John ran up the stairs of the Blake House two at a time and found Laura rocking back and forth inside the open door of a secret room.
"I'll be damned," he stated realizing that until he saw it he couldn't believe it. Carrie looked up from her perch by Laura.
"John, I'm so glad you're here. She's really upset because she can't remember anything specifically except that she was here and she still claims that Peter and Kristen and Stefano were all here."
"That's right John, I can see them all clearly, standing over me but I can't remember what they were doing. I don't know what they were doing." As she spoke her voice went from dazed to frustrated to angry and the tears formed in her eyes. When no one spoke, she started again,
"Well, it's here. I thought if I found it I would remember everything but I haven't so there's no point in hanging around here. Carrie do you think you could take me home. I'll get Jen or Mike to give you a ride back to your car." She looked defeated but she was happy too, to prove that she wasn't crazy.
"Do you believe me now, that Peter and Stefano are alive and that Kristen knows."
"I want to believe you, for Jack's sake Laura, but we all saw his body in that coffin," replied John.
"Oh and I suppose you are going to tell me Stefano is not capable of faking death?" she snapped back.
"We've never had a body with Stefano."
"Well there is one way to find out. We'll just have to dig up Peter's grave. It's the only way to prove that I am telling the truth. Peter Blake is alive. I saw him with my own eyes. He was not well but he was alive, and I'm certain that the reason they held me here was because I knew that, John."
"Okay, why don't we sleep on it and tomorrow we'll talk to Abe and Mickey and see about getting the coffin exhumed." John really wanted to believe her now. She seemed so sure and his doubts about her sanity were diminishing because she had proved that she was telling the truth, that the secret room wasn't a delusion. He was looking right at it, he couldn't deny it - that she was right all along and if she was right about this well, she might just be right about everything else too. It was hard to comprehend, but with Stefano anything was plausible. He had to give her the benefit of the doubt now, anything less would not be fair.
John drove home slowly, thoughts of Marlena filled his head. He had to pull this off for her and so Kristen couldn't suspect a thing, yet. He might have been upset, thinking of the lengths that Kristen had possibly gone to to keep Marlena from him but instead, he thought only of Doc and how his life was going to be as he always dreamed as soon as he found her. He wasn't at all prepared for what was about to happen when he arrived home.
Marlena watched Kristen pacing the living room. Kristen was thinking to herself - okay, okay Kristen, you can do this. This has got to be the performance of your life. If Laura and Carrie discovered anything in that house, then I've got to make John believe that I had nothing to do with it despite what Laura might say.
She saw the headlights of his car shine through the front windows and fade as he pulled into the garage. She picked up the telephone and let it drop by her side. Frantic, think frantic Kristen.
Marlena wondered what she was up to and when John entered, she had to give Kristen her due. She was indeed a true credit to the DiMera name, a back-handed compliment if there ever was one. But why? Did she know John was on to her?
"Kristen, what's wrong sweetheart," he said, letting the horror on her face register and hoping Laura hadn't called in anger to let Kristen know that she'd found the room, his heart sinking for a minute.
"Oh John, Stefano just called me. He IS alive. I don't want him near me John. I don't want him anywhere near me," her voice quivered on the edge of hysteria.
John looked at her, trying to size up the situation and she thankfully mistook his puzzled expression for one of concern. It was that gesture alone that led John to believe that she didn't know that he knew what he knew, if she did, she would have been able to read the doubt. What are you up to Kristen, he thought, quickly shifting to play the game. It had to be a ruse, it had to be.
"What did he want sweetheart," his loathing for the man apparent in every word except the last.
"He just wanted me to know that he was alive and he asked about the baby."
"Did he say anything about Doc?"
"No but I asked him if he had her and he didn't say anything, he just laughed."
"You lying bitch," Marlena scowled from her home behind the wine rack. "Don't believe her John," she implored further.
John turned away from Kristen, not certain how to react.
"That sonofabitch. I'm not going to let him near you or John Jr., Kristen. Did he tell you anything else, like where he is or what his plans are?"
"No, no," she answered looking the part of someone who is very upset and trying to remember important details. She continued, "It was a short conversation. I told him never to call me again, that I didn't want any part of him and I told him that if he had Marlena, that you would make him pay dearly. He said he'd be in touch and he hung up."
John was pacing. Kristen thought it was working, if Carrie and Laura found the Secret Room and Laura remembered anything implicating her, she could deny it, blame it on Stefano, and John would surely believe her. She smiled while John's back was turned and it was her way of patting herself on the back. Marlena saw it though and Marlena prayed that John had not been convinced of Kristen's innocence in her disappearance. She had to get out of that room before it was too late. She looked around and had an idea.
Kristen forced tears which brought John to comfort her, "Don't worry Kristen, I won't let anything happen to you. I am going to make a few phone calls. Why don't you go up to bed, it's getting late and I'll try and find out what I can."
She looked up at him with tear filled eyes and he wiped away a few stray ones that had fallen.
"Sweetheart, Stefano would never hurt you, you know that."
"I know John but he would hurt you and he would take Marlena from us and I don't want him ruining our lives."
"I'm not going to let that happen," he said quietly but reassuringly. "Now go on upstairs and check on that son of ours while I call Abe and take care of a few things. He smiled at her and she smiled back.
"I love you so much," she said.
"I love you to." He watched her go and wandered out to the entrance hall to make sure she was up the stairs, then he turned back and called Abe.
"Partner, we've got to meet tonight. Things have taken a sudden turn and I'm not sure what to make of it. I'll meet you on Pier nine in thirty minutes."
He hung up the phone and looked around. Okay Doc, the night you disappeared you were worried about that patient of yours. You had the file here, didn't you. He began leafing through the drawers and bingo, in the bottom right hand drawer of the desk was a file with the name Susan Banks on it and a tape recorder. John grabbed them and stuck them in his briefcase. He ran up the stairs to tell Kristen he was meeting with Abe and he'd be back as soon as he could.
When he was gone, Kristen picked up the monitor, not realizing that Susan was watching her with great interest.
"Hi there Doc."
Marlena clapped her hands together, "Bravo, bravo!!"
"I thought you'd enjoy that little performance. You see Laura apparently found the secret room at the Blake House tonight. Carrie was with her actually and this was the only thing I could think of short of killing both of them that would convince John that I had nothing to do with Laura's disappearance. Do you think it worked?"
Marlena rolled her eyes, tears forming at the thought of losing Carrie and Laura.
"Oh don't cry Doc, I won't hurt them. I don't have to now you see. Although the thought did cross my mind and it wasn't all that unpleasant."
"You are despicable."
Oh Marlena, Marlena, Marlena, you're just jealous because you know I'm going to win. Soon you will be nothing but a distant memory."
"I think you underestimate the depth of John's love for me Kristen."
"Now why would you think something like that? Why else would I go to such ends to secure him for myself if I underestimated his feelings for you? I know he loves you Marlena, but I'll be there to pick up the pieces when Stefano comes to get you and John thinks you are dead. He'll need me more than he has ever needed anyone in his life. It's all going to work out and you will be living a life of luxury, it's not like you'll really be dead or anything."
Then Kristen laughed but stopped when she noticed a noise coming over the monitor.
"What's going on in there Doc?"
"Funny you should ask Kristen, I just turned on the water in the sink and in the shower and I've plugged up all the drains. In an hour or so this place should be flooding into the cellar. Should that fail I've got a piece of metal here that I got off the bed and I'm digging a hole here under the monitor. I'm not too far off from having it complete and I'll be screaming for help in a couple of days. Of course, by then water will be all over the cellar. John will have to call a plumber to figure out what's going on."
"You're bluffing."
"You sure about that?"
Kristen turned off the monitor and Marlena's screen went blank as well. Kristen called up to the thin air, "Where the hell are you Stefano? Damn you."
Susan realizing that Dr. Marlena Evans was the woman missing and that she was in the house wasn't sure what to do. It was clear from what she'd just seen that Dr. Evans and John loved each other and that wouldn't do at all. He was HER husband. She followed Kristen down to the dungeon. If she opened the door, she would just push her in there with Dr. Evans and then she would have John all to herself. She could take care of them real good, it wouldn't be that bad, she told herself.
A few minutes later, Susan got her wish and her life as Kristen Blake Black was to begin. She had no idea what she was stepping into and Marlena, upon seeing Kristen locked in the room with herself, couldn't help but feel sorry for Susan despite the fact that she had not seen fit to rescue her. Susan opened the peep hole and looked in at the two of them.
"I'm reaall sorry Dr. Evans but I am John's wife and I can't have you two messing things up anymore."
"I'm going to kill you Susan. You let me out of here," Kristen screamed. Marlena pushed her aside.
"Susan listen to me. John knows about all the things Kristen has been doing to keep he and I apart and he thinks she's responsible for my disappearance. If you take over her life Susan you are going to be getting yourself into more trouble than you can handle. He's going to know everything - about you, the baby. You aren't going to be able to fool him."
"Well, we'll just see about that, won't we?" she replied and placed the board back over the hole and was skipping up the stairs to get ready for John.
Kristen turned to Marlena, "Well, you are just brilliant tonight aren't you? Too bad your plan didn't work on Susan. Now we are both trapped in here."
"Well I'm just glad you'll be getting a taste of your own medicine. And by the way, I was bluffing about the hole, but I wasn't bluffing about John knowing what you've been up to."
"Yeah right Doc, save it for Susan."
"He knows you've been doing everything in your power to keep us apart. I don't know what he knows but he knows enough. You'll see. When he left a few minutes ago to meet Abe he was carrying my file on Susan Banks with him. He thinks you had something to do with my disappearance. Pretty soon he's going to know that you hired someone to have a baby for you and that he married her not you and well, it's all going to be over."
"I don't believe you."
"Suit yourself, you'll see soon enough and you won't be able to do a damn thing about it."
"I really hate you."
"The feeling is quite mutual and if I didn't know John was on to you, a pleasure in itself, I think I would strangle you about right now." She paused and then growled, "But if you were dead, I wouldn't be able to watch you squirm, when you realize that I'm right and that this game is all over."
"You bitch," Kristen screamed lunging for Marlena who grabbed her by the arm and threw her up against the wall with as much force as she could muster. Kristen sank down on the floor rubbing the back of her head.
"I wouldn't try that again if I were you Kristen. You have no idea what I am capable of and I am not going to tell you twice."
Meanwhile Susan looked the spitting image of Kristen in a black negligee, lying on the bed painting her toenails and waiting for her husband to come home to her open arms. Marlena and Kristen watched her in disbelief - that someone like Susan could so easily transform herself to look exactly like Kristen. It was truly amazing to both women and they read it in each other's faces.
John was studying the file on a bench on the pier when Abe came along down the stairs.
"Abraham," John greeted.
"What's going on John?"
"Well partner, things are getting stranger by the minute. It seems I have seriously underestimated Kristen."
"What do you mean? Did she confess? I thought you weren't going to confront her until we talked."
"Take a look at this," John offered Abe the file he'd been studying and then he continued. "It seems Doc was treating Susan who claimed to be living with her husband and a woman who had stolen her husband and her baby. The woman was afraid that the mean woman and some awful man were going to get rid of her."
"You don't think?. ." Abe looked from John to the file.
"I know Marlena was studying this file the night she disappeared. Susan lives with us. I've heard her refer to John Jr. as her baby. I know Kristen wouldn't allow me to touch her after we returned from Paris and I know if Doc was figuring exactly what we're figuring now and Kristen realized it was over. . ." he trailed off but then continued, "It's crazy, I know. I don't know what to think. Tonight I went to the Blake House to meet Carrie and Laura and that Secret Room was there. Then I came home and Kristen was in a panic because she claims Stefano called and he is alive and then I found this file which may mean that I am not even married to Kristen."
"Wait a minute John. You think Susan had that baby and you married her?"
"I don't know. I mean what other explanation for this is there. She did seem strange to me at the ultrasound and at the birth - like it wasn't really her and people were always saying they saw Kristen when she'd been with me and. . . oh my god! The night of Roman's funeral, Doc came over accusing Kristen of knocking Laura out at the Blake House but Kristen was with me, or was she? She was different, aggressive and then after Doc came over she was like Kristen again. Oh my god! This is insane."
"John listen to what you are saying."
"I am partner, it's crazy, but think about it. Kristen knew that Marlena was only keeping quiet about her because of the baby and because Kristen and I were married. If Doc figured this out, that John Jr. isn't my baby and that Kristen isn't my wife, she'd have absolutely no reason whatsoever to keep the truth from me and if Kristen found out her plans well there's no telling what she'd do. I mean look at what she's already done."
"I don't know John. If Susan is the real mother then why would Kristen have her around. It seems to me that Stefano would have taken care of her. She certainly wouldn't have the woman as a baby nurse and Susan looking like Kristen? I don't think so. I know you are desperate to find Doc but there has got to be a more plausible explanation for what we've got here."
John looked at him long and hard. "Yeah, I guess you're right partner." They both sat down on the bench and looked out at the moonlight on the water.
At Jen's house Laura had come home long ago, refusing to take her medicine and locking herself in her room. She was mad at Jen for not believing her in the first place and she had to get away from Lynn and her pills. She lay awake trying to remember and suddenly it came to her, of course. She picked up her phone and called John.
"John Black," he answered.
"John, this is Laura. Are you sitting down?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am."
"Well I remembered something. I walked to the back of the church after Peter's funeral and I saw Kristen adjusting a pillow underneath her dress, looking around to see if anyone saw her. She wasn't pregnant. She didn't see me but I was going to go tell Marlena what I knew but I-- I forgot my purse in the church I guess. I went to get it but that's all I remember."
John looked at Abe. "Bingo," he exclaimed with his hand over the receiver.
"Laura, thank you. I'm with Abe right now. I was just trying to convince him that this was a possibility. Don't say a word to anyone Laura and I'll call you in the morning."
"Okay John, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. We're going to find Doc and then we are going to get Jack out of jail. You just sit tight until you hear from me."
"What's going on?" Abe asked.
"Well, it seems that we need to have a little conversation with Susan Banks."
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