My Brother's Keeper #3

        He couldn't believe it. He had gone to Blair's to tell her how he felt and instead had been blindsided by Irene again. The woman was unstoppable. It had been a chilling experience because as she talked he began to see these pictures in his head, pictures of him doing the deed. He couldn't believe what his mind was telling him and he had tried to force the thought away. Hell, he had even turned himself in for killing Irene. Nora had released him for that, but the images of Victor's death wouldn't go away. Even if Victor was right and he was alive out there somewhere, Todd still couldn't get past the feeling he had killed somebody. What else could go wrong?

          He should have known there was more to come. He looked at the summons and at his sister Vicki. "Does this mean what I think it does?" Could things finally be looking up?

          Todd was dumbfounded. The judge just said Victor's will would stand and everything he owned suddenly became Irene's. To make matters worse Irene's will left everything to Tina. This day was getting bleaker by the minute. "I knew you hadn't changed. Not one little bit," he growled. Tina had just proven him right once again. Then she surprised them all by turning the inheritance down and giving it back to Todd. Now he knew the world was upside down. He wrapped his head around the idea finally something had gone his way. The Sun and the investments were all his again. Todd turned to Tea, "You and Danielle will always be well taken care of."

         "I don't want Victor's money, I want the man that killed him and Tomas is going to see to that."

         "Tomas?"

         "Yes he promised to find Victor's killer and I believe he will."

          Todd watched as Tea departed. So much for his sunny turnaround. Todd found himself staring into the mirror in the bathroom at the courthouse. Great, he had his possessions back, but with Tomas on Victor's case, he was going to lose it all over again. It was only a few days earlier that he had looked into the mirror and talked to Irene. Victor had been silent since his second chat with Irene in the cabin. "You're losing it, Todd. Victor's voice was in your imagination. He's as much a ghost as Irene and both were telling you the same thing. You killed your own brother."

         "Oh come off it, I already told you I wasn't dead."

          "Damn, Victor, you got to stop popping in like that. You're going to give me a heart attack. Besides, how do I know you're real?" Todd turned on the water and splashed his face, but the voice continued
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          "I guess you'll have to take my word for it. Man, I'm starving, they came and moved me. I'm blindfolded and I'm strapped to a chair. They won't even talk to me, just move me around. I'm not sure what's going on, but I think I overheard someone saying something about plans being changed. I'm telling you, brother, this is getting old. I wish you could do something. This chair is damn uncomfortable. They've even bound my head and legs to it."

          "Victor, what did you just say?"

           "Hey open your ears, brother. I said I'm bound to a chair, why does that bother you? I'm definitely not going anywhere anytime soon. Someone's coming, hang on."


        Todd felt a chill run down his spine. It hadn't been that long ago he had been bound to a chair and it had been no picnic. Surely Victor wasn't being held a prisoner by the same agency that had held him. Hell, Irene had been in charge of that compound and it had been shut down. Could there have been more than one compound? Suddenly Todd felt like he had put his finger in a light socket. God not again!

        Bo entered the bathroom and spotted Todd stretched out on the floor. "What the hell! Hey, Manning are you alright?" As he reached him Todd started moving and began to slowly sit up. "What happened?"

        Todd shook his head the last thing he remembered was hearing Victor talking in his head. He realized he was sitting on the floor and Bo was looking concerned. Todd got slowly to his feet "It's nothing Bo, I just got a little faint. Must be leftovers from the shoulder wound. I just bent over to tie my shoe and I guess I blacked out. I'm fine." Todd gripped the sink trying to focus on Bo. He couldn't tell him the truth. He had just received a jolt of what his brother was receiving somewhere else. They were all convinced Victor was dead. How the hell was he going to prove Victor wasn't?

         "You sure you're alright you look a little green around the gills, Manning."

         "Yeah, just give me a minute, a little dizzy." He wanted to zone out to talk to Victor, but he had a feeling Victor wasn't going to be doing any talking anytime soon. He turned away from Bo and splashed some more water on his face. Then he straightened up and gave him a look that basically said "I don't want to talk about it" and exited before Bo could say any more.

          Todd was glad to get away from the commissioner's concerned stare. He knew Bo and Nora still considered him a suspect in Victor's death and now thanks to his own personal ghost, even he was questioning it. Still, the jolt he had just received told him that Victor was very likely alive, and they both were experiencing what the other was going through.

         "Okay Victor, if you can hear me, you need to hang in there. I'm not sure how I'm going to get anyone to believe me, but I'll see what I can do. Sounds like our mother's goons have you in another undisclosed location.   I'll start doing some research. Victor, if you're my brother, then I know you're as stubborn as me. Don't give in. I'll find you." He got no answer back, but he really didn't expect any.

        Todd hadn't heard anything out of Victor and he remembered how hard it had been to get his thoughts together after one of those electrifying sessions with Baker. "Where are you, Baker? You disappeared off the radar when they caught my mother. Are you the one making it look like Victor is dead?" Todd swung around in his chair and typed in the name of the agency on his computer. It was like he feared, Irene had hidden the agency too well. Todd reached into his pocket and pulled out the small computer chip. He hadn't turned it over to Bo because he was hoping it would give him leverage later on if somehow everything ended up pointing to him as Victor's murderer.

           His mother had made a fatal mistake when she tried to blow up his family. "You underestimated me, Mother. Once I remembered the chip, I couldn't seriously hand it over to you. You were going to kill me because you thought I threw it away. That's where you made your mistake. You had me at your mercy but you had to gloat about killing my family. Never give your opponent time to think Irene. You're dead Irene and you can haunt me about killing my brother but I know he's alive. You lose all around. Now rot in hell." Todd got up and put the microchip in his safe and locked it. "Now Victor, how am I going to get you free?"

           Todd was sitting at his desk when Jack arrived. After their usual getting nowhere conversation. He begged. "Jack, I just want a chance to get to know you."

          "You want to get to know me, why don't we get to know you. Look me in the eye and tell me you didn't kill my father." Angrily he flung items off Todd's desk and said again. "Tell me you didn't kill my father."

          Todd looked his son in the eyes and said with all honesty. "I swear I did not kill your father." Of course, to be truthful, he was Jack's father so he could say that with impunity and not be telling a lie but he was grateful at that moment he didn't have to lie about Victor either. Naturally, his words fell on deaf ears and Jack stormed out of the office. Thanks to his recent conversations with Victor, he knew his brother was still alive out there somewhere. Now he just had to find Victor and until he did, Jack would continue to hate him.












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