PURGATORY - PART THREE

PURGATORY - PART THREE

PREVIOUSLY

“Well, Todd,” she thought as she pulled the cell phone from her purse. “It’s pay back time. You’ve managed to dupe me and everyone else around you, but this time you’re going to pay the price for your deception.” She opened the cell phone and dialed in the number for the Llanview PD.

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Blair came out of the kitchen at the sound of the doorbell. She glanced up at the ceiling toward the second floor where Todd was playing with Starr before putting her to bed. There was no denying that the little girl was ecstatic to have her father back in her life. Her mind was filled with warm thoughts of her daughter’s happiness as she absent-mindedly pulled open the door to the penthouse. What she found in the hallway brought her up short.

“Where’s Manning?” asked Detective John Sykes as he pushed past her, followed by Téa and two uniformed policemen.

“What are you doing?” asked Blair angrily. “You just can’t come in here and…”

“We have a warrant,” said Sykes tersely. “We know Todd is here, Blair.” She stared defiantly at Téa as one of the officers reported that the downstairs area was clear. “Then check upstairs,” ordered Sykes.

“No! My little girl is up there!” Blair tried to block the spiral staircase, but she was roughly pushed aside as the policemen, Sykes and Téa climbed to the second floor.

Todd heard them coming as he was sitting on the floor of Starr’s room playing with dolls. He barely had enough time to grab his daughter out of the way before the door flew open and two cops barged into the room with their weapons drawn. “Freeze!” one of them shouted. Starr became hysterical at the invasion of her room and began screaming. Her father quickly pressed her face into his stomach, and turned his back to the policeman, shielding her. “Get your hands up-now!” Todd ignored the order and slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder just as Sykes and Téa entered the room.

Starr continued to whimper as he said in a tightly controlled voice, “You’re scaring her. Get out of this room-now!”

The detective quickly assessed the situation and ordered the policemen to put up their weapons and wait in the hallway. Blair burst into the room, half out of her mind with worry. She ran to Starr’s side and quickly gathered her into her arms. Both of them were soon sobbing. Todd whipped around and took a couple of steps forward. His eyes were like flint as he looked back and forth between Sykes and Téa. “Have you lost your minds?” he spat, his body trembling with suppressed rage. His eyes locked with Téa’s. “I know you hate me, but I can’t believe you’d hurt Starr this way.” His lip curled up in a sneer. “And you claim to love her…”

Téa stared at Todd with unshed tears in her eyes. “Great,” she thought, “I’ve lost the moral high ground to Todd Manning, of all people.” For five months she had dreamed of this moment-the moment she began to make her husband pay for all the pain he had caused her. But somehow the revenge didn’t seem as sweet as she had imagined it would be. She hadn’t counted on Starr being caught up in things.

Sykes eyed the little girl uncomfortably. “Look, Manning, the officers got a little over-zealous. I’m sorry. We can do the rest of this downstairs.” Todd and Téa stared at each other for a long time before Todd finally turned to his daughter. He squatted down next to her and stroked her soft hair.

“Shorty, I’ve got to go now,” he said in a rigidly controlled tone. Starr suddenly pulled away from her mother and flung herself into his arms.

“No, Daddy! I don’t want you to go!” she sobbed. Todd hugged her tightly, closing his eyes and trying to maintain control. Starr pulled back and looked into his face. “Those policemens are taking you to jail, aren’t they Daddy?”

Todd took a deep breath. “Maybe,” he said in a choked voice.

“No! You aren’t bad, Daddy! Tell them you aren’t bad!” The little girl suddenly noticed her stepmother hovering in the doorway. “Tee! Don’t let them take my Daddy to jail,” she begged. “Tell them he’s not a bad man!” She ran over and clung to Téa’s raincoat. “Please!” Téa stared open-mouthed at the child, unable to speak or move. Tears streamed down her face. Todd stood up and moved mechanically toward his daughter. With a blank face, he disengaged her hands and lifted her into his arms. Moving quickly, he handed her to Blair, where she broke down sobbing again.

Todd patted his daughter on the back, then looked at her mother. “Take care of her,” he whispered. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Sykes and Téa. “Let’s go,” he said through a clenched jaw as he marched through the door. Flanked by the two policemen, he headed down the stairs. When Sykes and Téa had followed, carefully closing the door behind them, Blair buried her face in Starr’s hair, crying uncontrollably.

“Oh Starr!” she wailed. “What have I done?”

Downstairs, Todd took up a defiant stance in front of the fireplace. As the two policemen moved into position behind him, his glance flicked back and forth between Téa and the detective. “OK, let’s hear it,” he ordered. “Who am I supposed to have raped this time? Or is it a murder this time around?” Looking at Téa, he realized he was angrier with her than he’d ever been before in his life. But at the same time, he couldn’t stop the leaping of his heart as he faced her for the first time in five months. She still seemed incapable of speech, and as he watched, she fumbled in an over-sized bag and pulled out a legal document. Silently, she handed it to him. As he reached out to grab it, their hands almost touched and Todd felt a thrill at her proximity. He glanced down at the paper. It was a warrant for his arrest. He burst into contemptuous laughter. “You’re kidding, right? Perjury? That’s the best you could do?”

“It’s a felony, Manning,” said Sykes in his smooth, oily voice. “And it carries a 7 year prison sentence. Maybe you won’t find it so funny the day they lock you up in Statesville.”

Todd looked at Sykes through narrowed eyes. “There is just no end to this, is there? There is nothing you people won’t do to put me away. I’m cleared of one crime and you start thinking up something else to pin on me.”

“I don’t have to think hard, Manning, because you don’t seem to have any trouble breaking the law. You’re going to go down for this one. We have your taped confession that the whole mental illness was faked.” As he watched Todd’s smile begin to fade, Sykes continued, “Sure, I’d like to see you get the 300 years you deserve for that hostage incident at the lodge, but I’ll settle for this. Knowing your record, it won’t be long before you screw up and get time added to your sentence. Enough time for everyone you hurt to forget you exist.” He looked over at Téa with a soft look in his eyes.

“So tell me, Detective, do you always arrest accused perjurers by breaking in with guns drawn?” Todd’s mouth was set in a hard line.

“Only when the accused perjurer is you, Manning.”

“Well, listen to this, Syko: you endangered my kid and I am going to make you pay for that.” His eyes moved over to Téa. “Both of you.”

“You’re in no position to be making threats,” answered Sykes. Téa stared at Todd and willed her breathing to return to normal. Ever since she had first laid eyes on him in Starr’s bedroom, she hadn’t been able to think straight. She tried telling herself she hated him, but she knew it was a lie. Now that he was here before her, she was having a hard time controlling the feelings that were bubbling to the surface. It didn’t help matters that he looked so handsome. With his haircut and without facial hair, he looked young and vulnerable. He was dressed casually in black jeans and a soft black turtleneck sweater that Téa found herself wanting to reach out and touch.

Todd took a deep breath, and stepped close to Téa, holding out the warrant for her to take. “OK, Delgado,” he said in a low voice. “Go ahead and do this if you want to. But be real sure this is what you want.” He folded his arms across his chest. “I…I just came back to Llanview to check on Starr and get some business affairs in order. One more day….two at the tops and I’d be out of here…forever.” He saw her eyes widen. “That’s right. It’s your choice. Throw me in jail and you have to deal with me and all the messes I’ve made. But let me go and I’m out of your life for good.”

A long moment passed as Todd and Téa stood inches apart with their eyes locked together. Finally, Todd saw a hard shell glaze over Téa’s eyes. “Arrest him,” she hissed.

“You heard the lady,” said Sykes triumphantly to the two policemen. Todd stepped back, wondering why he felt so relieved when he was headed to jail. He made no resistance as one cop pulled his hands behind him and snapped on the handcuffs, while the other one read him his rights. Sykes looked back and forth between Todd and Téa, noticing the connection between them as they stared into each other’s eyes, and feeling vaguely left out of something important. As the cops each grabbed an elbow and steered Todd toward the door, he glanced up at the ceiling wistfully, and Téa knew he was thinking about Starr.

“Do you want me to go check on her, Todd?” she asked sympathetically. He looked at her with eyes as hard as stone.

“No. Stay the hell away from her,” he spat. He waited impatiently while the policemen opened the door, then stomped through it purposefully without any prompting. Téa looked after him, wondering why she felt so sad when this was supposed to be her triumphant moment. She jumped as she felt Sykes’ hand on her shoulder.

“You did the right thing, Téa,” he said softly.

“I don’t know, John. I just don’t know,” she answered as they followed Todd and his keepers out the door.

TO BE CONTINUED