“I’ll tell you the same thing I just told Bo. That’s what we just found. Blair and I are just as dumbfounded as you guys. I don’t know who put that in there, but they had a reason and I think whoever it was, has Victor.”
“Why on earth would someone want Victor’s dead body?”
Blair looked at Natalie. “Oh come on, don’t you see it. Victor isn’t dead. Someone has him, just like they had Todd all those years.”
“Blair, there was an autopsy.” replied Natalie.
“Oh yeah, and they found a 9-millimeter bullet in him. Isn’t it obvious, somebody paid off the coroner and some EMT’s. I think this so-called animatronic Victor lookalike is what died in Tea’s arms. Granted this thing is light years ahead of those things we see at Disney. It looks so real, but I’m betting when Bo takes this thing to Pine Valley, they’re going to find Tea’s fingerprints on it and traces of O-negative blood. I think someone went to a lot of trouble to make it look like Todd might have had something to do with his brother’s murder.”
“You can’t be serious. This is a joke. Uncle Bo, John, surely you don’t think that‘s what happened.” Natalie looked at her Uncle and her ex-fiance. They weren’t laughing. She glanced over at her Uncle Todd. He had his eyes closed and his face skyward as the rain began to fall heavily again. This night was crazy and his behavior was even more off the wall than she remembered.
Bo reacted as the rain began to fill the casket. “Natalie, get your team and remove that body, pronto. I also want the casket taken and checked out. You heard Blair, all of it goes to the Pine Valley Coroner’s office. John, see if you can track down the EMT’s that worked the night of Victor’s death. Blair and Todd, we’re not finished, but I suggest you go home and get cleaned up. I’ll let you know what we find out. If I find any evidence you two planted this thing, Addie will be babysitting for quite a while.”
“I swear we didn’t do this Bo.” Blair turned to Todd. “Todd, are you alright?” He had gotten really still.
Todd hadn’t been able to resist turning his muddy face to the sky and letting the rain wash him clean. Suddenly he was standing on the dock soaking wet. The rain was washing down his face and he relished it. All those months in a sterile room. He reached into his pocket and drew it out. Blair was right. He didn’t want to go to jail. He looked at the gun in his hand.
Bo’s attention went to Todd as Blair ask him her question. Todd seemed unaware of it and instead had let go of her and was just staring off into space. They all watched baffled as Todd reached into an imaginary pocket and drew out an invisible object only he could see.
Blair tried again to get his focus. “Todd, what is it?” Now she was scared. It was as if she wasn’t there.
John’s eyes narrowed as he realized that Todd thought he was holding a gun. Was Todd reliving Victor’s death? Maybe now they would find out what occurred.
Todd lifted the gun, intent on throwing it into the water.
“Hold it right, there.”
Todd swung his arm around and aimed the gun. Then stopped as he recognized the man. “Louie?” Suddenly the scene in front of his eyes shifted and Todd was staring at Victor, his gun pointed at him. The gun went off, and Todd saw red appear on the front of Victor’s shirt and then everything went black.
John was surprised to hear Louie’s name. What had caused Todd to remember the vet at that particular moment? John was about to question him when he suddenly folded to the ground.
“Todd!” Blair immediately dropped to the ground beside him, trying to bring him around.
John joined her. He felt for a pulse and it was good and strong. “I think he just fainted.”
Bo walked over. “That’s the second time in the last couple of weeks. Or has he had spells we don’t know about Blair?”
“This is the first time for me. What do you mean the second?” She looked up at Bo.
“I found him passed out on the floor in the bathroom at the courthouse a couple of weeks ago. He said he got dizzy and put it down to his injury from Irene. Look, he’s coming around.”
Todd felt the rain hitting his face and slowly opened his eyes to see three faces looking down at him. “What happened?”
“You tell us.” Bo got down next to John. “This has happened before. What do you remember?”
Todd knew Bo was referring to the time when he felt Victor being shocked, but nothing like that had happened this time. “The last thing I remember was trying to get some of the mud off my face in this rain. I closed my eyes and found myself thinking about how good it felt to not be in the compound.” Even as he said it he suddenly recalled seeing Louie in the rain. “Louie!” He sat up abruptly looked around, hoping to spot the guy again.
“He’s not here, Todd,” John said.
“But he was right there...” He stopped and looked at Blair and she shook her head “no.”
“Todd, I don’t like this. Are you sure you’re alright?” Blair knew why Todd had Louie on his mind, but his collapse alarmed her. “Why didn’t you tell me about the episode in the Courthouse?”
“It was nothing, Blair. It was like I told Bo, I leaned over to tie my shoe and I guess I fainted. You know I was still recovering from the gunshot wound Irene gave me.”
“That might explain that time, but not tonight. A few minutes ago you were somewhere else. If I didn’t know better I’d say you were having some sort of flashback. What were you seeing, Todd?” Bo asked.
“I told you, it was raining and I...” Todd looked down at his hand. “What did I do?” he felt chilled. Had he relived the memory of shooting Victor? Had he given himself away before he could bring Victor home?
John spoke up.”You said you saw Louie. I think you were remembering your last encounter with him, the night Victor was killed. It was a rainy night much like this one. That must have triggered it.”
Todd nodded, “I guess, it’s never happened before.” He was telling the truth. The whole flashback thing was a little scary but the loss of time was worse. It was too reminiscent of losing time after Victor was killed. “Would you mind giving me a hand up? I’d like to get home and change. I want to be in Pine Valley for the results on our Bogus Victor. “
“Who said you could be there?” bristled Bo.
“He’s my brother. I know, you think I shot him. I have a right to find out what’s going on. Someone is setting me up and I want to know why? I also want to find Victor.”
John frowned. “You really believe he’s alive. Why? I would think you’d be happy if he stayed lost. After all, he stole your life.”
“I told you, and I told my sister and Tea. I didn’t kill him even if he deserved it. Blair was right, I’ve been locked away from my family long enough. I won’t go back to prison. Finding him is the only way I can prove to everyone I had nothing to do with the shooting or his disappearance.”
“There’s something you’re not telling us. This was a pretty drastic way to find out if he was dead or not.” Bo gestured to the casket being lifted out of the ground. “Tell me Blair, how did Todd convince you to help him with this scheme?”
Blair looked at Todd. She squeezed his hand, “You’ve got nothing to lose. Tell them.”
“Tell us what? Are you finally going to come clean? What did you do with Victor?” John asked.
Todd let go of Blair and turned, facing John directly. “How many times do I have to say this. I didn’t shoot my brother. He’s still alive. I just don’t know where?” He pushed his hair back off his face and moved his shoulders attempting to relieve the stress of the moment.
John was taken aback. Todd wasn’t backing down from his assertion that Victor was alive. “Okay, according to you Victor is alive. How do you know this?”
“I’d like the answer to that, too,” said Bo.
“Because he told me so.” Todd had had enough. He was filthy and wanted to get the questioning over so he could find out more about the thing in Victor’s grave. “Look, I know this sounds crazy. That’s why Blair and I came out here. I needed to know if I was getting crazy or if my conversations with him were real. If he was in the grave, then I was losing it, but if he wasn’t then I could start taking him seriously. He’s not in that grave. So that means he’s really out there somewhere and is wanting my help to find him.”
“Wait a minute. What do you mean, your conversations with him? Are you telling us you’ve actually talked to him? Why the hell haven’t you told us about this?” Bo was furious. Just what were Todd and Victor trying to pull?
Todd hesitated. Now you’ve done it. The minute you tell them you’ve been talking to Victor in your head, they’re going to lock you up and throw away the key. Think quick, Manning, you’ve got to find a way to get their minds back on finding him and not on the conversations. “Look, that doesn’t matter right now. Yes, I’ve been communicating with him, but it’s not like I really believed it was him to start with. I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure. Someone could have been playing a sick joke on me. But this isn’t a joke now. That thing in Victor’s grave is definitely not him. So that means, the guy I’ve been talking to is probably my brother. That’s all I know right now.”
Bo scowled. “We’re going to talk more about this. Go get cleaned up and meet us in Pine Valley. John, give Fish a call and have him check into the EMTs. I want you to stay with Manning and Blair. We’ve got one more puzzle. Fish told me the groundskeeper said there were no security guards on duty here at night.”
“But Bo, wasn’t he the one that called you here?” asked Blair.
“Yeah, but he must have thought we would be here before you got the grave completely uncovered. I think he was as surprised as us that you had opened the casket already. You said you saw him doing something with his phone right before he left. My guess is, he got instructions from someone and took off. If you’re telling the truth about Victor, Todd, then it’s a whole new ball game.”
“It’s the truth, Bo. I swear,” replied Todd.
“We’ll see,” Bo turned and watched as the meat wagon began to head out. “We’ll see.”
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