Chapter 6:

April 24, 1997

Springfield, IL

The Springfield Journal, 11:30 am

Holly Reade was at her office, working to try and get her mind off of Roger, when the phone rang. Holly picked it up while her heart started beating quickly as she dreaded the worse.

"Hello?" Holly said fearfully.

"Mom, it's me," Blake said, her voice raised rather loudly. "I know where Dad is."

"You do?" Holly said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"I just got off the phone with Frank Cooper," Blake said, causing Holly to grip the phone tightly. "He's in Oakdale."

"Oakdale?!" Holly asked, knitting her eyebrows in confusion. That didn't make any sense to her at all.

She was relieved that Roger was not far from Springfield, but she still had trouble puzzling over Roger's suddenly leaving. It wasn't that the people of Springfield had sent him any death threats, she hoped, not that they were particularly fond of Roger, far from that they all had a good reason for hating him, Holly herself included at the time that she was still going over her rape by Roger, when they were married. But Holly had long since forgiven Roger for that, and both of them were starting to grow closer at that point.

They had overcome many obstacles since then: Roger shooting Holly's fiancé Daniel St. John, Roger's shooting at the hands of Billy Lewis, who started drinking again, and being taken captive at the cliff House with Michelle Bauer before being saved by Roger and Ed, who fought with the assailant, before Ed and the assailant went over the railing, with the assailant falling to his death, colliding with the rocks below, and Ed grappling on to dear life until Roger pulled him up, a strange reversal of their roles at Santo Domingo.

But despite the obstacles life and the people of Springfield threw at them, Roger and Holly finally gave in to their feelings by making love for the first time since the rape, and decided to continue their complicated relationship. However, it was Roger's desire to pursue Spaulding again that ultimately led to their undoing. Holly nearly ended their relationship right there, but Roger had calmed her down and promised her he would marry her as soon as he got what he needed to secure their future.

Roger didn't understand that she was happy to share her life with him, no matter what social status they had here in Springfield. That they did not need the riches of the world or the Spauldings to live off of. All she wanted, all that she needed, was that Roger gave her all of his soul, all of his heart, all of his mind. That was all that Holly asked him for.

The night that Roger was to propose to Holly, she had found him with Alexandra Spaulding, who had set up the situation to look as if she had seduced Roger. Holly was so bitterly hurt, heartbroken and disappointed by what she assumed she saw that she immediately ran to the Journal, where everyone had left except Fletcher Reade, who taunted her asking what Roger had done this time.

Holly had leapt from her desk and grabbed Fletcher hard by the shirt collar, yelling she hated him, she hated all of them, before they stared at each other for a while, before Holly allowed her impulses to take over, kissing Fletcher with all the energy she could muster to let go of all the pain from seeing Roger and Alexandra together in an 'intimate' embrace. One thing led to another for her and Fletcher, who were then making love to her on her desk.

The next morning, she had broken things off with Roger, who then crashed Ed's Christmas party to talk to her, not knowing what had happened, before he was dragged out by three people.

Later at New Year's Eve, she was shocked when Alan confessed that Alexandra had set up Roger after she found out that her ex-husband had been working with Alan to undermine her, therefore Roger didn't cheat on her. Holly got back together with Roger, but her feelings for Fletcher after their one-night stand were growing. Roger had suspected something was going on, and accused her of having slept with Ed Bauer. It was only later at an awards show for the Journal, that Fletcher cornered Roger and smugly told him that he was the man who slept with Holly. Holly was sad when she saw the look of hirt and betrayal on Roger's face, even more when Fletcher announced his love for her publicly in front of the whole town. Roger had attempted to try winning back Holly, by a variety of tactics, which included going so far as to stage a car accident and faking amnesia. It worked for a while, until Holly found out that he had staged the accident.

She was put off by Roger's manipulative, scheming ways and decided to marry Fletcher, not inviting Roger to their wedding. Of course, Roger being Roger, found a way to attend the wedding, though he did his best to behave.

Holly continued to be disappointed by Roger as he returned to his former self, a user and abuser of women, when he took up with Dinah Marler to get back at Riss for marrying Blake and Vanessa for keeping him from seeing his grandson Peter. Holly decided that if Roger was going to be his old self, then she wanted nothing to do with him.

But now, she couldn't help but worry about Roger. Something had caused him to unexplainably leave Springfield and lie to Blake. She just hoped that they'd find out the answers.

"Mom, are you still there?" Blake asked, breaking Holly's train of thought.

"Yes, sweetie, I'm still here," Holly said. "So he's in Oakdale."

"Yes, he's in Oakdale," Blake responded. "He's staying at the Lakeview Hotel, room 229."

"Lakeview Hotel," Holly repeated softly, just as Fletcher walked in the office. "Okay, I'll be there."

"Alright, I'll see you soon, Mom," Blake said. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye," Holly said. She hung up and saw Fletcher was standing there.

"Leaving so soon?" asked Fletcher.

"Yes, I am," Holly said, grabbing her handbag. "Ross just called and said he'd be glad to have lunch with me."

"I see," Fletcher said, smiling. "And where is this fancy hotel that you'll be having lunch at? I don't think I've ever heard of it before here in Springfield."

"That's because it's not in Springfield," Holly said, catching her husband looking at her in surprise. "It's in Oakdale."

"Oakdale?!?" Fletcher asked. "Why are you going that far out of town for lunch with Ross, when you could have just had it with him anywhere here in Springfield?"

"Oakdale is not that far," Holly retorted. "It's only a half-hour away."

"Yeah, but I still don't see--"

"If you must know, Ross has a meeting there with some clients later on, and he needs me to give him a ride there since the garage is still working on his car," Holly said, using Roger's excuse to Blake for leaving town.

"Okay," Fletcher said. "That sounds reasonable enough." He leaned over and kissed Holly on the cheek. "Be sure to save me a souvenir from Oakdale."

"I will," Holly said, smiling at Fletcher.

She walked out of her office, before pressing the down button for the elevator.

Blake Marler's house, 11:45 am

After she got off the phone with her mom, Blake called Ross and informed him of Roger's location, and asked him if he could drive her and her mother to Oakdale. Ross had coughed in surprise and insisted on going in her mother's car instead, since his car was still being repaired on by the garage. Blake raised her eyebrow at that, but told him to get over to the house as soon as he could.

Immediately after, Blake had called Michelle and told her that she had found her dad, and was going out of town with her mom and Ross to find him, so Michelle would take care of the twins while they were gone. Michelle nodded and said she'd be there.

15 minutes later, Michelle had arrived at the house, along with Ross and Holly. Blake immediately filled them in on what Frank had found out from the chief of staff at Oakdale Memorial and the mysterious appointment her dad had set up with him.

Both Ross and Holly seemed shocked by Blake's news. Michelle, of course, knowing about Roger's predicament from Blake, stood silently watching them.

"Well now we know why Roger decided to skip town," Ross mused. "I was almost sure he left because he'd run into some kind of legal trouble."

Blake turned to Ross. "Legal trouble, like my dad stealing from the Spauldings?"

"Blake," Holly said.

"It's fine, Holly," Ross said. "Blake, you have to know I wasn't trying to slander your father's name. I was considering all the possibilities here."

"Well at least you can rule out that possibility now that we know why my dad really left," Blake snapped silently at Ross.

"What do you think is wrong with him, sweetie?" Holly asked, hoping for a change in topic.

"I don't know, Mom," Blake said. "It probably has to do with that slur that he has."

"Slur?" Ross asked.

"Don't tell me that you haven't noticed, Ross," Blake said, nearly shouting. "He's had it for a few months."

"I know that," said Ross, who tilted his head at her. "I thought that you said it was a minor stroke, though."

"Well, I'm not so sure, anymore, Ross" Blake said, really hoping to God that her dad's slur wasn't as bad as it seemed. "Considering the phone call from Oakdale Memorial to Cedars."

All of them stared silently at each other before Holly said, "I think it's time we should go to Oakdale and find out what's going on with your dad."

Springfield Police Department, 11:55 am

Frank Cooper was working at his office when he saw Amanda Spaulding enter the front door. He already knew what she was doing here, so he stopped her before she could reach the front desk.

"What can I do for you, Amanda?" Frank asked.

"Hello, Frank," said Amanda. "Or should I say Detective now? I forget. Either way, I would like to issue a missing persons report."

"And I take it this missing person is Roger Thorpe," Frank said.

"Why, yes," Amanda said, gasping in surprise. "However did you find out about this information? No, wait, don't tell me, you are still good friends with Blake, right? Obviously she would tell you about her problems."

Frank just stared at her. He knew of the trouble between Blake and Amanda Spaulding, and of Amanda's history with Ross Marler. Anybody would have to be blind to not know Amanda still harbored feelings for Ross, and was only engaged to Roger Thorpe to stick it to his daughter Blake. That and they both cared about power over Spaulding. Or at least that's what Frank thought until he learned that Roger had left Springfield due to his health, whatever problem he might have still being unknown.

"Are you looking into his disappearance, Detective?" Amanda asked, observing Frank. "What have you found out so far?"

Frank decided to cut to the chase.

"Yes, Mrs. Marler told me to look into it," Frank said, emphasizing Blake's marriage name, causing Amanda to frown. "But considering Mr. Thorpe's legal history and the fact that he has not been missing for nearly a day, I'm afraid I cannot issue the missing persons report until a period of 24 hours."

"You can't or you won't?" Amanda asked, glaring into Frank's.

"Look, Amanda," Frank said, ignoring her glare. "I'm doing all I can here. The only advice I can give you is to go back to Spaulding Enterprises and wait until Roger returns to Springfield."

"That is assuming he comes back," Amanda said, looking coldly at Frank.

Frank sighed. "If Mr. Thorpe has not appeared within the first 24 hours of the initial report, I will look into it immediately."

"Good," Amanda said. As she turned to leave, she looked to Frank and said, "By the way let me give you some advice in return, Detective Cooper: If you should so happen to withhold any information whatsoever from not just me, but the entire police department, I'll personally come forward with your superiors with what I know so far before seeing to it that they destroy any career you may have left, alongside the reputations of any co-conspirators you may have."

At that, she turned and walked out, with Frank staring after her silently as he sat back down in his desk and groaned internally as he thought, I am in so much trouble now.