Previously...

Ethan was arrested for suspicion of kidnapping after his handkerchief was found in the secret tunnels outside the nursery. James visited Ethan in jail and they had it out over their differences involving Brooke and the baby.  Later, Will provided a false alibi for Ethan, who was subsequently released.  After Jordan still couldn't account for his whereabouts the night of the kidnapping, Alex told James that he should have him investigated.  Stormy became wary of Heather's strange behavior. Stormy discovered that the detective's report Brett had gave to James about Gwen's past was phony.  Brooke went to Ethan and tearfully claimed that she believed in his innocence.  

Episode 37

"A Tale of Two Women"

Jordan decided to go across the street to the Bel Air Carlton for lunch.  He left his office at Rydell Productions and informed his secretary he'd be back in a couple of hours, then proceeded to the elevators.  When the doors opened, his eyes darted to Detective Baines who stood in the car with another police officer.

"Jordan Rydell?" Baines asked and showed him his badge.  "Do you have a minute to answer a few questions?"

Unable to hide the guilty look in his eyes, Jordan nodded and gestured back into his office.  "Hold my calls," he said to the secretary before closing the door.  Inside, he turned to the detective and folded his hands neatly in front of him.  "What can I do for you, Detective?"

"You can start by telling us where you were the night before last," Baines questioned in an authoritative manner.

Jordan's eyes narrowed on him and he sat down on the edge of his desk.  "I was on my yacht," he replied.

"All night?" Baines asked with a raised eyebrow.  "Your wife says you didn't come home until the next morning.  Do you spend the night on your yacht frequently, Mr. Rydell?"

Immediately Jordan became alarmed.  What had Alex been saying about him to the police?  "Yes, as a matter of fact I do," he replied and then frowned harshly.  "What is this about, Detective?"

"We're just following up on a lead," the detective replied smugly.  "Did anyone see you at the marina who can verify your whereabouts that evening?"

Jordan shook his head.  "No. You're following up on a lead about what?"

Baines leveled his eyes on him.  "The kidnapping of Michael Blackthorne," he replied flatly.  "It seems that you've made some comments about James Blackthorne that could be construed as threatening."

Reeling from his wife's betrayal, Jordan flew to his feet and placed a hand on his forehead  "You have got to be kidding me," he shouted.  "My wife asked you to come here?"

"I'll ask the questions," Detective Baines ordered, a flicker of warning in his dark brooding eyes.  "Did you take the baby, Mr. Rydell?"

"No!" Jordan bellowed.  "What would I have to gain by kidnapping a baby?"

"Maybe because you think Blackthorne is moving in on your wife.  They were married once, and now they're in business together.  Do you harbor any negative feelings about that?"

Jordan shrugged with frustration. "Of course I do but that doesn’t mean I would kidnap his son.  This is ridiculous."  A thoughtful pause.  "I want my lawyer present before I answer any more questions."

"That's your right," Baines replied.  "And when you talk to him tell him that we're getting a court order to have your property searched.  That includes your yacht."

"What for?"

"Anything that could clue us in to the location of the missing Blackthorne baby."

Jordan blew a strand of hair from his eyes and looked around in amazement.  "Am I being arrested?" he asked.  "Because all you're going on is speculation.  You have no proof of anything.  My lawyer will see that these charges are dropped so fast your head will spin, and then you'll look like a fool."

Baines hesitated briefly and then shook his head.  "You're not under arrest.  But I'd like to remain available for further questions."

Jordan gritted his teeth angrily.  He couldn't believe what was happening. Alex had gone too far this time.

James was in the parlor with Miranda and Brett when Stormy came home and darted into the room.  His eyes burned into Brett's and held up a copy of Dennis Carlyle's original report about Gwen.

"Just what the hell are you trying to pull over on us?" Stormy asked in a rage. 

Immediately Brett knew that his deception had somehow been discovered.  He stood up and looked at his brother-in-law with wide eyes.  "What are you talking about?" he asked, feigning innocence rather unconvincingly.

Before Stormy could respond, the front doors opened and Brooke rushed in with Ethan fast on her heels.   She spotted everyone in the parlor and led him inside the room, a panicked look on her face.

"Brooke?" James asked.  "What's wrong?  You've been gone a long time."  He looked past her when Ethan entered the room from behind.  "What the hell are you doing here?  I can't believe you'd have the nerve to show you face here. Criminals don't usually return to the scene of the crime."

"Ethan didn't kidnap our son," Brooke claimed, shaking her head in protest.

"Damnit, Brooke!  You can't keep looking at this with blinders on! "

"It's true, James," Ethan said.  "I didn't kidnap Michael.  I told you that."

Angered by the way his wife persistently defended him, James folded his arms and leveled his eyes on Ethan menacingly.  "Nobody buys your phony alibi.  Will Thomerson isn't exactly a strong defense," he announced. "Besides, the police have evidence that places you outside the nursery on the night of the kidnapping.  They found your handkerchief."

"He wasn't in the tunnels that night," Brooke said, her eyes darting toward Miranda.

Terrified by the inevitable accusations that would surely be made against her, Miranda took a step back and looked at her father with red, watery eyes.  She swallowed hard, feeling everyone turn to look at her.

"But Miranda was," Brooke continued, then glared accusingly.  "Weren't you, Miranda?  You were the one who dropped the handkerchief outside the nursery."

James, Brett and Stormy turned to look at her, immediately noting the guilty look on her pale face.  She was hiding something and James knew it.  But kidnapping her own brother?  He knew she was jealous but to go that far was unthinkable.

"So what if I was?" Miranda said defiantly.

"Miranda?" Brett said, suddenly realizing why she'd been acting so strangely since the kidnapping.  "What were you doing in the tunnels?"

"How did you even find out about them?" Stormy questioned his sister, unwilling to believe she had anything to do with the disappearance of their baby brother.  "We just found out yesterday that they even existed."

Miranda felt her eyes sting with tears and she looked at everyone with hurt in her eyes.  She hated the fact that her own family was treating her like she was some kind of monster.   "What are you saying?" she asked.  "That you all think I'm the kidnapper?"

"It would make sense," Brooke replied, her tone full of contempt.  "You've been jealous of Michael since the day we brought him home.  Hell, you were jealous before he was even born."

"That's not true!" Miranda sobbed, the walls feeling like they were closing around her.

"Miranda, were you in the tunnels or not?" James demanded.

"You said it yourself, Miranda," Brooke continued relentlessly.  She glared at her furiously, a year of resentment culminating in one heated moment.  "You hated my baby because he was taking your father away from you!"

"No!" Miranda cried and backed up away from her.

"Suddenly you weren't daddy's little girl anymore," Brooke taunted, trembling from head to toe.  Her eyes were clouded with tears and she felt like she would break down at any minute.  "Just like when I moved into the house last summer.  You couldn't stand having to share your father so you did everything you could to break us up.  You could have killed me that night in the driveway!"

"Brooke, please-" James said, reaching out to his tortured wife.

She shrugged him away, her eyes riveted to Miranda.  "But that baby.  He was innocent. You couldn't handle it so you took him away from us!"

"Stop it!" Miranda screamed.

"Well are you happy now?" Brooke shrieked.  "Our baby is gone and now your daddy is all yours again!  You don't have an innocent little baby to share him with anymore!  Is that what you wanted?"

"Leave me alone!" Miranda lamented and buried her face in her hands.

"Where is he?" Brooke cried, grabbed her by the arms and shaking her hard.  "Where did you take my baby?  Tell me the truth before I shake it out of you!"

Miranda struggled to get free of her grasp, her hair flying in her face and whipping through the air.  "Fine!  I did hate that baby!" she screamed, bringing the room to an eerie silence.  "I wanted him gone!  Is that what you want to hear?  I didn't want him here!"

In a fit of despair, Brooke brought her hand up and slapped Miranda neatly across the face.  Her eyes unmoving, she stared at the willful young woman in a rage.  She didn't care if she'd acted on impulse, she wouldn't have her talking about her baby that way.

James looked at his daughter with a startled expression.  He never thought his daughter would feel so much anger and resentment toward a baby.  How far had she gone to get her wish?

"What did you do, Miranda?" Stormy asked as he looked at her with wide eyes.

She looked at Brett and then back at her father, ignoring Brooke's penetrating unmerciful stare.  Her face stung from where Brooke had hit her but she ignored it.  The pain was numbing compared to what she felt inside.

"I had seen Ethan at Hotel Terranova," she began, her voice slow and methodical.  "I was upset because you had cancelled our lunch plans."  Her eyes flickered past James and then back to the floor.  "Ethan comforted me and gave me his handkerchief.  I left to go home in such a hurry that I forgot I still had it."

Ethan listened intently, recalling the disturbing conversation they'd had that evening.

"When I got home all hell broke lose," Miranda continued.  "I was so hurt that I ran out the door and went around to the pool house.  I stayed there most of the night, watching when everyone left for the premiere."

Brett frowned as he listened to his wife's story.  He'd looked all over the grounds for her that day and came up with nothing.  He never thought to look in the pool house.

"I'm not sure how it happened, but I found a lever against the wall that triggered a hidden door," she explained.  "It was dark and I couldn't see very well but I made my way all the way up here to the main house.  I got lost and couldn't find my way back."    She paused momentarily, scanning the room with undaunting eyes.  "Then I heard the baby crying.  I knew I was near the nursery so I kept going, letting Michael guide me to his room."

"What happened then?" Stormy asked.

Swallowing hard, Miranda pushed a lock of long black hair from her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself.  "Finally I came to a door.  It was open and I could see right into the nursery.  It was dark but I knew someone was in the room with him."

"Who was it?" James demanded.  "Did you get a look at him?"

She shook her head.  "It was too dark.  Whoever it was had on a ski mask and black clothes.  I don’t even know if it was a man or a woman.  It all happened so fast."

The news unsettled James and he stepped forward, reaching out to his daughter.  "Go on, Miranda."

"I called out to them and they saw me.  But by that time it was too late.  Whoever it was already had Michael in their arms and was coming at me." She stopped, taking a deep breath before going on.  "All I can remember next is being knocked down.  When I looked up they were gone.  I tried to go after them but the tunnels are like a maze.  It took me half an hour just to find my way back to the pool house.  I guess I dropped Ethan's handkerchief when I fell."

Brooke shook her head angrily. "I don't believe you," she said.  "You're lying.  Do you expect us to believe that you wished for my baby to be gone and the next thing you know he's being kidnapped right before your eyes?"

"Brooke, I'm telling you the truth," Miranda insisted.  "You don’t honestly think that I could have kidnapped him, do you?"

"That's exactly what I think!" Brooke exclaimed. 

"Miranda, if you saw Michael being taken, why didn't you do something?" James asked in a rage.  "My God, if you'd acted sooner we could have found him before this maniac got off the property!"

"You don't know that!" Miranda cried.  "By the time I tracked you down at the premiere he still would have been long gone."

"And yet you said or did nothing," Brooke said through clenched teeth.  "Until you decided to come home the next day, that is, when you pretended to act all surprised that Michael was gone. "

Shaking her head, Miranda could see that everybody blamed her.  Even if they didn't suspect she was the kidnapper, they still held her responsible.  "What good would it have done?" she asked, suddenly feeling drained.  "He was gone.  There was nothing I could do."

"You could have done something," Brooke said and buried her face in James's shoulder.

"Daddy-" Miranda protested.

"She's right, Miranda," James interrupted.  "If you saw something you should have come forward immediately.  I could have left the movie premiere and been home in five minutes.  I think you just didn't want us to find him."

Overwrought with guilt, Miranda felt a stream of tears flow from her eyes.  She couldn't stand the look of disappointment in her father's eyes.   The hurt he was enduring was tearing her up inside. 

In a flash, she was darting out into the foyer and up the staircase to her room.  Brett looked around and decided he should go after her.  She shouldn't be alone at a time like this.  James and Brooke were relentless and Miranda probably felt like an outsider right now.  He of all people knew what that was like.

"I'll go talk to her," he said and started out of the room.

"Brett, wait-" Stormy said.

Irritated, Brett turned and flashed him a look of defiance.  "She's my wife.  I think you all just did a pretty good job of ripping her apart.  I'm going to go talk to her."

Stormy walked up and stood before him.  "First we need to discuss this," he said, holding up the report from the private investigator.  "I think we might have scratched Gwen off the suspect list a little too soon."

"What's going on, Son?" James asked with a frown.  He took the report from him and scanned through it.  "What the-"

"It's the report Carlyle did on his investigation into Gwen's background," Stormy explained, his eyes riveted to Brett's.  He knew he'd catch him in a lie soon or later, but he couldn't for the life of him understand what he had to gain by covering up for Gwen.

After reading the details of Gwen's sordid past, James shot his attention to Brett and shook his head warily.  "Brett, do you have an explanation for this?" he asked.

Playing the innocent act to the hilt, Brett took the report and pored over it with mock enthusiasm.  "Oh my God," he gasped.  "I don't understand.  This is not the report I saw."

Rolling his eyes, Stormy decided he didn't believe him for a second.  "So what happened?  It mysteriously vanished and the phony one we saw took its place?  Come on, Brett, how dumb do you think we are?"

"Stormy, let Brett explain himself," Ethan said.   "I’m sure there's a logical explanation."

Brett swallowed hard and glanced around the room.  All eyes were on him and making him feel very uncomfortable.  He'd have to do some quick thinking if he wanted to cover himself this time.   "Well obviously Gwen found the original report and switched it with the phony one."

"How?" Stormy demanded.

"I don't know!" Brett replied defensively.  "It was in my office all day before I got a chance to look at it.  She probably came in, found it and switched it.  Obviously we're dealing with someone very resourceful here."

James reviewed the new information in his mind.  The facts were right there in plain English.  Gwen had been institutionalized after having a miscarriage.  She was later sent to prison for the attempted murder of a woman she worked for as a governess.   Suddenly he realized how fragile a state of mine Gwen must really be in.  She'd recently suffered another miscarriage, afterwards becoming alarmingly possessive of Michael.

"Wait a minute," Brooke said as she read the report over James's shoulder.   "Stormy said that Gwen was planning on leaving that night.  She had her suitcase packed."   She looked at James with fear in her eyes.  "She could have been planning on leaving town with our son, James."

Brett closed his eyes with regret.  All hell was about to break lose and Gwen wouldn't hesitate to admitting everything they'd done.  The pills, the affair, her pregnancy.  It was all going to come out.

Jordan walked into his house in Beverly Hills and slammed the door shut so hard that it nearly came off its hinges.  He looked around the entryway and called up the stairs to his wife.  "Alex!" he bellowed.  "Alex!  Where the hell are you?"

Slowly she came downstairs, a timid look on her perfectly made up face.  "Hello Jordan," she said, studying him carefully.  By now he had to have been paid a visit by the police.  She expected him to be angry but the look on his face was far worse than anything she'd ever seen.

"Do you enjoy playing with people the way you do?" he asked as he walked slowly toward her.  "Just tell me the truth.  What kind of sick pleasure do you get out of torturing everyone in your life?"

"Jordan, before you say anything-" she began, backing up the staircase.

"Don't!" he yelled, his voice booming through the entryway.  "Don't you dare try to talk your way out of this!  I just got back from the marina where my yacht has been searched from stem to stern by the police looking for anything that could connect me with the kidnapping of Michael Blackthorne.  This was after they came to my office today and badgered me for two hours because of something you said."

Alex continued retreating up the stairs, terrified by the deranged look in his eyes.  "You can't blame me for thinking you had something to do with it," she said.  "How many times have you told me how much you resent him?"

Jordan grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her back down to the landing.  "My own wife accusing me of baby snatching!" he yelled hoarsely.  "How could you do it, Alex?  How could you think I would do something like that, and then have the nerve to go to the police?"

She shook her head insistently.  "I didn't go to the police.  I told James that I was concerned that maybe you had-"

"James!" Jordan hollered.  "Of course you went to James!  He seems to be the only reason you do anything anymore!"

"You see!  You're so jealous you can't even see what you're doing!" Alex lamented as she tried dodging her way around him.  "Am I really that far off for thinking that you would do something to get back at him?  And the other night you didn't come home so I thought that-"

"You thought that I was out stealing babies?" Jordan yelled.  After taking a moment to gather his thoughts and calm down,