chapter 2
The days had passed smoothly and Blair now had her baby in her arms after months of searching. Llanview focused on the commotion, the return hitting the newspapers arousing high emotions and bureaucratic buzz on the criminality of baby brokering. People were providing dramatic testimony on similar incidents - everyone had their eyes on Blair ... assuming the proud poppa was Max Holden. Who remained strangely out of the camera's eye ... as did Todd.
Tea hadn't been there for the heartwarming reunion, instead she spent her time looking at DNA test results she'd managed to obtain proving Blair to be the rightful mother. There was also the little mention of blood type ... a rather unique blood type which happened to match Todd's. Again ... the press hadn't picked up on that point of curiosity. Tea also reviewed her evidence which supported that Todd had taken that baby ... evidence in the form of a witness - a very frightened young Mexican woman ... who was terrified for her life and who would only speak to the investigator on the sly, on the promise that her words would never get beyond bits of black type on paper. It was all she was willing to do.
The thing that continued to intrigue Tea was Todd's apparent innocence of the baby's paternity. His innocence had seemed truthful that night - he had spoken so convincingly that the baby belonged to Max. Not a twitch of a muscle on that face of his, not a bead of sweat ... in hindsight, Tea wondered whether perhaps he had misunderstood her ... perhaps Todd hadn't heard her ...
She rolled over on her bed, rolled to her side and brought the luxurious blankets close, hugging them. Midnight again she noticed, the witching hour. Every night, she woke up at the same time .... for months she'd been waking up at that time ... always asleep by ten, awake two hours later to the minute. Not a surprise, really. It had been a midnight hour that she'd found herself boarding a plane to New York City ... to save herself from "El Diablero," the name given to Todd by the witness in Mexico. She had been struck by the term and looked it up; she had learned that it was used to refer to evil sorcerers who could transform themselves into animals ... who could do anything.
Monsters ....
She would never forget the image of Todd standing at the front door of their bungalow as she climbed into the taxi that final night ... it had been raining, a California rain replete with a whipping wind and palm trees unswayed and a grey night sky aglow from the city lights. A dead stare from that doorway met her, a nod of his head ... permission to leave. "Don't ever come back," he'd mouthed. And then gave the slightest of grins ... one that smacked of bitterness. She'd turned for one last glance as the cab drove away and saw that Todd had vanished, the door still open, swinging. And right at that moment a dog ... or a coyote ... ran across the highway. Big and black ... bounding across the road and disappearing into the night. The sight had scared her, it striking her as an omen. But she dismissed the creature she'd seen that midnight hour ... not taking it to mean anything, until she read a description of "un diablero." She had never seen Todd go back inside, never saw him again - never saw that door close ... but somewhere inside of her even then, she had known the night had swallowed him up along with their last chance at love and life together.
"Damn it," she muttered, sniffling some stupid tears at stupid lost love. Ridiculous. Like a teenager. "You can't love a monster, Tea," she chastised herself. Closing her eyes at last, she allowed herself some sleep, folded fingers resting against the cool steel of her revolver tucked under the pillow next to her. Protection ... always protection.
***
Ever since they had met, whenever Todd looked at Tea, it took on a physical sensation. She always knew when he was staring at her, when he was observing her. She could feel it ... she would turn around and there he'd be. Always the same, never lessening in its power. Four o'clock in the morning now ... months and months apart ... and the sensation still existed. Tea shot open her eyes and sat up in bed, flicking on the lamp next to the bed. Sure enough, Todd nodded to her from a seat nearby. No grin - just a biting of his lip, a narrowing of his eyes.
"Scared?" he said in a low tone.
"What the hell?"
"Your door was unlocked - I needed a place to hide from the resident ghosts."
"Get out of here, Todd ... right now. GO ..."
"Hmmm .... nah." He hopped up and crawled onto the bed next to her, like a cat ... mischievousness dancing in his eyes.
"Todd!" Tea touched the revolver next to her, but didn't take it out. She exhaled in mock exasperation because the truth was, she WAS nervous ... then asked the obvious, "What do you want? You sure didn't come her to ‘sleep' with me ... or hide from ghosts."
Chuckling, he relaxed, and then eyed her. "How did you know that baby was mine?"
"I have my ways ... how long have you known?"
"Since you told me."
"Hmm ... and ... how do you feel?"
He said nothing for a few moments, picked some lint off his forearm. "Makes no difference to me."
"What do you mean? Aren't you going to seek joint custody at least? What about Starr? This is going to affect her in a huge way - she's got a real, live-"
"Shut up. Shut ... up."
She did.
Todd remained quiet, then said softly, "Blair didn't know the kid was mine ... she thought it was Max's .... and .. told me it was Max's .... and ...used to tell me ... over and over and over and ...over ... that it was Max's."
"And you think she believed it herself?"
"Sure she did - if it had been my kid, I mean, if she'd known and ... we had both known the truth ... things would have been ... different ... I told her plenty of times that I'd wished it was mine." He spoke the last words in a near-whisper. Embarrassed perhaps, Tea thought, he almost sounding child-like as he said it. But that quickly disappeared. "She would have saved herself a whole lotta grief by telling me the truth about it ... why the HELL would she lie? Once I knew it was Max's ... I let her know that it made me ... unhappy."
He studied her reaction as he talked, waiting for the jealousy to take hold of her. She didn't give him the pleasure of it.
"So what happened? The baby was born ... how did the little one disappear, Todd?"
He sniffed, shrugged his shoulders. "The baby ... it was born ... blueish ... color was bad, all wrong. We thought it was dead. The midwife ... this ... woman ... she took the baby. I thought she was taking the baby to the hospital - but she ... disappeared. We never saw her again." Todd got up off the bed in a flash, Tea thinking of a crow, flapping its wings and hopping onto another perch ... to stake out its prey from another angle.
How cool he was, Tea noted to herself. He told his "story" without that ... twitch of a muscle, without a blink of an eye. Easy ... easy to lie. Monsters are so good at lying. "It's a good story. Sounds reasonable," she said casually, studying her nails. She lifted her eyes to him - he stood at the window looking out.
"Yeah ..." Turning around, he leaned back against the windowsill, crossing his ankles and folding his arms. Looked comfortable ... in spite of the fact that he and Tea were talking about ... his new-found child. "I didn't steal the baby ... or sell it."
"You didn't deny it last night."
"I'm denying it now."
"Todd ..."
"Tea?"
She left the bed, put on her robe, watching him on the periphery the entire time. She felt exposed despite the clothing - he was a stranger to her, this man who glibly lies about his crimes. Hard to imagine lying with him in bed, making love with him ... those hands touching her - the same ones to have hurt so many ... and now, a child. An innocent ...defenseless baby. She eased over to him, stood a couple of feet away and said simply, "You are lying to me. You didn't use to lie like this ... you'd admit without admitting. I always knew the truth. I thought you did that last night - I was relieved - I thought I recognized you. But I was wrong ..."
"Sister Tea Delgado - the woman who could save Todd's soul ..." He smirked ... then grew serious. "Tell me something, Sister, tell me where you've been. How is it that you know so much about my life? Don't you have anything better to do than ... study me?"
"Hmm," she said, mimicking his new habit. Folded her arms across her chest. Walked from one side of him to the other, his eyes following her. She ran her eyes up and down his body, seeing that lost weight, his face younger since he'd gotten rid of the facial hair ... cut his hair .... cleaned up, so to speak. "You look different," she said.
"It's the new me."
"And who is, this ‘new' you? Who lies so blatantly ... so ... indiscriminately? Who is this ‘new' you, who puts out a child into the world-"
He bristled, "Aww save your morality lecture for the congregation .... sister."
"She lied to you, Todd ... she out and out LIED. And you KNOW it. Why are you defending her ... what do have planned?"
He lit up and moved in close to Tea, too close to her ... she could feel his warmth ... his coldness. "SHE lied to me?? What about your lies, Tea ... you were never going to leave me, you were always going to love me, you left everything for me, we were going to be each other's WORLD! Remember that?? Remember, LIAR..."
"I said ... I would always love TODD ... the MAN, the FATHER, the HUSBAND to ME ... I never said I would always love a monster!! And THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE!! To give away your OWN BABY TO A STRANGER!! WHAT'S HAPPENED TO YOU??!! Tell me!! I don't know you anymore!"
He laughed suddenly, rolling his eyes at Tea's indignance ... pulling his hair back, breathing in deeply ... revealing that he indeed was flustered. "I'm just me, Tea ... just me. Not a ‘new' me ... the ‘old' me ... the ‘same' me. I'm the one who killed Guy Armitage ... I'm the one who raped Marty ... and Carol ... and... and I'm the one who tortured you ... I'm the one ... me ... just ... me."
He brushed past her ... towards the door ... turned around at the last minute. "Would you like to have dinner ... tonight? ‘Round eight? I promise we'll finish by ten ... because that's when you sleep ... that's your bedtime ... and I don't wanna mess that up." He grinned fully, slyly ... proud of his "knowledge" about Tea.
"F*ck you," she hissed.
"Expect me ... darling ... no matter where you are. And ... don't forget that cute little revolver of yours. Never know when you might need it." He left the room at that, shutting the door behind, leaving Tea behind. Unsure ... angry as hell. But even more so, feeling she'd just had another run-in with El Diablero.
"Oh God ... who are you? How could I have been so wrong?"
