Chapter 41

Everyone in the room was tense as Dr. Macaulay filled a syringe with the long awaited antidote. Black, six foot tall with the build of a quarterback; the toxicologist's calm, precise manner strongly reminded Kayla and Justin of Marcus Hunter, the hospital's Head of Surgery a very long time ago and a mutual friend. 'So she'll wake up any time soon?' Justin asked, anxiously.
Once it takes full effect, yes,' Dr. Macaulay replied in his pronounced Leeds accent, holding up and tapping the clear plastic tube. 'But Miss Brady will still be given a few more doses, to completely neutralise every trace of the poison in her blood stream.' Swabbing a spot on Olivia's arm with alcohol, he jabbed the needle into it.
'Now we'll wait and see the result.'
Kayla shook his hand. 'I'll let you know the minute she wakes up so you could give her the remaining doses.' Nodding to Justin, Phillip and Stephanie, Dr. Macaulay took his leave.
'Where's Carly?' Justin asked, dialling Bo's number on his cell.
'Maxine said she's already gone home; I'm calling her right now.'
Stephanie stroked her cousin's curls, kissing her forehead. 'You're going to be alright now, babes,' she said softly, as Phillip squeezed Olivia's hand. She looked up to notice her mother frowning at her cell phone. 'What's wrong, Mum?'
'Carly's not answering.'
'The line's busy?' asked Phillip.
'It's ringing but she's not picking up. I'll call the house.'
Max heard the phone ringing from the kitchen and hurried out to answer it. 'Hello?'
'Is that you Max? I need to speak with Carly.'
'She's not here; I left her at the hospital ages ago, she's the one who gave me the key.'
'She's not home?' Kayla said, more confused by the minute. 'Where could she be, she's not answering her phone. '
'Maybe she went back to the station; she was there earlier with Bo. Is something wrong?'
'Colin's found the antidote; he's administering it on Olivia now.'
'Hey, that's great!' Max exclaimed. 'Does Bo know?'
Kayla glanced at Justin who gave her a quick nod. 'Justin's just got hold of him. No, no... Don't come over, stay around in case Carly shows up and give her my message, understood?'
'Okay. Hold on, Kay... Victor was here looking for Carly a while ago.'
'What did he want?'
'Said he had a message for Carly.'
'Did he say what it was?'
'No. He looked kind of agitated, asked if he could use the bathroom, then left.'
'Oh, well... Thanks.' She hung up; worry lines already appearing on her brow. 'She's not home either.'
'Oh my God, you don't suppose...' Stephanie began.
'Let's not jump the gun now, Steff,' Phillip squeezed his fiancée's shoulders, refusing to think the worse. 'Carly's probably on her way home as we speak; maybe she had a flat or something.'
'Bo's coming as soon as he can; he's at a crime scene right now. ' Justin said. 'And Carly better be around by the time he gets here, or he's really going to freak.' Looking at Kayla, he saw her frown had deepened. 'What's wrong now?'
She shook her head. 'I'm not sure, Justin...'

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Carly's phone rang nonstop as Gus drove away from Salem but he couldn't afford to stop until he was well away from the town; any minute from now she would be declared missing and as the Commissioner's fiancee, every police officer would make it their priority to search for her in every nock and corner.
The plan really went well. Listening in on the princess's conversation via the hidden microphone, he'd driven to the beach house that night and skulked in the bushes until the delivery boy had shown up with her order. He'd jumped him, swiftly and silently dispatched him with a quick snap of the neck and immediately dosed the pizza with the deadly poison he'd made in powder form before donning on the uniform and cap and delivering it to the princess as bold as you please. Leaving the house, he'd driven out to Green Oaks and buried the body. It had all been too easy. And in a few hours, Dr. Manning will be joining him, only she would have the dignity of being buried in the handsome mahogany coffin Madam selected especially for her. Right now, she was bound and gagged in the trunk of the car, dosed with enough sedatives to knock out a horse for several hours.

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When Bo finally made it to the hospital, Kayla was standing outside Olivia's room, talking to Justin and Marlena in urgent tones. 'Is she awake yet?'
'No, not yet, Bo. Carly's not with you?'
Bo stood still, his eyes narrowed. 'What?'
'We can't find her,' Marlena said, very worried. 'She's not here, she's not at the house, we even called the pub; no one knows where she is. I've called her, texted her, no answer.'
'Who saw her last?'
'The nurses said she left the building after tending to a patient and that was ages ago.'
'Dr. Johnson asked me to check the parking lot, Dr. Manning's car's still there.' Sergeant Newton, who'd been hovering near the group, added quickly.
'Vivian Alamain... ' Bo raged, furious he'd given way to Carly's stubborn refusal of having a bodyguard follow her around.
'Not that I want to add fuel to the fire, but Max said Victor came by the house to see Carly.' Justin interrupted. 'Said he wanted to talk to her.'
Bo glanced at Kayla who shrugged. 'I'm as confused as you are.'
'He ignores his granddaughter the whole time she's been here, now he wants to talk to Carly all of a sudden...what the hell's going on?'
'I'm probably right about what I told Phillip,' said Justin. 'Victor's probably found something that can help you finally arrest Vivian.'
'If that's true, then why didn't he come to me, why go to Carly instead? I don't understand any of this!'
'Or the other hand, maybe we're panicking a little early...'
'For God sake, Justin!' Marlena snapped, worry for Carly making her temper rise, 'What reason would she have not to answer her phone or her beeper except she's in trouble?'
The door opened suddenly and Stephanie's dark head poked out. 'Mum... Uncle Bo, she's coming round!'
Phillip was leaning over Olivia as they all hurried in, watching her face anxiously. Her head was moving on the pillow slowly, her eyelids fluttering.
'Olivia...' Bo said softly, nudging him aside to take his daughter's hand, 'can you hear me, sweetheart?'
Slowly, Olivia's eyes came into view and saw her father looking down at her. Bo kissed her fingers as she closed her eyes then opened them again, trying to groggily focus on him, making a muffled noise. Deeming it safe, Kayla cautiously removed the oxygen mask. 'Inhale and exhale, honey... slowly.' She instructed.
Olivia obeyed, and then croaked, 'Daddy?'
'I'm here, kitten.'
She ran her tongue over dry lips. 'Thirsty...' Stephanie ran out and came back with crushed ice in a foam cup and a plastic spoon.
Olivia's parched mouth was immediately refreshed by the frozen water Bo fed her. Swallowing, she looked down at the plastic ID on her right wrist and IV on the left. 'What am I doing here... what happened?'
'Vivian poisoned you, kitten. You've been out for a week.'
Her eyes, the whites a pale yellow, widened in her thin face. 'What? How...?'
'The pizza.' Phillip explained. 'We don't how yet but it was in the pizza. Brady and I found you passed out in the kitchen.'
'Bloody hell...' Olivia muttered, sinking it in. 'You two might have...'
'Don't think about that,' Marlena said quickly.
Olivia shifted to Bo. 'Have you arrested her?'
He shook his head grimly. 'All we've got are suspicions and no proof.'
'Cowardly bitch.' Olivia muttered. 'I'd sooner nab her myself.' Coughing, she peered round. 'Where's Ma?'
Everyone looked at one other uneasily.
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After driving for three hours, Gus deemed it safe to stop and turn off Carly's phone. Pulling it out of the purse resting on the passenger's seat, he saw there were several new text messages. He clicked one open, his eyes widening as he read it. He opened another unread message, then another and another, alarm bells ringing in his head.
'It can't be...' he whispered, 'it just can't be, My God!'
Digging out his own cell, he hurriedly dialled Vivian's number.
'I thought we agreed that I would call you, not the other way around!' Vivian hissed. She sounded very tense.
'This couldn't wait, Madam...' Gus said urgently. 'I just read a text on Dr. Manning's phone, they've found an antidote!'
'What?' Vivian exclaimed. 'How is that possible, you gave her a very potent poison didn't you?'
'I promise you I did...'
'Damn you, can't you do anything right?' Vivian screamed, furiously angry. 'We're back to phase one! Everything was supposed to be over and done with tonight!'
Gus swallowed hard, not knowing what to say. 'What are we going to do now, Madam? Should we proceed?'
'Most definitely; all or nothing!' Vivian snapped. 'Olivia's not going scot-free; I'll have my revenge by any means necessary! Do what you're supposed to do and make sure you remember to leave the radio and oxygen tank inside the casket.'
'Yes, but...'
'But what?'
'Sooner or later, the princess will be asked to describe me and they'll trace me to you.'
'That's why you going to go back and kidnap her from the hospital.'
'Madam, with all due respect!' Gus exclaimed. 'How's that going to be possible? She'll be surrounded by guards...'
'Find a way and take her to Green Oaks,' Vivian cut in. 'I don't care how you do it; make sure you get her there! Understood?'
'Understood.' Gus shook his head in resignation as Vivian hung up. He'd sworn to always obey her and he wasn't about to walk away from an assignment, no matter how difficult.
In reality, Vivian was using anger to hide the abject fear cruising up and down her spine. Victor had called her long before Gus did and she'd been startled at the tone of his voice.
'I need to talk to you.'
'I'm rather busy right now, Victor...'
'You lied to me!'
'I... don't understand...'
'Cathy wasn't Bo and Carly's daughter, she was yours! I had Dimitri hack into the Swiss hospital's records, I saw her birth and death certificates- she was born in 1998... To you! The documents you showed me were forged; you were using me as a shield, playing me for a fool the whole time, you BITCH!'
'Victor, really... I can't imagine where you got that bogus information...'
'Stop it, just stop it!' he screamed. 'Olivia has the Kiriakis birthmark and I've checked everything... you gave me lies, all lies! And I was stupid enough to believe you! But you're not worth swinging for- I'll leave Bo to deal with you himself!'
'Look who's sounding sanctimonious now,' she'd sneered, inwardly horrified her latest deceit was suddenly out. 'What makes you think I won't tell your son you knew I poisoned your precious Olivia the whole time and you kept quiet because of what you believed about Carly?'
'Speaking of Carly... what have you done to her?'
'That's no longer your business; I've already gone too far to back out now. You say a word to Bo, I'll expose you- I swear it! One way or other, you will go down with me!'

Galvanised into action, she'd hurriedly packed her bag, glad she'd chosen to travel light, which wasn't her usual style, and checked out of the Salem Inn.
If Victor did actually tell Bo, which she doubted because he would be implicating himself; then it was best she made herself scarce.

Carly finally stirred, her back and left side aching badly as if she'd been slammed down on something. Yet whatever she was resting on felt soft underneath. Her face ached too; she dimly remembered someone hitting her. She sat up, or rather tried to, her back was killing her and she realised she was in a dark enclosed place. A place that was way too familiar.
'No...' she whispered, pushing desperately at the padded wood above her. 'Not again...'
Vivian couldn't be stupid, just couldn't be that warped with hate to do this again. This was all a bad dream. Feeling solid wood at the sides told her otherwise.
'NOOOOOOOO!' Carly screamed, as the sheer terror of a claustrophobic gripped her; thrashing hopelessly in the buried casket. 'Help! Someone get me out... GET ME OUT!'