The Florencia Lozano Homepage - Fan Fiction
LIES FEARS & LOVE
BY TROG |
CHAPTER
51 |
chapter 51
THE PENTHOUSE
Todd’s hands were shaking so violently as he struggled to get the key in the door, that he had to step back and take a few deep breaths before he tried again. Finally the key slid into the brand new deadbolt, the lock that was suppose to keep his family safe, and he pushed the door open. When he stepped in he stood still for a moment, listening for something...anything....but there was only darkness and silence.
As he began running for the stairs, his foot caught something and he tripped over a large, solid object on the floor and he fell with a loud thud in the darkness. His hand slid on something wet and sticky as he attempted to get up. Finally he raised himself off the floor and hit the lightswitch, and noticing the red liquid on his fingers he turned quickly.
Lourdes was lying there, unconscious with a pool of blood circling her head, dribbling from a gash on the side of her skull. Todd instinctively bent down and touched her face--it was still warm and he could feel her shallow breath against his hand. She was still alive.
Suddenly he looked up, bolted upright and ran for the stairs.
“Tea!....Starr...Tea!” he shouted, his voice echoing off the walls as he rushed up the stairs.
He ran into his bedroom, but his heart sank as he looked at the empty bed, noticing Tea‘s silver hairbrush still lying on the floor. He ran to Starr’s room and then to Leo’s...but they were all empty. Running back into his bedroom, he started opening doors...the closet, the bathroom. He stumbled down the hallway opening all the doors in the place...but everything was empty and still.
Running back down the stairs, he kneeled beside Lourdes unconscious body and began touching her face and slapping her lightly.
“Lulu...come on, Lulu...wake up. You gotta tell me where Tea is...come on, Lulu...damn it...wake up,” he shouted. As he struggled to awaken her the doorbell rang and he shot up to answer it.
Opening the door quickly he saw Bo Buchanan standing there along with three uniformed police officers and RJ Gannon behind them. As Bo stepped in he noticed Lourdes lying on the floor and quickly ran to her.
“Call 911,” he shouted to a young, blonde policewoman who jumped right on the phone.
“Who’s this?” asked Bo looking at Todd, but Todd didn’t answer. He just stood there looking dazed. Bo got up and placed his hands on Todd’s shoulders, shaking him hard.
“Manning? Todd, who is this woman?”
Todd looked at him than at Lourdes.
“That’s Lulu. Lourdes Santiago. She’s our housekeeper...the kids love her,” he said quietly. “Oh God, They’re gone! Tea...Starr...Leo...all gone.”
“Search the place...look for anything,” Bo said to a young male officer who ran quickly up the stairs.
“Micheal go down and talk to the doorman and see if he saw anything.”
Bo could see that Todd was shaken up and partly in shock.
“Todd, listen to me. I need for you to tell me what you know and who is missing, okay. We need to know what happened and when. RJ told me that he thinks Blair’s had some sort of mental breakdown and that she ‘s after Tea...is that right?”
Todd listened to his voice and nodded his head as RJ came up beside him and started talking
“Look, Bo. Blair‘s lost it. She obviously came here and took Tea and Starr and Leo!” said RJ.
“I didn’t ask you, RJ! And who’s Leo.”
Todd seemed to rise out of his stupor when he heard Leo’s name.
“That’s my son...mine and Tea’s,” he said.
“Alright, Todd. Tell me what you know,” said Bo, leading Todd to the sofa facing the window. Finally Todd started talking, only he ranted quickly and Bo had a hard time keeping up with him.
“Earlier today, I found out that Blair’s not really pregnant anymore...I think she lost my kid a while ago...but anyway...RJ says she thinks she’s still pregnant. And she hates Tea and Leo...cause I want to be with them instead of her...so I think she took them...Tea and Leo...and Starr too,” he rambled.
“Okay...good. Now Todd, when was the last time you saw Tea, and the kids and your housekeeper?”
“About one and a half hours ago...when I left to go and see Blair.”
“Okay...Todd. I need for you to go upstairs and get me some pictures of Tea and Starr and Leo...right now.”
Todd shot up and ran up stairs as Bo turned to RJ.
“How the hell are you involved with this Gannon...and what happened to your lip?” Asked Bo, noticing the swollen, bloody bruise at the corner of his mouth.
“Blair’s been...confiding in me. I’m the one who warned Todd. And I ran into a door, that’s how I got this fat lip,” said RJ.
Bo nodded his head slowly, not believing a word he said.
“And how could Blair just come in here and take them away?”
RJ hesitated. The gun he had was unregistered and having a gun was a direct violation of his felonious past.
“She has a gun. She stole it from my desk at the club.”
Bo just stared at him and shook his head disapprovingly as Todd came back downstairs with their pictures still in the frames. Bo took them, removed them from the frames and handed them to the blond officer who was sitting by Lourdes, just as the doorbell rang. Bo ran over and let in some paramedics who immediately started working on Lourdes as they all watched.
Bo talked to his officer.
“Jensen, put out an APB on Blair Cramer Holden Buchanan. She has a previous arrest so they should have a fairly recent picture and description of her at the station. She is armed with a gun, and dangerous and probably traveling with three hostages...these,” he said pointing to the photos. “Make copies and make sure they get distributed everywhere.”
The young officer nodded and ran out as the EMTs loaded Lourdes on a stretcher. Todd walked over and touched Lourdes’ hand before they took her away.
As Bo, Todd and RJ all stood around one of the young male officers came back in.
“ Commissioner, the doorman said he saw Blair Cramer come up here about an hour ago...but he never saw her come back out. Todd walked over.
“She could have used the service elevator or gone out through the parking garage underneath the building.” said Todd.
“Todd, run downstairs and see if any of your cars are missing,” said Bo.
Todd ran out the door as the other officer came back from upstairs and approached Bo.
“There’s not much up there, sir. The kids’ beds were unmade...so they must have been asleep when they were taken. Some of the drawers in the nursery looked ransacked, like they took some of the baby’s things. And I found this silver hairbrush on the floor in one of the bedrooms...that’s about it.”
Bo took the silver hairbrush from him and looked at it, noticing a few long, brown strands of silky hair embedded in the creamy bristles as Todd came back through the door.
“My Volvo wagon is gone. It’s a...it’s dark blue....the year is 2000....I’ll get the registration,” he said walking over to a desk near the door. He handed the registration to Bo and noticed the hair brush in his hand. Bo handed the registration to the uniformed officer.
“Put an APB out on this car. Their should be two adult females and two children--an infant boy and an 8 year-old girl in it. Go.” said Bo as the young officer went out.
“Do you know who this belongs to?” asked Bo, holding up the brush to Todd.
“Yeah, it’s Tea’s. She was brushing her hair with it when I left and she dropped it on the floor,” he said taking it from Bo and sitting down with it.
Todd stared at the brush quietly, fingering the bristles and pulling out the hairs as Bo and RJ looked at one another. Bo went over and stood next to Todd.
“Listen, Todd...we have a lot to go on. It’s only been an hour so the trail is pretty fresh and we have the make of the car and a good description of everyone...we’ll get them back.”
Todd looked at him and stood up.
“Yeah...but Blair’s insane...and she has a gun,” said Todd. “What do I do, Bo....what the hell am I suppose to do.”
“You sit tight...that’s all you can do. I have an officer on the way to tap your phone...maybe Blair will get in touch with you...or perhaps, Tea will get to a phone. You have to stay here...I don’t you running around out there...do you understand me, Todd? I don‘t want you going after them!”
Then he turned to RJ.
“I’m not sure what you’re role is in this, but you better stay out of my way...and we’ll discuss that gun too when this is over, RJ!”
Todd walked up to Bo.
“I wanna know everything....do you hear me, Bo....I wanna know what’s going on!”
Bo put a comforting hand on Todd’s shoulder.
“I’ll call you as soon as I hear anything. I promise,” said Bo, heading for the door.
“Hey...thanks, man,” said Todd.
Bo just nodded his head and walked out.
Todd closed the door and turned to look at RJ.
“Well, I guess I’ll be going to,” said RJ walking toward the door, but Todd grabbed his arm and stopped him.
“You’re not going anywhere, RJ! You’re going to stay here and help me get back my family. You’re as responsible as Blair as far as I’m concerned and you’re going to help me. And if you don’t help me, I’ll kill you. I have nothing left to lose without Tea and those kids!” he said coldly.
RJ pulled his arm away, but he was scared. He saw the dead stare in Todd’s eyes and knew that this was no idle threat. Whatever humanity Todd Manning possessed he acquired from loving his children and loving Tea, without it RJ knew he’d turn into the same ruthless, wounded animal that he was before. RJ walked over to a sofa and sat down quietly.
There was a knock on the door and Todd went to answer it. A man was standing there with a black suitcase and a badge.
“Mr. Manning. I’m officer Reilly. Commissioner Buchanan sent me over to put a wire tap on your phones.”
Todd nodded and pointed to the phone as the man got to work.
“I’ll take any cell phones you have, too,” he said.
“I think Tea’s is upstairs--I’ll go get it.”
Todd ran up the stairs and slowly approached his bedroom door with Tea’s hairbrush in his hand. When he stepped inside he walked over to the dresser and placed her hairbrush next to the silver comb that was paired with it. He had started using that comb when she moved in and reaching out his fingers he pushed the brush closer to the comb, until they touched and just stared at them for a moment. He noticed the rumpled section of the comforter on the bed, the spot where he had laid with her before he left the house earlier .
Grabbing Tea’s cell phone from the dresser he started heading downstairs but when he got to the hallway his feet pulled him in the other direction and made there way into Leo‘s room. He walked in and looked around and looked up at the clouds painted on the ceiling. “The clear, blue sky,” he said to himself as tears formed in his eyes and he leaned against the wall, choking as he held back his tears.
He continued down the hall and entered Starr’s room and looked at the bed where only a few hours ago he had held his precious daughter in his arms and told her he loved her. As he started to walk out he noticed something on her dresser. It was Freddy, the magic frog. He hadn’t even realized that Starr had brought it with her, but it didn’t surprise him--it was always shoved in one of her pockets. As he walked over to pick it up he noticed something beneath it, a small white cell phone that seemed vaguely familiar. Todd picked it up and stared at it trying to recall where he had seen it before. It was Blair’s.
Todd stared at Freddy the Magic Frog and smiled. His daughter had somehow figured out a way to communicate with him and the tears he had held back began to fall. Wiping his eyes quickly, he shoved Freddy and the cell phone into his pockets and went back downstairs. He was going to get his family back.
2002 Copyright by Trog
FanFiction Home
Home
