The MST, Ch. 24

Samuel said goodbye to his portraits of Blair. Tomas would protect them. They had agreed that Tomas would put them up for sale slowly to give the impression that Samuel was sticking to his pattern of only selling a few portraits a year. Samuel hoped that would give him the time he needed to get out of Paris unnoticed. He left the gallery without seeing anyone and headed home, going his usual route. He had managed to keep his home a mystery from his watchers, it was imperative it remained a mystery.

Finally arriving home, Samuel entered his apartment. It seemed strange and empty with all the paintings crated. The shipping company was scheduled to pick up the crates soon and they would be sent to the storage unit in the States. He needed to finish packing his art supplies as those were going to the penthouse in Llanview he had recently purchased.

Samuel walked over to the mantle and looked at the three remaining portraits left in the room. " "Well it's been an interesting seven years and you've kept me sane through them all. Now we begin a new adventure, I need to find out why I exist and help Todd find out who did this to us. The answers are out there. Tomorrow begins our new journey and until such time as it's safe to meet you in person I'm glad I still have you three for company." Samuel headed for the loft and completed packing all of his supplies. He labeled them for Llanview and started clearing out his bedroom next. Once he had everything packed, he headed downstairs to his landlord's apartment and purchased a year's lease on the apartment and loft. He was going to keep the place for appearances sake. He informed his landlord that he was leaving on a short trip but that he expected to return within the week. That way his landlord would not be suspicious when he left tomorrow for the airport.

It was early when the shipping company arrived for the crates that were going to the States. Samuel saw the truck off and went to complete his final task before leaving for the airport. Samuel walked to the mantle and took down the portraits. He then carefully removed the paintings from their frames, first Vicki and then Dee. He then rolled them up and put them in protective cases and laid them in his luggage. He had to carefully cover his painting of Blair with oil skin to protect the newly painted portrait, then it too was carefully rolled up and placed in a tube and laid next to the cases holding Vicki and Dee. After emptying his safe, he took most of the currency and put the majority in a money belt and put it on, the rest he put in his wallet. Taking one last look around Samuel grabbed his coat, he put his passport in an upper pocket, picked up his luggage and locking the door, he departed.

Samuel sat in his seat as the flight took off, in seven hours he'd be landing in New York. He expected to land in Philadelphia around 11:00 am. Samuel had an appointment that afternoon with the trauma director at Philadelphia General. If the meeting went as planned Samuel hoped to find out the name of the attending physician who had been in the ER the night he had arrived there almost eight years before. If he could track down that physician he might be able to figure out where he had been before showing up at Philadelphia General.

Samuel found it very curious that he had been transferred to Philadelphia General at all. Obviously, he had been in another facility. What had they been doing with him for several months? Why had they treated some but not all of his injuries? Had he been so injured that they had done everything they could and then decided he would be better off in a bigger Hospital. If that had been the case why had they waited to send him until it was almost too late? It was the delay that bothered him. Something had happened to him during that delay and he was sure that it was something to do with his memory loss. Thankfully it appeared that he was overcoming what had been done to him. More memories were returning and soon that most elusive memory would appear. Samuel realized he needed all the other memories in place because he needed to be at full strength when he and Todd faced that devastating memory.

****

Samuel left the office of the Director, they had managed to find out who had been working in the ER the night he had arrived. It turned out that a young intern had checked him in that night. With the help of the records Samuel had brought with him, they found out the intern's name was Michael McBain. Young Dr. McBain had left Philadelphia General and gone to the LLanview Pa. Hospital for several years. He was now working in Seattle. It was necessary to talk to the young Dr., so Samuel made reservations to fly to Seattle after making a stop in Indiana. First, he needed to go to the bank with his safe deposit box. Samuel's flight to Indiana left at noon the next day, so he decided to drive out to the two facilities outside of Philadelphia. Even though he wanted to talk to Dr, McBain, it wouldn't hurt just to look at them. The first of the two, was the Brain Injury Hospital north of Philadelphia, getting on the interstate he drove till he saw the exit sign and the directional sign pointing out the hospital's location. He parked and went inside. After stopping at the information desk, he found out the Administrations office was closed but he could check back in the morning. Samuel decided to find a hotel close to the hospital and check in for the night.

The next morning Samuel drove back to the Brain Injury hospital. He was able to talk to someone in administration but found that no patients with head trauma had been admitted in March of 2003. It had taken longer than he had anticipated and he was going to have to leave off going to the Kipling research facility until he returned from Seattle. Samuel's next stop was Indiana.

All the while he had been driving from the airport, he had been thinking of the last trip he had made to this bank. He recalled the urgency that had driven him there that day, he was beginning to feel that same urgency now. Whoever had started this 8 years ago was getting ready to pull out and they were going to do a lot of damage before this was over. Samuel pulled into the parking lot and got out. He opened his suitcase and pulled out a small box buried inside. Then he locked the car and entered the bank. Signing in he waited for some help. He was soon greeted by the associate in charge of the safe deposit vault. Pulling the key from his box he handed it to the associate and was instructed to follow him into the vault, Samuel took his box and went into a secure room. He sat down and opened the box. The box contained a bundle of old letters bound with a ribbon. As he looked at them, Samuel remembered his mother Bitsy. He recalled the day Todd had received the letters, those feelings of sorrow and bewilderment when he had realized his mother had written to him and he hadn't known. Then the feeling of shame because he had thought she had abandoned him.

Samuel removed the letters and found Irene's diary he opened it up and found what he had come looking for.  There, in the entry where his real mother talked about giving up her beautiful little boy, was a piece of paper with a list of numbers on it and an international phone number. This was it, these were the numerous swiss accounts that Todd had opened when he had left town after the DID fiasco. Along with the accounts were a list of contacts around the world capable of providing services for whatever you needed. Samuel put the list in his wallet and lovingly stowed the letters and Diary back in the box, he put the box back in its slot and took his key. After putting the key away, Samuel left the vault and walked up to a teller. There he proceeded to withdraw a sizable amount of cash. Financially he was now set. Now it was on to Seattle to talk to Dr. McBain.

Samuel arrived in Seattle late that night. After checking into his room, he called the hospital and found out Dr. McBain would be in the next day. He settled in for the night. Hopefully, tomorrow would shed a little more light on his mystery.

Unfortunately, the night proved very unsettling, once again memories intruded into Samuel's dreams. He was waiting for her...she was beautiful and his, they were getting married,...showers of Gold balloons ... then the shattered mirror... he was walking alone in the fog someone shouted... agony ripping through him... falling shattering....broken hurt...Blair ...then he saw them, his Blair and another man....shattered again... alone so alone...suddenly warmth...love for him from such a little thing...love from his Starr..Samuel's eyes flew open...His little Starr, there she was...Vicki had brought her to him when he had been so lost. He remembered. He had a daughter. God, where was she? Was she in Llanview? How old was she now? Samuel couldn't sleep anymore, how could he have forgotten his daughter? What must she think of him to have left her like that? Wait a minute. She didn't think he was gone. Someone else had taken Todd's place. Someone else had raised Starr. He needed to get back home. He needed to find out what had happened to his Starr. He would talk to McBain, but then he was going home.

****

Samuel wasted no time getting to the hospital to see Dr. McBain. After last night's revelation, he wanted to get back to Llanview as soon as possible. He'd called from the hotel and made an appointment with the young doctor after he completed his rounds around 10:30 am. The nurse showed him into the Dr.'s office and told him he could wait there. Samuel looked around, he saw a photo on the desk, obviously his family. A cheerful young woman and a child smiled out of the frame. The door behind him open and the doctor walked in.

"Good morning, you must be Mr. Toddman.  I'm Dr.McBain what can I help you with," said the young doctor.

"Yes. I'm Mr. Toddman." replied Samuel and shook the doctor’s hand. "I promise not to take up too much of your time. I'm here tracking down information pertaining to an incident that occurred in June of 2003. Do you recall your time at Philadelphia General in 2003? You see, I managed with the help of the doctors there, to find out you were, in fact, working on the night I arrived in the ER. Do you think you could help me?"

"Please have a seat Mr. Toddman." Dr. McBain gestured to the chair and in turn, sat down behind his desk. "That was quite a while ago. I was an intern during my year at Philadelphia General, but I'm not sure I going to be able to help you. A lot of people came into the ER while I worked there. Why were you brought to the ER?"

"This is what I know.  I was brought to that ER in a coma. I understand that I had numerous broken bones throughout my body and some of them were beginning to heal although none had been repaired. According to the records, I required immediate surgery and that I remained in the coma for several months following all the surgeries. Do you recall a patient like that." asked Samuel

"Now I do. You were in such bad shape I was afraid you wouldn't survive the surgeries. I remember calling the Trauma surgeon to consult and after looking you over, you were removed to the operating room immediately. Mr. Toddman, you are very fortunate to have survived. With the extent of your injuries, only one out of ten usually make it." Dr. McBain looked him up and down and asked. "Do you have any residual effects from all that trauma?"

"The biggest lasting effect from it is a weaker heart. But as you said, I'm a survivor. I'm glad you recall me because I have a second question. According to my records, you made note of the fact that I was brought there from another facility. Do you remember the name of that facility?" asked Samuel

"I can't recall it, I'm sorry," he answered.

"Maybe there's something concerning the direction of the city they might have come from. Or possibly a name on the ambulance that brought me?" Samuel inquired.

"Wait a minute. Now that I think of it, I remember seeing a name on the ambulance. It stuck in my head that night because it was the name of a famous author. Let's see. Yes, I remember. The name on the side of the ambulance was Kipling. Yes, Kipling Research. That's right, there's a Neuroscience research facility by that name outside of Philadelphia. It's possible you might have been at that facility. I don't know if that helps you but that's all I can remember." replied Dr. McBain.

Samuel stood up, he had gotten the information he needed. "Thank you for your time Doctor. That bit of information might be just what I need to complete my investigation. I appreciate the time you've given me. Once again, Thank you." he shook Dr. McBain's hand and left his office."

The flight back to Philadelphia seemed endless. Samuel went over the information he had found out. So he had a link to the Neuroscience facility in Philadelphia. Now he needed to find out more about the place. He now had contacts that could help look into the facility without raising any questions. Samuel wondered if they would find a link from the clinic to either Todd Manning in Llanview or to Carlo Hesser. He had this feeling that one or both men were involved in this up to their eyeballs.

Samuel leaned back and closed his eyes. "Todd, are you with me?"

"Always, Samuel."

"We have a Daughter. She's beautiful, Todd. We're headed home and I'll find her for all of us. Why did someone do this to us? I'm not usually an angry man but I'm beginning to get very angry. Someone played God and ripped us from our family." Samuel felt his heart start speeding up the more he got agitated. 

"Samuel Stop! Calm down," shouted Todd who was struggling to hold back Pete.

"No! You can't go out there, you'll ruin everything!" with everything in him Todd shoved Pete to the floor. Rodd and Tom jumped on him and held him down. "This is not the time for violence. You're not going to control me anymore, Pete. It stops today!  Samuel, you have to control the anger. We need your logical mind to remain in charge. Please, I'm mad too. She's the best thing about me and I've missed so many years but now is not the time for the anger. Stick with your plan, it's working. You now have funds and my contacts, use them. For now, we need to work behind the scenes. When the time is right we'll get our revenge." Todd looked around, Pete had stopped struggling and was lying there passively. "I need your help with the wall, can I trust you?" Pete nodded and took Todd's hand, together they walked back to the fast crumbling wall.

Samuel felt the tension drain from him. Todd was right. It wasn't the time for anger. There was too much to be done. There was a correct moment for every reveal and his reveal was going to be monumental.