Chapter 201 – Bill Drops a Bomb
"You know that Charlie is never going to let it go." Rosemary said.
"And if he doesn't." Frank said. "He can spend the rest of his life behind bars. Conspiracy to commit kidnapping and stocking are serious charges. He is facing several felonies. He will be lucky to get anything less than fifteen years. Also if he is convicted or takes a plea deal, he will never be a lawyer. He will also probably be kicked out of Columbia for violation of their code of conduct."
"Just because you don't want to be with Charlie doesn't mean that you have to ruin his life." Rosemary said.
"Charlie made his own choices." Nathan said. "He knew there was a restraining order and chose to violate it. He was the one that decided to put an illegal tracking app on Elizabeth's phone. He was the one that helped plan to kidnap Elizabeth. He has had plenty of chances, but continues to fail to see that he is the one causing a problem."
"What about the girl that you got pregnant?" Rosemary challenged. "What are you going to do about that? From what I heard you were engaged to her and have now abandoned her."
Nathan and Doug saw the look on Jack's face. They also saw Jack flex his hand.
"Jack has never been engaged before." Father Mark said. "Trust me, I would know. As far as the girl that is claiming to be pregnant, well, she is a known liar."
"Then why won't you take a DNA test to prove it?" Rosemary asked.
"Because I don't need to." Jack said. "I have plenty of other proof that I was nowhere near her when she was claiming that I was. In fact I was several states away and there is more than enough proof that I have had nothing to do with this girl. She is the one that came onto me. Her claiming to be pregnant is because I rejected her sexual advances. She is just trying to cause trouble. If she wants me to take a paternity test, she first needs to prove that she is pregnant and up to this point she hasn't. So your argument is moot."
"We don't need to prove anything." Doug said. "There is plenty of other evidence that Jack was nowhere close to her when she is claiming to have gotten pregnant. Furthermore, the burden of proof falls to her. She would have to prove to the courts that Jack was the potential father in order for them to compel a DNA test. And because she can't do that, she has taken to smearing Jack in the press. Which has backfired on her, since her and her father have been served with lawsuits for libel and slander."
Everyone just looked at Doug, then at Jack.
"They were served today." Jack said. "It was one of the things that Devin talked to me about. She pushed too far and she is going to pay for dragging my name through the mud."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Elizabeth said.
"Devin was handling everything." Jack said. "He asked me if I wanted to go ahead if the legal standard was met. I told him to do it a long time ago. They have been gathering evidence and putting the case together for weeks because of the stunt she pulled back in March. Her latest actions have only strengthened our case."
"Oh." Elizabeth said.
"I am sorry." Jack said. "There has been so much in the works that I forget that you haven't been around. I will try to be better about sharing. I promise I was going to talk to you, we just didn't get a chance."
"You are forgiven." Elizabeth said. "You are right we haven't had much of a chance to talk about what Devin told you."
Jack leaned over and gave Elizabeth a kiss. They tried to keep it light, but the emotional rollercoaster they had been on took over. Both leaned into the kiss a little bit more then they had intended. They pulled apart when Frank cleared his throat. Jack kept his head down as he could feel the heat in his cheeks. Elizabeth turned and buried her head in Jack's shoulder.
After Marcus and Ryan left, John turned to Bill.
"You look like you are chomping at the bit to share something since you came in." John said. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"
"I am." Bill said. "I just wasn't sure it was wise to share in front of Marcus and Ryan. The information that I have came about through back channels. I have verified it as best as I can, but I don't want to get anyone in trouble. That is why I didn't want to share when Marcus and Ryan were here. They would want to know where I got the information."
"Okay." John said. "We will limit our questions. I trust that you wouldn't share this information if you weren't sure it was accurate."
"Thank you." Bill said. "As you remember I was an investigator when I was with the State Police. Well there was a case that stuck in my head when Jack told me that it was Charlie Kensington that was causing trouble. Since I wasn't the primary on the case, I didn't have all the details. I went to my friend who was the primary on it. He showed me his old notebooks about the case. He always felt that there was more information than people were saying. He did some independent research and when he went to his bosses with his theory, they shot him down. He always thought they shot him down a little too quickly. He continued to look into things discreetly and he was able to piece quite a bit together before his bosses found out and ordered him to hand everything over. He had figured that would happen, so he had kept a second copy of everything that no one knew about."
"What case are you talking about?" John asked.
"Remember that case where a young woman said she was taken from her home." Bill said. "But in the end they deemed that she was just a runaway."
"I remember that." Devin said. "Her story was that she was forced to go with an older man with the intent of marrying him."
"Yes." Bill said.
"Didn't her family insist that she ran away again?" John asked.
"Yes." Bill said. "Anyway, my friend always thought that there was more to her story. She told him that she wasn't the first that it happened to, but the fact that she got away and tried to tell the story was a first."
"So what does that have to do with Charlie Kensington and the situation that we are in?" John asked.
"When my friend was investigating things." Bill said. "He found evidence that several upper middle class and upper class gentlemen were involved in what basically amounted to a secret swingers club, resulting in several children being born. These men would trade their wives among themselves and when their daughters were old enough, they would basically sell them off to the highest bidder. The daughter would have no choice in the marriage under the threat of being cut off and branded a liar, a run away or worse.
He had found that this club had been going on for years. From what he could tell it was well known if you knew who to ask, but no one would talk about it with people outside of the circle. There were vague references made, but that was it. Everyone was afraid of talking for fear that they would also be in trouble for the things that they did. My friend was close to getting some of the women to come forward when his bosses shut him down, took his notes and threatened his pension if he continued to investigate. Knowing that he couldn't lose his pension, but feeling for those women and girls, he told me about it. I tried to look into things, but by the time that I made any headway, Nora was sick and I had to put it aside."
"Are you saying that William Thatcher was a part of that club?" John asked.
"I am telling you that William Thatcher is a part of that club." Bill said. "But not only him, but Charles Kensington, II as well as his father. Charlie is not obsessed with Elizabeth because he loves her, he is obsessed with her because his father bought her for him and he doesn't want to lose. From what I can tell, William sold his older daughter to Lionel Murphy. It was his father, Winston, that bought Viola for Lionel."
"So that is why, if they can't have her back." Andrew said. "That William Thatcher and Charles Kensington are determined to ruin her reputation in the media."
"Exactly." Bill said. "After I talked to Jack last week and found out what was going on, I went to my friend and we have been looking more into this club or circle. As far as we can tell, there are several prominent names on the list. The problem is that we don't have enough evidence to go to the DA. The other problem is that there are several politicians and high ranking members of law enforcement that are said to be on the list as far as we can tell. We aren't sure who we can trust and don't want things to get shut down again. My friend is risking a lot but continuing to look into this all these years. Every time he makes a little progress, he gets doors slammed shut. We have been able to piece together at least two dozen young women who have been forced into these marriages and another dozen children that have probably resulted from the swingers club.
As far as we can tell the children are all cared for and the wife's husband is listed on the birth certificate, even if he isn't the real father. So we have no leverage to get these women to talk to us and break their years of silence. When William Thatcher was talking about cutting Elizabeth off, it all clicked in my head. Also what he said about the contract. I know I wasn't here when he said it, but it was something that Elizabeth had mentioned to Jack when she first went with him. He asked me about it as he had never heard of a marriage contract like that before. All the other girls/women that me and my friend have talked to have said that they were forced into these marriages because their father produced a contract that was signed agreeing to it. The fact that Elizabeth has fought back, has to have them running scared."
"Damn it." John said. "So what do we do?"
"We support Elizabeth and Jack." Bill said. "There isn't much we can do. They are going to try and continue to drag her name through the mud in hopes of discrediting her enough that Jack will want nothing to do with her and then she will be forced to go back and Charlie will lay claim to her. They don't care if the woman's reputation is ruined. Once Charlie has her, he will claim it was nothing and Jack was the one who caused all the problems."
"Then we can't let that happen." John said. "Not that I think there is anything that will come between those two, but it will still be hard. So, I think that the more that we stand with JP and Elizabeth, that it will help, but we need to put a stop to this."
"I don't know how." Bill said. "The people in charge are not going to want their own actions brought to light."
"You and your friend just keep digging." John said. "Devin, give him whatever they need to help them. You leave the rest to me."
"John." Bill said. "Before you go down that path, I think you should know something."
John closed his eyes and let out a harsh breath. He almost knew what Bill had uncovered. John didn't want to think about it, but he knew that he had to. After counting to ten, John opened his eyes and looked at Bill. To Bill's credit he could read the question on John's face without him having to voice it.
"I am afraid so." Bill said. "I was able to confirm it with the information that Devin gave me yesterday."
"What information?" John asked.
"Later." Devin said. "I have already talked to Jack about some of it, but he is struggling. I think it best if we sit down and talk later."
"Very well." John said. "We can do that. This is not how I thought this day would go."
"You and I both." Devin said.
John rubbed his temple like he was getting a headache.
"Can we table this discussion until Devin can sit down with John?" Peter asked.
"Yes, please." John said. "We still need to figure out what is going to be said tomorrow, but we need JP and the others up here for that."
"I will go get them." Bill said. "I will also check on my kids while I am down there."
After a moment, Jack looked up.
"Sorry." Jack said.
"It is okay." Frank said. "I remember being young and in love. I just thought I would stop you before you crossed a line."
Jack ducked his head again.
Doug, Lee and Nathan were laughing. Rosemary didn't see what was so funny. Before she could ask, Bill came downstairs and over to them.
"Please come upstairs." Bill said.
"Supper ready?" Jack asked.
"Not yet." Bill said. "Your grandfather wants to talk to you about tomorrow. He figured that the rest of you would want to hear as well. If not, then you could help get the last of the stuff ready for supper. Margaret said something about the extra table and chairs."
"Those are down here in the storage room." Jack said.
"I will go get them." Bill said. "Head upstairs."
"I will help." Father Mark said.
"Me too." Frank said.
Bill, Father Mark and Frank headed to the storage area to get the table and chairs. Jack, Elizabeth, Doug, Lee and Nathan headed upstairs. Rosemary sat there a little miffed. She wasn't sure what to do, but then she slowly got up and followed the group upstairs. If Elizabeth wasn't going to listen to reason she was going to have to keep trying to get through to her. Rosemary truly believed that Elizabeth was not being logical and was only listening to her heart or hormones. Rosemary wanted her to logically think things though. She was sure that if Elizabeth did that, then she would come to the same conclusion that she had – Jack wasn't for her and it was Charlie where her future lay.
When Jack got up to the dining room, he could see as well as feel the tension in the room. He wondered what had happened, but waited to be told. If he wasn't told, then he would make a point of pulling his grandfather aside and talk to him. All Jack knew was that no matter what happened, they needed to stand as a united front against the Kensingtons. Jack turned to give Elizabeth a tight smile. She gave him a tight one back. They took a spot at the table, so that they could sit side by side. Doug immediately took the spot next to Elizabeth. Nathan sat next to him. Lee went to sit on the other side of Jack. They weren't sure what was going on, but they were going to support Jack and Elizabeth as much as they could. They also all knew that it was going to have to be Jack that stood up and spoke to the media, but that didn't mean that they couldn't show their support by being there for him.
Rosemary came up just ahead of Bill, Frank and Father Mark. They were all carrying items that they needed. Bill directed them to set everything down by the counter. Then Frank and Father Mark headed back down to get the last of things. Bill went and took a seat over by Jack. Lee immediately offered to move if Bill wanted to sit next to Jack, but Bill put his hand on Lee's shoulder and let him know that it was fine.
Once he had his thoughts in order, Jack looked up at his grandfather.
"Sir." Jack said. "I understand why we need to do this press conference, but I still don't feel that my private life should be used for media fodder."
"I understand that." John said. "But like it or not, with your name, you are always going to have some sort of public following. Then with taking over both companies, you are going to have to balance your privacy with some measure of a public life. I know this is not what you want to hear, but it is just the reality of the situation."
"Unfortunately, your grandfather is right." Devin said. "You have been shielded from a lot of the press because you were a minor, but now that you are an adult, we can't shield you as much."