Chapter 2

Port Charles

Robin Scorpio sat back on her couch, phone in hand, held at a safe distance from her ear. She'd been on the phone for over an hour with her mother already, who was clearly having multiple issues with the idea that Robert was still alive. Anna had finally settled down enough for Robin to finish recounting all that had happened with the virus.

"And then it got even stranger. Holly showed up in town with the antidote and was holding in for ransom. Dad said she was doing it because she needed money..." Robin pulled the phone further from her ear, but she could still hear Anna's voice loud and clear. Patrick Drake walked into the room, raised his eyebrows, and then slowly backed out again. He made a mental note to buy Robin a speakerphone for her birthday.

"That bitch! If I ever get my hands on her, she will be lucky if I leave any of her bones unbroken."

"Mom, calm down. I am fine, the virus is under control and we have extra antidote stockpiled. It's OK."

"Still, I can't believe that Holly would put innocent people's lives at risk just for the sake of money."

"That's just it, Mom, I can't believe it either. It's really not like her."

"Well, you would know her better than I. It's not as though I have talked to her in years."

"We grew pretty close when you and Dad, uh, disappeared. Then after she left Port Charles, we kept in touch mostly by email but we would get together in person from time to time, couple times in Paris when I was living there. Mostly we'd do something girly like go shopping. But, Mom, she always asked about my health, she always kept tabs on me," enumerated Robin. "It really, really doesn't make sense."

"If you put it that way, no, it doesn't. But who knows what could have happened to her over the last few years?"

Patrick appeared in the doorway with a large piece of chocolate cake in hand and a beckoning look in his eyes.

"Uh, Mom, I gotta go. We'll talk again soon, 'k? Love ya." Robin was relieved to end the conversation and spend some quality time with her new boyfriend.

The Markham Islands

Robert sat at the table in his cabin at the resort that the MRA's travel agent had chosen. He was supposed to be finishing up his report on the encephalitis incident. He was also supposed to be filing his statement regarding Holly's involvement in the whole mess. He rubbed at his shoulder in a feeble attempt to relieve some of the tension that had built up. It didn't help that he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before; he had tossed and turned all night, troubled by the memories that kept rushing at him, even during his sleep.

Robert got up from the table and poured himself a drink from the bar. He had learned the hard way years ago that he wouldn't be able to use alcohol to forget Holly. He was simply hoping to keep his neurons from firing a mile a minute, so that he could think.

There were just too many things that didn't add up: the money aspect, the atypical behaviour, the sheer coincidence that Holly and her husband had invested in a company that manufactured a virus that infected the inhabitants of her former town. And Holly's stories were all over the place. First she said she was in it for money, then she said it was to get back at him. First she threw herself at him, then at Luke, then at him again. Actually, that last part Robert could believe was just due to desperation, because he wouldn't be too thrilled about going to prison either.

This situation was just out of control. He wondered how for much of it he was responsible,

"You can't possibly be that thick. Your highly exaggerated death affected all of us. What Holly did was reprehensible, but whatever action she chose to take was a result of what you did. So stop trying to explain it away or act like it's no big deal. Stop waiting for everyone to say all is forgiven, because they won't. It's not." Robin had said.

Robert thought for a moment and then pulled out his laptop and began running searches on Holly, checking on her whereabouts over the past few years. He sat back and waited for the data to accumulate.

Markham Islands Prison

Holly Sutton Scorpio McFarlane sat in the interview room of the Markham Islands prison, waiting to speak to her lawyer. She fervently hoped that he or she would at least speak english. Although even if they did speak it perfectly, she wasn't sure it would help her story to make sense.

She thought back to the first time she heard of Crylium Industries, about six months ago. After selling the painting that she stole from Bill Eckert, Holly had found herself in possession of a fair amount of money. She paid off some debts, donated some money to charity, put some money into Robin's college fund and had even gone back to school herself, but still had plenty of money left over. She started out by investing the money herself, but found it was taking too much of her time.

Holly had made an appointment with an investment management firm in 2003. Her file was assigned to financial analyst Dougald McFarlane, who was instantly taken with his new client. They started dating after a few appointments. Holly liked Dougald, thought he was funny and good-looking and sweet (if not a little dull and naive), but simply put, he adored her. Enough time had passed that Holly had realized that she would never be able to match what she had with Robert. She remembered what she had said to Tiffany after his death, "Robert was the love of my life and I'll never find that again." So when Dougald proposed to her, she initially put him off, not ready to make that sort of commitment again. But Dougald was persistent, Holly remembered, and eventually she gave in. She was relieved that he didn't seem to notice that there was a part of her heart that she never shared.

Holly's investing tactics were somewhat ecletic, at least in Dougald's eyes. She dabbled in Green funds and so-called ethical funds. She continued to donate some of her money to charity, benefitting doubly from the tax deductions. She liked giving money to children's charities but some of her requests made Dougald cringe, like the donation to the Australian wallaby preserve. But the main thrust of Holly's investment strategy was medical research. It was not something she had ever given a second thought to, until Robin was diagnosed with HIV. But once she saw how important advancements in medications and treatments were, she focused her investments in that area.

Dougald was well aware of this, which was why he was so pleased with himself when he brought home the Crylium prospectus for Holly to look at. He had been given the information by a coworker, who mentioned that the company was doing some exciting research in HIV, but that they were also working on cures for "bird-flu-type things", and implied that the shares were poised to take off. Dougald, who spent his days making money for others, couldn't help but be excited by this prospect. Holly had been more cautious, asking if it wasn't bordering on insider trading, wanting to look into the company further before investing almost all of their funds into it.

Dougald got impatient with Holly's caution, after all, he was the investment specialist not her, and decided to go ahead with the investment. Holly was furious when she found out what Dougald had done and livid when she found out that he had also borrowed significant amounts of money in order to make an even more substancial investment. He had used his knowledge of the system to work it so that her counter-signature was not necessary. Dougald was sorry for doing it without Holly's consent, but certain in his belief that they were about to become unimaginably wealthy.

Crylium's IPO went well, in the end. At the time, Holly had heaved an enormous sigh of relief. The price of the shares was climbing steadily; Dougald was beside himself with glee. Every financial analyst dreams of a coup like this, and he was about to profit from it personally. The stock's stability at least had bought Holly some time to look further into this company. She usually did some background reading on the companies in which she invested, and she was surprised at how little information she had been able to dig up so far. There was nothing Holly liked more than a challenge or a mystery, and so she had resolved to start looking into the real Crylium Industries.

Author's Notes:

Stay tuned! More to come, but it may be a few days while I sort it all out in my head, especially since the work week is upon us. Also, can I just say that I don't really know much about investing, so don't get down on me if my scenario is legally impossible (as I suspect it might be)!

Transcripts throughout the story are by my own hand, from the TVMegaSite, and from the wonderful Welcome to the Scorpios website.