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| IMPOSTER BY MARIQUA |
CHAPTER 94 |
Part Ninety-four continued:
"Saved him?" Nick's voice sliced through the air with deadly accuracy. What is this moron saying? I'm Toddy's savior...no one else!
This is it, Slider...just as you directed...I'm going in for the kill...
**********
Tea glanced around and a tingling shiver threaded its way down her spine. The place where she was standing was a place where her husband had stood years ago. The problems of his adult life were those that had their beginnings in this house. They had taken root, sprung forth and festered within the framework of one dwelling, and a surge of hatred for it infiltrated her thoughts. This isn't just a house...there was evil here...
The porch light shone brightly in direct contrast to the shadowy facade of the house as the two women faced the large, imposing front door.
"I should have known." Viki spoke out wryly. "This does satisfy the image I had envisioned of his home."
"It's...it's worse when I think of what must have happened here," Tea said, trying to recover the slight break in her voice.
Tea lowered her head so that Viki wouldn't see the tears welling up in her eyes. Standing on the porch made everything Todd had told her about his home life suddenly come alive. Not one of us could fully understand the cruelty of this prison...he lived it...
Viki's hand touched the door handle and with a sterner expression, her hand lifted and lightly brushed against the grainy surface of the door.
"It's his past, Tea...but it won't be his future...remember that."
Nodding, Tea looked at Viki and inhaled a deep breath. "Ready?"
**********
Edwards hit the button of the cell phone and heard the jumbled noise on the other end. There was a bad connection, but he made out a few words... ladies...making a move...
After Sam had ordered him out, he had taken a detour. Hopefully, he had convinced the obnoxious, interfering lawyer that he had left the house. Whether he had or not, he sensed that Sam had other things on his mind besides him. Sam Rappaport was there for a reason, and the reason was also what he was there for. Nothing else mattered but finding out just where the presumed dead Sun publisher was. I locate him, I report back to Sykes and I'm done...
That was what he wanted anyway. To suspect that Todd Manning was there was one thing, but he wasn't sure what would happen even if he found him. The man had been pronounced dead and filed away in some drawer at the station. Case closed. Except he knew that Sykes was determined to reopen this case for what it could do for his burgeoning career. I went along for the ride...and the payoff, but there are other problems to consider...
Walking as quietly as a cat, Edwards had relocated the kitchen and a set of back stairs. He knew better than to approach the upper level from the front stairs. As he moved quickly and stealthily up the side of the steps, he heard the persistent drone of voices get louder. This is where the action is...
**********
"Whoa...let's back up here, Coach," Nick said smoothly while wanting to take a swipe at the superior attitude that now transformed Sam's face. "What is it you think you know about that night?"
"I know that I saved him," Sam repeated again.
"You know nothing!" Nick shot back. "Hasn't brother Slider been filling you in on who I am? I was there, remember?"
Sam's eyes leveled on Nick. "I was, too...and I guess you remember that, don't you?"
"I remember you coming by," Nick said in a tone as if it were inconsequential.
"Well, do you remember what you were doing?"
"What is this...twenty questions?"
"I came in...and I found...you...on the floor...on top of...Peter Manning."
"Yeah...you found me...so what? We both already know what happened."
"One of us does," Sam said in a withering voice, and Nick's eyebrows knit together. Just what are you trying to pull, Coach?
Slider's eyes were riveted to Nick's face as Sam's words hit the air -- each question aimed directly at the well constructed bulwark of Todd's existence. Yes, Sam...you're doing fine...keep at him...
Everything now was about timing. It all had to be done in ordered succession starting with Sam. It won't be long now...Viki and Tea have to be in place...time to call...
One additional element in his preconceived scenario stood silently at a distance from the three of them, and Slider's pulse began to race as he thought of what could go wrong. She was still there, and she was now very much a part of Nick's stronghold. If he could only take her away from the chessboard, then this all-or-nothing game would proceed as planned with no impediment to stop its driving progress. My God, Sherry...that it would have to be you...
"Oh," Nick said, an amused look coming over his face. "...so you think you have this insight into that night...some, dark, mysterious channel into Toddy's subconscious. You and Slider have a lot in common."
"Nothing that mysterious...I have the truth," Sam said.
"Your truth...yeah, I believe you've got some fabricated idea of it, but you don't see inside Toddy, now do you, Coach?"
"I have facts...facts that bear out everything I'm going to say. Are you ready for the facts, Nick?"
A low growling sound of disgust filtered out of Nick's mouth. "There's nothing that you could say that would change anything that's happening here and now...but, if it makes you feel better, Coach...go ahead...you have the floor."
Sam's eyes caught Slider's and he moistened his lips. This is it...
"Something horrible did happen in that room downstairs the night I came over. It was probably the culmination of years of abuse by a stepfather who wanted to dominate his son in every conceivable way. I don't have to speak of what happened that night...its in Todd's soul...carved in so deeply that it branded him for life. Slider told me that you were born that night...for the single purpose of saving Todd...and he also told me about Pete."
"..but it all went terribly wrong, didn't it, Nick? Your Pete creation went haywire and nearly took another man's life -- something that would have destroyed any shred of sanity Todd had left."
"So you know some details." Nick sneered. "Where do you think Slider got that useless information? I let him have it. I knew he would think he had something on me, and it was kind of entertaining to watch him lap it up."
Slider pressed the button on his cell phone as he listened to Nick. Good...he's overconfident...he doesn't know anything yet...it's time...
**********
Walking into the large foyer, Viki and Tea's eyes browsed over the affluent, but timeworn interior. Neither woman spoke at first. There was too much to take in, and both were flooded with emotions.
"This is just...so strange," Viki said in a low voice.
Tea half laughed because she knew exactly what her companion was thinking.
"Sometimes I think that I pretended that Todd was raised in the wild," Tea said with a slight smile, trying to ease their combined tension. "I mean...it would explain a lot of things."
"I think this was the wild...just encased within these walls."
"Do you hear that?" Tea cocked her head. "Voices...from up there," she pointed to the ceiling.
Tea's large eyes lit up suddenly and fired with determination. Holding her head high as she crossed the foyer, she looked upward. "Lets go, Viki...it's..."
The cell phone she carried had been turned down, but she felt the low buzz. That was their signal to go in the house. A second signal or a call would be their cue to seek out Slider. Except they were already in. Okay, Slider...we'll wait...
**********
Nick grinned maniacally as he looked from Sam to Slider. "You guys are a piece of work! I suppose you think that this blast to the past will shrink me down to size. Give it up, Coach...I can look back there and it doesn't do a thing to me. See...I'm still just as strong as ever."
Now that the deciding moment was almost there, Sam struggled to keep the barrage of feelings inside him in check. I don't like having to do this...it's tough love, and it hurts...
"Then if you don't mind looking back, I'll continue," Sam said more quietly than before.
"Suit yourself."
"You told Slider something that wasn't the truth. That night I arrived on the scene to find Todd choking Peter Manning. His hands were clamped down so hard on him that Peter had turned several shades of blue. He was dying ...right there...right when I walked into that room."
"This is boring...yeah, and I saved Peter Manning and got rid of Pete. End of story."
Sam's eyes deepened. "You never saved Peter Manning. You came into this world after I walked in because I'm the one who saw your birth taking place."
"The hell you say!" Nicks face contorted and his eyeballs bulged out in livid anger. "Get this through your thick skull, Coach...Toddy asked me to save Peter, and I did...no one else!"
"No, Nick," Sam shook his head asserting his claim and at the same time, hating that he had to do it. "There was no time...you know that...Peter's life was already ebbing away before you ever came to be. I called out someone's name, and that person responded to me...my voice...I'm the one who brought Todd's mind back to reality, and he was the one who got rid of Pete literally seconds before you ever took a breath...it was never you, Nick...it was Todd!"
To Be Continued
