Tom Residence

As Darla Tom got settled into the guest room, the doorbell rang. Both Patrick Donavon and Kassie Tom rushed to the door. Kassie opened it, and warily greeted the visitor.

“And you must be Robert, am I right?” Kassie asked, signaling to enter the house.

Robert Carlyle carried with him a single suitcase. “I thank you very much for letting me stay here in your house. Will there be room for four people?”

Darla nodded, coming down the stairs from the guest room. “Yes. You will, unfortunately, have to sleep on the pullout bed in the living room.”

Kassie approached with Patrick by her side. “Me and this guy here,” pointing to Patrick, “will be staying in my room, and Darla will be in the ridiculously small guest room.”

Robert reached his hand out to Patrick. “You must be Jake. Darla has told be many things about you and your fiancé here.”

Darla nudged him. “Um, that is Patrick… Kassie’s bodyguard. Jake left her a while ago.”

Robert nodded. “Sorry. You two just looked… close.” He edged inside. “So, can anyone enlighten me on why we are all close together.”

“I can explain,” Patrick exclaimed, picking up Robert’s suitcase. “But let’s get out of the hallway. The living room is just around the corner. We’ll sit there.”

The four followed Patrick. There was a pair of couches, enough for all of them.

“Kassie went to Switzerland, where Drew Tom, Darla’s husband, had been in an unfortunate plane crash,” Patrick began. “I was riding on the flight under the name ‘Greg.’ Drew had always had me on call when he encountered a dangerous mission. I was responsible for protecting his family.”

Darla had a hard time remembering her deceased husband. She made a quiet prayer.

“Kassie went straight to work, and I lost track of her for several hours. During this time, I was getting information that the airline, Swiss Flights, was covering up the crash. Kassie, I learned later, was interviewing the airline’s manager. This manager’s agenda is unknown to me, but he was murdered shortly after Kassie left.”

Kassie gasped.

“Drew was hired by the Swiss government to get some sensitive information from Iraq. The information was to be delivered to the manager. Unfortunately, we found out the manager, an imposter by the name of Ken, was working for Germany! We baited him with the ‘information,’ and Drew took a flight to America. Sadly, the flight crashed: information and all.”

Robert was confused. “So… why are we in trouble?”

“It has come to our attention that a bunch of men – men in black, if you may – were dealing with Ken. They killed him to keep him quiet, but have quickly found out about the false information. They are ruthless. They still think we have it. They have no idea it went down with the plane.”

“So…” Kassie gasped.

“So, we have a bunch of angry men on our tail who will do anything to get their information.”

Consuelos Residence

Convinced that Mateo Consuelos needed to die, Dean Consuelos took the gun from his jacket and moved into the kitchen.

Skye Lore’s prophecies are not going to come true, he thought to himself. I will kill my own brother…

Dean snuck up behind Mateo with the gun. He had it poised, ready to fire. Dean could hear the gunshot, and see his brother fall to the floor in a lifeless heap.

Ready, aim, fi –

The sound of the doorbell made Dean jump. Mateo jumped when he noticed his brother standing behind him. Dean quickly hid the gun from his view.

“I didn’t see you sneak up like that,” Mateo breathed uneasily. “Could you get the door? I’m washing the dishes, and my hands are a mess.”

Dean nodded, frustrated that his plan had been foiled. Better planning was needed next time. He made his way through the house to the door.

“You’re answering?” Skye Lore asked Dean.

Dean nodded. “Mateo is busy. What’s the big deal?”

“Nothing,” Skye chanted innocently.

Dean got to the door as a second bell rang out.

“All right, all right…” Dean groaned, impatient. He swung the door open, and was greeted by a courier. “Yes?”

The skinny man, in his late 20s, held out a clipboard. “Sign at the ‘X’ please.”

Mateo came up behind Dean. “A package. I didn’t order anything.” He turned to Skye.

“Hey? Why do you always turn to me if something isn’t right?” She paused. “Ok. Don’t answer that.”

Dean leaned forward to take a look at it. There was a small photo of a building on the outside. “What is in there?”

The man sniveled. “A model. The box says San Francisco on it. It must be what’s inside.”

DEAN WON’T BE DESTROYED UNTIL ALL OF SAN FRANCISCO MOVES TO PRESENCE…

“P-pardon me?” Dean stuttered. “Are you saying someone ordered all of San Francisco?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… This is 52 Mystique Road, isn’t it?”

Dean said nothing.

“This is 53 Mystique Road. They live across the road,” Mateo clarified. He then went back into the kitchen to finish washing the dishes.

“Wow…” Skye muttered, turning to a dumbfounded Dean. “Who’d of thought? Well, you didn’t beware of Mateo, though, did you? I could see if coming.”

“You tricked me!” Dean cried out to Skye. “I had all the time in the world to leave town. Leave the country. But you and your prophecies. You could have mentioned it was a model!”

“I wasn’t wrong, was I?” Skye said sweetly.

“You evil bitch!”

“Now, now, now…” Skye flashed Dean an evil grin. “We don’t want to go upsetting anybody, do we?”

“I ought to…” Dean stopped in shock, and backed away from Skye. “Jesus! You’re evil!”

Skye’s eye glowed bright red, her smile ever present on her face. It was obvious that she had some powers. But, to Dean’s horror, he realized that she had much more than just a power. Something was living inside her.

Something of evil he couldn’t fathom.  

Huber Residence

Brianna Huber had no story. She was sitting at her desk, and no phone call had arrived, telling her to come down to the scene of a crime.

I've squeezed all I could out of the recent murder, and the stabbing, she thought. What else is there to do?

She sat there, wanting her husband to be home. Ian was hard at work at Presence Memorial.

"If only there were something happening close by...." she thought. "Something I could really sink my teeth into..."

Somewhere in Switzerland

Two men dressed in dark clothes were searching on a computer.

“Do you know who would have this information?” the first one asked the other.

The other typed quietly. A name popped up on the screen.

“That is it!”

Tom Residence

The dark discussion had taken a lot out of all four of them. They all had a lot to think about, and they each went to their separate rooms.

Kassie quietly snuck into Darla’s room with anyone seeing. “Mom?”

Darla turned around, spooked by the sudden arrival of her daughter. “Yes Dear?”

“You’ve seemed so distant recently. I everything okay?”

Darla nodded. She couldn’t tell her daughter about her pregnancy, but she couldn’t hide it much longer. “I am great. It is just Drew.”

Kassie nodded. “You seem to be getting over him well. Robert and all. You are positively glowing!”

Darla’s heart skipped a beat. “Really…?”

“I have never seen you like this before…”

A moment passed between the two. Kassie prepared to leave, just as Robert passed by the door.

“I want to give you this before Kassie saw,” he began. “I have your morning sickness pills that you should take.” Robert popped in and saw Kassie. “Um…”

Kassie turned to her mother. “Glowing… distant… morning sickness…” She glanced down to her belly. “Oh my God…”

“Honey, I don’t want you to get excited about this. I –”

“You’re pregnant!” Kassie exclaimed, covering her mouth. “I don’t believe it…”

Evans Residence

Addy Evans looked at the packages that had been delivered, and there was one missing.

“Damn!” Addy cried out.

Gillian Evans passed by the kitchen-slash-workplace to see her mother fretting over work. “Calm down, mom.” She walked to the front door. “I going out to see Iris!” she called out.

Gillian popped out the door, and ran directly into Giovanni Pike.

“Addy is busy…” Gillian said.

He shook his head. “I don’t want Addy. I came to see you. To say that my bee sting feels much better.”

Gillian smiled. “You came here just to tell me that?”

“No…” he teased. “I wanted to see you.”

“Ah, we’ll, you’ve accomplished that. He I am. You can see me.”

He shook his head. “You are one of the most beautiful, intriguing women I have ever met…”

Gillian smiled back to him, flattered by everything. She glanced over to the house, and could see Addy peering through the window.

He’s mine, Gillian thought to herself. And after the way you treated dad, you don’t deserve him.

While her mother was watching, she quickly grabbed Giovanni’s head and pulled him into a deep kiss.

A cell in Police Custody

Bo Torres sits in his jail cell, dumbfounded on how he got himself into this situation.

"How did this happen?" he asked himself.

He immediately flashbacked to before he was arrested. He remembered changing shirts. Into a clean one. How could he have...?

"Of course!" he cried, standing up. "I know who did it!"

Torres Residence

Iris Torres and Wyle Torres both went to the basement to check on Adam King, whom they had gagged and tied to a chair.

“I am calling the police,” Iris told a groggy Adam. “But first I want to know why you did it?”

“I did nothing!” Adam insisted. “I was framed. I will keep saying it till the day I die.”

“That time day with be today if you don’t stop bullshitting us!” Wyle barked.

“But,” Adam continued, “I can say that I did catch a glimpse of the real killer when I went to the Inn where Vivian was killed. I saw him.”

Iris was shocked. “Really?”

Adam nodded. “I didn’t see his face, but could tell he was around 20 to 30 years old. Pretty young.”

“Could it have been my father?” Iris asked desperately.

Adam shrugged. “Maybe. This guy was running from the Inn in a panic. But your father seems unlikely. He was young.”

Wyle grabbed Iris by the shoulder and dragged her to the top of the stairs. “We better call the police right now.”

Iris shook her head. “Adam can help catch the killer if her saw him.”

“It’s an excuse,” Wyle insisted. “It is too much of a coincidence to escape from a parole officer, and then see the killer and solve the crime. He’s covering his ass.”

“So you think Adam did it, not our father?”

Wyle shrugged. “He did stab you, so I’d think he’d be the last person you’d trust right now. You’re playing right into his hands.” He paused, and look down the stairs. “Maybe he has some secret vendetta against our family.”

Iris shook her head, but was unsure.

Was her father the killer of her mother? Was the man tied up downstairs in her basement the killer?

Or was it someone else?