Natalie cursed out loud at the third stoplight that turned red as she approached. Whatever it was Evangeline had found out she refused to discuss it over the phone, but Natalie could tell from her voice it was serious. Rex had offered to follow her with Adriana and David, assuming he could be corralled into the car. She couldn't see them yet in her rearview so it was probably taking some time. If there hadn't been a car in front of her she might have seriously considered running the light; instead she tapped the steering wheel impatiently.
"Natalie."
She heard his voice just over her shoulder. As if he were sitting in the seat just behind her. She actually turned to see if he was there even though she knew it was impossible. Just as she was deciding it had been her imagination, her desperation to hear John's voice again twisting things in her brain she heard it again.
"Natalie!"
This time it was clearer. Either that or she was able to hear it better now that she was expecting it. There was an urgency to the tone—something akin to fear. Anyone else would have told her she was crazy and maybe she was, but all that mattered to her in that instant was that John was calling her. John was in trouble and he needed her. As the light turned green she pulled into the turn lane, changing her direction to the hospital. Whatever it was Evangeline had to say would wait.
Michael walked into the Llanview Police Department to see Evangeline standing anxiously outside of Bo's office. Layla stood at her side her face puffy from tears, staring at the ground. "What's going on?" he asked. He'd left Paige without getting many answers from her and he didn't know when he'd manage to corner her again. Whatever this was it had better be good.
"I thought it was better that she talk directly to the police," Evangeline said, "but I also thought you all deserved to know so we might as well tell you all at once."
Michael turned a suddenly angry look towards Layla. "This is about what happened to my brother? You were involved. What did you do?"
"Michael take it easy," Evangeline said raising a hand.
"Take it easy?" he asked incredulous, "my brother's still in critical condition if she-"
Bo's office door opened at that moment and an officer walked out. "Okay," Bo said looking between Michael, Evangeline, and Layla, "what is this all about?"
"Can we talk in your office please?" Evangeline requested.
Bo nodded and stepped to the side to let them enter. Evangeline hesitated and looked around, "Natalie's supposed to be meeting us here as well."
"She's not here yet?" Rex asked as he approached with Adriana and a reluctant yet curious David Vickers. "She left before we did, she should have been here by now."
"Maybe she took a different route and got caught in traffic?" Adriana suggested.
"Hold on," Rex said pulling out his cell phone and dialing her number. He held it to his ear a moment and said, "She's not answering."
"Did she say anything about stopping anywhere on her way?" Evangeline asked.
"No," Rex said, "she was pretty anxious to get over here. I shouldn't have let her drive-- she's so stressed out about this she-"
"I'm sure she's all right, Rex," Adriana said, "if she'd been in an accident we would have passed her on the way over here."
"Well why don't we go ahead and get started and hopefully she'll be here in a minute," Bo suggested with a frown. While he was concerned about Natalie's disappearance he was also anxious to find out what all this was about. Hoping that since she'd only been missing a few minutes as best as he could tell that there was no cause for concern yet he ushered the rest of the group into his office.
"Okay," he said, "why do I get the feeling that all of you are involved in something you should have told me about earlier?"
Spencer Truman sat at his desk deep in thought. Nothing had been quite going to plan of late and that frustrated him, but he tried not to let himself be hampered by that frustration.
The officer posted at his door made finishing off Lieutenant McBain impossible for the time being, but at the very least he showed no signs of awakening and even if he did there was little chance he could identify him. But he would probably remember the information he had uncovered that had forced Spencer to mastermind his suicide attempt in the first place. He also might be able to finger the Williamson girl—involving her in this had clearly been a mistake. She didn't have the stomach for this sort of thing and would probably confess everything at the slightest prompting. She would have to be eliminated before that could happen.
Then there was Natalie Buchanan and the baby that she was carrying. Practically an early Christmas gift, but how best to use it? Any harm visited upon that child would hurt both John McBain and Asa Buchanan, but only if they both knew of its existence and at this point he couldn't be sure of either. So biding his time until McBain awakened seemed his only choice, but dared he risk what McBain might remember about his "accident"?
The sound of his door opening pulled him out of his contemplation. Paige stood before him suddenly, her lower lip quivering with anger or fear. "They know," she said.
"Who are you talking about and what do they know?" he asked irritably.
"Michael McBain was just in my office," she said, "you know that cop whose death you pinned on Snyder was his father."
"Of course I knew that," he said, "just because you were too squeamish to want to know the identity of the man you killed-"
"But I didn't, did I?" she asked.
"What are you talking about now?" he groaned.
"I never remembered what happened that night," she said, "I woke up feeling sicker than I ever had and you told me that I had made a mistake in the OR the night before and that a patient had died. A patient that happened to be the cop who had been investigating us and who was conveniently shot in an armed robbery attempt that night. You told me how bad it would look if the truth came out but that you had covered things up and made Snyder look responsible to save my career. And I was grateful." She laughed bitterly. "I was actually grateful. I had no idea you'd hold it over my head for the rest of my life. If I'd known I would have confessed right then."
"Don't be foolish," Spencer said with a smile, "if you'd done that you wouldn't have your career, your relationship with Bo-"
"And I wouldn't have to worry about losing them now," she said. "But it was all a lie anyway, wasn't it?"
"There have been a lot of lies Paige, you'll have to be more specific," he said.
"One of the nurses that you said was in the room with Thomas McBain told Natalie Buchanan that I overdosed that night. I wasn't ever in that OR, was I?"
"No you weren't," he admitted, his smile not faltering, "but good luck proving that now."
She shook her head, "But there's no evidence I was in there. You told me you took care of it all."
"I know what I told you," he said, "but who's to say that there isn't evidence that you framed Snyder and had him killed to cover your mistake."
Paige scowled at him, "How did I ever not see what a monster you are?"
"Well if it's any comfort," he said, "your judgment was clouded by one substance or another most of the time we were together."
"The truth is going to come out," she said, "you made a mistake when you tried to get rid of John McBain. Michael, Natalie, Rex Balsom… they're all looking and they're close. They'll put the pieces together."
"And then you and David will go down right along with me," he said mockingly.
"At least I'll have the satisfaction of watching your life destroyed the way you've destroyed so many," she said as she turned and walked swiftly from his office.
Spencer dropped the smile as soon as she was gone. He hadn't anticipated anyone but Lieutenant McBain managing to piece it all together. 'Well,' he thought as he rose to his feet, 'it appears waiting to act is no longer an option.'
"What do you mean, 'her'?" he demanded. "You mean… Natalie?"
Caitlyn nodded slowly. "I'm here because of you, John, but she's the one I'm actually here for."
"No!" he insisted, "you can't have her! Caitlyn you can't. Not her. Take me instead. I don't want to leave her and the baby but if it comes down to it I'd rather-"
"John," she said her voice still tranquil and steady, "calm down, you can't afford to overexcite yourself now."
"How am I supposed to stay calm when you just told me-?"
"Still my same old John," she said with a smile, "so passionate and quick to act, but you didn't let me finish."
"What more could you-?"
"I know how much you love her, John," she said, "I know you couldn't survive losing her. That's why I came. I would never take her from you."
"Then what did you mean when you said-?"
"I didn't come here to take her," she said, "I came here to save her."
"Well I feel bad saying this since she's not here to defend herself," Rex said, "but it was Natalie's idea."
"It usually is," Bo groaned, "am I correct in assuming this has something to do with John's suicide attempt?"
"We're now pretty certain it wasn't a suicide attempt," Rex said.
"And the reason nobody came to me with this was-?"
"Natalie tried," Michael interjected, "but you were so convinced John did this to himself… you know maybe the better question is why didn't you come to the same conclusion yourself?" Michael realized immediately that speaking to the police commissioner that way might not have been a very good idea, but his concern for his brother outweighed his common sense for a moment.
"Well as a matter of fact I had an officer working on the case, Michael," Bo said, "and it's possible that if you all had shared the information you gathered with him we might have solved this case by now."
"We might have solved it now," Evangeline said, "at least in part."
"I'm listening," Bo said crossing his arms on his chest and leaning back on his desk.
Evangeline took a deep breath and squeezed Layla's hand. "Michael discovered the day John was shot that my home number was on the caller ID of John's cell phone with a phone call made at approximately 2am. I didn't make the phone call so at first I thought someone must have tampered with John's cell, but after talking with Layla I now know the source of the call."
"You made the call?" Bo asked Layla.
Layla nodded mutely.
"Why?" he asked. Layla dabbed her eyes with an already soggy tissue but didn't answer immediately. "Layla?" Bo prodded.
"You need to tell him," Evangeline said, rubbing a hand on her back.
"All I did was make a phone call," she said, "I swear I didn't know what was going to happen."
"Then why did you make the call?" Bo asked.
"Because he made me," she sniffed.
"Who made you?"
She looked around nervously before saying softly, "Spencer Truman."
Michael shook his head in disbelief. The evidence against Truman had been mounting steadily over the past day, but he still hoped his mentor would prove uninvolved. Bo shifted, leaning forwards interestedly.
"And why did you think you were making the phone call?"
"I didn't ask," she said, "he told me not to ask."
"Okay," Bo said patiently, "what did you say to John when you called him?"
"I told him that Vange was in trouble," she said, "he said John wouldn't be able to resist a woman in distress. So I told him that someone had her held hostage down at the docks and I guess he went down to check it out."
"And that's when he was shot," Michael said, his anger growing by the minute as he realized that John had nearly been killed out of a misguided attempt to save someone.
"And why did you do what Truman asked you too?" he asked.
Layla hesitated again and Evangeline looked at her. "Remember what we talked about?" she said, "It's going to come out so it's better if you own up to it now."
"When I first started at BE Spencer paid me $5000 to photocopy a report for him. I had no idea what it was or why he cared so much but I needed the money so I agreed. I figured how much damage could a couple of photocopies do. I did it twice more after that for him and it was only after that that I realized all these documents had to do with some big corporate take over they were planning and that Spencer was distributing those reports to mess it all up. Once I realized it I told him I wanted out but he said it wasn't that simple. Ever since he's been blackmailing me and threatening to tell my bosses what I did. I'd lose my job, possibly go to jail… Then he told me to make that phone call and I thought 'what the hell, it's just a phone call.'… I swear if I had any idea…"
"So what you're telling us is that Spencer Truman masterminded John's apparent suicide attempt?" Bo asked incredulously.
"I think so," Layla said her voice cracking.
"Why?"
"I don't know," she said.
"I… might be able to shed a little light on that," David said stepping forward.
"I'm listening," Bo said.
"I suspect that Lieutenant McBain might have uncovered some information about a couple of crimes that Spencer committed a while back," David said.
"What crimes?" he asked.
David smiled nervously. "That's as much as I'm going to say unless I'm guaranteed immunity for any involvement I might have had in said crimes."
"What the-!" Michael exclaimed.
Bo stilled him with a raised hand, "Vickers I don't have the time or patience for this."
"Well you're gonna have to find it," he said, "because I'm not talking otherwise."
"I can't begin to make deals at this point," Bo said, "I don't even know what crimes we're talking about."
"I can implicate Spencer in the attempted murder of John McBain as well as two other murders," David said, "and by the way Commissioner, with all due respect, I know you can't make a deal for immunity, so you might want to see about getting a DA in here."
Bo gave David a surly look but stepped opened his office door anyway and called out, "Can somebody find ADA Hughes for me?"
"I'm gonna try Nattie again," Rex said softly to Adriana stepping just outside of the office.
Natalie rushed into the hospital breathlessly. Heedless of the strange looks from the nurses and an orderly calling for her to slow down she ran towards John's room. She was nearly there when Spencer Truman suddenly appeared in front of her, blocking her path.
"Ms. Buchanan," he said with a gentle smile, "I've been looking for you."
"Dr. Truman!" she gasped. She was virtually certain this man had something to do with Thomas McBain's death and probably with the attempts on John's life. He might very well have something to do with whatever danger John was in now, but she couldn't afford to let him know she was aware of his involvement.
"I take it from your expression you've heard about Lieutenant McBain," he said.
"Heard what?" she asked trying not to let her fear show too clearly.
"He suffered a minor setback," he said.
"What did you do to him?" she demanded before she could stop herself.
"Saved his life in all likelihood," he said sounding offended at her implication.
"I want to see him," she said.
He nodded. "Of course. We had to take him downstairs for some tests but there's no reason you can't sit with him while we run them. Come with me."
He reached for her hand but she pulled it away. Motioning for her to follow him instead he led her towards the back stairway.
To be continued.