"Abe," John knocks on the door of the busy commanders office and nods his head at his former partner. "Just got your message. What's up partner?"
"John," Abe looks up from the report he is going over with an sergeant and waves the man away. "Jenkins, check on those forensics results and Halley, move on that information will you?"
The office clears quickly and John's feeling of foreboding amplifies. There is something off here and he's not sure that he's gonna want to know what it is.
"So what's all this about here Abe?" he indicates the officers outside the office. "Busy night?"
"You could say that," Abe sighs and pulls over a chair, propping his feet up on it and stretching. He looks as though he hasn't slept for days. John has some fair idea of how he must feel.
"So what did you want?" John pulls up his own chair and spins it around before he sits down. "It sounded important," he adds, resting his arms on the back of the seat.
"It is," Abe sighs and rubs his face wearily. "At least, the D.A.'s office intends to make it so."
"The D.A.'s office? What the hell have they got to do with anything?" John asks, a little confused.
"They've been down here all morning, making my life a misery," Abe picks up his empty coffee mug and weighs it thoughtfully.
"I remember how it can be partner, but that doesn't tell me why you got me up here," John presses, his blue eyes boring into Abe.
"It's Marlena," Abe says eventually. "One of her patients killed himself last night."
"That's rough," John shrugs, "but it's a hazard of her job Abe. These things are bound to happen sometimes."
"Yeah, I know that John," Abe looks frustrated and a little worried and it has John on edge. "But the problem is that this kid left a note that *implicates* Marlena. Says she *encouraged* him to take his own life. And he killed himself with sleeping pills that she prescribed only last week."
"So..." John shrugs, still not understanding the predicament. "He was obviously disturbed... confused." He pauses for a moment as embryonic understanding starts to unfurl inside him. "They think this was *deliberate*?" He's absolutely horrified that anyone would even *think* that of Marlena. Surreal doesn’t even begin to cover this. "C'mon Abe, this is *Doc* we're talking about. The idea that she would deliberately hurt someone is completely *nuts*."
"John, buddy, you know that and I know that..." Abe pauses and he sounds unconvinced for a moment, "but the D.A.'s office... they got wind of this note and now they're asking questions."
"What *kind* of questions?" John can feel all his muscles tensing as he waits for Abe's answer.
"About the fact that Marlena is the one link in three different incidents." Abe's voice is husky and strained. He feels like he is betraying his friends by even uttering this out loud. But it has to be said.
"Three inci....." John's eyes widen in horror as he looks at Abe. "Abe... you can't be serious!"
"They know Hope was alone with Marlena when she had her accident and they want us to bring Marlena in for questioning," Abe looks pained as he places his mug back on the desk. "John, they want us to consider Marlena as a suspect in Roman's murder."
~
"Grace." The rich baritone makes Grace jump as she enters the penthouse and she immediately drops her shopping bags as she stares at him angrily.
"What are you doing here?" she demands.
"I have come to see you," Stefano straightens his suit, notably discomfited and Grace raises her eyebrows.
"Well, I got that much," her tone is not short on sarcasm. "You could at least have called. I might have plans."
"Your plans can wait," Stefano growls. "First I want an explanation."
"An explanation?" Grace doesn't like his tone and it makes her defiant as she crosses the floor in front of him to mix herself a drink.
"Your drink can also wait," Stefano catches her arm, his face stormy. "Grace, I want to know what you had to do with Hope Williams' 'accident'."
"Hope?" Grace looks surprised and then she looks down at Stefano's thick fingers enclosing her upper arm in their grip. "Do you *mind*?" She pulls herself from his clutches with palpable ire and continues to the liquor cabinet. "Your *questions* can wait for my *drink*."
Stefano crosses the floor in three steps and crashes closed the cupboard that she has just opened. "Do *not* cross me, Grace. I *asked* you a question."
Grace takes an involuntary step backward and scrambles for her composure in the face of Stefano's anger. "No Stefano, you didn’t *ask* me a question, you *demanded* an explanation. And now I'm asking myself why you are so *suddenly* interested in Hope Williams."
"Just answer me, Grace," Stefano snarls, backing her up against the wall. "Did you cause Hope's accident?"
Grace feels a thrill course through her in the face of Stefano's anger and her breathing quickens. "Why do you *care*?" she asks as she narrows her eyes in thought. "You couldn't stand the *real* Gina and you've displayed no concern for her doppleganger until now..." she studies his face, her shrewd mind quickly calculating the reasons behind this sudden about-face.
"I only want to know what part you played in her accident," Stefano reiterates, a victim of intense frustration. "Grace, you try my patience."
"All right, all right," Grace shrugs. "She came here accusing me of not being Marlena and was threatening to go to John and the Brady's. I couldn't let that happen." She looks at Stefano defiantly. "She followed me up the staircase and I took the opportunity that presented itself." A smile touches her lips, "She deserved everything she got, if you ask me."
~
"They *what*?" John stares at Abe in disbelief. "Abraham, that is the most *ridiculous* thing I've ever heard. Marlena? We are talking about the same person?"
"Look John," Abe holds up his hands, the palms of his hands pink against the background of his dark jacket. "I know how absurd this all seems. Believe me, I had exactly the same reaction when the assistant D.A. came down here. But buddy, they *are* insistent. They see a connection and they want us to investigate it."
"Abe, do you have any idea what that might do to Doc?" John demands. "If she thought that she was suspected of murdering Roman? He's her ex-husband, the father of her *kids* for chrissake! She loved him, the idea that she could have anything at *all* to do with his death..." he shudders at the thought of Marlena having to endure that after everything she's been through lately.
"John, if I refuse to investigate Marlena..." Abe shrugs. "It's my job, you know that."
"And she's your *friend*," John says with shades of accusation in his voice. "Abe, you can't do that to her. There's no evidence for God's *sake*. This is just like Pat Hamilton and her vindictive witch-hunt."
"Pat happened to be right for the most part," Abe reminds him.
"Marlena..." John falters momentarily. "Abe you know those circumstances could never be repeated. Anyway, Pat was *wrong*. That *thing* was *not* Marlena."
"John, I'm not saying..." Abe sighs and brings his elbows down on the desk with a thump. "John, there *is* tenuous evidence. There were two blonde hairs found at the scene. They want us to do a DNA workup against Marlena."
"*What?*" John pushes himself off of the chair in disgust and paces across the office angrily. "It's *Roman* Abe, he saw his family all the time. Even if it *was* Marlena's hair, there would be any number of reasons why her hair could have been there. She could have hugged Roman last time he was wearing that shirt...."
"The hairs weren’t found anywhere near the body," Abe almost dreads John's reaction to this piece of information.
But the reaction is not immediate as John simply stares at Abe.
"You sound like you think she did it."
It is an accusation rather than a statement and Abe can only shake his head.
"John, I know Marlena. I've known her for more years than I care to remember. I *know* she could never hurt anyone, much less Roman. But buddy, this is eerie. It's too much like when Marlena...."
"She's *not* Abe," John thumps his fist on Abe's desk with barely concealed anger. "Yeah, she's hurt and confused and mixed up, but she is *not* possessed and she is *not* a killer. End of story."
"John," Abe looks up at his friend with weary, faded eyes. He has seen too much death in this past month and it is telling. "I have to question her. I have no choice."
John stares at his friend and then sinks back down onto his chair. He knows Abe is right. If the D.A.'s office is demanding it, there is not much Abe can do. He can maybe delay it a few days, that is all, but he can't subvert the course of 'justice', as arbitrary as it is in this town.
"Let me talk to her first," he says quietly. "Let me find out what I can for you. Where she was that night...."
"All right," Abe nods his head. "That sounds fair. I'll do what I can to delay things at this end. Maybe by then we will have found Roman's killer."
"Maybe," John agrees.
"You think she'll listen to you? That she'll talk to you?" Abe asks, suddenly remembering the last time he saw John and Marlena together.
"We're having dinner tonight," John nods. "After the accident with Hope, Doc was pretty shaken up. I persuaded her to have dinner with me in the hopes that we could talk things through."
"That's good," Abe nods with the glimmer of a smile. "I hope it goes well for you, my friend."
John finally manages a smile, but his cobalt eyes convey an air of sadness and uncertainty. "So do I Abraham, so do I."
~
""I *didn't* ask you, Grace," Stefano snarls angrily as he spins away from Grace, trying to rein in his temper.
"I still don't understand why this is a problem for you." Grace comes up behind him and he feels her hand slide seductively over his shoulder. "I would have thought you'd be grateful to have that *bitch* incapacitated. After all, she has a few too many secrets about you locked up inside that vapid head of hers, doesn't she?"
"*Grateful?*" He roars as he turns abruptly. "*GRATEFUL?!*" He backs her up against the wall again, his glistening ebony eyes boring into her. "Do you have *any* idea what you've done?"
"Why don't you tell me?" Grace's eyes widen as he grasps her wrist and slams it against the lemon yellow wall. Her breathing quickens and her tongue slides slowly along her upper lip. "Better yet, why don't we skip the explanations and go right to the punishment?" She smiles suggestively and Stefano tenses.
"Grace!" he snaps, his voice tinged with both anger and lust. She is maddening and infuriating and so *very* desirable. He hates that she can distract him so easily, but at the same time, that is what makes her so much of a challenge. It is what makes her so very *Grace*.
"Stefano..." she undoes the top two buttons of his shirt and runs her hand over the hot skin just below his throat. She can feel his pulse pounding madly and she looks up at him from under seductively dark lashes. "If you're so angry with me, why don't you *do* something about it?"
His grip on her wrist tightens until it is almost painful and he presses his heavy bulk up against her. "Is that what you want Grace," he growls in her ear. "Do you really want to feel the full force of my rage right now?"
Grace gasps as he grabs her hair and wrenches her head backwards, his tongue and lips hot on her throat and a soft moan slips from her lips. But there is no affirmative answer from her and after a long moment, Stefano releases her and steps backwards.
Grace stares at him with rampant curiosity as he walks away from her.
"Why?" she asks eventually. "Why is it that scrawny imbecile is so important to you?"
Stefano sighs resignedly and turns to face her. "I am not concerned about Hope Williams. I could care less about her. However, the child she is carrying.... *was* carrying...." he looks away. "That child could very well have been *my* child."