Don't Shoot the "Messenger", Ch. 27

             Inside his office, John was filling out the paperwork for the raid. He understood Todd’s frustration and had to admit his own. He had been counting on capturing all three of the suspects and putting an end to their freedom. To find they had missed them, probably by only minutes, had ruined his whole day. 

             He thought about Todd and everything he knew that Kipling and Laurence had put him through. The man had earned his friendship and admiration. John still remembered sitting in the courtroom as both Samuel and Todd had revealed their story about the treatment under Kipling’s hands. He had watched as Todd had almost killed himself on the stand trying to make sure everyone truly understood the horror perpetrated on him, as well as Jake Boudreau. He also understood the anger the man contained for those offenses. He knew deep in his heart that Jake and Todd were the men who had exacted their own personal revenge on Hesser and Kipling, before turning them over to the police.

               Today he had witnessed another glimpse of Todd’s anger and knew if Mitch had been present, it probably would have taken himself and one of the other guys to keep Todd from tearing him apart. He could understand that anger; he had watched Mitch manhandle Natalie and had fired a shot into him with the express purpose of killing him. He had failed and then Natalie had taken her revenge, pumping Mitch full of five more shots. It should have done the trick, but instead, Mitch was once again free and alive to roam and cause havoc. There were times when John wished he could throw away his badge and join Todd in his quest for revenge.

                Bo walked into the room. “There have been no further updates from the officers monitoring the bus and airport terminals, and the State Highway Patrol checkpoints on all the exits off that mountain and out of Llanview haven’t had anyone matching the descriptions of any of the three. Any thoughts John?”

               “I don’t know Bo. Brody took the bandages down to forensics to get the DNA on whoever was injured.”

              “How was Manning up there?”

              “He was fine, stayed back until we entered the house. He’s the one who found the evidence telling us it was Alison and Kipling. He wasn’t a happy camper when we realized they had gotten past us and cleared out. Do you know the story of what Mitch did to him in 2003?”

             “I know Mitch was responsible for his initial disappearance and framed him for Sam Rappaport’s death. Is that what you’re talking about?

              “That’s it. Did you try looking for him?” 

              “We searched. At first, all the evidence pointed his way and the search was statewide because we were sure he had fled our jurisdiction. It wasn’t until later that Blair figured out Mitch had something to do with his disappearance. Would you believe, she thought she would find Todd in his father’s crypt? Of course, he wasn’t there. You know the story. He was found by Carlo and removed from the area.”

           John looked at Bo. “You really don’t know the whole story do you?”

           Bo looked at John in bewilderment. “I don’t understand. I know Mitch beat him within an inch of his life and left him on the side of the road between here and Cherryvale. That was where Carlo found him. What else is there?”

           “Blair was right, Bo.  Todd was buried alongside his dead father and left there until he was almost dead.”

            Bo stared at John, not quite comprehending what John was saying, and then it sunk in. Bo sank down into a chair. He had thought he had heard the worst when Todd gave his testimony against Carlo and Kipling, but he had been mistaken. How was it possible Todd was even sane? He shook his head, a normal man would have been driven mad, but Todd wasn’t a normal man; he was extraordinary. Todd had preserved his sanity by retreating when he could no longer take the pain, and Samuel had emerged. “That’s why he was so determined to go today. He wants Mitch.”

          John nodded. “Yes, and I can’t say I blame him. I knew something was off when I informed him Mitch’s body had disappeared after the blackout. I had no idea the memories it would bring up for Todd. I just found out recently what Mitch did to him. He’s barely holding it together for Blair’s sake, but it’s taking its toll. Until Mitch is either captured again or killed, Todd will be searching for him.”

           “Then we need to find him first. Todd has come a long way from the man whom I despised once. He’s worked hard to prove he’s changed and I truly believe he has, but if he kills Mitch, he’ll be right back to square one. I don’t want to see that happen. Get out there and find them, John.” Bo stood up and began to exit John’s office almost being run over by his nephew Kevin.

           “Uncle Bo, I want to press charges against Todd Manning.”

           “Kevin, I didn’t even know you were in town. Why on earth would you want to press charges against Todd?”

           “He assaulted me.”

           “Tell me, Kevin, when did this assault take place? You look alright to me.” 

           John had sauntered out of his office when he heard Kevin’s accusation. He too was curious when the alleged assault took place.

          “A little over an hour ago. I saw John drop him off at the Manning Building and it looked like he had gotten himself into a little bit of trouble. When I asked him what kind of trouble he was in, he had the audacity to walk away from me without answering. I put my hand on his arm to stop him and he grabbed my hand and began crushing it. He broke my little finger before he let go. I want him arrested.”

            John spoke up. “Let me get this straight. You accused Todd of some wrongdoing and when he tried to walk away, you detained him. It was at that moment that he took your hand off of his arm and that was how your finger was broken. Is that correct?”

            Kevin nodded. “Exactly, the man is a cretin. He deliberately broke my finger.”

            John looked over at Bo. “Well?”

            Bo looked at his nephew and shook his head. He knew the animosity between Kevin and Todd was very real, and it was amazing Todd hadn’t killed Kevin before this. Surprisingly Todd had learned to control his anger around Kevin, much better than Kevin did. Today, Todd’s anger had probably been just below the surface after the earlier disappointment at the compound. Yet by Kevin’s own words, Todd had tried to walk away from the confrontation. “Kevin, there are two reasons I can’t arrest Todd. One is that I don’t go around arresting deputies who go out of their way to avoid a fight. Two, you initiated the incident. You laid hands on Todd, not the other way around. He was perfectly within his rights to remove your hand from his person.”

            Kevin sputtered, “But he tried to crush my hand,” Kevin couldn’t believe his uncle or John McBain. They used to go out of their way to find reasons to bring Todd Manning in. Now they had a perfectly good one, and his uncle was saying that he was at fault, not Todd. Had the world gone crazy?

           John answered smoothly, “Todd and I had just come back from a rather volatile situation and it’s my guess, you caught him in a rather intense mood. I’m sure he didn’t even realize how much strength he was using when he removed your hand.”

           At John’s words, the first part of his uncle’s explanation came to mind. “Wait a minute,” he turned to Bo, “you said deputy. I didn’t have an argument with any deputy, just Todd.”

           “Todd was sworn in this morning, he was working with John and several other officers on an assignment. It took place shortly before John dropped him off at the Manning building.”

           “Has this whole town gone nuts? You’re telling me, you deputized Todd Manning this morning. I must be dreaming. Uncle Bo, you hate Todd Manning. Why on earth would you deputize him?”

           “Because he asked to be included in this assignment and I felt he had a right to participate. That’s neither here nor there, for the time being, he is a sworn-in deputy under my supervision and as I stated, he made a concerted effort to not get into a fight with you, Kevin. In this case, the fault lies with you.”

            Kevin looked from his uncle to John. For some unfathomable reason, they were both on Manning’s side. “This is unbelievable. You’re not going to arrest him.”

            “No, Kevin.” Bo stared at his nephew and knew Kevin would never change his blind belief that Todd was a monster and everybody should see him that way. He was sorry for Kevin, but even more so for Clint and Vicki. Their eldest son had gotten hard over the years and had no compassion in him for anyone he deemed unworthy. In his eyes, Todd Manning was still the man he hated from their college days, and no one was going to convince him otherwise.

            Kevin threw up his arms and immediately regretted it, as his hand throbbed from the earlier crushing. Tucking the hand in close to his side, he glared at them and said, “I’m out of here. This whole town looks at Todd as some sort of hero now. Even my father has been singing his praises. One of these days, you’ll all wake up and see he’s been playing you all for fools.” Kevin turned around and stormed out. As he left the squad room, he pulled out his cell phone and made a call. “Get the jet ready, I’m flying back to London tonight.”