B mused. "Who would you get rid of?"
Jay didn't need to think about that at all.
"Maya, Alison, Mom, Debbie, anyone that will detract from what's going on, why?"
"Leave it to me," B said calmly.
He walked swiftly over to the group at large.
"Hey guys," he said drawing their attention to himself. "So I found some stuff in those files at Andy and Jay's but, wouldn't you know it, I'm so stumped on working it all out."
"Oh we can help you," Spencer said standing up.
"Spencer?" Jay called. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Sure," Spencer replied walking over to the sandy blonde.
"What's up?"
"B's trying to create a diversion," Jay rushed. "I'd prefer it if you stayed and naturally Mel will stay too, but I would love it if everyone else went."
Spencer's mouth morphed into an 'O' shape as it all dawned on her.
"Alison and Jenny are really good at deciphering clues!" Spencer piped up quickly. "And what if we get the physical team to check out Palmer's again. I mean…"
She laughed nervously.
"I know what Rachael said, but you never know, Palmer could be back by now."
Everyone readily agreed and with Jay having just enough time to stop Mel from joining the physical team, everyone aside from Spencer, B, Mel and Jay had left to work on the tasks that B had made up to keep them all busy.
"Thanks," Jay mouthed to Spencer.
"Happy to help," Spencer shrugged.
"11:55," Mel said looking at her watch. "Linds should be back at any moment."
It didn't take long at all for Linds to pull up; with 4 steaming cups of coffee placed on the dining room table, Mel went out to greet her girlfriend.
"Hey stranger!" She called.
"Hey!" Linds squealed excitedly.
Together they raced towards each other and embraced in a very tight hug.
"I missed you!" Mel cried.
"I missed you to Mel!" Linds answered.
Mel opened the car to retrieve Gus, while Linds took her stuff and headed indoors.
"And I missed you too little man," Mel said excitedly.
"Mom-mom!" Gus coed.
"Yes I did! Yes I did!" Mel went on, un-strapping the boy from his seat and carrying him inside.
Meanwhile Linds was greeting the few guests that remained.
"Hi Ms Peters, I'm Spencer," the only one Linds didn't recognize said, extending a hand. "I'm Andy Thompson's assistant."
"Oh," Linds replied, realizing the connection. "Nice to meet you Spencer and call me Linds, Ms Peters is my mother."
"Linds it is!" Spencer beamed.
"And hello stranger!" Linds said rushing over to B.
"Best friends since childhood," Jay whispered to Spencer.
"Got ya," Spence replied.
"Jay! How long has it been?!" Linds beamed hugging the sandy blonde.
"Too long Linds," Jay replied. "How are you? How's Gus?"
"Good, good, we're all good," Linds answered. "Wow, I've been away so long I feel like I should be giving you all gifts from my trip or something."
"Stowe away the gifts," B replied. "And wait till you hear what you've been missing."
Though he was known for his brutal honesty, like that B's comment washed away the bright and cheerful mood that seemed to fill the home, replacing it with a sense of ominous feeling.
"Ah Gus," Mel said tentatively. "Why don't you go and draw mom-mom a picture of your favourite thing you did at Grandmas?"
"Ok Mom-mom," Gus replied smiling.
Before they knew it Gus had fled the room and Linds took a seat. Her mind was racing. Yes she wanted to be kept in the loop of things. But how much had she actually missed?
And then something hit her.
"Ah guys?" she asked rather tentatively. "Where's Andy?"
"*"
"That's part of why we're here talking to you," Spencer said.
"There's more than just us though," B cut in noticing how nervous Jay suddenly seemed. "Debbie, Jenny and Micah are here and there are some people you haven't met yet."
"Alison, a very confident woman," Mel continued noticing a certain look of agreeance from Spencer. "Maya - a friend of Jay's from Pittsburg and Emily who is Lauren's mom."
"Okayyyy," Linds dragged out. "Is there some sort of party that I wasn't invited to?"
"No," Jay said, finally chiming in. "Linds it's happening again. There's a new T.E. in town and there's just so much to tell you."
"A new T.E.?!" Linds replied shocked to hear it. "Is it-?"
Linds hesitated before asking the question that was making her nauseous.
"Anyone from the old team?"
The question was directed at B, considering he was the only one in the room that was actually on her old team.
"No," B replied confidently. "We're pretty sure it's not. Rick's back home and can't leave the state and we have reason to believe that Sam and Edward are…an item."
"And no one's seen Ted in quite a while, so we can only assume it's not him," Jay put in.
"You guys haven't been getting texts from this new T.E," Linds spat the last two words out like they were a bad taste in her mouth. "Have you?"
"Yes," Jay replied. "Some of us have, though as far as I know Spencer hasn't."
Spencer shook her head confirming she'd never received a text. In fact, she'd never received so much as a whisper that this psychopathic stalker had ever existed let alone received any sort of message from the person themselves.
"But Mel, Andy and I have," Jay continued.
"That's what he meant!" Linds said confidently as though finally having worked something out.
"What who meant?" Mel couldn't help but intrude.
"You guys don't know this because, well honestly, I thought it was a once-off. But Andy actually came to me for assistance before I went to mom's place," Linds answered. "He told me he'd been receiving texts, but didn't say anything about anyone named T.E."
"Did you help him?!" Jay asked exasperated, feeling like the others, shocked that Andy had never told anyone anything.
"Yes," Linds replied. "I gave him a phone catcher, it's a device that-"
"That was you?!" Jay demanded. "Andy said it was Alison."
"I don't know about Alison," Linds replied. "But no, the phone catcher is mine. Did he find the person that had been texting him?"
No one said anything as Mel and B's eyes flittered towards Jay whose head was looking down guiltily at the coffee cup below his face.
"Jay joined T.E," Mel said comfortingly. "But before you say anything, he's admitted everything and he's sorry. But that phone tracker that you gave Andy, led him to Jay."
"Jay?" Linds choked. "You helped this T.E?"
She was shocked.
During her time as the queen of team evil she had never once considered asking Jay to join the team as she had known he never would. To hear this news, really surprised her.
"I did," Jay admitted eventually. "But I never knew who they were."
"A lot has been going on," B said. "We didn't tell you because we wanted to keep you safe. But T.E. has been threatening pretty much everyone from the warehouse since you were in the sanatorium."
"So the game started again?" Linds asked.
"Linds, this game is not one you would have played," Jay finally spoke up. "This T.E. has actually put people in jail, made people commit crazy acts-"
"That time you caught me by the lake at Peinture de l'esprit sauvage," Mel chimed in using the example.
"Wait-" Linds started. "That was T.E?"
Mel nodded.
"T.E. had something on me," Mel responded, making sure she wouldn't spill what. "And they forced me to take pills from that artist and-!"
"You took those pills?!" Linds demanded. "Mel, the artist in question had a heart attack after the party!"
"I know," Mel replied, recalling Linds telling her as much. "And I felt so guilty. But I could never admit to what I'd done without you being in danger of this new T.E."
"Wouldn't you think," Linds began through gritted teeth. "That I would prefer to know than be kept in the dark?"
"That's why we're telling you now," Spencer interrupted.
She had understood why Mel had never said anything, she clearly loved her girlfriend and wanted to protect her.
"No one knows this," Spencer went on. "But when I was younger I was in a similar situation. Alison and I had these other friends and we were continually being stalked by a cyber-texting psychopath. We did the same thing Mel did, we didn't tell our loved ones because we were scared of the impact it would have on them. But Linds, what you don't know is that T.E. raised the game to something fierce and we only just found out last night."
"What did they do?" Linds asked.
"Sweetie," Mel said calmly. "They killed Lauren's Grandfather."
"What?" Linds asked surprised. "But the game is never meant to include death unless the victim chooses it."
Everyone looked at Linds, stunned by her admission.
"When I played the game," she admitted. "I put people's lives at risk. Risk being the operative word. I had Mel, for example attached to that chainsaw thing, but I never killed her. She still had the chance to live! Ben rescuing her ensured that! And I knew he would rescue her. This T.E. is nothing like me if they're actually going out of their way to directly kill people."
"It's not just Richard," B explained. "Carmita's dead too."
"Oh?" Linds questioned, feeling bad for her but admittedly wasn't going to miss her music.
"And last night…" Jay sobbed. "Micah and B found…"
"What?" Linds asked. "Who?"
"Emmett," B said. "T.E. killed him too."
"Why would they?-" Linds started.
"That's what we've been trying to tell you," Spencer said, figuring it would be easier hearing all of this from a stranger. "You played the game your way with the plan, I'm assuming to test people. This T.E. isn't taking any prisoners!"
"Well actually," Jay picked up. "They have. Lauren and Andy are missing."
"Missing?" Linds gasped.
"And we're pretty sure it's because of T.E." he finished.
"*"
"Ow my head," Lauren moaned, waking up to the harsh florescent lights that always seemed to beam directly onto her.
She had become quite sick of this place ages ago, but with no one coming to rescue her, she wondered just how long she would remain there. The usual buzzing noise that meant food was arriving sounded and Lauren made her way to the door.
Admittedly the mush they always fed her was disgusting. But long gone were the times she'd cry: 'A tray full of goo?'
Nowadays she was only eating to keep her strength up. Who knew what this formerly known as tray of goo, contained? But whatever it was, it was better than starving herself.
As Lauren sat the tray down onto the desk, she couldn't help but think about those she loved as she often had when she sat down to eat. She wondered if Rein had in fact been found, she wondered how Andy and Jay were doing without her. Her thoughts then always turned to positive ones such as whether or not Mel and Linds would get remarried or if Andy or Jay had popped the question.
The hard part was that this always made her miss home. If either of her favourite couples had gotten engaged she would be with them right now organizing the reception, with the only concern being whether she'd be asked to be a bridesmaid.
"Where you lead, I will follow," her phone started.
Lauren jumped and immediately dropped her fork and delved into the draw fishing it out.
"Hello?" she asked a mixture of joy and concern in her voice.
"Hello Lauren," came the sound that Lauren had gotten to know only too well.
"Hey T.E,"Lauren said calmly, bored of all the taunts they had thrown her way. "How's it going? Tortured anyone new today?"
"The time has come for you to answer the 2 questions that will determine your fate," T.E. replied.
"Or," Lauren suggested. "You could answer my questions first. You know it's pretty rude to ignore people when they ask you a que-"
"Silence!" T.E. cried. "The insolence coming out of your mouth is amazing!"
"Are you sure you aren't my mother?" Lauren quipped.
"Lauren I would take this offer very seriously if I were you," T.E. went on ignoring her question once again. "Your offer expires in 10 minutes, so if I were you I'd be focusing on the task at hand."
As much as Lauren wanted to reply with a quip about what T.E. might be doing if they were her, she kept her mouth closed.
"Very good," T.E. replied. "Now then Lauren, let's play our little game. A game that I call Chance. Here are the rules. You answer my questions as I ask them. If you get the first answer correct, we'll move on to the second. If not, you will remain here forever."
"I understand," Lauren replied.
"So then," T.E. went on. "Question the first: Why did I text you about what Palmer had done?"
"Because you cared about me?" Lauren quipped, covering her mouth when she realized that T.E. would take that as her answer.
Silence filled the phone on both ends as Lauren's hand found her forehead.
Idiot! She thought. Now you'll never get out.
"Lauren," T.E. replied. "That answer is…correct."
Lauren was stunned, maybe T.E. was stunned too who knew? But in that moment, Lauren actually appreciated her dry sense of humor more than she ever had before. Her original answer, which she had spent nights working on had been more along the lines of T.E. being Palmer's ex wife Martha and doing it to get him back.
Clearly she was way off and Lauren took the few extra moments of silence T.E. had given her to realize what they'd just confirmed.
T.E. had texted her about Palmer, because they cared about her.
"You got very lucky there," T.E. finally went on. "And as always I keep my promises, so to question the second: "What integral thing has Palmer done since?"
Lauren took a moment to actually think about this answer. She was just one question away from freedom. Getting out of this hell hole and getting back to her friends.
She knew right away that she would demand to know why no one had gone out looking for her, considering what she had done when Jay had gone missing.
Focus Lauren, she said to herself. If T.E. told me about Palmer because they cared about me, there's nothing to say that it's not Martha McDowell. So therefore if it is there would only be one thing that he could do that she would consider to be 'integral'.
"He left me and went back to you," Lauren said calmly.
Again silence filled the line.
"That's it, isn't it?" she beamed. "I won, I won, I won!"
EEEEHHHH! Came the familiar sound of any game show's incorrect answer tone.
"Sorry Lauren, that answer was…incorrect. You lose," T.E. replied.
"Wait, what?" Lauren asked.
"Thank you for playing, goodbye," T.E. finished and like that the line went dead.
Lauren fumed with rage.
T.E. was such a liar!
There was no way she had gotten the second question wrong. The only integral thing Palmer could have done would have been to go back to her!
Filling with more rage Lauren picked up the tray of goo and threw it at the wall where it made a very loud crashing noise.
A noise came from the loud speaker in the room as T.E's voice boomed out.
"Welcome Lauren to where you'll be spending the rest of your life. MY HELL!"
"*"
As the sun began to set, those who had ventured out made their way back to Mel's for dinner. Emily was the first to arrive and though very happy to finally meet Lindsay expressed whole heartedly that she'd wished it was under better circumstances. She told everyone that while Rein looked horrible, she apparently felt better than she looked and the doctors had advised she would make a full recovery.
The group that had gone out to look for Palmer returned next telling everyone they'd waited till closing but there was still no sign of him anywhere.
Finally the group that went to Andy's arrived with nothing new to add. They'd looked through what was left of the files and nothing had seemed to help any of them.
After being introduced to everyone, Linds made her way to her room. It was so nice to be back home. As much as she loved her mother, there was nothing like being back with Mel, even if the house was filled to more than capacity. With Linds and Emily included there were now 12 people in the house and despite its size it just wasn't able to accommodate that many, especially now that Linds was prepared to do what she had to, to reclaim her old bed.
As Linds set about unpacking she reminisced over the discussion she'd had with B, Mel, Jay and Spencer. It had been tough to hear everything and tougher to find out that what she'd thought was a silly cyber-stalker to Andy, had actually turned out to be someone much worse than she had been. As she took out a pink top with the words Lesbians Live Longer, she sighed and sat down on her bed holding it in her hands.
Emmett had bought it for her last year and she'd always loved it. But now holding it reminded her that he was no longer of this world. Emmett was one of a kind unlike a lot of the other people she'd met. She had loved him so much she was actually secretly glad that he wasn't involved in what had happened at the warehouse.
A tone from her cell brought Linds out of her thoughts as she raced over to pick it up. It was probably work, after all she hadn't been in for a while and they probably wanted to know what was going on.
But as she looked at the message, shock filled Lindsay and her eyes grew wider with every word she read.
Sanctuary – a place of safety away from harm and danger. While you were in the dark you had sanctuary, but now that you've come out…I have a little gift for you. It's interesting how things are perceived, especially when we think they're morally achieved. But sometimes things are not as we believed, take a look at how your baby really was conceived – with love T.E.
Below the ominous text was a video and noting that no one was around, Linds pressed play.
"Oooooh Andy!" came the cry of ecstasy from her girlfriend.
Linds looked on horrified at what she was seeing Mel and Andy were getting quite hot and heavy. As Linds continued to watch the video her eyes filled with tears.
So this was how our child was conceived? She thought.
"Yes, yes, yes!" Mel cried out through the video.
Linds had seen enough and pausing her phone she raced to the bathroom, making it there just in time before throwing up everything she had eaten that day.
In the dining room everyone was contentedly eating dinner except for Mel who was worried about Linds. She still hadn't joined them and it had been a while since dinner was served, most people were almost finished. Deciding she would go and see if her girlfriend was ok, Mel made her way to the bedroom and knocked softly.
"Linds?" she whispered. "Are you ok?"
Instantly the door was wrenched open and Mel came face to face with a glaring Linds.
"Am I ok?" she demanded darkly. "Of course I'm not ok!"
Mel walked into the room and closed the door behind her.
"Linds, I know it's not easy to adjust to this situation," she started.
But Linds stopped her.
"Especially when the one thing you held closer than anything else," Linds replied staring at Mel's stomach. "Was all a lie."
"Linds, what are you?-" Mel started.
But Linds simply grabbed her cell and pushed play.
"Ooooooh Andy!" came the sound of Mel's cry once more.
There was nothing Mel could do. Everything she'd done to keep Lindsay from knowing what had happened was suddenly all for not. T.E. must have texted Linds and now the truth was out.
"*"
"Of course I'm angry!" Linds yelled. "You never told me! And now in one night I've had to learn that not only is there a new T.E, 3 people have been killed, 1 of which was a good friend of mine and on top of all that YOU CHEATED ON ME WITH ANDY!"
Linds couldn't help herself, emotions had been building inside of her ever since she'd started getting bombarded with all of the information regarding T.E.
"Oh boy," Jay said as the rest of them heard the end of Linds' yelling at the dining table.
"I'll go," B said smartly. "Everyone else finish up, we still have so much to do tonight. I don't know about you guys but I'm not letting T.E. kill anyone else."
"And YOU WOULDN'T TALK TO ME!" Mel could be heard yelling back.
"Nor am I about to let our favourite lesbians kill each other," B concluded swiftly making his way to Mel and Linds' room.
"So what? I'm to blame?" Linds cried. "Because I was spending time with my son, someone I hadn't seen in a very long time, you decide to get back at me by sleeping with Andy!"
"Let's not pretend I'm the only one who has slept with a guy here Linds," Mel rationed.
It was true after all.
Earlier on in their relationship Linds had slept with a male artist. The fall out was not pleasant at all and Mel actually reacted worse than Linds had done so far.
Without waiting to even knock, B barged into the room.
"B, now is not a good time," Linds said through gritted teeth.
"Everyone can hear you," B said simply. "Both of your voices travel."
"Well I'm not the one that invited 10 other people into our home," Linds spat, glaring daggers at Mel.
"Andy and Lauren are missing," Mel implored. "What did you want me to do? Leave them out there?"
"Mel," B began calmly. "Why don't you go back to the dining room? I'll sit here with Linds for a bit."
Mel didn't know what to say to that and without helping it turned to Linds, who gave the slightest of nods. Silently agreeing at once, Mel headed out of the room while B took a shot with his friend.
"So you found out about Mel and Andy huh?" he asked.
Linds nodded.
"Let me guess T.E. sent you a text?"
Linds wordlessly passed her phone to B who read the message. B sighed and patted the bed inviting Linds to sit with him.
"I know what Mel did was wrong," he started. "And she knows it too believe me. From what I've heard T.E. made Mel do some horrible things just to make sure you wouldn't find out, because she knew how much it would hurt you."
"Doesn't make it any more right," Linds spat.
"No, it doesn't," B agreed. "But Lindsay sometimes we need to know when to push back, when to offer advice and when to be harmless."
"What?" Linds chuckled. "Since when are you Mr. Philosophical?"
"Since I realized what we did at the warehouse and how wrong it was," B explained. "We put most of those people out there through so much and for what? Keeping secrets? I knew the moment I left with Jay that day that I had a choice and I made it."
"Going to the cops?" Linds asked skeptically.
"It's what going to the cops represented," B replied. "We weren't happy Linds, none of us were. Especially you. You were filled with so much hatred. More than I've ever seen in you.. Going to the cops, signaled the end of my bad ways."
Linds chuckled heartily.
"You laugh now," B continued smiling. "But you won't believe how things have gone down since."
"Oh yeah?" Linds asked. "What big changes have you made?"
"For one thing I finally got together with Micah."
"What?" Linds laughed. "Really?"
B nodded.
"Good for you B," Linds replied giving her friend a hug. "I always knew you two would be perfect for each other, but you were always so…"
"Proud?" B questioned.
"I had a few other choice words," Linds laughed. "But proud is close enough."
"Thanks," B replied. "But don't you see? Despite what Mel did with Andy, what we did during our time at the warehouse was so much worse! And Mel never had to forgive you for that."
"You're right," Linds agreed. "She could have left me to rot in the sanatorium. But she came around eventually."
"And let's not draw comparisons between a once off obviously blind-drunk night and a chain saw that almost sawed Mel in half yeah?"
Linds sighed.
"You're right," she said at last. "I know you are, but B every time I look at that kid all I'm going to think is-"
"That he's your son and has all of Andy's good qualities?" B questioned. "Come on Linds, I get it, I do. But remember how Mel was the first time you told her we were going to create Gus?"
Linds laughed as she recalled the moment.
"I remember she was eating cereal at the time and snorted milk from her nose," Linds continued to laugh. "She never swore off something so quickly."
"I remember," B added. "When she called me to tell me that you were giving birth. I was with Jay at the time remember?"
"That's right," Linds recalled happily. "If I remember correctly you two were-"
"Yeah we don't need to rehash old memories," B smiled.
Linds smiled back recalling how Mel had told her later that when she'd called B not only did they not even know Jay, but B was literally inside of him during the phone call. Even then he was at least responsible enough to bring Jay to the hospital and as it turned out, Jay was the one to suggest the name of Gus to both her and Mel.
"If I've learned anything this year," B went on, noticing how significantly Linds had calmed down. "It's that everything happens for a reason. Sure those two did what they did, but when you think about it-"
"Ew!" Linds remarked. "I don't exactly want to think about that, thank you."
"What I mean," B smiled. "Is when you think about it what they did means that you and Mel get to have another baby. Just make sure that next time if you want to use Jay, give me a call first."
"Jay?!" Linds asked scandalized. "Next time?"
"What?" B asked innocently. "It wasn't my idea to keep it all in our little family. Jay's the only one you haven't gone after yet."
"Andy was Mel's idea," Linds put in.
"Oh and I suppose you never wondered what it would be like if little Anton or Andrea had Andy for a father?" B laughed.
It was true. In fact when they had began to make a list of the people they would consider asking to donate, it was Linds who had actually come up with suggesting Andy.
"Be as mad as you need to be Linds," B went on. "But don't knock the opportunity it's given you, that's all I'm saying. Well that and T.E. is always looking to do anything they can to stir up trouble."
Linds hugged her friend, after all he was right. While Mel had done the wrong thing, the result was a miracle. Mel was pregnant and she was going to have their second child. She was still mad that Mel had cheated, but she knew then in that very moment that at some point in the future she would remember this conversation and vowed to get B tickets to this child's graduation when the time eventually came.
"*"
After assuring her several times that everyone out in the dining room wouldn't care that she'd had an argument with Mel, Linds finally made her way out of the bedroom and was shocked to see everyone so busy.
"It's like peak-hour at an office!" Linds commented as Spencer rushed up to them.
"B, Mel wants you to take another look at the Raven's Beak poem," she advised. "Emily's coming in an hour, oh and Linds? We were wondering if you could help us out over here?"
Caught up in the adrenaline rush that seemed to have taken over everyone B hurried off to find Mel while Linds walked with Spencer over to the mentalist group, who tonight were sitting in the seating area.
"Ok ladies!" Linds beamed. "What can I do to help?"
"Well we're trying to locate T.E. as quickly as possible," Spencer advised. "We figure if we can locate T.E. we'll find Lauren and Andy. But we're struggling with how to proceed as none of these pages seem to be leading us anywhere and-"
"I have an idea," Linds interrupted. "Sorry Spencer, it's just…I just thought of something. Can I borrow you for a minute?"
"Sure," Spencer smiled.
Nothing else was getting them anywhere and if Linds actually had an idea, she was all for hearing it.
Linds lead Spencer to the office and took a seat, asking her to close the door. As Spencer sat, Linds barged right into her explanation.
"I don't know how much you know about my time as the leader of Team Evil," she said as she turned on the PC.
"Only what you guys spoke about earlier," Spencer replied.
"Well I had a few tricks up my sleeve and then I used them for evil," Linds explained. "But now…finally…I can use them for good."
Spencer smiled widely as Linds began to teach her all that she had learned while ruling team evil.
"*"
Both the old teams and the newly formed team of Spencer and Linds had been working very hard on trying to find a lead, when Jay came racing up to B and Mel.
"You guys," he said excitedly. "I don't, I don't know how we missed it!"
"What?" they asked together.
"Look at this!" Jay replied beaming.
He passed over the piece of paper he'd been looking at and Mel's smile faded as she looked up to Jay.
"Are you still on about that birth certificate Jay?" she asked remembering all of the details that came with this information like the back of her hand.
Jay smiled tightly as if thinking the words bite me Mel before continuing.
"We all looked it over and no one seemed to find anything of significance-" he started.
"Yeah, because without the father there's nothing else to go on," Mel snapped.
"But what we didn't look at," Jay continued over her rude remark. "Was the name of the brother!"
"Brother?!" B asked confused. "She had a brother?"
"Yeah," Jay said impressed with himself. "She did!"
"No!" Mel gasped as though drawing the same solution Jay had.
Mel passed the paper to B, whose eyes darted right for the info they were discussing. On the page in bold letters were the words:
Brother: William McDowell.
"Wait," B began. "This has to be a coincidence."
"After everything that's happened, I don't know if I believe in coincidences anymore," Jay replied. "But I do know one thing, I'm going back to Casa de Carmita. And this time…I'm ready for him!"
"*"
With the entire physical group on board with Jay's plan the 5 of them stepped out, leaving Linds and Spencer to whatever it was they were doing and the others looking at some more ideas.
The plan was simple enough, a no holds barred do whatever it took campaign to make William talk. There was no way he wasn't involved. At the very least he killed Rhonda. That much had already been proven.
As the 5 stepped out of Mel's car, each equipped with some sort of weapon of defence they approached the door. But not one of them knocked. Instead they just barged in and went directly for the kitchen.
There he was cooking something on the stove, acting all innocent like the butler he wanted everyone to believe he was.
But Mel was having none of it.
"William McDowell?" she asked.
Slowly William put down the wooden spoon he was using, turned off the stove and turned to face the five.
"Yes that's…" he began before realizing who it was. "You guys? Again? I still have my gun you know."
"What you thought we wouldn't come prepared?" Micah asked, taking out a baseball bat that he'd brought with him.
"You better start talking," Jay said.
William sighed and made his way over to the kitchen table. Unlike what they'd all been through last time William actually seemed less hostile. Maybe it was the bat or assortment of defence weapons the others had, maybe it was something else who knew? But the look on his face screamed nothing but resigned defeat.
"Let's start with the first question," Mel began as the others took their seats but she had elected to stand. "How are you related to Rhonda?"
William took a deep breath and then suddenly it all came out.
"Rhonda McDowell is my adopted sister," he admitted.
Everyone gasped.
"You killed your own-?" Jay began, but Mel cut him off.
"Jay," she warned. "Not now. Go on William."
"I don't know how it will help you guys," William replied. "But it's true Rhonda was my adopted sister."
"And her birth name was Mariana DeLeon, wasn't it?" Mel asked calmly. "Wasn't it?"
"How did you know?" William gasped.
"We're brighter then we look," Mel replied. "So make the connection for us. How did Mariana become Rhonda?"
"It's a long story," William admitted.
"Honey," Debbie intervened. "We have all night."
"*"
As William looked at the 5 people looking back at him, he knew one thing to be true. They at least deserved to know about Mariana. If not for them, then for the sake of his now dead sister.
His sister that he killed.
"A long time ago now," William said. "My sister was born in San Juan to her birth parents Carmita and Miguel. According to Mariana they were quite young when she was born and they had no choice but to give her up to Carmita's Cousin Luciana and her husband Alejandro."
Debbie, realizing the guy was no longer a threat to them set about making coffee for everyone as the man continued.
"As luck would have it Luciana and Alejandro were trying to have children of their own but prior to Mariana's birth, they had been unsuccessful. The pair promptly agreed to take Mariana off their hands and keep the fact that a young DeLeon had fallen pregnant a secret."
"Didn't go down well with the family?" Debbie asked bringing the coffees to the table.
"As you can imagine, Carmita's parents would have flipped out if they found out that their daughter had been pregnant so young. Miguel was 22, but Carmita had only just turned 19 at the time. There would have been too much outcry. According to Mariana, her mother was always predicted to be the family's biggest success and giving birth and raising a child was definitely not part of those plans."
Though no one could really understand Carmita's parent's point of view, they all nodded if only to be kind.
"As time went on Mariana grew up a very happy child," William went on. "She made excellent grades at school. Was very popular with the boys and had very loving parents. Then one day Luciana decided that her daughter was old enough to know the truth about the situation."
"They never told her?" Jay asked.
William shook his head.
"She was an infant when they got her so they thought they could keep it a secret and she would never know," William replied. "But by now Carmita had made it huge in San Juan. She'd released a single called Mi Vida I think I have it actually."
William walked to his room, closely followed by Micah and B, lest he was thinking of making some kind of a getaway. He wasn't however and moments later returned to the kitchen playing a song from his phone.
Though the song was sung in Spanish everyone could tell it was a sad song, by the somber tone that exuberated from Carmita's voice. It was also a short song that seemed to only last about a minute.
As Debbie, who was always a softie, wiped away some tears William locked his phone and continued.
"Roughly translated it's a song talking about a woman who had someone in their life that made them happy, but sadly now they are not part of her life anymore." He said.
"Mariana?" Mel guessed.
"She always thought so," William replied. "One night when we were younger Mariana came to my room and shared the song with me. But I digress."
He took a sip from the coffee that sat in front of him, before showing eyes of appreciation at just how good the liquid was to its maker Debbie.
"Mi Vida became an instant hit and with it so did Carmita. The next thing everyone knew she was being pushed out of her comfortable San Juan nest to the United States, to see if she could become a mega star. But her daughter was about to learn something she never knew. Unbeknown to Carmita, Mariana grew up idolizing a singer that knew what it was like to have her heart broken. As I mentioned earlier Mariana was popular with the boys, but that didn't mean they never broke her heart even back in San Juan."
"So Luciana and Alejandro told Mariana about her parents?" Jay asked.
"Yes," William replied. "It tore their hearts seeing all the posters and one day they finally felt that she was old enough to learn the truth and so they told her."
"How did she take it?" Debbie asked intrigued in the story as much as everyone else.
"Not well actually," William replied. "She felt betrayed by both families. Betrayed by Carmita and Miguel for giving her up and betrayed by Luciana and Alejandro for never telling her the truth. Finally one day she couldn't handle it anymore and so when Luciana and Alejandro went out to work she packed her bags and flew straight to California in the hopes of finding her real mother. Like Carmita, Marianna wanted to be a singer also and now it all had finally made sense. She figured, I guess, that Carmita owed her and that she'd be set up with a label in no time."
"Did she find her?!" Micah asked, just as intrigued as the others.
Long since had the thoughts of tying this guy to a chair and threatening him till he broke gone, everyone had been just so wrapped up in what William was telling them.
"Yes," Jay replied, surprising everyone.
"How do you know?" Debbie asked.
"Andy told me," Jay replied. "Carmita told him and Rein after she flew back into New Haven. Apparently she found Carmita, but Carmita never said anything."
"He's right," William confirmed. "She found Carmita and though she knew who Carmita was, neither woman actually said anything along those lines. Mariana told her she was Luciana's daughter and Carmita just acted as though she were a member of the extended family and nothing else."
"Poor girl," Debbie replied. "To lie to your own daughter and never have a moment together as mother and daughter?"
Debbie may have been the one to say it, but everyone else was thinking it. After all, not only had Rhonda been killed by William, but as they'd all found out recently Carmita hadn't survived the plane crash.
"Eventually Mariana was tracked down by authorities," William went on. "And she was placed into the system. Considering she was under age and wasn't willing to go home they had no choice but to place her into an orphanage."
"Which is, I'm guessing," Jay chimed in. "How your parent's met her?"
"Correct," William answered. "My father was a very talented business man who owned a café in California. His wife was an aspiring novelist. But they wanted children and had never seemed to be able to have their own. So one day they decided to adopt a child and naturally that's when they found Mariana."
"California?" Debbie questioned.
"Where were you?" Mel asked.
"Wait-" Jay started. "Did you mean Palmer?"
"Ok everyone," William replied holding his hands up as though to defend himself. "One at a time. Yes, they lived in California at the time. I wasn't born then, they adopted Mariana a year before they had me. My sister was 12 years older than me, she just looks young. And yes, I am referring to Palmer. He was her husband at the time and my biological father."
Everyone nodded accepting the answers he was giving them.
"As the years went on we grew up together, Mariana and I, and it was like a blessing for her and me. We became close really quickly. One day my parent's received a house call from Luciana and Alejandro. They had found out where Mariana was but my parent's refused to tell them anything, in fact they denied even knowing of a Mariana DeLeon. Not long after they'd left, my mother and father had a long talk to my sister feeling they should give her the choice to go back to San Juan if she wanted to. But Mariana was having way too much fun and so she asked them if she could get her named legally changed so that they wouldn't all have to go through it again. Everyone agreed-"
"And that's how she became Rhonda," Jay mused rather matter-of-factly.
"Quite so," William confirmed. "My mother and father chose the name of my mother's deceased Grandmother, Rhonda so as to make it look legitimate. From there everything was fine and we both grew up rather happily."
"Until Palmer left your mother," B put in. "You didn't think we were going to skip over that little snag did you?"
"No," William admitted defeated. "When Palmer left my mother, it was truly a dark day. But they both impressed upon us that they loved us and would do anything for us."
"But then why is Palmer not listed as Rhonda's father on her birth certificate?" Mel asked.
It was a gamble considering they never had seen the name before, but as everyone had been saying all along, why would T.E. redact the name if it was Palmer?
"After my father left," William explained. "My mother was down for quite some time. One day she met a lovely man and they started going out. Rhonda and I had never seen our mother look so happy. Gone were the days when she would walk in the door looking sad or tired, for she had started beaming every time she got home. We met the man she was dating and he was really nice. He took us out for pizza and ice cream many times and we got to know him quite well. Eventually as can sometimes happen, they decided to get married."
"That's all well and good honey," Debbie began.
"I'm getting there I promise," William replied. "After they got married, it was clear just how much Rhonda loved her new father and one day she asked our mother for the last favor she ever would ask."
"What was it?" Jay asked.
"She asked to have dad's name taken off her birth certificate and to have his name placed on there instead," William replied.
Everyone seemed taken aback at this shocking piece of news.
"What?" William asked. "She'd already had her name changed and the names of her parent's updated to mom and Palmer. Why not add another name to that list? Or in this case, another name to replace the one that was there before?"
"True," Debbie mumbled.
"Then Palmer signed away his rights and we now had a new father. So once that was done everything was official. Mom never took our new father's name wanting us all to still be McDowell's and Rhonda never saw Palmer again and I was kept from him the majority of the time."
"But William," Jay said after a pause. "Who is your new father?"
"You don't know?" William asked.
"No!" They all chorused at once.
"Oh, I'm sorry," he replied. "I thought you all knew. My father's name is Dr. Kenneth Stappord."
"*"
Walking into the crematorium T.E couldn't help but smile.
"You have done well," she said to Scott, noticing the man standing there beaming with pride.
T.E. made their way over to their first dead victim.
Carmita.
"Getting her here was the toughest," Scott explained. "But your plan worked a treat in the end."
"I always knew it would," T.E. replied "No one can resist sending someone to the place they always wanted to be burned in."
The plan in essence was quite simple. T.E. had asked Scott to phone the people at the crash site and request that Carmita be brought home to New Haven. Considering she had a residence at Casa de Carmita, it wasn't going to be that hard to convince people that she wanted to be cremated near the home she had lived in for most of her time off from touring.
"Ah Carmita," T.E. sighed. "Como han caido los poderosos. How the mighty hath fallen!"
T.E. laughed quite evilly.
"If only you'd known my plan a little earlier you may have managed to escape your death. If only Zandra had known I was going to double-cross her. T.E. my ass! A few lame messages wasn't going to scare me, the real T.E. off."
"Well said my league," Scott grinned.
"C'est la vie, my dear chica," T.E. went on. "Your life though short lived now over, can only be one that will help everyone in the future. After all, no one really liked your music. I'm amazed you survived this long."
T.E. turned to Scott.
"I have nothing left to say to this one," they spat. "Burn her!"
Scott complied turning the machine on as both he and T.E. watched Carmita's body make its way into the crematory.
T.E. laughed sinisterly as the door to the crematory closed and Carmita's body began to burn.
"One down…" T.E. said gleefully. "Two to go."
T.E. then approached Richard next.
"Why hello Richard," T.E. said evilly. "How's death treating you? Better then living ey? Better than dealing with that wife of yours, I'm sure."
T.E's face turned into a twisted smile, before they took a step back and truly appreciated the form that was in front of them.
"If only you hadn't gotten in the way," T.E. patronized. "Sometimes there is being right and sometimes…there is being way too close for comfort. I knew if I kept you around too long you would have worked it all out. It was only a matter of time and you being so smart and all. One can hardly be blamed for doing what needed to be done."
"I trust he was the hardest to get into the room?" T.E. asked Scott with a snide smile.
"Took 3 of your nurses and myself your league," Scott replied.
"The man is gifted," T.E. agreed. "I've never seen anyone eat as much as him. I'm actually surprised he didn't eat himself to death!"
T.E. nodded to Scott who turned on the crematory in front of the old man.
"Goodbye Richard," T.E. smiled. "Believe me when I say, your loss…is my gain!"
As the conveyor belts moved Richard towards the crematory, T.E. sounded another villainess laugh.
Everyone that had been doing what they could to discover who this person was hadn't even come close. And now with 3 people dead as a direct result of them, T.E. knew they were not going to be discovered any time soon.
After the crematory closed on Richard T.E. made their way over to their final victim.
Emmett.
"Hello sweetems," T.E. imitated. "How kind of you to come."
Without being able to help it, T.E. laughed a laugh that filled the entire crematorium. Scott joined in.
The pair of them knew that they had won and at the rate they were going, soon everyone who claimed to be on 'team innocent' would be down to no one.
"Your timing is excellent because you see," T.E. went on. "I'm about to do away with thee! Oh Emmett, what dead, lifeless spirit fills your once enchanted, sparkling eyes. It's a good look for you, maybe you should have joined Edward. The two E's, why that would be better known as…T.E. would it not?"
Scott sniggered in the background.
"Of course that title is already taken and so you are out of luck," T.E. concluded swiftly. "As you are out of time."
T.E. turned to their minion.
"Put him through," T.E. demanded. "And when they're done…give them…to me!"
Laughing all the way to the exit door T.E. had never felt better. This final act would stun the innocents like nothing ever had before. Their revenge would be complete and the game…would finally…be won.
"*"
And that's where we'll leave the story for this week.
What did you think of Simon's letter and the advice of not trusting everyone? Is there anyone in the story you don't trust? Rein told Jay what happened on the TSY flight. Did you know Zandra was involved? Speaking of which, what did you think about Officer Greenly's statement confirming Zandra was responsible for the plane's crash? Were you surprised at Linds' reaction to the T.E. news? What about when she said that the game isn't supposed to include death unless the victim chooses it? So T.E. has finally called Lauren and though she got the first answer right, sadly she failed on the second one. So she's going to be stuck there now. Were you surprised that T.E. messaged Lauren about Palmer because they cared about her? And just when we thought Linds was finally going to be able to help everyone T.E. plays the Andy/Mel card sending her the tape from that night. Did that surprise you? Were you shocked that B was able to help Linds move past it at least for the moment? Do you think Linds' tricks she learned from her time as T.E. will be able to assist everyone? What a discovery from Jay, noticing William was Rhonda's brother! Did you guess that? Of course this lead us to the biggest revelation yet! Rhonda's father is Dr Kenneth Stappord! Wow! I bet some of you were shocked to find that out. Why do you think T.E. went to the crematorium?
All will be revealed.
Next Time on Love Hurts…
(T.E to Andy): "The time has come for you to answer the 2 questions that will determine your fate!"
With Lauren having failed…
(Andy): "I'm ready."
What will happen when Andy…
(T.E.): "Question the first, who am I?"
Is put to the test?
(Andy): "This is you, isn't it?"
And what surprise…
(Spencer): "Ah Linds, what's this?"
Awaits the mental team…
(Linds): "Spencer don't-"
That will show once and for all…
(Spencer): "What's the one thing that would get to us more than people dying?"
That T.E…
(Linds): "What does it say?"
(Spencer): "It's a song?!"
Is Not PLAYING AROUND?!
(Spencer): "I think I'm gonna be sick."
But it's 2 big moments…
(Jay): "I'm Jay Taylor, I was hoping to have a session with Dr Kenneth Stappord."
(Spencer): "What are you trying to do?"
(Linds): "I'm trying to find a live stream…And wah-lah!"
At the end of the chapter…
(Jay): "What is it?"
(Dr Stappord): "Someone's been taking photos of us!"
That'll be the most heart racing ending…
(Dr Stappord): "You took a picture of me!"
(Micah): "I'm Micah, Micah Bruckner."
Ever!
But there's one thing we can tell you…
(Sat Nav): "In 300 meters turn left."
For absolute certain…
(Sat Nav): "You have arrived at your destination."
BEAT-BEAT-BEAT-BEAT-BEAT-BEAT…T.E'S HOSPITAL-WILL-FINALLY-BE-FOUND!
(Linds): "We ready? Ok fellow nurses, let's go!"
(Burglar alarm sounds as red lights flash!)
(Rein): "What about Andy?!"
(Linds): "Where is he?"
(Spencer): "I don't know…but it's not good!"
An All New Love Hurts Next Monday.