Part 26- Case of the Purloined...

Despite the ongoing torrent of glares from Johnny and suggestions from Sami that he just wasn't trying hard enough, Lucas found his family life lapsing into something strangely pleasant. Sami's recovery had lifted a weight had been so heavy for so long that Lucas had almost forgotten it was there. Sami might be completely underestimating Johnny, but it was beyond a relief to know that she would be there for the twins, and for Will, and in general.

The house that had seemed too big and empty when Will had deposited him here short months before now burst with life and activity.

One Thursday afternoon, Lucas found himself chopping mushrooms and scallions and garlic in the kitchen. The steady clang of Will lifting weights in the basement (to which all workout equipment had been relegated after the original gym had become Johnny's bedroom) formed an oddly comforting backdrop.

The twins were busy with their homework at the kitchen table. Their project—and Allie had assured him that they were, in fact, supposed to work together—involved writing a story using a list of vocabulary words. Johnny was engrossed enough in his task that he had almost forgotten that Lucas was in the room, and Lucas took great pleasure in listening as the twins' voices tumbled over one another.

The mushrooms and scallions crackled as Lucas threw them into a pan of olive oil; from the corner of his eye, Lucas saw Allie smile.

"The smell of the mushrooms was tantalizing," she said.

Johnny shook his head. "The smell of the mushrooms was tantalizing, so it wasn't surprising that the malevolent man stole them from the little boy."

"Purloined them," said Allie. "Instead of stole. Then we'd be using—"

"Three words instead of two," Johnny completed along with her. "But it has to be steak instead of mushrooms. Then it can be a—"

"Purloined sirloin!" Allie completed along with him. "The smell of the steak was tantalizing, so it wasn't surprising that the malevolent man stole it from the little boy. The police came to investigate the case of the purloined sirloin, but the dejected boy's memory of the thief was—"

"Nebulous!" they chorused.

Lucas dumped freshly cooked pasta into a strainer set in the sink. Steam wafted toward the twins.

"The police officer was incredulous when the boy said he thought the thief had cut through the fog with a rapier," Johnny continued.

"Even though the crime was deplorable, the police officer didn't think that a magic rapier—which must have been taken from the sunken Spanish galleon—would have been needed to commit it."

Lucas had never been so disappointed to hear a phone ring in his life.

"Horton residence," he answered.

"May I speak to Lucas Horton?" The voice was polite and professional, but Lucas' stomach lurched. The speaker had an English accent, and he'd called on the old-fashioned landline that they only used for conversations that demanded security.

"This is he."

"You are the legal guardian of the minor child Allie Horton?"

The twins weren't laughing any more. They were listening to Lucas, and not pretending otherwise.

"Hold on a minute," said Lucas to his intruder. He dumped the pasta into a bowl and the vegetables into the pasta. "Johnny, take this into the dining room, please. I'd give it to Allie, but it's heavy and she might burn herself."

Johnny scowled, but picked up the bowl. Lucas had learned that the only way to get him to do something was to couch the request in terms of how Allie would be hurt if Johnny disobeyed. Johnny knew that he was being manipulated, but his affection for Allie was apparently stronger than his disdain for Lucas.

"Allie," Lucas continued. "Salt, pepper, and parmesan on the counter. Toss them with the pasta."

"How much?" asked Allie. Her eyes were fixed on the phone. She was obviously burning with curiosity; Lucas wondered if she had heard her name.

"Use your judgment," Lucas told her. He prayed—not for the first time—that her judgment was better than her mother's. But something told him that the call was going to ruin his appetite anyway. He might not notice if Allie emptied a whole shaker full of salt onto the pasta.

Allie walked after Johnny as slowly as she possibly could.

When she was gone, Lucas picked up the phone again. "Sorry about that. If we're going to discuss Allie, I don't want her to be in the room."

"Understandable. I expect the news I'm to deliver you will come as a great shock. First, my name is Chief Inspector Robert Smyth of the Metropolitan Police Service. Two days ago, my men arrested Mr. Elvis Aaron DiMera, Junior, alias E.J. Wells, alias E.J. Banks, alias E.J. Crumb. We have too many outstanding warrants and extradition orders to sort through, but what takes precedence is an accusation that he held an underage girl against her will and molested her. These situations are expedited, and if your daughter were willing to testify—"

"That's a very big if," Lucas warned.

"Understandable," repeated Chief Inspector Robert Smyth of the Metropolitan Police Service. And he very politely proceeded to explain that Allie's testimony was the only thing that would ensure that EJ remained behind bars while the technicalities that came with too many warrants and too many conflicting claims and too many bribed officials were sorted out. It had happened in the past that a man who raped a thirteen-year-old girl was considered a criminal in one country, but given a hero's refuge in another. It would be to the benefit of the MPS and to the benefit of Lucas and Allie if EJ were tried and convicted before that could happen.

Somewhere along the line, Will came upstairs and stood in the doorway, watching his father's face and seeming to take in everything that was going on without hearing a word.

"I'll ask her," said Lucas at last. "And do you have a contact in the Salem PD?"

Lucas was assured that he could check the Chief Inspector's story and credentials with Bo Brady, and hung up the phone.

His eyes locked with Will's.

"We'll discuss it after dinner," Lucas said, pleading for the chance to have one more hour of normalcy. Damn it, Allie was happy and laughing! Johnny was practically tolerating him!

"Are we all going to want to throw up dinner if we eat before we hear about this?"

Lucas groaned. "Good point."

Together, Lucas and Will joined the twins in the oddly formal dining room, so out of sync with the rest of the house and never used until the twins had gotten into the habit of monopolizing the kitchen table with their laptops and books.

Allie and Will looked expectantly at Lucas.

Johnny, with a nonchalance that fooled no one, began eating his dinner. He didn't cringe, Lucas noted numbly, so Allie must have been reasonable with the salt.

"You should all know," Lucas began, and then stopped. His voice was echoing in his own head.

"We should all know…" Will repeated expectantly.

"That EJ DiMera was arrested two days ago."

Lucas saw Johnny's flinch only because he was watching him carefully. Otherwise, Johnny showed admirable self-control; he continued to eat, giving no sign that Lucas' news had anything to do with him.

If that was how Johnny was going to play it, this might not be so bad.

"Allie."

Allie couldn't hide her feelings the way Johnny could. Her round face was full of apprehension, anger, confusion, and determination as she stared back at Lucas.

"You shouldn't feel any pressure to do this. It's entirely up to you. But they want you to testify against EJ. They want you to go to England and tell the judge what EJ did to you."

"No." Allie shook her head vehemently. "He's done all kinds of stuff to all kinds of people. Aren't they testifying? Isn't that enough?"

Lucas deflated the tiniest bit. He had thought that he was hoping that Allie would refuse, and that they could go about their life without interruption. But when Allie's refusal became a reality, a wave of horror washed over him. EJ had gotten away with murder, rape, kidnapping, and torture. And he was going to continue to get away with it. His path was clear. He would arrange to be extradited to a country that would free him. The extradition couldn't be blocked without the special circumstances of the most loathed crime of all… sexual assault of a minor.

He'd heard the truism all his life, in prison and out of it: even murderers think child molesters are scum.

"Honestly, Allie, I'm not sure that the other victims are going to be able to testify."

"Dr. Medy says I'm not supposed to refer to myself as a victim."

Lucas swallowed a sigh. She was right, of course, but that didn't make this easier. "Other survivors, then."

"Why can't they?"

"Because there are outstanding warrants for EJ's arrest all over the world. He's going to try to get one of those warrants to be given priority, and once he's in another country the charges will be dropped and he'll disappear. The crime that supersedes the others—the one that makes it impossible for him to bribe enough people—"

"All right, stop!" Allie snapped. Every inch of her body was shaking. The room was silent as Lucas, Will, and Johnny watched the wheels turning behind Allie's wide, blue eyes. "When would I have to go?" Allie asked at last.

"Right away."

"How long?"

"A few days. Maybe a few weeks."

"Is it open to the public?"

"No. You testify behind a screen and your name isn't released."

"But people here—they know that Johnny is my brother and DiMera is his last name—if this is international news, they'll figure out—"

Lucas sighed, remembering the tabloid headlines that had called Sami Salem's Own Lorena Bobbitt. Allie was right. The law had never brought a DiMera to justice. Allie's pain would be for nothing, just like the pain of three other generations of her family. "You're right. Your name will probably get out. And I think you made a good decision not to do this. We all need to move forward—"

"No," Allie snarled, and had never looked more like Sami. "I'll testify. Oh, I'll testify. Tell them not bother with the screen. Tell them to bring in the cameras and post everything on YouTube. You get the plane tickets." She shoved her untouched meal to the middle of the table. "I'll go pack."

"No, you won't," said Johnny in a low, hard-edged voice. He'd finally pushed his food away, too. "You are not going to do this, Alicia."

"Don't call me that!" Allie turned to look at Lucas and Will. "That's what he called us, Giovanni and Alicia. Johnny and Allie weren't sophisticated enough. Pretty rich coming from someone named Elvis."

"Father called you that affectionately because he loved you, he raised you as his own—"

"I really hope you don't think he'd do to his own what he did to me—"

"HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO YOU!" Johnny roared. "THESE PEOPLE BRAINWASHED YOU INTO THINKING—"

"No one brainwashed me! He locked me up like an animal when you went off to school. He put his hands on my breasts, he kissed me, he had an erection. If Theo Carver hadn't come snooping around, he would have raped me." Johnny grimaced. "You can hear it now or you can hear it later when I testify."

"I'm not listening now and I certainly won't listen then. The only way I'll be at that trial is if they let me testify that you're a crazy liar who wants to slander a man who never did anything but love you and take care of you. Are you going to tell the judge about how he used to push us on the swings for hours? About the pastries he used to let us eat in bed on Sunday morning? About bringing in the best tutors for us so we could get the best education?"

"If the judge asks, I'll tell him all of that. But I'll tell him that EJ DiMera is a child molester, and I'll tell him that whether my twin brother wants to support me or not!"

With that, Allie stomped from the room, not replying when Johnny called after her, "It'll be not!" Lucas could hear her drawers and doors opening and closing.

Johnny started to follow Allie, but Will and Lucas grabbed him by his slender shoulders and sat him back in his seat. "You don't have to come to England, but you don't get to intimidate the witness any more," Lucas told him.

"Are you going to throw me out?" asked Johnny, almost hopefully. "I'm sure Father has made alternate arrangements. I'd be happy to go back to Eton."

"You're going back to Shawn and Belle's until your brother and sister and I come home." Lucas turned his attention to Will. "Can you get a hold of Shawn and Belle and set that up? Hold down the fort with the twins?"

"Where're you going?" Will asked by way of assent.

"Someone has to tell your mother what's going on, and I don't think I should tell her over the phone. Who knows what she'll do?"

Lucas heard Sami's shouts as soon as he stepped off the elevator in the rehab area of the hospital. It seemed that someone had beaten him to telling her the news. He wasn't sure whether he was relieved or irritated.

"What do you mean, they want Allie to testify? There is no way my daughter is doing that, no way. I testified against a man who raped me when I was just a few years older than Allie, and—why can't I testify against him instead? I'll tell the judge I saw EJ with his hand between her legs when she was three years old. I'll tell him EJ wouldn't let us leave. I'll tell him—"

"You won't tell him anything, Sami," Bo responded just as Lucas opened the door and let himself in. "You have no credibility. You went to England with him willingly. You took the twins along willingly. You thought you had a child with him, and because you never pressed charges for rape, his attorney will make you out to be a spurned ex-lover. And you aren't well enough to travel, anyway."

Sami sneered at Bo, and addressed Lucas instead. "You aren't going to let her testify, are you?" she asked, and her vulnerability made Lucas' heart constrict.

"I don't think wild horses could stop her, Sami. She wants to do this."

"You already asked her?" Bo asked. "You're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure I asked her." Bo made a face. "Yes, I'm sure she wants to testify. I've never seen her like this. She was packing for the trip when I left."

"Teenage girls change their minds."

"Allie follows through." Not wanting to discuss it with Bo further, Lucas changed the subject. "You do know this Chief Inspector Smyth person who called me? He's legit?"

"Yeah, we've been working together since this thing with EJ Junior heated up again. Ever since Sami gave us her information. That's why they were able to track him down. He was at one of the places she told us about."

"So you'll take my information, but you won't let me testify against a man who stole thirteen years of my life? Of Lucas' life? Of our children's lives?"

"It's out of my hands, Sami," said Bo. "You know Lucas will take good care of Allie. She'll be back before you know it."

"You might be able to keep me from testifying, but there is no way you can keep me here while my daughter is going through that. No way. I will break out of this hospital and hitchhike to England if I have to."

Lucas heard the truth in her words, just as he'd heard the truth in Allie's when she'd vowed to take part in the trial. Everything Allie was, she'd come by honestly.

"I'll buy an extra plane ticket," he said.

TBC