Previously...

Will offered to buy the Denver Tribune for Janet in exchange for the rights to her manuscript about the Blackthornes.  Will sent Heather on an audition with a director named Joel Armitage, who drugged her and filmed an adult movie with her as the star.  Ethan snuck into the mansion to see Michael, and then asked Brooke to have a DNA test done to prove who his father was.  Brooke unleashed her anger on Ethan and James threw him out.  Devestated after her miscarriage, Gwen theatened to expose Brett's lies, prompting Brett to vow to get rid of the meddling nanny.  Jordan grew jealous when Alex announced she was going to the premiere of Angel Assassin, then vowed to make James sorry for interfering in his marriage.  Miranda was absent from the opening, prompting her family to wonder what she was up to.  Gwen found a secret door hidden in the basement of the mansion.  After returning home from the premiere, James and Brooke learned that Michael was gone.  

Episode 34

"Into the Night"

It was well after midnight and yet no one was sleeping at the Blackthorne mansion in Hollywood.   Two police cars sat empty in the porte-cochere with their red and blue lights flashing silently in the night.  Inside, James and Brooke stood in the library talking to Detective Baines and two uniformed officers.  

“What time did you leave for the Mann Village Theater, Mr. Blackthorne?” Baines asked as he jotted notes down on a small pad of paper. 

James tried to think clearly amidst the chaos of the evening’s events.  He glanced next to him where Brooke sat in a flood of tears.  They were still dressed in their formal attire after returning home from the premiere of Angel Assassin.  “It was about seven o’clock,” he replied morosely. 

“And who was home while you were gone?”

“Just our nanny, Gwen Hardisty, and the baby of course.  Our housekeeper, Leilani, had the night off and she was out for the evening.”

The detective nodded and jotted the names down.  “I’ll want to talk to both of them before I leave here tonight,” he said.

“Detective Baines, what can we do to find my son?” James asked.  “Someone came into my home and took him.  I don’t see what answering these questions is going to do to bring him back.”

Brooke started sobbing uncontrollably and James quickly sat down next to her, his arm firmly placed around her waist.  “It’s all right, Darling,” he said.  “We’re going to get Michael back.  Please believe me.”

“We’re doing everything we can, Mr. And Mrs. Blackthorne,” Baines said.  “I’ve got the forensics team dusting for prints in the nursery right now.  I really need to talk to Ms. Hardisty.  She could have seen something or-“

James nodded and bounded toward the doors.  He called down the hall for Stormy or Brett, not wanting to leave Brooke’s side for an instant.  Quickly, Brett came down the hallway from the foyer where he was directing another team of investigators up to the nursery.

“Brett, would you please ask Gwen to come down here?” he asked.

Nodding, Brett dashed back down the hall to the stairs.  As he approached Gwen’s room, he heard voices from inside and quickly ducked around the corner so he was discreetly out of view.

Inside, Stormy approached Gwen as she sat silently on the edge of her bed.   “Gwen, are you going somewhere?” he asked, motioning to the half-packed suitcase on the floor of her room.

She didn’t look at him as she sat tensely on the bed.  “I’m sorry, Stormy, but I have to,” she began.  “I can’t stay here anymore.  Too much has happened.”

Frowning, Stormy stepped closer and examined her distraught eyes.  “What do you mean too much has happened?” he asked.  “Gwen, do you know something about Michael’s disappearance?  Did you hear anything?”

She quickly shook her head and dried a tear in her eye.  “No,” was her defensive response.  “I just have to go.  Please-“

The sudden urgency to leave sent alarms tripping through Stormy’s head, but before he could question her further Brett entered from the hallway.

“Gwen, Detective Baines wants to speak to you,” he said.  “They’re in the library.”

Gwen stood up quickly, her eyes darting back and forth between Stormy and Brett. 

“It’s okay,” Stormy said and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.  “I’ll go with you.”

They made their way out of the room and down the hall to the staircase.  After they were safely out of view, Brett walked into the room and surveyed the suitcase Gwen had began packing. 

Why was she suddenly in a hurry to leave? he wondered to himself as he thoroughly inspected the room.  Was it because of what had transpired between them?  Was the guilt over the pills and the affair and the miscarriage too much for her?  Maybe she had decided to keep her mouth closed and just leave without saying anything to the family.

James had asked him to have her investigated in order to put Brooke’s concerns at ease.  The detective he’d contacted hadn’t reported in yet but when he did he hoped that he would have something he could use against her to keep her quiet.

But his fears quickly returned when he spotted an envelope with James’s name scribbled across the front.  He wasted no time in tearing it open and reading the contents of the letter. 

“Mr. Blackthorne, I want to thank you for your kindness and your compassion over the last few months,” he began reading quietly to himself.  “But I fear that I must leave your service and move on.  There is much to tell you and I’m afraid that I don’t have the courage to do it in person so I’m writing this letter.  Your son-in-law has a lethal hold over your family and I worry that my being here only makes it worse…”

Brett’s eyes widened as he continued reading the rest of the letter.  In detail, Gwen had admitted the truth about the pills, their affair, and the fact that he had been the father of her baby.

His heart began beating wildly and he quickly ripped the letter into shreds, shoving the remains into his pocket and taking a deep breath before leaving the room.  He couldn’t let her ruin him, and he’d do anything to stop her. 

Down in the library, Gwen sat on the leather sofa while Detective Baines questioned her about the evening’s events.  She cradled herself in her arms and rocked back and forth while James and Brooke listened intently.

“Were the main entrances to the house locked at all times after the Blackthornes left for the premiere?” Baines asked.

Gwen nodded instantly.  “Yes, the doors were locked all night.”

“And what time did you last see the baby?”

“About ten o’clock,” Gwen replied.  “I went to check on him before I turned in for the evening.”

“Did you hear anything?” the detective asked.  “Anything at all?”

Without hesitation, Gwen shook her head in reply.  “No, I didn’t hear anything until the family got home and Mrs. Blackthorne came into my room.”  She sat forward and looked at Brooke with pleading eyes.  “I’m so sorry about this, Mrs. Blackthorne.  It’s all my fault.  I should have left my door open or slept in the nursery with the baby.  I just don’t know how this could have happened.”

Brooke felt the tears coming on again and she buried her face in James’s shoulder.  He sat her down on the sofa and pulled Stormy aside.  “Call Dr. Farraday and ask him to come over,” he began.  “I’m worried about Brooke.  She’s not handling this well.”

Stormy nodded and obediently raced from the room so he could make the call in private.  On his way to the phone in the foyer, he ran into Brett who had just come down the stairs, a tense look on his face.

“Where’s Miranda?” Stormy asked.

Brett shrugged.  “Up in our room,” he said offhandedly.  “She’s exhausted.”

“How nice of her to be so concerned,” Stormy said sarcastically.   He couldn’t get over how spoiled and self-centered his sister was sometimes.  Their baby brother had just been kidnapped and she was up in bed.

“Hey, give her a break,” Brett retaliated defensively.  “You’d think you’d be a little more sympathetic to your own sister.  This is just as hard for her as the rest of the family.”

Stormy frowned and looked at him doubtfully.  “Yeah, that outburst earlier tonight really proved it,” he said, then picked up the phone to call Dr. Farraday.

After Stormy made the call, Brett decided to fish for information about Gwen.  He had to know what he knew and if he was on to him.  “So what were you and Gwen talking about upstairs?” he asked.  “It looked like I walked in on something.”

“I don’t know yet,” Stormy said.  “But I’m going to find out.  Something’s got her running scared, that’s for sure.”

Brett prayed that Gwen wouldn’t reveal what was in her letter after she found it missing.  The last thing he needed was Stormy finding out everything he’d done.  He turned and ran up the stairs to check on Miranda.  After opening the door, he walked in and found her pacing the room like she was on pins and needles.  Something in her eyes told him she was tormented and filled with preoccupation.

“Miranda, are you okay?” Brett asked and ushered her to the bed.

She shrugged her husband’s hand off her shoulder and walked hastily across the room to the window.  “I’m fine,” she said, then looked back nervously.  “Are the police still here?”

Brett nodded, realizing she was more upset than he realized.  “Yes, they’re dusting for fingerprints and questioning Gwen right now,” he said.  “Miranda, where were you tonight?  You know how important it was to your father that you be at the premiere.  We were worried about you.”

She rolled her eyes and turned to face him.  “I doubt that my father was worried about me,” she claimed.  “You saw how angry he was earlier today.  He could care less if I was there or not.”

“That’s not true,” Brett said and tried to comfort her with a hand on her shoulder.  “Now where were you?”

She turned away again and ran her fingers along the top of the dresser.  “I just wanted to be alone for a while,” she said.  “I had a lot to think about.  Is that okay with you and my father?”

Brett sighed and dropped his hands to his sides.  “Yes, of course,” he said.  “I just wish you would have stayed and talked to me.  I want to help you through this.  You’re my wife.”

But Miranda wasn’t responsive to his plea.  She looked out the window and closed her eyes tightly.  “Brett, I’d like to be alone for a little while,” she announced.

Nodding, he turned and left the bedroom.  Outside in the hallway, he tried to determine if Miranda was still upset about the confrontation with her father, or if it was something else entirely.

In the library, Stormy watched Gwen’s terrified expression and wondered what was going on inside her head.  Should he tell his father and the detectives that she was planning on leaving town?  Did she really know something about Michael’s disappearance and that’s why she was leaving?

Detective Baines dropped his note pad into the pocket of his trench coat and looked at Gwen.  “Miss Hardisty, that’s all the questions I have for now,” he began.  “But if you think of anything else at all, please let me know.  The slightest detail might make all the difference in the world.”

Gwen nodded, her eyes distracted when Brett entered the room.

“And please don’t leave the city,” Baines continued.  “I’d like you to be available if we need you for anything else.”

“I can’t leave?” Gwen asked, her eyes wide and her heart pounding.  She hadn’t expected to be ordered into staying in L.A.

“Not until that baby is back with his family,” Baines replied.

Gwen nodded reluctantly and saw Stormy staring at her from across the room.  He was a little relieved by the Detective’s orders.  If Gwen was hiding something, at least now she wouldn’t be able take off and leave town.

“Thank you for everything, Gwen,” James said and guided her to the doorway.  “You can go back to you room.  We’ll see you in the morning.”

She walked in a daze down the hall to the staircase, pausing on the landing and gathering her thoughts before continuing up to her room.

An hour later, James walked down the stairs and met up with Stormy who waited for him in the foyer.  “Dr. Farraday is with Brooke now,” he said.  “He gave her a sedative to calm her down.  Maybe now she’ll get some rest.”

“You need some rest too, Dad,” Stormy said and put a hand on his shoulder.  “It’s been a long night and you haven’t slowed down at all.”

James shook his head in deep concentration.  “No, I can’t sleep,” he replied.  “Not until Michael is back with us.”  He walked across the foyer and suddenly stopped, turning back to Stormy.   “Have you seen Heather?” he asked.  “She wasn’t at the premiere and she isn’t home now.”

Stormy shook his head.  “I haven’t seen her all day,” he said.  “I hope she’s okay.”

James rubbed his tired eyes.  “I hope so too,” he agreed and walked down the hall to the library where the police had set up an extensive surveillance system.  “This better work.”

Approaching from behind, Stormy watched as the officer turned knobs and pushed buttons on the phone tracing equipment.  “Me too,” he said.  “Do you really think the kidnapper will try to call?”

“The police think so,” James replied and turned toward him.

“But there wasn’t a ransom note,” Stormy insisted.  “Nobody’s made any demands for money or anything and it’s been hours.  I don’t see what all this equipment is going to do.”

“I don’t either, Son,” James replied with a faraway look in his eyes.

Frowning, Stormy pulled his father outside of the room and looked at him dead on.  “Look, I wasn’t going to say anything, but I have to tell you, Dad.  I think Gwen is hiding something,” he said quietly.

“What do you mean?”

Glancing around to make sure no one was listening, Stormy lowered his voice even further.  “Earlier tonight, after we got home from the theater, I caught her upstairs packing her suitcase,” he explained.  “She said she was leaving.  She said something about too much had happened.”

“What the devil was she talking about?” James asked, his brow furrowed.

“I don’t know, but you’ve seen how strangely she’s been acting lately,” Stormy reasoned.  “Think about it, Dad.  What if after she lost her baby something inside her snapped?  Don’t you think it’s strange that she’s been inseparable from Michael since you brought him home from the hospital?”

James shook his head.  “No, she’s his nanny.  She’s just doing her job, Stormy.  My God, you sound like Brooke.”

“How so?”

“The other day Gwen took Michael out for a walk around the grounds.  Brooke flew into a panic and thought someone had taken him.  She must have forgotten that Gwen told her before she left the house with him.”

Going over the facts in his mind, Stormy shook his head doubtfully.  “I don’t know, Dad.  I think there’s more to it than that.  I mean, what do we really know about her?”

“I know, that’s why I asked Brett to do some checking up on her,” James announced.  “Brooke had the same concerns that you do.”

“And?  What did he find out?”

James shrugged.  “Nothing yet.  We’re still waiting for word from the detective.”

Stormy realized they’d have to wait until the detective contacted them to find out what Gwen was hiding, if anything.  But one thing was for certain – she wasn’t above suspicion in Michael’s kidnapping.  She could have stashed him somewhere and was packing her things to leave town with him.   Anything was possible.

He turned back to his father and saw the determined look on his face.  “Dad, why are you so quick to discount Gwen as a suspect?” he asked.  “Do you know something?”

Just then, Detective Baines came down the hallway and met up with them.  “Mr. Blackthorne, I doubled up on that APB for Philip Whitacre,” he said.  “If he’s anywhere in the area, we’ll find him.”

“Good,” James said and nodded to the detective.  “Keep me posted.  And please make yourself at home, Detective Baines.  There’s some coffee in the library.

After the detective was out of earshot, Stormy looked at his father with a startled expression.  “You think that Philip Whitacre kidnapped Michael?” he asked.

“You’re damn right I do,” James replied with determination.  “He kidnapped Brooke and held her captive in a cabin in the mountains.  Nobody’s seen him since.”

“I just don’t see it,” Stormy argued.

“Why do you think he kidnapped Brooke?” James demanded crossly.  “Because he was angry that she left him and came back here.  Brooke said herself that he saw himself as the baby’s father.  He could have taken Michael because he wants it to be true.  Then he could lure Brooke away using my son as bait."

“But how would he have gotten into the house?  The doors were all locked and there was no sign of tampering.”

James shrugged.  “He got in before, remember?  He came in through the dining room window virtually undetected.  He took out our driver and tied him up in the supply shed.”

The facts began to add up and Stormy had to agree with his father.  “Why didn’t you say anything before?”

“I didn’t want to upset Brooke,” he replied.  “She has a soft spot for Whitacre.  To her he can do no wrong.  I told Detective Baines to intensify the search for him as soon as they arrived at the mansion tonight.”

Bewildered by the startling news, Stormy patted his father firmly on the back. “I’ll help in any way I can, Dad,” he said.  “If Whitacre took Michael he’ll regret the day he ever met the Blackthornes.”

The sun had just come up over the horizon when Alex Reynolds climbed out of bed and made her way to the parlor room of her house in Beverly Hills.  Gordon had set up coffee service and an assortment of croissants and fruit, which she nibbled at while watching the morning news.

Moments later, Jordan entered from the hall and found his wife perched languorously on the sofa.  “Good morning,” he said with a biting glare.

Alex shot her sights toward him and scowled angrily. “Where the hell have you been?” she demanded.  “I got home from the theater last night and you were out.  Don’t tell me you’re just getting in.”

He shrugged and poured himself a cup of strong black coffee.  “Let’s make a deal, Alex.  I won’t ask you for your daily itinerary if you’ll extend the same courtesy to me.”

She huffed resentfully and threw her hair over her shoulder.  “I suppose this is my payback for going to James’s premiere,” she remarked.  “How childish, Jordan, really.  I mean why don’t you be a man for once and accept that I’m allowed to have male friends.  Dare I say it, even if one of them is my ex-husband.”

Ignoring her banter, Jordan strolled across the room and stood behind the sofa where he watched a news report coming on the television.  “Turn it up,” he said.  “That ex-husband you’re referring to is on the news.”

Alex frowned and turned back toward the television.  She picked up the remote and turned up the volume so she could hear the report.

“Last night’s gala premiere of James Blackthorne’s highly controversial film, Angel Assassin, was overshadowed by the apparent kidnapping of his two week old son, Michael Taylor Blackthorne,” the reporter said into the camera.

Alex gasped in horror and placed a hand on her heaving chest.  She sat forward and hung on every word from the newscast.

“Accompanying Blackthorne to the premiere was his wife, Brooke Taylor-Blackthorne, his son, Stormy and his son-in-law Brett Armstrong, both executives at Sunset Studios.  Sources say that upon returning to their Hollywood mansion, they learned that the infant - Blackthorne’s third child and Mrs. Blackthorne’s first - had been abducted from the nursery.   Authorities are not commenting on whether a ransom demand has been made, but they are sure that the culprit will be apprehended and the baby returned in a matter of hours.”

Alex switched off the television and shot to her feet in a blind panic.  “I have to go see James!” she exclaimed and raced for the doors leading into the hall. 

Jordan raced after her and pulled her back forcefully.  “No you don’t!” he yelled angrily and stared deep into her eyes.  “Alex, leave it alone!  It doesn’t concern you!"

She twisted from him grasp and stepped back.  “But James is in trouble!  I have to make sure he