Breaking Ties: An Ensemble Story (Read 240,758 times)

[André DiMera]

Glad Belle has worked out Ciara was behind this. I get that what they did was wrong, but I wish Shawn and Belle would reconsider leaving.

Wonder what Roman’s gonna say.

Ah, so there is something shady about Thorpe. I’d been wondering if there was more to what he did to Paige than just giving in to mob rule. Glad J.J. and Alison are going to the news station.

Nice to see Paige and Hannah talking.

No, they’re not out to crucify you, Thorpe, since you actually have been handing out way too harsh punishments. Wonder who Thorpe’s calling.

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[tghca]

So JJ is shining a light under this judge? I just hope JJ knows what he's doing because if this judge is as well respected as judges go in law circles then JJ himself could come under fire by going after this judge for a story

I hate seeing Roman getting thrown under the bus

Squeaky well Hannah she will get out of jail eventually and even if she does...she's an ex felon I mean who's gonna hire her with a criminal record?

[krw627]

Absolutely must-read that keeps getting better and better!

[Kpatch]

Abe and Roman's conversation is squirm worthy.

I'm glad Belle is dealing with Claire.

[heroicmuse]

Week 228 - 3

“Where’s Mom?” Allie asked. She was sitting at the kitchen table drinking water while Lucas made sandwiches.

“Dunno,” Lucas said. “Out somewhere. But it’s lunchtime and you didn’t eat anything but a yogurt for breakfast so you’d better eat this entire sandwich and not give me any nonsense about how you’re going to choke.”

“Yeah, Allie,” Johnny said. “Otherwise Lucas’ll put it through the blender and you’ll have a cheese sandwich smoothie.”

Allie’s eyes narrowed. Lucas said, “Johnny, go get your jacket. Rafe’s going to be here any second.”

“Rafe?” Allie said. “Johnny’s going somewhere with Rafe?”

“Yep!” Johnny said happily. He slid off his seat. “He’s taking me out to get a hamburger while you two are stuck with Lucas’ sandwiches.” He laughed as he ran to get his jacket.

There was a knock on the kitchen door. Lucas opened it and Rafe said, “Johnny ready?”

“He’s getting there,” Lucas said. “Come on in.”

Rafe came in and Sydney said, “I wanna go too! Can I?"

“Not this time, kiddo,” Rafe said. “Johnny and me are having some guy time today.”

“Yeah,” Johnny said. “No girls allowed.”

Sydney slumped down in her seat. “Well, then I should get to have a special outing with Mommy Nicole.”

“I’ll pass on the message,” Rafe said, “but that’s up to her and your mom and… well, good luck to you. Come on, Johnny.”

“Can I get a Western burger?” Johnny said loudly as he and Rafe left. “With ALL the toppings?”

Sydney slumped down more in her seat. “It’s not fair,” she said again. “Johnny gets to have a special day and no one else does.”

Sami came back in just then, holding a pile of papers. “I’m back!” she said. She kissed Lucas, then frowned. “Where’s Johnny?”

“Rafe offered to take him to lunch,” Lucas said, “which is why this one is so pouty.” He put a sandwich in front of Sydney. “Here. Eat. Allie, do you want peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and banana?”

“Neither,” Allie said. “Peanut butter gets stuck in your throat super easy. Besides, what if I’m allergic to it and I don’t know it?”

“That isn’t likely,” Lucas told her. “But since you’re worried, I’ll make you a cottage cheese and jelly sandwich instead.” He opened the fridge.

“Cheer up, both of you,” Sami said. “And eat, you’re going to need to keep up your strength.”

“For what?” Allie asked, nervously.

“Well,” Sami said, “I’ve just been running all over Salem getting what I need to homeschool all of you. You’re going to have me as a teacher starting this afternoon, won’t that be fun?”

“Homeschool?” Allie twisted a lock of hair around her finger. “Does that mean we’re staying in Salem?”

“For now,” Sami said. “Flights are so expensive and Aunt Hope’s going to want you to come with her when she goes dress shopping, plus we’re all going to the wedding, so we might as well stay. Which reminds me, I need to remind her how much Sydney hates being left out and make sure she understands that if we’re making this big sacrifice for her wedding she has to give her a role in it too. Anyway, we’re going to stay until after the wedding and then see how it goes.”


Sally looked up as JJ and Alison came into the newsroom. JJ said, “We didn’t miss the cutoff, did we? We’ve been working on something huge all day and we were hoping Nicole could put some of the pieces we got together.”

“You have time,” Sally said, “but she’s not here. Miles sent her to cover some Easter egg hunt at a local church. She wasn’t happy but since she had no one to palm it off onto, she had to go. She’ll be back soon, though. In the meantime, want to show me what you’ve got?”

“Yeah,” JJ said. “Okay.” He threw himself into his seat. “What we got is a chain reaction that started with some asshole calling the cops on a black girl cause he didn’t think people like her belonged in his store and ended with her locked up for a year over nothing thanks to the same judge that sent Paige away.”

Sally’s lips thinned. JJ said, “You okay hearing this? I know after what happened to your brother it’s gotta be upsetting.”

“I’m fine,” Sally said, and tried to smile. “I’ve been working at this news station a long time, JJ, this isn’t the first story I’ve helped put together about someone doing something that reminds me of Alfie. So let’s worry about getting this together, not about me. Start at the beginning.”

JJ and Alison told her about everything they had so far. When they were done, JJ said, “We don’t know if we’re gonna be able to get a statement from Hannah til after she’s released, not when the warden needs to give us permission, and we kind of need that to put this whole thing together.”

“I have an idea,” Paige said, coming into the room. She gave JJ a hug. “I hope I’m not interrupting. Squeaky called and after that I didn’t know what else to do so I had Eric drop me off here. I think she’s in trouble, JJ, Mr. Berger’s trying to get her probation instead of jail but I don’t know if it’ll work and in the meantime I think something’s going on she’s not telling me.”

JJ took Paige’s hands in his. He could feel her heart pounding in her fingertips and her hands were clammy. “Here, sit down,” he said, pulling a chair out with his foot. “Talk to me, baby, tell me what happened.”

Paige sank into the chair. “I’m probably being paranoid,” she said, “but ever since she called, I can’t stop thinking someone’s after her again. She got kind of weird when I asked her if anyone was bothering her, she said nobody was but I could tell she was holding something back.”

“Maybe she didn’t want the guards to know,” Sally suggested. “They listen in on calls, you know that.”

“Right,” Paige said. “The last thing she needs is anyone thinking she’s a snitch. Anyway, I was going to go see her tomorrow anyhow. So I was thinking maybe I could get her statement for you.”

“How, though?” Alison asked. “They don’t let you take anything in with you unless you’re a member of the press. If we get permission to interview her they’ll let us have pen and paper but you can’t.”

Paige’s face fell. “I guess me memorizing what she says isn’t good enough.”

“I’m afraid not,” Sally said. “They call it hearsay.”

“Unless…” JJ’s eyes widened. “This is totally illegal, I don’t know if Nicole’ll let us use it, but your dad’s ISA. He’s gotta be able to outfit you with some kind of bug that they can’t find when you go through security and then you get it all on tape for us.”

Sally had a small smile on her lips. “Ingenious,” she said, “but we can’t use it. We’d have to have this girl’s permission to put it on the air, and how’s Paige going to ask for it without giving away that she’s wired?”

“But we have her permission already. Sort of.” Paige crossed her arms. “I told her you were looking into it and she got excited. She asked me if she was going to be on the news like I was when Nicole put together the timeline about my case.”

“Alison’s entering that in the contest, by the way,” JJ said.

“And JJ is refusing to admit he helped enough to enter too,” Alison said. “But that’s an argument for later. What were you saying, Paige?”

“All calls in jail are recorded,” Paige said. “We don’t get privacy. Prisoners don’t, I mean. So if Sally and Nicole can get their hands on the recording, there’s our proof we have permission. In fact, you might be able to use that without me doing anything. We were talking about her case and how she might have to accept probation even though she’s innocent.”

“I don’t know,” Sally said. “This is getting awfully convoluted. Now, Nicole’s got contacts that could get her that conversation, but I don’t know we can use it as anything other than background, just like that recording JJ helped himself to earlier when he thought Abe Carver wasn’t looking. And I don’t think we want to fool around with secret surveillance equipment. This is a news station, not the KGB.” She crossed her arms. “Have you even tried to get the warden to play ball, any of you?”

JJ looked away, embarrassed. “No, but it’s a given she won’t - “

“It is no such thing,” Sally said, “and giving up before you start doesn’t sound like the JJ Deveraux I know and love. Get on the phone and see what you can do, let’s not do things the hard way if we don’t need to.”

“I’ll do it,” Alison said. “She’s less likely to shoot me down. Besides, I can tell her my girlfriend works for the DA’s office, that might get the ball rolling.”

Alison took out her phone and walked off. Paige said, awkwardly, “While we’re waiting, want to hear about my interview this morning?”

“I do,” JJ said, “but there’s one more thing I gotta tell you first.” He squeezed Paige’s hands. “We looked into what judge had the brilliant idea to send Squeaky away for so long in the first place.”

“And?”

“And, it was Thorpe. The same judge that found a reason to lock you up without bail.”

Paige’s eyes flashed. “That stupid judge,” she said. She reached for her phone. “I’d better call Mr. Berger, not that he’s going to listen to me.”

“Don’t,” JJ said. “I’m waiting for a call back from Thorpe about talking to us, don’t tip our hand before we get an interview.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Berger will keep it to himself,” Paige said. “But he has to know, JJ. He took Squeaky’s case, he’s trying to get her probation instead of jail. And if he goes in front of Thorpe it’s never going to happen. So I have to give him a heads-up.”

JJ’s phone buzzed. “Do what you gotta,” he said, “but wait five minutes, okay? I don’t know who this is and it might be him.”


Justin leaned his briefcase on a clerk’s desk. “Justin Kiriakis here to see Judge Thorpe. He’s expecting me.”

The clerk frowned. “I’m sorry, sir, but Judge Thorpe is no longer available this afternoon. He has rescheduled the hearing on this matter for next week.”

“Next week,” Justin said. “So my client is going to sit in jail for another week because the judge decided to take advantage of a nice spring day and is playing hookey?”

“I don’t know where he is,” the clerk said calmly. “He told me an emergency came up and that he had to leave for the day.”

“An emergency. Right. You know what else is an emergency? That Gabriella Hernandez is still behind bars when she was promised to be released a year ago! That her daughter has been living without a mother all this time, that they’ve lost a year together that they shouldn’t have lost because this court system didn’t see fit to enforce the agreement Ms. Hernandez had with the ISA in anything resembling a timely manner!”

“I’m sorry, sir. I can’t do anything about that, I’m not a judge.”

“You can find another judge to take this case,” Justin said, “and you will, because I’m sure this court does not want to be named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit that Ms. Hernandez is certain to be filing against the city of Salem and the governor of this state for refusing to honor the terms of her agreement to risk her life going undercover in exchange for an early termination of her sentence!”

“No other judges have room in their calendar today,” the clerk said, “and making threats doesn’t change that. You will be seeing Judge Thorpe next Tuesday, and trust me, he doesn’t like theatrics, so I would get myself together before then if I were you.”

[André DiMera]

Yes! I’m so glad Sami and the kids are staying! Hopefully Sydney will be able to spend some time with Nicole! And, I hope someone figures out what’s going on with Allie!

I’m with Sally, that idea was really convoluted! Glad they’re at least trying to figure out what their next move is. Interested to see how Berger reacts to the news that Thorpe put Hannah in jail, as well.

Well, if Justin’s going before Thorpe, there’s no way Gabi’s gonna get out. And Justin should know that threatening people is not the way to get what you want in the courts system.

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[tghca]

I don't know what it is with Allie but this eating disorder of hers is doing more harm than good...but Sydney spending time with Nicole, I don't know if Sami will allow that. I mean once was bad enough but I don't think Sami will let Sydney spend any more time with Nicole. First of all, because of how unhealthy it would be since Nicole stole Sydney from Sami and switched Sydney with Grace. Second of all, because Nicole is not Sydney's mother, Sami is.

[Kpatch]

I'm glad both Sami and Lucas are there for Allie. I'm getting excited about the wedding.

[heroicmuse]

Week 228 - 4
“How’s that burger?” Rafe asked Johnny. Johnny had got a huge burger with everything on it, medium rare, and he was gobbling it.

“Great,” Johnny said between bites. “Mom never lets me get it the way I want it. She has all sorts of dumb horror stories and she insists it has to be almost burnt.” He made a face.

“Your mom knows what she wants, that’s for sure,” Rafe said, smiling. He watched as Johnny dipped an onion ring into house dressing. “And so do you, usually. Tell me the truth, Johnny. What’s going on with you?”

“Here we go,” Johnny said. “You didn’t want to have lunch with me just cause you missed me. Lucas put you up to it.”

“Oh come on, that’s not true.” Rafe sipped his soda. “I always love seeing you, you know that. Yeah, Lucas told me he was worried about you, but I would have asked you to come hang with me anyway cause it’s been too long.”

“Yeah, right,” Johnny said. He picked at his bun. “I bet you didn’t shed a tear when we moved to California. In fact I bet you were relieved.”

“Now why would you say that?”

“Cause. My dad made Mom think things about you that weren’t true.” Johnny kept picking at the burger. “And now that Dad’s gone she went and picked Lucas instead of you, like Allie’s dad is so much better than you.”

Rafe sighed. “Things between me and your mom are complicated. Her and me, we’re better off as friends for a lot of reasons I’m not gonna go into. But that’s got nothing to do with you and me. You’ve always been important to me and you always will.” Johnny shrugged and Rafe said, “You missed me more than you let on, huh?”

“Maybe,” Johnny said, trying to play it cool.

Rafe took a French fry. “That why you’ve been acting up towards your sisters? I heard you were picking on them.”

Johnny froze. “No,” he said, scoffing. “I pick on them cause they’re girls. Duh.”

“Uh huh.” Rafe took another sip of his soda. “I thought you and Allie were real tight. What the hell happened out in California, huh?”

“Nothing!” Johnny said. “I swear.”

Rafe put his hand on Johnny’s wrist. “Johnny. It’s me, Rafe, the guy who was almost your step-dad. Now look, I’m not asking you as a cop, all right? I care about you. If you’re in trouble I wanna help. But I can’t do that unless you tell me what’s going on.”

“I’m not in trouble,” Johnny said. “At least, not if we stay in Salem.”

“But LA’s a different story?”

Johnny shrugged. “I don’t like it there. Allie wasn’t a whiner til we got out there and then all she ever talked about was how much she missed Lucas.” Johnny’s eyes narrowed. “She doesn’t know how lucky she is to be able to visit her dad. It’s not like he’s dead and buried like mine.”

“You miss him,” Rafe said matter of factly. “I know how it is, kind of. Mine’s still alive but he walked out on us when I was just a little older than you, just vanished without a trace. He might as well have been dead cause he was just gone. And the only thing kept me out of serious trouble was having to take care of my little brother and sister but Dario, he took it real hard. Never been the same since and he got in a whole lot of trouble after my dad left.” Rafe sighed. “I wish I’d been able to be there for him more. He’s in Bayview now and he’s probably gonna be for a good long time and maybe if I’d done a better job getting him off that path he was on… anyway, maybe I couldn’t be there for him but I can for you.”

Johnny wriggled. “I told you, I’m fine!”

“I heard ya.” Rafe looked Johnny up and down. “But tell you what. When you’re not fine and you need a friend, I’m here for you. Just make it sooner rather than later, all right, cause I can guarantee you that whatever the hell it is you got in over your head with’s not gonna break your mom’s heart as much as it will if she’s gotta bail you out of juvenile hall one of these days.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to jail,” Johnny said. Not if Allie keeps her mouth shut, he thought, wriggling uncomfortably, and she’d better.


Roman’s eyes narrowed. “How many years we known each other, Abe?”

“So many I’ve lost count.”

“And you think I deserve to be on the hot seat over this?” Roman crossed his arms. “Look, we were in the middle of the Jill Larson murder. I didn’t have time to go over every case with a fine-tooth comb, especially not something stupid like kids in the street with a couple of beers.”

“Of course not. But you didn’t go over it at all, Roman! You rubber stamped two cops’ version of events without taking two minutes to check their body cam footage. Did you even ask them why they arrested Hannah Martin when they had the option of writing her a summons?”

“Course I did.” Roman crossed his arms. “They said she had a bad attitude. She was combative and uncooperative and they weren’t about to reward that by charging her with the lesser offense. It seemed reasonable and the whole thing was nothing but a kid being stupid, why the hell am I gonna waste resources reviewing that when we had a murder case to close?”

“Because it was your job!” Abe couldn’t help raising his voice. “As Commissioner you are not just a cop. You are the leader of the department and your officers’ decisions fall on you! Now, we have security footage showing that the only person in that S-Mart who happened to have dark skin was treated like a criminal long before her arrest and that the store manager may have called the police on her not because of the beer her friend bought illegally but because of the color of her skin. When this gets out -- and even though I asked JJ to sit on it for now, we both know it’s not staying buried forever -- there will be some that jump to the conclusion that our officers are racist and that’s why they never saw the lighter-skinned suspect under their nose and were drawn like a magnet to Hannah Martin. This will not make our department look good .But you know what makes it look worse, Roman? That the commissioner took two white officers’ word for it that the black girl they arrested deserved what she got without even bothering to check the body cam footage to see what really happened.”

Roman scowled. “After all the years we’ve been friends, how can you think for a second that me letting this slide had anything to do with the color of a suspect’s skin?”

“I don’t,” Abe said, quietly. “I know you better than that, Roman, and I hope you know me better too. All I am trying to say is that this girl is sitting in Salem City Jail for no damn reason and that when the whole story of her arrest gets out, we’re going to have to defend ourselves against people who are going to accuse this department of pursuing a policy of locking up black girls for things that white girls merely get ticketed for, and your choices didn’t help that.”

“Especially cause I was too busy trying to get Paige Larson for something she didn’t do to take a look at the tape on this other girl.” Roman shook his head slightly. “Tell me the truth, Abe. You ask me to lunch to tell me I’m toast, I’m not coming back?”

“That is not up to me,” Abe said. He sighed deeply. “You and I have worked a million cases together and I had looked forward to working a million more, but now I can’t help thinking… you and I are getting older, closer to retirement age, and sometimes when people get to be our age their mind ceases to be as sharp as it once was.”

“Nah,” Roman said. He laughed nervously. “I screwed up. I know that. But going from that to me starting to develop that Alzheimer’s like my mom had’s a huge leap. Truth is, it’s got nothing to do with that. I’ve been under a lot of pressure from the Mayor’s office since the whole Jeff Adkins thing. People were shocked that something like what he did to Paige could happen and the Mayor’s been on a mission since to prove Salem’s as safe as it ever was before Adkins came to town. I’ve had to close cases real fast and the violent crimes have to take precedence cause my job’s riding on it. I was getting it on all sides with the Jill Larson murder, the Mayor wanting it closed in two shakes of a lamb's tail and I was in such a damn hurry to get it done I managed to screw over two innocent women in the process. And I’ll tell that to IAB if they ask and if they force me into retirement, so be it. But till then, I’m not going anywhere, Abe. So thanks for the heads up but I’m coming back to work.”


“This is JJ Deveraux,” JJ said, answering his phone. “Hello? Is anyone there?”

Whoever it was hung up.

JJ stared at his phone. The call had been dropped and it was coming from a blocked number. “Guess that wasn’t Thorpe,” he said. “It was no one.”

“Maybe a wrong number,” Sally said. “Or a telemarketer.”

“I dunno,” JJ said. “I had a feeling it was something more than that, but whatever.” He turned towards Paige, who looked worried. “It’s no big deal,” he said. “Go ahead and call Berger, I guess.”

His phone buzzed again. He looked at it.

Text from Blocked Number
Sorry I had to hang up. I didn’t want to get caught. I have info for you about Judge T. Can we meet?

[André DiMera]

It’s nice to see Rafe trying to bond with Johnny. I think he missed Rafe more than he let’s on. I hope Rafe can eventually get him to open up.

Well, Roman took that about as well as can be expected. I think he’s making a mistake by staying. Glad it was Abe that talked to him, though.

Wonder who sent that text? This should be interesting!

Great chapter, heroicmuse!

[tghca]

Whoever JJ's source is...is he or she reliable? If not, then whatever info JJ receives he can't use because it would be inadmissible and JJ could be on the hook for libel especially if the judge has his way but JJ by doing this he may as well paint a target on his back

Johnny is an angry teenager...I love this because Johnny has more layers now as a character

Johnny can't go to jail because he's a minor unless he gets charged as an adult but I doubt it...Johnny at best could still go to juvenile detention as a minor

Love that Roman basically is not giving into Abe...why should he be thrown under the bus when others have done far worse in this damn department?

[Kpatch]

Who's phoning JJ??

That was an uncomfortable conversation between Johnny and Rafe. I applaud Rafe for trying to be honest.

I can't help but feel bad for Roman after I've known him all these years.

[heroicmuse]

Week 228 - 5
Duncan frowned as she watched Sharon Maxwell, the IAB agent, go into Abe’s office. “What’s she here for this time?”

“Dunno,” Horowitz said, “but I hope I’m not the one on the hot seat this time. I’ve been cleared by IAB three times, but if they want me again… well, maybe I’d better ask Prescott if there’s any openings over in East Salem.”

“You’d know if you were under investigation.” Duncan crossed her arms. “What’s going on with you and Prescott, anyway?”

“Nothing,” Horowitz said, her face blank. “Why should something be going on between us?”

“Cause,” Duncan said, “I see the way he looks at you every time he’s here. And you look at him the same way. He’s good looking and a good cop, why wouldn’t you go for him?”

“It’s not that easy,” Horowitz said. “We work in different houses and his commanding officer… ugh.” She shuddered. “Let’s just say she’d make things hard for him and that’s not what I want.”

Duncan frowned. “So some bigwig over at East Salem looks at you the wrong way and you’re done? I’m all for respecting chain of command, but you take it to extremes. Come on, Horowitz, you really gonna let politics stop you?”

Horowitz bit her lip. “I’m not letting politics do anything. We’re nothing but friends and Prescott knows it as well as I do.”

“Uh huh. Did you decide that before or after he risked his life for that last case you worked together?.”

“He was just doing his job! It had nothing to do with me, he was just helping get Pamela Browning for that murder Paige Larson was locked up for.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Duncan said. “See where it gets you.”

Just then, Wolfe passed by. “Hey Duncan, you busy or can I grab you a sec?”

“Nah, we’re done,” Duncan said. “Think on what I said, Horowitz.” She walked off. “What’s up?” she said to Wolfe. “You stuck on a case or something?”

“You could say that.” Wolfe crossed his arms. “Guess you saw Rat Patrol’s here this morning. Any sec they’re gonna be calling me on the carpet and maybe I deserve it, I dunno.”

Duncan’s eyes narrowed. “What’d you do? And more important, why you telling me?”

“It’s not what I did, it’s what I didn’t do.” Wolfe bit his lip. “I didn’t see a suspect standing right under my nose. It was way back in September on a stupid little case that no one should remember. Two kids from East Salem disturbing the peace down at the S-Mart on Walnut. Manager calls them in for being rowdy and maybe drunk, says one of them had a fake ID. Me and Stone roll up, see an underage kid with a beer and arrest her and didn’t find out til now the one who bought it was standing two feet away. As for why I’m telling you… the girl we arrested was ten shades darker than the one we didn’t. Now you and me worked together before, right? I ever treated you any different than any other police cause of the color of your skin?”

Duncan’s lips were thin and her eyes were narrow. “Not til now,” she said thickly. “You want me to go in there and tell IAB you don’t have a racist bone in your body, is that it?”

“No,” Wolfe said. “I mean… yeah, but that’s not really why I came over here. Thing is, I’ve been going over it in my head ever since and I can’t stop thinking, what if it was a race thing? What if I didn’t notice that girl cause in the back of my mind someone like you’s automatically a perp and someone who’s not’s automatically innocent? Be honest with me, Duncan. You ever see me do anything unfair to black suspects before, anything you just let go cause you were scared to bring it up?”


Claire wriggled. “Why would you say that?” she stammered. “I mean, of course I had to get Ciara’s address from her, I don’t know it by heart, but…”

Belle looked at Shawn. “I think you’d better call your mother,” she said. “She should know what Claire used her address for and that Ciara was probably involved in it.”

Shawn nodded. “I guess we’re going to have to change our flight, since we’re not going to make it to the airport in time,” he said. “But don’t think that means you got away with this, young lady. You are in a lot of trouble. As soon as this is straightened out we are going home and then we will decide what the consequences are for this.” He said to Belle, “Watch her while I’m on the phone. She can’t be trusted not to run away or otherwise try to get out of this.” He walked off.

“I can too be trusted!” Claire said.

Belle crossed her arms. “Not when you act like this.” She sat down on the edge of the bed. “What’s got into you, Claire? You used to be so sweet and kind but ever since you turned 14 you’re like a different person. Are people bothering you at school? Is that why - “

“No,” Claire said. “If you ever bothered to pay attention to me you’d know that.”

Belle sighed. “I know it’s been hard since I went back to school. I don’t have the time I used to and I’ve been more short-tempered with you than I’d like to be. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love you anymore. Don’t you know that?”

“I know,” Claire said. “I didn’t think you don’t love me. I mean, you’re my mom, you have to love me. I just don’t think you like me very much. You’d rather have some other daughter.”

“Like who?” Belle said. “There’s only one Claire, how could I ever trade you in for someone else?”

“Even though I forget to wash my dish after breakfast and my room is always a mess?”

“Those aren’t your most endearing traits,” Belle admitted. “But that has nothing to do with how I feel about you. You are my daughter, Claire, and no matter how irritating you can be sometimes, I feel lucky to have such a bright, creative, sensitive girl, and I wouldn’t trade her for all the perfectly neat girls in the world.” Belle played with Claire’s braid. “So what do you say? Will you come home with us?”

“I guess.” Claire sighed. “I just wish we lived closer. We never see the rest of the family.”

“We’ll figure out how to visit more often,” Belle promised. “But until then, there’s Facetime.” She hugged Claire.

Just then, Shawn came back into the room. Belle looked up. “What did your mom say?”

“She said,” Shawn said, “that this has Ciara’s fingerprints all over it. She suggested we all go down to Salem Middle School and let the principal help us get to the bottom of this. Ciara could be in very big trouble, Claire, and so could you, so I suggest when we get there you come clean about everything.”

Claire swallowed hard, her blue eyes as large as saucers.


Abigail looked around, nervously, as Jennifer settled into her seat. “Where are we… you know, what’s going on?”

“This is my old therapist, Dr. Asher,” Jennifer told her. “Dr. Asher, this is my daughter Abigail.”

“It is very nice to meet you,” Dr. Asher said. “What can I do for you two ladies this morning?”

Jennifer sighed. “I asked to see you because I need to have a very difficult conversation with my daughter, one that I think we need help having, and I felt you would be more objective than Marlena.”

“I see,” Dr. Asher said. He glanced at Abigail, who was twisting her necklace around two fingers and looking upset. “It seems you might not like what your mother just said,” he said to her.

“I don’t,” Abby said. “Marlena is… she’s a doctor like you only for me.”

Dr. Asher nodded. “You’d rather talk to your own doctor. I can understand that, and I’m sure she’ll give you input later.” He turned back towards Jennifer. “What is it you need to talk about with Abigail?”

“As you can see, my daughter is quite disabled,” Jennifer said. “A friend of mine mentioned the possibility of me getting power of attorney so I can take care of her affairs for her, but before I go to a lawyer, I wanted to talk to her about exactly what that meant and why I’m doing it."


JJ put his phone away after he showed Paige and Sally the text. “You think this is for real?” he asked. “Nicole told me a long time ago to be careful with stuff like this and after everything we’ve been through, I can’t help thinking someone’s messing with me to keep this story from coming out. But why the hell would they bother when as far as anyone knows, all I got is some racist idiot S-Mart manager calling the cops on my cousin cause of the color of her skin?”

“It’s a lot bigger than that, though,” Paige said. “Squeaky almost got stabbed the day I was released, remember? If you broadcast that her life was only ever in danger because someone set off a chain reaction by calling the cops on her for no reason, that could lead to a huge lawsuit, and on top of that I told you, that happened because the warden didn’t do anything about Tiana bullying me and neither did the guards. They looked the other way when it was happening right under their noses and the only reason they did anything when Tiana’s friend threatened Squeaky with a knife was because Rafe was there. Otherwise I don’t know what might have happened.”

“You might have left there in a body bag is what,” JJ said, angrily, “cause nobody was doing their freaking jobs.”

Paige shuddered. “The point is, the warden doesn’t want it coming out that she didn’t do anything about Tiana until it was almost too late. Who knows what she might do to try to keep that quiet?”

“Even try to lure me somewhere using a so-called anonymous source,” JJ said. “Good thing we had that self-defense training, huh?” He looked at Sally. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m glad you’re using your head, for one thing,” Sally said. “Here I was getting ready for a big speech talking you out of doing something stupid and I didn’t even need it.” She smiled slightly. “I have my doubts about this source just like you. Even if they don’t know yet that this story’s connected to the warden, some people don’t like being called out on racism. The stuff you’ve learned in your history classes about men in white hoods burning crosses on people’s lawns… I’ve lived through things like that. I’m not saying this manager is one of those people, I’m not even saying that kind of hate group exists in Salem, but if you’re pushing to get a story out challenging some people’s ideas that certain groups of people are nothing but thugs and criminals… well, you never know what you could be stirring up.”

“Right,” JJ said. “So you think I should just ignore this?”

“I didn’t say that,” Sally said. “They could just as easily be a real source who’s scared to death to talk over the phone. Problem is we can’t tell yet which they are, so we have to find a way to draw them out without risking your safety.”

“Draw who out?” Alison asked, coming back.

“An anonymous source we don’t know is legit,” JJ said. He showed Alison the message.

She frowned. “Could be a clerk that works for Judge Thorpe,” she said. “You really think it’s some crazy person?”

“Don’t know yet,” JJ said. “You get through to the warden?”

“Yeah.” Alison’s voice was bitter. “She said she’s not dealing with student reporters and if Nicole wants an interview with a prisoner, she can arrange one herself.”

“Oh, she will, all right,” Sally said. “Let me just call her and see where she’s at.”

“Where I am is right here,” Nicole said, coming in, “and it sounds like I missed all the fun. Though I did get some kid to give me an Easter egg. Sydney will love this, don’t you think?” She held up a pastel blue egg in a bag. “Anyway, what’s going on and what danger can I get all of you into?”

[André DiMera]

I think Wolfe is just digging himself into a bigger hole. Wonder what Duncan’s gonna say.

Glad Claire and Belle talked honestly. I hope Claire doesn’t get in too much trouble, even though what she and Ciara did was wrong.

I have a feeling this is not gonna end well for either Jennifer or Abby.

I’m with Sally. It’s great that J.J. is using his head to solve this. I hope the source is sincere. Can’t wait for Nicole’s reaction to all this!

Can we please have previews, heroicmuse?

[tghca]

I think JJ could be walking right into a trap and that this source may not even be reliable

Claire and Ciara both could get into a lot of trouble because they perpetrated fraud and last I checked fraud is a serious crime...but both Ciara and Claire are minors and this is their first offense so even if they do get charged they probably won't be arrested