The sunlight outside is golden and the shadows long as Grace arrives back at the penthouse. All in all, it has been another excellent day. Her lawyer has confirmed that John received the papers and Craig Wesley should be in a world of trouble right about now. Further to that, John's credit card is tucked safely inside her purse after quite the workout this afternoon. She is satisfied.
She drops her afternoon's purchases inside the front door, and heads over to the liquor cabinet where she mixes herself a large martini.
"Cheers, Gracie," her voice is almost lilting as she lifts the glass to her reflection in the mirror. "Here's to getting out of this godforsaken little dump of a town."
She takes a sip just as the doorbell rings and her beautiful face is marred by a frown. Her prescience is proved accurate as she opens the front door to reveal Abraham Carver and a uniformed officer and her ebullient mood shatters.
"Abe?" she says uncertainly.
"Marlena," Abe's velvety eyes look sorrowful. "I'm sorry to have to do this with no warning."
"Do what?" Grace takes a step backwards. "What's going on Abe?"
"John was going to talk to you about it, but…" Abe shrugs. "The DA's office has been getting on my case. They seem to think that I should question you in relation to Roman's murder."
"Question *me*?" Grace plays up her surprise. She had wondered if this was coming after finding out that Craig had passed on Braden Davies note to the police. Even so, it catches her a little unawares. Still, this is all part of the job and it's not like she's not good at what she does. "Abe, I told you before, I don't have any idea who might have wanted to kill Roman."
"Can we come in?" Abe motions to the living room and Grace blinks.
"Uh, of course." She shows them in and closes the door behind them. Taking a good mouthful of her martini, she follows them to the couches and sits down opposite Abe.
"Marlena…." Abe hates this, he utterly loathes this part of his job. If he had any other option, he would not be here. "I'm sorry, but I have to ask you where you were, the night Roman was killed."
"Where…." Grace's eyes widen in feigned shock as she stares at Abe. "Where *I* was?"
"I'm sorry, Marlena, I *know* this seems insane, but I have to ask you this to get them off my back. You understand." This last sentence is said hopefully but Grace doesn't help him out.
"No…." she shakes her head and gulps down her martini before she sets the glass down on the table with a shaking hand. "No, I don't understand. Are you telling me you think I had something to do with Roman's mu-" she breaks off, her breath catching in her throat even as her lower lip begins to quiver. "Oh *God*, Abe!"
"No Marlena," Abe pushes himself from the couch and goes to sit beside Grace. Taking her hands in his, he runs his thumbs soothingly over the back of them. "*I* don't think that. No-one who knows you could even entertain the thought. But I *have* to ask you these questions. It's a formality, nothing more."
She raises watery golden eyes to his and stifles a sob. "It's been such an awful few weeks, Abe."
"I know it has," he nods sympathetically. "I'm really sorry Marlena, perhaps there would be a better time. I could come back in the morning?"
"Oh…" she looks hopeful but then shakes her head. "No, you might as well get it over with I guess."
"Are you sure?" he looks uncertain as she uses the back of her hand to slick away the tears on her cheeks.
"Can we just get it over with?" she sounds miserable as she looks over at the second officer who stands uncomfortably by the bookcase. "I'm sure we all have better things we could be doing."
"All right then," Abe releases her hands. He suddenly wishes John were here to lend Marlena his support. But then after what evidently happened last night, maybe that wouldn't expedite matters. "I know this is hard, so just answer me in your own time, okay?" She nods but Abe can see that she is still close to tears. For a moment he thinks of just leaving and telling the D.A.'s office that they can screw their directives. But then, he thinks better of it. "Marlena, can you tell me where you were the night Roman was killed?"
"Um…." Grace takes a deep breath, quelling her own nerves. This is a delicate balancing act but she figures the fewer people around to interrupt her concentration, the better. "I think I was alone here at the penthouse for a few hours and then I had a meeting at the hospital."
"A meeting?" Abe looks surprised. "At night?"
"Well… yes," Grace manages to look a little embarrassed. "It wasn't exactly a *business* meeting, Abe."
"Oh." Abe's chocolate eyes widen as he gets her implication. He pauses for a moment as Grace stares down at her hands. "Marlena, I have to ask who you saw at the hospital."
"Abe...." she looks away, relishing the drama, but wary of overplaying her hand. She knows Marlena well enough to know that she is not a drama queen. Anything but.
"I'm sorry," Abe is distressed as he sees what he thinks is Marlena's pain. "I *have* to ask."
Grace takes a deep breath and wipes the few stray tears that linger on her lashes and then she turns back to Abe. "I know," she says, her voice husky with feigned emotion. Closing her eyes, she runs her hand over them. "It was Craig Wesley. I was with Craig." Suddenly she pulls her hand away from her face and looks at Abe. "Oh. He might not want to admit that though."
"Let me worry about that," Abe says gently.
Secretly he is shocked by Marlena's revelation, but he doesn't want to pass judgement on her. She's one of his best friends and she must have been through hell in the last couple of months. She must have because he can't even imagine Marlena looking at anyone other than John. She's just not that sort of person. But then, he hadn't thought John that kind of person either....
"So you drove to the hospital and met him there?" he prompts.
"Outside the hospital," Grace says quietly. "In the staff carpark."
"At what time, do you remember?"
"I guess...." Grace looks away, trying to gauge how far she can push the envelope. Being that Craig was at dinner with members of the board that night, probably not far. "....it was dark, so it must have been after nine."
"Can you be more specific?" Abe pushes her.
"If I could be more specific, don't you think I would have just *been* more specific?" she snaps impatiently.
"Of course, I'm sorry," Abe apologizes again and he swallows almost painfully. This is possibly one of the most unpleasant tasks he's ever had to undertake. He's seen and heard much more today than he ever needed to see or hear. And it's not over yet. "So where did you go after that?"
"Well..." Grace purses her lips thoughtfully. Every moment of that evening is etched in her mind with sinful clarity and a tremor of pleasure shudders up her spine as she remembers. "We stayed in the parking lot for a while," she clears her throat in fake embarrassment, "and then Craig came back here for a nightcap."
"Did anyone see you at the hospital?" Abe suddenly realizes that the phrasing of his question could be considered a little indelicate and he feels his cheeks warming.
"No," she shakes her head, seemingly not aware of his discomfort. "Not that I'm aware. We weren't there for all that long."
"You came straight back here?" Abe asks, carefully showing no sign of his feelings. "In separate cars?"
"Yes." She nods. "That's right. And he left around an hour later."
"And before you went to meet Wesley, you were here on your own?" Abe knows that when Roman's body was found at around ten pm, he had already been dead several hours. Which is long before Marlena's encounter with Craig Wesley. Grace nods her head silently and he continues. "Were you here all afternoon?"
"No," she shakes her head. "I was in at the hospital earlier that day. I had a *terrible* fight with John and I was very upset." Her lower lip trembles as she looks up at Abe. "He didn't want to tell anyone the truth about Hope's baby and it was tearing me apart. I know I haven't behaved very well, but Abe, I've just been so distraught."
"I know," Abe takes her hands in his again and nods solemnly. "I know, Marlena."
"So we had a fight and I told him I wanted him to move out." She sighs deeply. "Stefano was the only other person that knew the truth, so I went straight around there to...." she drifts off and then looks down, shaking her head gently. "Oh I don't know what I hoped to do. Get him to admit to some kind of nefarious scheme where he'd forced them to have sex, I don't know."
"But he didn't." Abe is appalled that Marlena went to Stefano, but not completely surprised. He knows she doesn't give up until she has an answer and this is one question that needs an answer.
"No..." Grace shakes her head, trying to block out the memory of Stefano telling her he'd slept with Gina. That he could have been the father of Hope's baby. "No, he toyed with me for a while. You know how he is." She looks down at her hands again, hoping she sounds sincere. "I was so confused, I didn't know what to think. He told me he could tell me why it happened," she laughs softly, the sound bitter and cutting. "He played me Abe, he played me like a Stradivarius. That's why I went with him after Roman's funeral. God knows *why* I thought he was going to stand by his word.... I should have known better than that." Sighing, she pushes herself from the sofa and wraps her arms around her body as she walks towards the window, seemingly lost in thought.
"Did he tell you *anything*?" Abe's voice is husky with emotion.
"That Hope-" she stops herself and shakes her head, "that *Gina* acted of her own volition. As did John. There was no programming to tell John to cheat on his wife, he just did it because he wanted to Abe."
"John told me what happened Marlena, that somehow the mercenary took over and he didn't remember any of it," Abe tries to argue his friend's case.
"Oh, he was there," Grace says bitterly, not turning around. "Abe if having just married the woman you love isn't enough incentive to fight off someone taking over your mind, then what is?" She turns around and fixes him with an icy stare. "He managed it in Maison Blanche didn't he?"
"I don't know Marlena," Abe says sorrowfully, "I can’t say what John could or couldn't fight off. I wasn't there, I don't *know* for sure. But I trust John and I *do* know he has *never* loved anyone the way he loves you." The conviction in his voice takes Grace aback a little and she swallows sharply. "If he couldn't overcome the brainwashing or whatever it was Gina did to him for your sake, then I don't think there is any way he could have done it at all."
"Your faith in him is *so* touching," she shoots back acerbically.
"I've known John for a long time Marlena," Abe says quite simply. "And I know what you mean to him. I see it in his eyes every time I talk to him lately, I see how hard it is for him without you. And I was there when he got the papers this morning and I am telling you, I have never seen a man more devastated."
"I thought you were here to question me about Roman's death, not give me a lecture on why I should take my cheating husband back," Grace snaps, her annoyance spilling into her words.
"I didn't say that," Abe raises his eyebrows taking note of Marlena's increased agitation where John is concerned.
"Well, are you finished?" Grace asks irritably. "Because there are things I could be doing, you know."
"No," Abe shakes his head. He's a little thrown by Marlena's sudden mood shift and all his cop instincts are suddenly on the alert. "No, I'm not finished yet. We were talking about Stefano, can you tell me how long you were at his place?"
"Oh," Grace blinks, suddenly realizing the mistake she has made. Abe's manner has subtly changed, but it is obvious enough to Grace that she realizes that she has made him suspicious. "Ummm, I'm not sure. I suppose I was there for about half an hour, maybe forty-five minutes..." she shakes her head, her blonde hair bouncing on her shoulders. "That's all I can tell you."
"And then you came straight back here?" Abe consults his notebook, scribbling in the details that Grace feeds him.
"Yes, I think so." Grace moves back to the couch opposite Abe and lowers herself so she is sitting on the edge.
"Can you remember what time that might have been?" Abe looks up at her, his expression completely impassive.
"Time?" Grace's eyes flick over the carpet in front of her. "I.... some time late afternoon?"
"And you didn't go out again until you went to the hospital to meet Craig Wesley at around nine?"
"That's right," she nods innocently. Oh apart from the two hours I went to the warehouse and beat the living crap out of that piece of shit, Lamont. "Abe, you know me, you've known me for longer than I care to remember," she says softly. "I had nothing to do with Roman's death." Lamont on the other hand....
Abe regards her for a moment and then nods. "I know that Marlena. But I do have to ask you these questions."
She says nothing, but nods acquiescently.
~
John stands on the shore of the river and looks around him. The area is deserted which is why he picked this particular spot and he crouches down on the stony river bank. He's collected several bits of driftwood and twigs and he has piled them on a large, flat boulder. Pulling a lighter out of his jacket pocket, he flicks the top open and sets the wavering flame to the pile of debris. The dry grass twists as the embryonic flames lick at it and then it withers to ash as the fire takes hold, consuming the small twigs and then curling around the larger pieces of driftwood.
When John is satisfied that the fire is hungry enough, he takes the plastic bag containing the blonde strands of hair from his jacket pocket and stares at them. What he has done, what he is about to do is a felony. But he could care less if it means he gets the chance to save Marlena. He could well lose his friendship with Abe over this, but again, he can live with that if it means he can keep Marlena, or whoever she is out of a jail cell and work out how the hell to get his wife back. That is *all* in the world that means anything to him right now. He won't lose her again. He can't.
"For you Doc," he whispers as he drops the bag on the fire and watches the plastic bubble and burn. He hunches over, his eyes stinging and raw from the smoke and watches it for a long while, until well after the fire has died away to hot ashes. He is still replaying moments from the last few weeks in his head, with every memory his certainty becoming sharper and more excruciating.
He wonders if Hope had stumbled on the truth. It would certainly give Mar ....it would certainly give *her* motive to try and put Hope out of commission, that is for sure. And if she is willing to go to those lengths in order to keep her secret then John knows he cannot let her find out that he knows the truth. He is going to have to play things very close to his chest until he figures out what the hell to do.
"So who are you?" he picks up a smooth, worn stone and worries it with his fingers. "Where do you come from and what use does Stefano have for you?" He shuts his mouth and swallows heavily, the sudden nausea suddenly overwhelming. He's not sure he wants to know the answer to that question. He does know if Stefano has laid one finger on Marlena, he will make him wish he had never been born. He no longer cares about consequences. He simply needs his wife. Nothing else matters.
Right now all he knows is that he needs more information. And he's not going to get that sitting on the riverbank. Scuffing the fire with his boot he turns and climbs back up to his Jeep.