Shane set the cane against the desk and sank into his chair. He was fatigued from physical therapy, but unlike the past few days since his return home, he had decided not to return to his bedroom immediately. If he did, he would probably spend most of the day sleeping. That may be what Marcus Hunter would have preferred, but Shane was keenly aware that he only had two months before the trial and, after what Steve had said the other day, Shane would be damned if he was going to be Tarrington's fall guy any longer.
The past few days, Shane had spent kicking himself. He had been played for a fool yet again by an ISA chief. First, Nickerson, Shane's trusted mentor, had left him to be killed by Victor Kiriakis. Then, Vaughn had kidnapped Marlena and used Andrew's kidnapping to distract Shane from figuring out Vaughn's treachery. Now, Tarrington. When did it stop? Was that what it took to lead the ISA? Was that kind of power so corrupting that even men Shane had once trusted with his life would betray their oaths and all semblance of loyalty to the people they commanded?
And what does that say about you? Shane asked himself. You were Tarrington's second-in-command.
Across the room, in her playpen, Jeannie babbled something, interrupting Shane's thoughts. She was standing, leaning on the side of the pen, and watching Shane. As he watched, she grinned and lifted up her arms to him.
His mind turning from the ISA, Shane looked at her sadly. Once again, he had to disappoint his little girl. "Soon, Jeannie."
Soon, he said to himself. Soon, I'll be able to lift you and hold you like a father should.
Thankfully, she did not cry. Instead, she turned away and began playing with some of the toys she had in the playpen. When Shane saw that she was settled away, he turned back to his task at hand.
Lawrence Alamain.
Reaching into the desk, he pulled out the notepads containing all the details he had been able to remember about the ISA investigation into Lawrence and the toxin. He had written them down when he thought Lawrence had been behind the threats to Kim and Andrew, but now he reviewed them with a different purpose in mind - to find Lawrence and figure out exactly what he intended to do with the toxin. Shane knew Lawrence well enough to know that he would be returning to Salem intent on revenge. The difficulty was predicting where Lawrence would strike and who would be his victim. There were so many potential targets.
For a man who had spent less than a year in Salem, Lawernce had made plenty of enemies. Shane knew he was at the top of the list. So were Jack and Jennifer and Bo and Carly. Kim could be on it too, as could the others who went to Alamainia - Kayla, Julie, and Alice. And Shane could hardly forget Steve; he still had no idea why Lawrence had taken Steve from the hospital, but there had to be a reason.
It still amazed Shane that Lawrence had managed to get paroled without anyone noticing. Even more amazing was that Lawrence could leave the country without the Salem PD or the ISA stopping him. But then Shane did not have a lot of faith in the ISA these days.
Somehow, Lawrence had managed to keep his parole hearing under wraps. At the hospital, Carly had told Shane everyone had been surprised to find out the parole hearing had been moved up without notice. Shane doubted that was just an oversight.
No, Lawrence had paid someone off. Just like he had paid off someone to smuggle messages out of the prison. There was no question that Lawrence had connections.
The question was why Lawrence moved up the hearing. Maybe he was just tired of prison, but he could have cheated on his parole earlier. Shane doubted it took that long for Lawrence to want to leave the prison. The reason had to be something else. There was a reason why Lawrence chose to get paroled at that particular time. The timing had to be the key.
And what was happening at that particular time?
Shane felt his blood go cold. It can't be. He grabbed a notepad and began checking the dates - of the first attack at the Fish Market, of the shooting at Andrew's school, of Maurice Marchand's death. And if Lawrence was paroled while Shane was in the coma, the new hearing date had to have been arranged earlier - right during Kim and Kayla's kidnapping.
Why didn't I see it? Out loud, he murmured, "It's so bloody obvious."
Lawrence had brought Kim back to Salem to distract Shane from investigating Lawrence. After the raid in Egypt, the virus being cured, and Steve's return, Lawrence had to know Shane and the ISA were involved. The attacks began shortly after Shane returned for Iraq. And, then, when everyone was distracted by the kidnapping, Lawrence moved his hearing date.
Shane had always questioned Cal's escape and the way it was covered up. Now, it all made sense. Lawrence had arranged it - probably through Marchand, who was killed right after the school shooting. Had Marchand objected? Had he threatened to reveal the truth behind the shooting? All the pieces fit together.
Now Shane's task was to prove them and, perhaps, get a lead on Lawrence's current whereabouts. Only one person could confirm Shane's suspicions - the prison warden who covered up Cal's escape, but had disappeared. Shane realized he might be dead, but if he could be found. . . . The problem was that Shane had no idea where to look and had none of the resources necessary to perform a manhunt.
He was still pondering how to find the man when he heard a knock on the door of the study. Looking up, he saw Roman in the doorway.
"Hey, partner, how you doing?"
"Roman," Shane called out. "I didn't know you're back."
Roman sauntered into the room, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans. "Just got back. I actually called the hospital, but they said you'd gone home." He stopped and looked Shane over. "You look a lot better than when we saw you last. . . . How you feeling?"
Shane shrugged. "About as good as could be expected. Got a ways to go to recovery, whatever that really means."
"I'm sorry about what happened," Roman said. "We owe you for saving Kim and Kay."
Shane shook his head. "You don't owe me anything. You know what Kim means to me. . . ." How much she means to me and how much she wants to be with me, even though she refuses to admit it. "Sorry." Shane looked back at Roman. "Just got a little distracted. Don't mind me moping. It's good to see you. Tell me about Mexico. Did Marlena get any answers?"
"Actually. . . ." Roman shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not really here on a social call. It's actually about what happened in Mexico."
Shane leaned forward in his chair. "Did you find anything in Mexico?"
"Yeah." Roman swallowed deeply. "Yeah, we found something. It's just . . . it's complicated, Shane. It's very complicated."
"No, it's not," said another voice - one that Shane recognized immediately from tens, maybe hundreds, of hours of radio communications.
But that's impossible, he thought.
Yet, directly in front of him, walking through the library door was a man who looked and sounded exactly like Roman Brady - the Roman Brady who had fallen off a cliff in 1984. Shane could not stop himself from staring, and he looked quickly at Marlena, who had entered alongside the curly-haired man, and then at Roman - at least, the man Shane thought of as Roman Brady, the man who was Shane's best friend.
Bewildered, Shane looked again at each Roman, and the thought repeated in his head.
This is impossible.