Chapter 22

Nicholas was filled with utter rage and a huge sense of injustice; itching to punch Bo out for subjecting his mother to so much pain and humiliation and Victor as well, for calling her a whore in his hearing.

'I'm going to kill them both first chance I get!' he shouted after letting loose a string of curses.

'Trust me, Victor isn't worth swinging for.' Melanie replied grimly. 'And I'm not trying to defend Bo but he didn't know about the baby, he was upset when he found out...'

'I don't give a damn about his feelings; he didn't consider Mum's when he went back to his wife and left her pregnant!' her brother snarled, green eyes flashing. 'it's easy for him to judge... I saw the way he looked at me at Mrs. Horton's house! But he's far less than I am, that son of a bitch got what he wanted from Mum and left her standing there and neither of you told me!'

'Mum made me promise not to! But that's not important right now; we have to do something about this situation!' Melanie shouted back, sick with worry over Carly and Ciara.

'What CAN we do?' Nicholas demanded harshly. 'We can't allow them arrest Mum; that text message doesn't prove anything!'

'Nick calm down, Bo obviously doesn't believes Carly kidnapped Ciara.' Brady protested.

'How do you expect us to calm down... when Hope's lynch mob in there thinks she's guilty and Bo's probably ordering a manhunt right now!' Melanie cried furiously. 'Didn't you see the look on their faces, especially on Kayla's? A total bitch, just like Stephanie! I won't stand for it, you hear me Brady! My mother's no kidnapper, she's not!'

'I know she's not, I don't believe for a second that she would kidnap Ciara.' Brady assured her. 'But freaking out won't help her either so you both need to calm down!'

Nicholas glowered while Brady held Melanie by the shoulders, willing her to calm down just as Jennifer and Adrienne walked down the station's steps.

'Why aren't you inside comforting your cousin; I bet you feel torn all over again.' Melanie said bitterly.

'Mel, stop that; she's on Carly's side.' Adrienne said sharply as Jennifer flinched, visibly hurt by her words. 'And so am I and Justin so stop being difficult!'

'Mrs. Kiriakis, with all due respect; from what I've seen and heard so far I honestly don't think much about the people of this town.' Nicholas said coldly. 'I'm well aware how much I hurt Mum but I never expected the people she called her family to behave this way towards her, all this time they've been attacking her with slander and insults and regarding her as white trash. As for the commissioner, once this is over, I have a score to settle with him.'

'Nick, don't talk that way...'

'No let him talk, Adrienne!' Melanie shouted, shaking herself free from Brady's hold. 'Let him talk! Mum wouldn't be a suspect at all if Bo hadn't been such a jerk in the first place! Everybody now thinks she's gone crazy over the baby she lost and kidnapped Ciara; all because he went back to his pill popping wife!'

'That woman doesn't belong in jail but bedlam!' Nicholas added furiously. 'And if she insists on accusing my mother I'll have her sued for libel, Kiriakis as well!'

'Nicholas.' Adrienne said firmly. 'There are people on Carly's side; people who still know her very well and those who got to know her. And whether you choose to believe it or not, Bo loves your mother very much...' Nicholas sneered while Melanie snorted contemptuously but she went on. 'And he's willing to risk his career to help her and prove her innocence so please don't think the whole town's against her because that's not true.'

'No, it's not!' Jennifer pleaded, trying to convince them. 'And please don't listen to Hope, she's just worried and upset; she's not a bad person. Once this whole mess clears up, she'll make an apology without anyone telling her.'

'And Justin is more than ready to defend Carly; just in case.' Adrienne added. 'And hears some good news... Bo's sent Rafe and another detective to question Vivian.'

'Why can't he go question her himself if he's so sure Mum's innocent?' asked Melanie suspiciously.

'Abe's idea. He figured Bo would go berserk if he goes over there. Let's wait for the results.'

Brady shook his head, 'She's going to deny it till she's blue in the face; that woman's a lying snake.'

'Don't worry, Brady.' Nicholas said grimly. 'if the police can't get anything out of her... I will.'

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Carly had gambled correctly that Bo would immediately suspect coercion behind the message. After pulling himself together and ignoring Hope's angry raves, he'd noticed something and pointed it out to Roman, Abe and Steve. Carly had signed herself "Katarina", the birth name she hated with a vengeance; no one in Salem except Larry, his major-domo Ivan and Frankie (a few times) ever called her that. Besides, after questioning some staff at the hospital, Roman discovered that Ciara's disappearance didn't correspond with Carly's; around the estimated time Ciara had disappeared from Maggie's house, Carly was in her office clearing her desk, according to Daniel. Based on that and the reminder that Carly had been set up before, Roman backed up Bo by giving Carly the benefit of the doubt. Abe and Steve were also convinced that Carly was innocent. Bo had been forced to reveal Carly's miscarriage and Hope was certain Carly was doing this solely to punish her; Caroline and Kayla on the other hand felt Carly had been nursing anger and grief over her unborn child and wanted to take it out on Ciara and therefore not exactly responsible for her actions. Victor, who'd nursed intense hatred for Carly ever since she spurned his love angrily, told Abe to order an immediate manhunt for Carly or he'll hold him and Bo responsible if anything happened to his granddaughter. Bo ordered him to get the hell out of his office and Roman firmly escorted him out when Victor proved stubborn.

Bo gave the order for a wide search for Carly and Ciara; emphasising that Carly was not a suspect but possibly being held hostage with Ciara, so therefore they were not to arrest her, much to Hope's anger.

'Have you lost your mind completely?' she cried. 'this woman kidnapped our daughter and you aren't going to arrest her?!'

'Look at the evidence in front of you; Carly was in her office at the time Ciara vanished, she certainly can't be at two places at once!' Roman pointed out, exasperated.

'Daniel's not a credible witness; of course he would protect the mother of his child and your brother would do anything to protect his mistress!' Hope snapped, glaring at Bo.

'Hope! 'Abe cut in. 'We're going with evidence and not assumptions; Daniel's not the only witness we have here, other people are willing to testify she was in her office at that particular time. So put your hate aside and start thinking like a detective- innocent until proven guilty; do I make myself clear?'

'Not when my daughter is concerned!' Hope said angrily.

'She's my daughter too.' Bo snapped.

'Some father you are, willing to risk her life by having Carly treated with kid gloves!'

'Carly's innocent! Evidence be damned; this is the same woman who crawled down an oil shaft to save our son!'

'You're so blind when she's concerned... you're despicable!'

Abe, Roman and Steve looked at each other in despair.

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When Carly was absolutely sure they'd covered sufficient distance from Vivian's paid assassin, she pulled to the side of the road and got out of the car to see to her wound. Ciara began to sob as Carly slowly took off her jacket and black blouse, upset at the sight of her bleeding upper arm.

'Please don't cry, sweetie.' Carly soothed, gritting her teeth at the excruciating pain.

'But you're hurt bad!' Ciara cried, tears pouring down her cheeks.

Carly swallowed, beads of sweat appearing on her forehead. 'I'm going to be alright... just hand me my medical bag, it's in the back seat.'

Ciara hurriedly obeyed, anxiously watching Carly as she painfully took the bullet out of the flesh wound and used a pressure bandage to staunch the bleeding. Ciara pressed it down as firmly as she could with her small hands as Carly wrapped lint bandage over and over to secure it. She would have to wait until she got to the hospital since she couldn't stitch it one handed. Panting, she managed to smile reassuringly at the child. 'It doesn't hurt much, Ciara.'

Ciara sniffled. 'That man who shot you... what did he want?'

'Vivian, you remember her?' Ciara nodded. 'She paid him a lot of money to hurt us. She doesn't like me, or your Daddy, that's why.'

'And that light...' Ciara stammered, still unable to believe what she'd seen, 'that woman, was she... a... ghost? Or an angel?'

Carly chose her words carefully, not wanting to confuse and frighten her; seeing Isabella's ghost had shocked her as well. 'I think that was an angel, sweetie. There are angels watching over us all the time, we were very, very lucky this one came before that bad man could kill us.' Smoothing her hair, she kissed Ciara on the cheek. 'We're safe now. So, how about telling me why you came to the hospital to talk to me?'

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Nicholas, Brady and Melanie caught Rafe and his partner before they went inside. 'Well?' Melanie demanded. 'Why isn't she with you?'

'Because she wasn't at the hotel.' Rafe replied flatly. 'We just missed her, guy at the front desk said she took off in a hurry with that bodyguard of hers.'

'I knew it... She's behind all this! She set Mum up after kidnapping them both!' Melanie exclaimed triumphantly.

'Any idea where they could've gone?' Brady asked.

'No, but don't worry, she won't get far.' Patting Melanie's shoulder he and the stalwart detective with him went upstairs to make their report. Nicholas looked very agitated.

'Now Vivian's disappeared, is it possible that Mum's... already dead?'

'NO!' Melanie and Brady cried in unison, shocked by the suggestion.

'But why else would she run off, Mum and Ciara are out there at the hands of whoever Vivian must have paid... how would they possibly get away?' he cried, sick with fear.

'You're going to have to believe Carly and Ciara are still alive Nick; you simply have to.' Brady urged. 'I've seen how Vivian operates, slow torture is her style; not fast and quick. They're still alive and with this mistake Vivian just made; they have no reason to suspect Carly, which means she's not going to be arrested!'

'But suppose they use her miscarriage against her?' Nicholas insisted, still worried. 'Vivian will use every trick in the book to get herself out of this mess like she always does and have Mum blamed; Victor could use his influence to have her locked up in some loony bin! Who's going to believe or listen to a kid?'

'Victor Kiriakis is not the only one who has influence.' Melanie said suddenly, bringing out her cell phone and began to dial. 'Bo wasn't able to protect Mum, lord knows if he'll be able to after she's found.'

'Who are you calling?' Brady asked curiously.

Melanie put the phone in her ear, not bothering to reply. After a few seconds she said, 'Hi Uncle Frankie, it's me. Something's happened...'

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Vivian couldn't believe what she'd heard. 'You allowed them to escape because you saw a ghost?' she'd screamed over the phone. 'Have you been drinking?'

'I saw what I saw alright so you're going to have to find somebody else to do your dirty work for you, 'cause I'm out!' the man had hurled back before hanging up on her. Letting loose a stream of abuse, she'd ordered Gus to get the car, they were going hunting. They had to find Carly before Bo and his men did; and kill her and the brat before they talked. No stupid person who couldn't handle his job was going to cheat her out of her revenge.

It was only a matter of time they found them, Vivian thought to herself, murder in her eyes as Gus drove out of the town. I'll take great pleasure in killing you Carly!