Part 56
Jackie had to laugh at Cameron's instructions. He'd make a good spy, she thought.
Alexander Lewis, it appeared, used the name Zander Smith.
He had a schedule at PCU, which schedule was unknown now, because it had recently changed.
He had a job teaching tennis at the country club. The schedule to this job was not consistent but seemed to include most afternoons.
When he had his daughter, he was home, but if not, he might be home, or he might be at the Port Charles Hotel.
Or he might be at Kelly's, or maybe in the park, either studying or talking to somebody. If you really couldn't find him, you should look in the hospital. It was possible he had been admitted. Sometimes he studied in the PCU library, sometimes at the Country Club, sometimes at the Port Charles Hotel and sometimes at Kelly's. He and the model liked the Chinese restaurant on Baker Street.
He had a car, but he often walked or took a bus, or got rides from people.
Jackie thought trying to catch up with him might mean days of wandering around Port Charles, hoping to run into him.
The hotel was the best bet. Eventually, he would end up there. His girlfriend stayed there; his mother was there a lot, and now even his sperm donor was there frequently.
Jackie sat in the hotel lobby, watching people come and go. This was interesting, anyway.
"Then the police chief interviewed me. She thinks I might be a victim of Dr. Hayward's crazy medical ideas," Zander was telling his mother. They were walking the baby in the park.
Zander pushed the stroller, and Donna walked beside him.
Donna threw her head back and laughed.
"She says I'm not telling her everything," Zander went on. "Which is pretty smart of her. She's right. It's just not what she thinks."
"She's on the job, I'll say that for her. Lucky people to have a police department so on top of things."
"Leo and Maggie are really great," he said. "I really want them to see Ginny." He stopped for a minute to fix Ginny's blanket. The walk had put Ginny to sleep.
"Ask them to come here," Donna suggested.
"Nobody wants the grandmother to find out about me, though. Her name is Vanessa, and they call her that, even her sons do. I said I'd like to see her. David said maybe, said you should go and see her and then say what you think."
"Where is she?"
"I don't even know! But I thought it was cool David wanted to know what you think. Dad never does that."
"Oh, no. Quite the opposite. But why shouldn't you see her?"
"They think she's nuts and that she'll take over my life, or something. Leo told me a lot about her. She is really a character. She was all over Europe with him. Married many times. A scammer. Odd for a grandmother, isn't it?"
"Odd great-grandmother, too."
"Oh, yeah. She's that, too, isn't she? I wonder what she would think of it? And how crazy can she be? I wonder if we have any effect on our children at all. David and Leo are great, so she didn't hurt them. David had a good father, but Leo didn't have one at all. He said David was more like a father to him. They're so far apart in age, it's more like that."
"I wonder if they call her Mom when she's there."
"Maybe they do. When they talk about her, they don't. And Pete and I say Mom when we're talking."
"Funny they don't."
"She must be a real piece of work. Go and see her, Mom, won't you?"
Finally, the next day, Jackie saw the Difficult Alexander leave the hotel with the model. They went to Kelly's diner, and were sitting down over a cup of coffee. Ideal, she thought.
"Hi," she said to them. "My name's Jackie Baldwin. I want to help your father and you."
"Are you some kind of counselor?" he asked.
"Yes. I'm a lawyer. If you would give me the name of yours, we could work out some sort of a meeting."
"Oh, so he's going to sue me."
"No. I convinced him you need some mediators to talk."
"Oh," he said. "Give me your card. I saw a lawyer once, but I have to check with her to see if she wants to be involved."
"Fair enough," Jackie said. She handed him the card. "Think it over. I'm convinced you and he are getting nowhere. You need to try something else."
"You're right. I'll think about it."
Jackie left, amazed at how easy it had been. She had expected it to be so much harder.
Donna rang the doorbell at the imposing mansion in Pine Valley. Alexander had made her some cards on the computer. They said she was an interior decorator with the firm of Barrett and Smith.
A maid showed her into a dark, gloomy sitting room. The ceilings were high. It felt haunted.
Vanessa Bennett was expensively dressed, and polite. Donna recognized her from the picture in the photo album David had given to Alexander.
"I'm the interior decorator," Donna said.
"I haven't asked for one," Vanessa said, wondering.
"This is the address I got." Donna made a pretense of looking at a slip of paper from her purse. She looked around at the large, dark, hall. "You need more air and light here! It's so gloomy! Don't you want it more cheerful? What your grandchildren must think of this place!"
"Grandchildren?"
"Oh, dear, I know one shouldn't imply another woman is old enough for that. I have a granddaughter myself."
"You're a young grandmother. And you're a great deal younger than me, my dear, isn't that clear? You're young enough to be my daughter. Sit down. You'll be wanting to know where to plant the microphones. I can show you the best places for it." Her tone was still polite, almost friendly, throughout.
"Microphones?"
"The FBI is so transparent these days."
"The FBI? Why would the FBI want to bug your house?"
Vanessa laughed. "Perhaps not. No, the FBI would not have sent someone so obvious and incompetent. You are some project of Anna Devane's. Tell Anna and David that this place is their inheritance. I have no grandchildren, you see, dear, because Anna and David are all about their careers."
"You must have spent a lot of time on that yourself, to have this place. Or was it an inheritance?"
"Of sorts, my dear, of sorts."
"Don't you have any pictures of your children?" Donna asked, getting up and walking about in the large, dark, room.
"I once kept David's wedding picture on that mantel," Vanessa answered. "But then it became apparent I would have to change it so often. And the others, well, they're younger. One has more pictures of the oldest."
"Yes. It's true people often take more pictures of the oldest. By the time you have two, you're so busy. You don't have time for sentiment."
"You're a perceptive girl, aren't you? Tell Anna I said you'll go far. Now if you would excuse me."
"You have work to do? Not any children or grandchildren coming to see you?"
"Goodbye."
"Goodbye."
Donna was on the porch of the Pine Valley Inn.
"What do you think of Pine Valley?" David asked her, coming up to her.
"It's a nice town. More cheerful than Port Charles."
"Come take a walk up to the lake."
"Why walk to the lake?"
"Because it's there."
"Did you show it to Alexander?"
"Of course. He's going to show Leo how to wind surf on it someday."
"You sound quite sure of yourself."
"Why not? This town is more cheerful than Port Charles. And it has no Cameron."
They walked out to a boathouse. Donna looked out onto the lake. It was pretty, and peaceful.
"Well, what did you think of the old witch?" David asked her.
"Of Vanessa? She seems harmless."
"More naïve words have never been spoken."
"She says to tell you and Anna that her house is your inheritance. She has no grandchildren, because the two of you only pay attention to your careers."
"She would blame me she has no grandchildren."
"Who else's fault is it? Your brother's still young. "
"It's her fault. No, it's yours."
He was right behind her. He put his hands on her shoulders.
She walked away.
"Still a coward!" he said to her retreating form.
"I am not!"
"Will you ever just do what you want?"
"And what is that, Mr. Arrogant?" she asked. She was laughing as she said, "Or, no. I'm sorry. Excuse me. Dr. Arrogant."
"If you had listened to me before, Zander would have gone to Pine Valley Academy. No hunting accident. No running away."
"You can't prove that!"
"You can't disprove it," he laughed, pleasantly surprised at how much more spirit this older version of Donna had, than the younger one.
"He could be doing life in prison and you can't disprove that!"
He smiled. "No he wouldn't. He ended up in jail after you and Cameron had him. Cameron did a bad job. You did a bad job. I don't care if he's over twenty-one; you should give him back."
"Back?" She laughed helplessly.
"Yes, I want him back. You couldn't have had him without me."
"Nor without me!"
"Close your eyes," he said, going up behind her and putting his arms around her.
"Stop," she said. But she closed her eyes.
"Hear the water lapping? Imagine it's Tampa Bay. Right outside the -"
"Don't," she said.
But she stayed still, not wanting to be thought a coward again. The memories he had stirred up were a sweet torture.
"Vanessa thought at first I was from the FBI," Donna said, walking back. "Then she decided I was too incompetent. I'm an employee of Anna's. She talks like you're still married."
"It's like her to imagine the divorce is a scam to help Anna put a sting on her."
"You say she's crazy, but it seems she could end up in jail, not in a mental institution."
"Crazy that way, yeah."
"She must be sharp though, or wouldn't she be in jail?"
He laughed. "You've got a point, detective."
"I assume my boss really does try to bring her down? What a conflict that would have been for Anna."
"It was a pain in the neck, all right."
"Such a mother-in-law! No wonder-" she stopped. "What a nice night!"
"I think it would be easier for her grandson," David said, passing on challenging her for what she had been thinking and didn't want to say, "especially as he comes fully grown, than for her sons. She'd be devoted without being as demanding. It might even take a lot of heat of off me, for that matter. Still, it goes against the grain to tell her anything. Zander can deal with things, but I have this instinct to protect him, and she's a perfect example of what from."
"Alexander said you said something about interfering. How does she interfere?"
"Maybe she'll try to train him to run her business. Leo used to help her with her cons. She taught him. She put one of her companies in my name. I got arrested."
"All of that is easier for Alexander to deal with than Cam. It doesn't sound that much like emotional manipulation. Just general lunacy."
"Perfect wording! General lunacy."
"And she passed it on," Donna teased.