A Fresh Start
Chapter Sixty Four
When Lieutenant Jamison gets off the phone with Colonel Mitchell he orders the pilot to leave as soon as possible as everyone gets settled in. Walking back to the middle cabin, he sits down next to Alejandro. "We'll be in San Cristobel within the hour."
"Okay." Alejandro replies, looking out the window of the plane.
"You know that nothing will happen to you once we reach San Cristobel. Prince William only wants to know what happened."
"I've lived with this secret for so long. I should have come forward after Edmund was removed from power, but I was scared. And then the young woman that Prince… well that Richard and Cassie's baby was given to, came forward and they adopted Prince William. I thought it would all go away. Richard and Cassie had their son back and then Richard was killed… There were so many excuses and reasons not to come forward and tell everyone what had happened."
"The truth will be told." Lieutenant Jamison says, as the captain buzzes him. "Yes." He says, pushing the button on the phone.
"Sir, we are cleared for take off."
"Thank you captain." Lieutenant Jamison says. The plane starts to taxi. A few minutes later they are in the air. Turning to Alejandro, Lieutenant Jamison says. "I'm going to check in with the palace."
"Okay." Lieutenant Jamison gets up and walks up to the front of the plane.
While Lieutenant Jamison and Alejandro are in the air, Colonel Mitchell is talking to Prince William. "Sir, we've had some developments in the investigation into Prince William's adoption."
"Okay, I'll be down to speak to you."
"Yes Sir."
William hangs up. Getting up, he walks out of his office, he tells Jodi "I'll be in Colonel Mitchell's office."
"Yes Sir."
He leaves. Walking through the palace, he heads towards Colonel Mitchell's office. Within in a few minutes, he is knocking on his door.
"Come in." Colonel Mitchell calls.
William opens the door. "You said you have developments in the investigation."
"Yes Sir, a couple of morning ago Lieutenant Jamison approached me with information that Princess Cassie's doctor may be on San Jamar. I sent him to investigate."
"And were they able to find him?"
"Yes Sir, in fact Lieutenant Jamison just called and they are in the air, returning to San Cristobel as we speak."
"So, when will they be arriving?"
"Within the hour, I would assume."
"I want to speak directly with this doctor."
"Yes Sir."
"Did he say anything about what happened?"
"No Sir."
"When they arrive bring the doctor to me."
"Yes sir."
William leaves.
After talking their way out of the trouble the royal guard brought upon them, Edmund's men return to the corner and the alley. They are standing on the corner when they receive a message from an informant inside the palace of San Jamar, stating that palace guards from San Cristobel have left the island with the doctor.
Cassie is pulling away from the loft when her cell phone rings pulling it from her purse she pushes talk as she stops at a stop sign. "Hello." She says, looking both ways before she pulls out.
"Darling, where are you?"
"I'm on my way. I stopped at the loft to talk to Sam for a few moments."
"I was hoping you were at the farm." Richard says as Rick walks into Towers and over to his table.
"We are supposes to meet tonight right?"
"Yes. I spoke with Jeffrey today about the wedding…."
"He told me."
"He said that we need to take care of the declaration of death before we can proceed with the wedding, and that we need to contact Rick. He's sitting here now." Richard says, as Rick sits down across from him.
"Okay."
"Anyway, Jeffrey said that we would need to prove who I am and that the records from the agency's hospital would be sufficient to get the death certificate reversed."
"So, you need me to bring them with me?" Cassie asks, stopping at another stop sign.
"Yes."
"Okay, I'll run out to the farm and get them. They should be with the papers that I brought with us from San Cristobel. I'll get them and I'll see you in a few minutes."
"Okay, be careful."
"I will, see you soon handsome."
"Okay, bye darling."
Richard hangs up as Rick says. "I assume you called to discuss the death certificate filed after your accident."
"Yes, as you heard Cassie and I want to get remarried, but Jeffrey believes that we need to have the death certificate taken care of before we can do that."
"He's correct. You need to have it reversed not just for the marriage license but for everything."
"Alright, so what do we do?" Richard asks.
"We need proof that you are who you say you are."
"Jeffrey said that would be the first step so I asked Cassie to go back to the farm to get the copy of the hospital records from the time of the accident till I was released last month."
"That is a beginning but we need some way to tie you to those records and the time before the accident."
"What do you suggest?"
"We need to run a DNA test on you."
"Okay."
"We can go to the hospital and draw blood, but we need a sample of your blood from before the accident to compare it to."
"The agency had a sample of my blood from when Jeffrey was in San Cristobel. It was used to compare my brother in Chicago to me after the accident. They may still have some of it left. I can talk to Jeffrey and see if the agency still has the sample."
"Alright, if they don't then maybe Cedars has some of your blood on file from the accident we can use for a comparison."
"I'll speak to Jeffrey and I'll be in touch."
"In the mean time I'll check with the hospital lab and see if they still have a sample of your blood."
"Thank you for your help."
"You're welcome." There are a few moments of silence before Rick says. "I'm glad you're alright and I'm sorry about your brother."
"Thank you." Richard says, nodding.
"I don't know if you know, but I was the one that got your brother's heart." Richard looks up at him. "I had cardiomyopathy and I needed a heart transplant when you had your accident. Of course at the time we thought that you were the donor."
"I know, but thank you for telling me." Richard says, looking at Rick.
"I want you to know that I've taken…."
"I know you have." Richard says, as Cassie walks into the restaurant. As she walks over to their table, Richard and Rick stand up. "I'll talk to Jeffrey."
"And I'll speak to the director of the hospital lab."
"Okay."
Rick leaves as Richard turns to give Cassie a quick kiss. "What did Rick say?" she asks, as he holds her chair out for him.
"He was telling me what we would need to do to have the death certificate reversed."
"I thought you only needed the hospital records from the agency's hospital."
"We do, but he suggested that we have a DNA test run to prove that the records from the hospital and the time before the accident are tied to me."
"Okay." As he's walking around to the other side of the table she asks. "Did something else happen?"
"No not really." Richard replies, sitting down.
"Because you both seemed a little tense when I got here."
"He was telling me about the transplant."
"Oh." Cassie says, nodding.
"It's sort of weird knowing that my brother's heart is in him."
"He takes care…."
"It's not that. It's weird knowing that my brother's gone, but yet he's not gone because Rick has his heart."
"It helped me after the accident. At least I knew a part of you was still here, even if you were gone."
"Was he sick before the accident?"
"Yes, but it had gotten worse when your accident happened." Cassie says, as their waiter walks up to their table.
After he leaves, Richard asks. "So, what did you do today?"
"Ah, I was at the Beacon for a while and then I went to talk to Sam. I had just left there when you called me."
"Were you and Sam talking about the wedding?"
"No, Jeffrey. I saw him leaving the Beacon this afternoon. And then Olivia came in from the garden right after him. I spoke to the clerk at the desk and she said that Jeffrey had taken Olivia out there and I couldn't figure out why he'd be talking to Olivia so I went to see what was going on and I found some lingerie laying by the bench where they had been talking."
"How do you know that it was from them?"
"Because I took it to Sam and she told me that Jeffrey had taken it to Olivia."
"He went to confront Olivia about something that happened over the weekend."
"I know, Sam told me."
"Did you think that Jeffrey had gone to see Olivia to give the lingerie to her?"
"I…." Cassie looks up. "Alright, so maybe the thought crossed my mind."
"Cassie!"
"I know, but I couldn't figure out why he would be giving her lingerie. I didn't accuse him of anything when I went to see Sam. I just took the lingerie back to her."
"And I'm sure she recognized it."
"Yes, look I'm sorry, but I wanted to protect her."
"And you thought Jeffrey was seeing Olivia…."
"No, no, I just…. I didn't know what to think, but everything is fine and Sam explained what happened. Do you believe that Olivia actually called her a whore and implied that Jeffrey was only with her because of that?"
"I'm not surprised at anything that Olivia does. She can be very vindictive and manipulative when she feels like someone's wronged her."
"Well, enough about Olivia. You told Jeffrey about the wedding."
"Yes, speaking of the wedding. When we get this death certificate thing cleared up, we need to decide on invitations and all that stuff." Richard says, as the waiter brings their food.
"Invitations and stuff." Cassie says, smiling.
"What?" Richard asks, before taking a bite of his food.
"Men aren't usually concerned with the details of the wedding."
"Well, I want to marry you and I want to do it as soon as we can get it arranged."
"Well, we have about a month to get it arranged. Do you think Rick will have the death certificate cleared up by then?"
"I don't know. I can ask him after I talk to Jeffrey about the DNA test."
"Okay."
"Who do you want to invite?"
"Reva and Josh, Billy, I wish we could invite Jon and Sarah."
"But we can't." Richard says, as the waiter brings them their check. Richard lays a credit card on the table. "We can send him a video."
"Have you thought about who's going to be your best man?"
"Ah, I thought first about asking Jeffrey, but then I thought I would ask William. I mean I had Noah was with me before and Edmund was a grooms men but I wanted to have my brother up there then and I want it now. And since Edmund's in prison and I don't really want him at this wedding…."
"I think it's a great idea to ask William. And I think you should ask Jeffrey if you want him to." Cassie says, as the waiter brings the ticket for Richard to sign and they leave Towers.
Olivia spent the rest of the day sitting in her office. She refused to take any calls as she thought about what Jeffrey told her. At about sundown, she gets up and walks over to the window, looking out over the garden. "I refuse to give him up." She says, to an empty room. Turning back to her desk, she picks up the phone and dials Simmons cell phone number. After a couple rings, he answers. "Hello."
"What's going on?"
"I haven't heard from my contact on the coast."
"Why do you need these contacts? Why can't you get what you need here?"
"Because he has contacts to get the best and we can't afford to mess this up. Have a little more patients and we'll have him."
"He's getting closer to her. I don't have time to be patient." Olivia says in frustration.
"We're almost there. My contact will be in contact with me as soon as the arrangements have been made."
"Alright, but we need to get this done before he's gone for good."
"We only have a few more days, weeks' tops." Simmons says, looking out over the grounds.
"Can't you call this contact of yours and ask him what the hold up is?"
"He'll be…."
"At least check in with him."
"Alright, I'll call him and see what's happening."
"Good." Olivia says, somewhat relieved.
They hang up, and Simmons immediately calls his contact in New York. After a couple rings, he picks up. "Hey man, it's me." Simmons says.
"What's happening?"
"That's what I'm calling about, you was supposes to call me with the stuff."
"Yeah, we've had some problems up here?"
"Problems, what problems?"
"The cops busted Biggie. I've got to find another supplier."
"Well, then find one. I need that stuff and I need it now, my boss is getting impatient to get this job finished?"
"It'll take a while to get another supplier, people are being cautious right now, since Biggie was brought down. They ain't too open to people they don't know."
"Then find someone outside the organization, but I need that stuff."
"I'll do what I can, but it might be a few days before I find someone willing to do a long distance deal."
"Do what you have to do? I'll pay double if I have to, but I need that stuff."
"Alright, I'll do some checking."
"Good, keep me in the loop."
"Alright."
They hang up and Simmons turns to go back into the cabin.
Jeffery was walking into the bedroom when his cell phone starts to ring. Picking it up off the dresser, he answers the call on the second ring. "Hello."
"Jeffrey, its Noah."
"What's going on?"
"I spoke with the Director about Richard's request to see his family."
"And what did he say?" Jeffrey asks, sitting down on the bed.
"Since everything is cleared up with Richard and Camille has been captured and sentenced he has no problem with Richard being in contact with his brother's family."
"Do you have their address?"
"That's the thing we're going to have to find them again. After her mother-in-law died your brother's wife moved to Chicago with her kids. We don't have a current location on her."
"How long will it take to find her again?"
"I don't know, but I've given it to our top agents in Chicago and told them that it was top priority that we find her and the kids."
"Okay."
"I'll keep you informed of what's going on?"
"I'll tell Richard what's going on."
"I'll be in touch."
"Alright." Jeffrey says, hanging up.
"Who was that?" Sam asks, putting the magazine on the bedside table."
"Noah, he called to tell me the director's decision; on letting Richard know where his brother's family is."
"And?" Sam asks, moving over beside him when he lies down.
"He has Okayed it, but they're going to have to relocate them. Richard's sister-in-law moved the kids and herself to Chicago after her mother-in-law died."
"Oh." Sam says, laying her head on his shoulder.
When the royal jet lands in San Cristobel, Lt. Jamison and the guard escorts Alejandro from the plane. There is a palace car waiting to take them to the palace. A few minutes later, they pull up to the palace where Captain Mitchell is waiting for them. When the car stops he opens the door, allowing Lt. Jamison, the guard and Alejandro to exit.
"Dr. Peters." Colonel Mitchell says, as he walks up to the man.
"Yes Sir." Alejandro replies, turning to the Colonel
"If you'll follow me, His Highness would like to speak to you in person."
"Yes Sir."
"Lieutenant, thank you." Colonel Mitchell says, turning to the lieutenant.
"Yes Sir."
Turning back to Alejandro, they head into the palace as the guard goes towards the guard room. William is waiting in the library when Colonel Mitchell and Alejandro walk in. "Your Highness." Colonel Mitchell says, as he turns from the window.
"Yes."
"Sir, this is Dr. Maxwell Peters."
"Yes." William says, turning to the man standing behind Colonel Mitchell "Welcome to the palace of San Cristobel."
"Thank you." Dr. Peters replies. "First let me…."
"Colonel Mitchell, could you please leave us alone." William says, turning to him.
"Yes Sir."
Colonel Mitchell leaves as William turns to Dr. Peters. "Would you like something to drink or eat?"
"No, I'm fine."
"Okay, shall we then." William asks, indicating the chairs behind them.
"Yes, of course." Dr. Peters replies, walking over to one of the chairs and sitting down as William sits down in the other chair. "First let me apologize for my part in this whole debacle."
"What was your part in it?"
"It's complicated."
"Was Prince Edmund blackmailing you?"
"No…." Dr. Peters notices William's surprise. "Not in the traditional sense of that word. He didn't have anything illegal or immoral to use against me. He sent his men to order me to induce Princess Cassie's labor."
"How did that work?"
"Edmund wanted me to wait till things had died down a little bit from the accident, to let Richard and Cassie believe that everything would be okay with the baby and it would have been, if not for Edmund. Anyway, when they had relaxed a little bit then I was to give her an injection inducing her labor. I flatly refused to give her the injection so I suggested that I leave a syringe in the Princesses room that would induce her labor and force her to deliver the baby early."
"Who administered the injection?"
"One of Edmund's men. They had been watching both Prince Richard and Princess Cassie since the accident, on Edmund's orders."
"So, no other medical staff at the hospital was involved with this."
"No, not that I know of. I don't believe any of our nurses were involved with the plan. Only Edmund, and his men knew about the plan."
"What happened to the baby afterwards? How did Camille come into the plan?"
"I'm not really sure about that. I know that Camille was brought in for premature labor a few hours before Princess Cassie went into labor."
"With my son."
"Yes, she delivered about twenty minutes before Cassie and the baby was still born. I assumed that after Richard and Cassie's baby was taken out of the delivery room that Edmund had disposed of the baby. I never asked how. I was told to tell Richard and Cassie that their baby had been delivered stillborn."
"Did Edmund pay you for your silence?"
"He left some money at the Central Bank, but I've never touched it?'
"How much?"
"$250,000."
"If you never touched the money and he wasn't blackmailing you, why did you go along with the plan? Why not go to the authorities?"
"Edmund was the authorities. He controlled everything. Look at how he treated his own brother after he told the truth about him. He hunted him and Princess Cassie down like they were animals. You were not here your Highness. No one was free to do anything when Edmund was in power.
And if anyone went against what he said they were either, arrested and killed as a political prisoner, or they were arrested and thrown into the bottom of Wrightsburg prison and forgotten about.
That's what I meant when I said that he wasn't blackmailing me in the traditional sense. He didn't threaten to expose any deep dark secret. He didn't threaten to reveal any illegal activities, because there were none. He threatened me with my life and my freedom. I had to cooperate or face him."
"Why didn't you come forward after Edmund was removed from power?"
"There are so many reasons why I didn't. The woman that adopted Will came forward and Richard and Cassie adopted him. They had him back."
"And then Richard was killed and I forced Cassie to give Will to me. It was announced that he was to be my heir. You know the law of the country, only a direct descendent of Winslow blood can be the heir. Why didn't you come forward then?"
"Would you believed me if I did? You had no reason to question that Will was your son and not Richard's and Cassie's lost baby."
"You had the video tape."
"And it would be my word against his and there is still the fact that Edmund has had me watched everyday since this happened."
"So you were afraid for your life, but yet you still practice medicine."
"I'm a doctor, it's who I am and I'm good at what I do. I couldn't stop doing that anymore than you could stop being a prince. And besides it's better to hide in plain sight. Edmund's men knew where I was and what I was doing, but I never gave them reason to come after me, until now."
"Edmund is in prison."
"That doesn't mean that he won't be able to order his men to kill me."
"He has limited access to visitors and anyone who does visit him is closely screened and monitored."
"He can still reach me. Listen you know what happened now. Now I really must go. Your Lieutenant has the video tape. I hope it will be enough to provide answers to Richard and Cassie and I am truly sorry for this, but I had no other choice."
"And what about your safety?"
"Everything should be fine as long as I can find another island to disappear to and you don't seek out charges against Edmund."
"He's guilty of kidnapping, sedition and treason. Not to mention endangering the welfare of a minor and numerous other charges."
"And he's in prison. You have the ability to keep him there for a very long time, for the rest of his life in need be. Richard and Cassie know the truth and now so will the public."
"So, I should let Edmund get away with this again?"
"I'm not trying to tell you what to do, your Highness. I'm simply saying that the wrongs have been righted and the man responsible is being punished. May I go now?" Dr. Peters asks, standing up
"Yes, you may go. And I do appreciate you telling me what happened?" William replies, following him.
"I should have done it sooner." Dr. Peters says, before he turns to leave.
William watches him. When he's gone, William walks over to the phone, he picks it up and dials Colonel Mitchell's extension after a couple rings he answers. "Hello…."
"Colonel Mitchell, could you please come back to the library and bring the videotape with you?"
"Yes Sir, right away Sir."
William hangs up. He is once again standing at the window when Colonel Mitchell walks into the room. "Sir you wanted to see me, and I brought the tape." He says, looking around the room for Dr. Peters.
"He's left." William says, turning from the window "Have you seen the tape."
"No sir."
"I want you to have our security men analyze it for tampering and then I want to speak to you and Natalie when we have the results."
"Yes Sir." Colonel Mitchell says. "Sir, can I ask. Was Edmund the one responsible for this?"
"Yes Colonel, it was Edmund that instigated this whole mess."
"Do you know what you're going to do now?"
"No, I haven't decided. It depends on the condition of the tape." William replies, turning back to the window.
"I'll have the technicians rush the results." Colonel Mitchell says turning to leave.
"Colonel, inform Natalie about what's going on."
"Yes Sir."
He leaves as William continues to look out of the window.
When Richard and Cassie drive up to farmhouse they are surprised to see Marsha's van parked in the driveway. "I thought the boys were going to spend the night."
"They were." Cassie says, as they walk up to the house.
Richard opens the door as Marsha walks into the kitchen. "Hi." Cassie says, as Richard closes the door and Cassie puts her purse on the cabinet next to the door.
"Hi." Marsha says.
"I thought the boys were spending the night." Richard says.
"They can, it's up to you."
"Did something happen?" Cassie asks as they walk into the living room.
"Yes, we ran into a reporter at the pizza parlor."
"What happened?" Richard asks.
"They were in the arcade and according to RJ the reporter was harassing Will about being prince and well RJ didn't like it."
"What did he do?"
"Nothing really bad, he threw his coke on the reporter and according to the reporter he tried to take his camera away from him. The owner has banned both of them from the parlor unless you speak to him and apologize to the reporter."
"How did the reporter get in there?" Richard asks.
"I don't know. I didn't know he was there. I had gone to the restroom and when I came back, I found RJ staring stubbornly at the reporter and the reporter saying he was going to sue you and the pizza place for destruction of private property, if the pictures he had taken or his camera were ruined."
"He was harassing a five year old boy and his brother." Cassie says
"Where are RJ and Will?" Richard asks.
"They are upstairs." Marsha replies.
"I'm going to go check on them." Richard says, turning to Cassie.
"Alright." Cassie says, as she turns to Marsha. "I'm sorry. I thought things had died down about Will. The calls have all but stopped."
"It's alright, I'm sorry I wasn't there to take care of it."
"Thank you for bring them home. Maybe they can stay another night." Cassie says following as Marsha starts towards the door.
"Just give me a call and we'll work something out."
"Okay." Cassie says, holding the door as she walks out onto the porch. "Again thank you and I'm sorry."
"You're welcome."
Marsha leaves as Cassie goes back into the house. When Richard reaches the top of the stairs, he sees Will leaving RJ's room. "Hi Daddy." He says softly.
"Hi son, are you okay?"
"Yes sir, RJ protected me." Will says with excitement. "He just threw his coke at the reporter and splashed him all over his clothes and camera. The man was so mad. He said that RJ had tried to destroy all his work and that you and Mom are responsible along with…."
"Okay, Will you go in your room?" Richard says, interrupting his excited explanation of what happened.
"Yes sir." Will replies, turning for his room. He takes a couple steps. "Daddy, is RJ in trouble? He didn't mean to hurt the man's camera. He was just trying to be my big brother. He was protecting me."
"Its okay, go on to your room."
"Yes Sir."
Will goes into his room while Richard pushes the door to RJ's room open. RJ is sitting on his bed when Richard walks in. Turning, he watches as Richard walks across the room to his bed.
"Hi." Richard says, sitting down on the bed beside RJ.
"Hi." RJ replies.
"I hear you had a very interesting evening."
"He wouldn't leave Will alone. And Jeffrey…."
"Jeffrey?"
"Yes, Jeffrey told me that it was my job to protect Will because I'm his big brother. So I was protecting him. I didn't mean to ruin the guy's camera. I only wanted to make him leave Will alone."
"I understand." Richard says, turning to RJ. "But you couldn't find and adult or the manager around to help."
"I didn't think about the manager, and Ms. Marsha had gone to the bathroom. That reporter kept asking Will questions. Will tried to ignore him, but he was scared. I had to protect him."
"So you threw your coke on him."
"It was the only thing I could think of. Mom's always told us that we don't hit people. I only wanted to protect Will." RJ says, getting upset.
"It's alright RJ. I know you were protecting Will." Richard says, reaching out to him. RJ hugs him tight. "It's okay." He says, slowly rubbing his back.
After a few minutes RJ sits back and looks up at Richard and asks. "Am I in trouble?"
"No, what you did wasn't right, but I understand why you did it and you're right it is your responsibility to protect Will."
"What about Mom?"
"I'll talk to her, don't worry about it." Richard says, as he puts his arm across RJ's shoulders. "I think you need to get ready for bed."
"Yes Sir." RJ replies, as Richard gets up. He's about to walk out of RJ's room when RJ says. "Dad."
"Yes." Richard says, turning at the door.
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright."
"Okay."
"Get ready for bed."
"Yes Sir."
Richard leaves, walking across the hall. He peeks into Will's room and finds him asleep on top of his bed. Going inside, he pulls his shoes and pants off before he helps him up and under the covers. Brushing the hair back and lightly kissing his forehead before he turns the lamp out off and walking quietly out of the room. Walking downstairs, he finds Cassie in the living room. "How are they?"
"They're fine, Will's already asleep and RJ is getting ready for bed. He was trying to protect Will like Jeffrey had told he needed to do."
"Jeffrey?"
"Yes, apparently they had a talk and Jeffrey told him that it was his responsibility to protect Will."
"So they are fine?" Richard doesn't reply looking up at a picture of RJ sitting on the mantel. "Richard." Cassie asks walking over to him.
"Do you know what he just called me?"
"Will."
"No, RJ. He called me Dad."
"He did." Cassie replies shocked.
"Yes, I was about to leave his room and he called me Dad and then he said he was sorry." Richard says, looking at the picture while Cassie stands beside him.
64.13