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This is the follow up to 'Capricorn Cruel'. It's called 'Capricorn Crazy' and in this story, things that happened in the story 'The Ties That Bind' are alluded to here:
1. Flamingo Road's Fielding Carlyle was almost framed for Dottie Smith's murder.
2. Abby slept with Blake Carrington when she visited Denver
3. The lost 'Ewing Child' is named Leif and now lives with J.R. and Sue Ellen on Southfork.
CAPRICORN CRAZY
BACKSTORY: In the sequel to ‘Capricorn Cruel’, Lucy Ewing has discovered that she is pregnant and the father is either her ex husband, Mitch Cooper, or Harris Ryland, a man that she has had casual sex with and is also a co-conspirator of hers. But Lucy has decided that she wants Mitch again, so she has named him as the father.
But there are problems. Mitch is involved with her loathed step-mother, Abby Ewing, who after spending a month in coma, due to a fall in the middle of the night orchestrated by fugitive Matthew Blaisdel, has left California looking like Krystle Carrington, coaxed an amnesiac Blake Carrington into bed and is now on her way back to California, unaware that Lucy and Gary are actually now in Dallas!
Yes, the Ewing family is in trouble. The child that Ben Gibson was determined to prove existed, now lives at Southfork and the nurse that helped birth him, Ann Smith’s mother, Dottie, was killed by Judith Ryland during a dinner get together. Poor Ann knows that her mother is dead but Judith, along with Harris, helped cover up their part in the whole thing, thus keeping Harris’s chances of marrying Ann, a reality. And it is also very clear that while Dottie Smith’s body was just discovered on Ewing Property, she was killed three weeks before…something the Ryland’s had to cover up as well.
And then there is the jealous and uneasy Muriel Gillis, who, fearing that Ann will ruin her chances at Ryland Transport, has contacted an old love of Ann’s—one Joshua Rush. His re-entrance into Ann’s life will not make Harris Ryland a happy man…
****
Gary could not help but notice how at home Lucy seemed at Southfork. She easily slid into a chair in the living room as they waited for J.R. to return from the Ryland’s. He didn’t know why a ‘meeting’ was necessary in the first place. Ann Smith was a relative of theirs and they needed to treat her as such. Especially now that they knew that Matthew Blaisdel and not Fielding Carlyle or anyone in the Ewing family, had killed poor Dottie Smith.
He sat on a couch and stared at the portrait of his late father. He wished there was as huge a picture of Miss Ellie, his beloved mother. He had failed her as much as he had failed Val and Lucy.
The sounds of scurrying caused him to turn his head towards the stairs and he saw John Ross and a slightly older blonde boy, running down the stairs with bath towels stuffed in the back of their shirts, to make capes! Lucy turned and giggled, then looked at her father, who looked somber. Yes, Leif Ewing was now here to stay. And Lucy would have to learn how to deal with the idea of his existence as well.
Sue Ellen ran after the boys and used a stern tone with them, before asking the new nanny to take the boys outside. J.R. arrived, walking in past them and touched the top of John Ross’s head and smiled at Leif. He then sighed, walked into the room, followed by Sue Ellen, and tossed down his hat before going to the bar. He fixed himself a drink before turning to face them.
“I just got back from the Ryland estate. Judith says Blaisdel killed Dottie Smith. Blaisdel is saying that Judith bashed her over the head in self defense and he helped dump the body and your little friend’s birth certificate, on our land. And you know something, I believe Blaisdel!”
Lucy rolled her eyes!
“Are you speaking to me, J.R.?”
“I did say ‘your little friend’, didn’t I?” was his retort.
“Lay off her, J.R.!” Gary snapped, standing up. “Now I got to know Ann pretty well when she and Lucy were in California. So if this is some kind of ‘meeting’ in which we all agree to stab her in the back for trying to claim what’s hers…”
“Yes. It is, little brother. And let me be more blunt! I want some testing done on that girl! And since both of you are so close with her, it’s going to be your job to convince her to do it! And if she doesn’t, then Gary, I’m going to have YOU tested!”
“What?!” Lucy yelled, jumping up.
“You heard me! You never fit in here, Gary! Not one damned bit and when I think about it, you don’t look that much like a Ewing…”
Sue Ellen stood up from the chair she had been!
“Stop this, J.R.! Now you know good and well that Ann will get tested, because the Rylands will also want to know for sure that she’s a Southworth. I can smell their greed from here.”
Lucy spoke.
“Why don’t we just ‘find’ another birth certificate? One that says that Ann’s father is someone else?” she suggested. Gary gaped at her!
“Lucy!” he admonished. J.R. smiled at Gary.
“I apologize, Gary. You may not seem like a Ewing but your daughter is definitely one. Who did Ann think her father was in the first place?”
“She never talked about him because I don’t think she knew him. She said he ran off when she was little.”
J.R. then grinned!
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. We’re going to come up with a birth certificate that names Digger Barnes as her father! Let Cliff deal with her!”
Gary glared at J.R. before looking at Lucy.
“Are you going to go along with this?”
Lucy realized she had to be careful. She could not have her father suddenly thinking that Ben Gibson or Abby could have been right about her.
“No, Daddy, of course not.” she said and walked over to sit with him. Sue Ellen spoke.
“Gary, we are raising your son. The very least you could do is show some family loyalty.” she said primly.
“Jesus, Sue Ellen, you were married to Barnes! You would hurt him like this?” Gary asked in disbelief.
“Gary, Barnes doesn’t have anything Ann Smith can take from him. But we do. She will have a right to the very land this house sits on and the oil that’s on it! She could cut into your inheritance!”
Gary stood up and walked out of the room. Lucy hurried after him and found her father in the kitchen, standing against a counter.
“Daddy, I know J.R. seems…”
“J.R. seems like what he always seems like.” he said bluntly “It’s you I am having a problem with. Ann is your friend, honey and she is a nice girl who’s mother was either murdered by the same man that assaulted Abby and shot Adam Carrington. Or she was killed by your future mother-in-law. And knowing how things work in this state, I’m betting that Judith Ryland never sees a day behind bars. Do you really think Ann, after suffering a loss like this, deserves to be cheated out of her due as well?”
“Daddy, we can’t just hand over Grandma’s land without more proof. You don’t think it’s strange that Ann’s mother is found dead on our land with her daughter’s crumpled birth certificate in her hands? Whoever did this to her, meant for someone in this family to take the blame!”
Gary nodded slightly.
“I do agree with that. I suppose if Blaisdel and Judith weren’t busy pointing the finger at one another, then someone in this house would be up on charges.” he admitted. Lucy rubbed his arm.
“Look, why don’t we go riding? We’ll take the boys with us and I’ll get to know my little brother.”
“The riding part I like. But not with John Ross and…Leif.” Gary said in a strange tone.
“What is it?” Lucy asked.
“Lucy…I barely remember sleeping with Sue Ellen! Something about this whole thing just seems off! You’re going to tell me that Bobby or Pam never suspected a thing? You never saw Sue Ellen around here pregnant, did you? Before John Ross? Not to mention your grandparents! They never noticed anything?”
“Daddy, I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t. J.R. is the one that’s driving this whole thing and Sue Ellen seems to be going along with it. Leif does sort of look like Sue Ellen.”
Their conversation was interrupted by a maid that told Gary he had a phone call. Lucy excused herself and left the kitchen and Gary picked up in there.
“Hello?”
“Gary, it’s Abby.”
“Abby,” Gary said in a tight tone, “where have you been? Karen said you left Olivia and Brian with her and that you had out of town business.”
“I called to check in with her.”
“But you didn’t tell her where you were! Abby, we’re still married. You didn’t think that I might want to know where my own wife was?”
“I didn’t think you’d care. I called the ranch and Val answered. I hung up.” Abby said coolly. “But none of that matters now. I am at the Dallas airport and I am on my way to you. I had a layover and switched my flight.”
“What?”
“That’s right. When I called Karen she told me that Lucy and you are at Southfork. Ben apparently is on his way to Dallas as well…now that his theory about your new child has turned out to be true. I can’t wait to meet my new ‘stepson’.”
“Why don’t we meet somewhere?” Gary offered.
“Is that your way of saying that I am not welcome at Southfork?”
“I am trying to adjust to being in the same room as J.R. and a son that I didn’t know existed. I can’t referee between Lucy and you as well. Call me when you get checked in someplace.” Gary said, hanging up.
Abby hung up on her end and tried not to slam the phone down! Ordinarily, an insult like this would have left her head pounding. But not today.
Abby left the phone booth and stared up at a TV in one of the waiting areas. The news was replaying Matthew Blaisdel’s arrest at the Ryland estate. Matthew was in jail, here in Dallas.
She was here and still looking like Krystle Carrington. Abby planned to visit him in jail and get him to confess to working with Lucy. After, she was going to Southfork to confront her husband and step-daughter and after…her and Gary would be going home. Alone.
****
Yes, Ben Gibson had had the nerve to return to Dallas. But this time, he was not here to talk to Dottie Smith.
No. That would be impossible.
But he sensed the saga of the lost Ewing Child was not over. And Dottie Smith’s death was proof of that as far as we was concerned.
He walked into a specific women’s dorm at the University of Texas—Dallas. Ann Smith had been staying with the Rylands and now she wasn’t. Now she was living in a dorm even though her and her mother had lived in a very posh condo. Paid for by Harris Ryland.
From what Ben could piece together, the night J.R. had had him escorted out of Dallas, Dottie and Ann Smith had dinner with Judith and Harris Ryland. Ben knew that there was some talk that even though Harris was supposedly engaged to Lucy, he had been seeing her friend Ann.
But something happened during the dinner and Dottie left the estate without telling anyone but the chauffeur, who told the police originally, that Mrs. Smith asked to be taken home because she felt unwell. She did not inform her Ann, Judith or Harris of this because she didn’t want to ruin the evening for them. And when the chauffeur returned, he informed Ann that he had taken her mother home and she insisted that her daughter stay and have a good time.
But when Ann got home that evening, she found her mother nowhere in sight. She called Harris who asked the chauffeur if he was sure he had dropped Dottie off at home?
Well, it was now well known that the ‘chauffeur’ was none other than fugitive Matthew Blaisdel in disguise. And flimsy proof had been dredged up that Florida Senator, Fielding Carlyle, who had moved here to run for governor against Donna Krebbs, had killed the poor woman and dumped the body on Ewing property.
Ben could not get past the fact that J.R. had run him out of town to keep him from speaking with Dottie, the same night that someone else killed her. Killed her someplace else and then dumped her body in another location, three weeks later to frame gubernatorial candidate, Fielding Carlyle.
And Dottie had had her daughter’s birth certificate in her hand. And Ben had been unable to find out just why that was significant.
Then Blaisdel and Judith Ryland began pointing fingers at one another. Now Ann Smith had given up her condo and was staying in the dorms here.
There was a story here, Ben knew it.
He also knew that Gary and Lucy were at Southfork, trying to help the rest of the Ewings come up with lies they could sell to keep themselves out of prison. He had tried to reach out to Valene again, before coming to Dallas, but she wouldn’t take any of his calls. And he suspected that was because she didn’t know what to say to him or how to feel about Gary’s newest child. After all, she was pregnant herself with his twins.
Ben found out Ann’s room number and weaved in between students in the hallway, before arriving at her door, which was partially ajar. Ann was inside, unpacking boxes. He knocked softly and Ann looked over at him curiously.
“Ann Smith?”
“Yes?” she asked, folding a sweater.
“My name is Ben Gibson. I’m a reporter for…”
“I think you should leave.” Ann said firmly.
“Miss Smith, I am not here to bring anymore harm to your family than has already been done. The night your mother disappeared from the Ryland home, I was in town to meet with her. J.R. Ewing had some of his men threaten me and throw me out of the state. He did not want me meeting with your mother.”
Ann said nothing for a moment.
Then she did.
“My mother didn’t disappear from the Ryland home. She asked to leave. She wasn’t well.”
“And Matthew Blaisdel took her home. You didn’t recognize him?”
Ann shook her head, just as Harris walked in behind Ben to move to Ann’s side. He peered at Ben.
“Who the hell are you?” Harris asked. “Annie, is he bothering you?”
“You must be Harris Ryland. Lucy Ewing’s fiancee. I’m Ben Gibson. I…”
“You’re the one that tried to rape Lucy.” Harris said smugly. Ann’s eyes widened and she backed back a bit.
“Those charges were false and they were dropped.”
“Of course they were.” Harris smirked. “J.R. Ewing did not want poor Lucy to be put through the embarrassment of having to say what you did in open court! Now get out of here before I call campus security, the police AND J.R. Ewing! I’m sure he’d love to know you’re back in the state!”
“Ann,” Ben said, ignoring Harris, “do you really think your mother would not have let you know that she wasn’t feeling well?”
Harris moved so that he was now in front of Ann, essentially blocking her from Ben.
“I’m going to give you one more chance to get out of here before you embarrass yourself. Lucy’s mama is very fond of Annie. She would not want to hear of you bothering her during this difficult time so you can write trash.” Harris told him.
Ben reached inside his jacket pocket to get out a card but Harris snatched it from him! Ben looked at Ann.
“I’ll be in touch.” he told her and turned to walk out. Harris slammed the dorm room door behind him, ripped up the card and threw it in the trash. Ann went back to unpacking.
“Annie, honey, what are you doing here? Come back to the house and let me take care of you. I understand that the condo has too many memories. But you need someone to look after you now.”
Ann didn’t say anything and Harris moved so that he was within her field of vision.
“Tell me you don’t believe my mother killed your mother?”
Ann looked at him.
“No, Harris. I know she wouldn’t have done something like that. I just feel sick that I didn’t recognize that Lyle was Lucas who is…” Ann began to cry and Harris enveloped her in his arms. Lord, he hated lying to her like this! The past three weeks had been living hell!
The night Dottie had been killed in self defense(Harris did believe his mother about that), Lyle the chauffeur removed his disguise, told them who he really was and made it clear that not only did he want no part of covering up a murder, and that he had every intention of taking Ann out of the house!
Meanwhile, Harris had left Ann on one of their terrace’s, telling her he’d be right back and that he just needed to handle some business.
But Judith had been astute and had sized up Matthew right away. She told him that the woman had come at her with a fireplace poker, even though she supposedly couldn’t walk all that well, and that she did it once Judith told her that she knew Ann was being cheated out of money from the Ewings.
That made Matthew calm down a bit and a plan had been formed. One in which Matthew took the body away. Specifically to the walk in freezer they had in the kitchen, until they thought of how to explain this whole thing. And it was decided that the cook would be given some time off, Ann would be told that her mother had been feeling unwell and that their chauffeur, ‘Lyle’, drove her back home.
That story was fine—for the rest of that night.
But of course, when Ann returned home and found no sign of her mother, she called Harris, who told her he would call the police and have his men look into her disappearance. Matthew, as Lyle, stressed to Ann that he had helped her inside the condo and everything seemed to be fine when he left her.
Judith told the police that Dottie had a slight drinking problem and had probably gone off on her own someplace with some of her drinking buddies. That of course, put the search for her, down a few pegs, while a plan was worked out as to how to frame the Ewings for this murder and make it clear that the motive was to keep Ann from getting her rightful due.
But things got crazy and Fielding Carlyle suddenly came into play and before Harris knew it, Judith had aligned herself with Governor Donna Krebbs, who was being primaried by Carlyle. Dottie’s dead body suddenly became useful and Annie was suddenly gone from their home, where Harris had insisted she stay, and back in this godforsaken dorm!
Harris set Ann away from him and frowned. He touched her forehead and realized she was warm. Ann tried to shy away from his touch.
“I’m fine, really.” she sniffed.
“No, you’re not. You’re coming down with something and you’re not staying here. I want you to get your things together and I’ll take you home.”
“Harris, I don’t have a home anymore! I can’t go back to the apartment.”
“I bought a different condo. A townhouse. It’s already furnished and we’ll have movers take your things there.” Harris told her, pulling her back into his arms. But Ann looked at him with confusion.
“You bought another place for me to live in? Why? I don’t understand.” she questioned.
Harris could not tell her that he did not trust his mother. He could not tell her that she was the one that has bashed Dottie over the head and that he did not trust her not to do the same to Ann, if he took her back to his home and put her back in the guest room she had been staying in!
“I knew the condo held memories. Now we can make some new ones. Together. It will be our place. I’m going to take you there so you can get some rest, alright?” Harris said in a tone that was not actually asking.
Ann nodded and Harris kissed her like a sex starved teen going through puberty! Ann responded to his mouth shamelessly as she allowed his lips to sear hers possessively. There had been only one other man she had ever lost this much control with and it irked her to think that she would even think of him now, in this moment. Harris, sensing something, broke off the kiss and stared into her eyes.
“What is it?” he whispered.
“I just am feeling unwell, I guess.”
“Darlin’, I’m sorry, I just can’t help myself when I’m near you. Let’s get you out of here and to our new home. You’re going to go to bed and get some rest.”
“Harris, I’ve taken enough from you. I’m just going to stay here…”
“Annie,” Harris interrupted, “You have to start thinking smart here. Now your birth certificate says that you’re related to Ellie Southworth. Lucy and you are related. That means you have just as much of a right to have what she has. The Ewings could be responsible for what’s going on here and I’m not willing to take a chance that they could hurt you over this.”
“I don’t think Lucy would do anything! And we don’t really know that any of this is true.” Ann protested weakly.
“Lucy isn’t the one I’m thinking of that could hurt you, Annie! And of course it’s true. Why would your mother have lied about something like that? Now let’s go and get a move on. I’m getting you out of here and someplace safe.”
Ann struggled not to tear up! She had met other members of Lucy’s family and heard stories about Jock and J.R. Ewing. Was it possible that she was related to the Ewings in some way and her mother had hidden it from her, all of these years? Could they have hated her mother enough to kill her? And could they come after her too?
Without knowing anything for sure, she realized she would just have to trust that Harris knew what he was talking about. He told her he would send someone back to her dorm to pack up her things as she left with him. Harris was thinking that that red headed girl that he had been forced to take on as an intern, would be the perfect person to do it. And for a brief moment, Harris finally remembered that her name was Muriel.
****
TEXAS FBI HEADQUARTERS-
Agent Joshua Rush entered Assistant Director Jeff Cunningham’s office and closed the door behind him. Jeff was already standing against his desk when Joshua helped himself to a chair, while straightening his tie.
“How was Denver?” Jeff asked, now folding his arms.
“Culhane needs to be kept in line. I don’t get where the idea came from, to make him an informant. He knows nothing.”
“No,” Jeff said, “but he can get near people that might learn something.”
“Sir, with all due respect, how is Michael Culhane’s romancing Blake Carrington’s daughter, going to tell us whether Jock Ewing faked his own death in that helicopter crash? Culhane cannot tell us where Ewing is now or if he’s talked anyone.”
Yes. The FBI had a theory that Jock Ewing was really alive and had faked his helicopter crash in South America, once it became aware that he and Governor Donna Krebbs were being investigated over a the suspicious financing of a proposed Florida pipeline. Meaning, Donna Krebbs used political contributions to buy into the pipeline and Jock knew she had and accept the funds.
Once Jock supposedly died, it became more difficult to prove anything against Donna Krebbs. And every clue or lead seemed to dry up. It was then that they realized that Jock was helping Donna. But that could not be proven conclusively. They needed people that had seen Jock. Dottie Smith might have been one of those people.
“Yes but Alexis Barnes can.” Jeff said. “There’s a sense that she knows something. If she does, then she’ll confide in someone. Culhane needs to be in that world. Especially now that murder charges have been filed against her.”
“And what world do I need to be in?” Joshua asked wryly. “I have gotten to know my birth mother, as requested, since she knew Lute Mae Sanders. She does not want anyone to know about my existence which is fine with me, but that made it hard to fend off my ‘niece’ when I was undercover…”
“Okay, okay! Look, we’re only meeting so I can bring you up to speed. I’m being taken off of this whole thing. My ex-wife is a Ewing, besides being a heartless bitch. I’m too close to this thing so you’ll be meeting with someone else. But your instructions are to reconnect with Ann Smith. It’s possible her mother knew Jock was alive.”
Joshua raised a brow.
“You think Jock Ewing came back to Texas to kill Dottie Smith? Really?”
“No. But her possible knowledge of what he’s been doing could very well be the reason she’s in the ground now. We now know Ann Smith is related to Ellie Ewing.”
“The birth certificate was real?” Joshua asked.
“Yes. We ascertained that. There’s a connection here, Agent Rush. We’re close to finding it.”
Joshua rolled his eyes!
“I don’t think we’re close at all, sir. And I really don’t want to go back to pretending to be a theology student. That red headed friend of Ann’s…I forget her name, but she’s been trying to contact me about Ann. I handled that whole thing badly. So if you could just assign someone else…”
“Agent Rush, I can’t just send someone else at this late date. Now YOU are the one that messed up by getting too close to Miss Smith and blowing your cover! She knows you’re with the FBI?”
“Yes.” Joshua said shortly.
“Then you’re going to have to do something different. And be aware that now you have a rival for your affections. If Ann is wary of you, Harris Ryland is going to be doubly suspicious of you. Now, I suggest you get moving and figure out a way to get back into Ann Smith’s life again AND bring in Jock Ewing.” Assistant Director Cunningham told him.
“I still don’t get the correlation, sir? How will rekindling things with Ann Smith bring us any closer to finding Jock Ewing?” Joshua asked.
“Because Dottie Smith is not just any murder victim. She was an FBI informant as well.” Jeff revealed.
1. Flamingo Road's Fielding Carlyle was almost framed for Dottie Smith's murder.
2. Abby slept with Blake Carrington when she visited Denver
3. The lost 'Ewing Child' is named Leif and now lives with J.R. and Sue Ellen on Southfork.
CAPRICORN CRAZY
BACKSTORY: In the sequel to ‘Capricorn Cruel’, Lucy Ewing has discovered that she is pregnant and the father is either her ex husband, Mitch Cooper, or Harris Ryland, a man that she has had casual sex with and is also a co-conspirator of hers. But Lucy has decided that she wants Mitch again, so she has named him as the father.
But there are problems. Mitch is involved with her loathed step-mother, Abby Ewing, who after spending a month in coma, due to a fall in the middle of the night orchestrated by fugitive Matthew Blaisdel, has left California looking like Krystle Carrington, coaxed an amnesiac Blake Carrington into bed and is now on her way back to California, unaware that Lucy and Gary are actually now in Dallas!
Yes, the Ewing family is in trouble. The child that Ben Gibson was determined to prove existed, now lives at Southfork and the nurse that helped birth him, Ann Smith’s mother, Dottie, was killed by Judith Ryland during a dinner get together. Poor Ann knows that her mother is dead but Judith, along with Harris, helped cover up their part in the whole thing, thus keeping Harris’s chances of marrying Ann, a reality. And it is also very clear that while Dottie Smith’s body was just discovered on Ewing Property, she was killed three weeks before…something the Ryland’s had to cover up as well.
And then there is the jealous and uneasy Muriel Gillis, who, fearing that Ann will ruin her chances at Ryland Transport, has contacted an old love of Ann’s—one Joshua Rush. His re-entrance into Ann’s life will not make Harris Ryland a happy man…
****
Gary could not help but notice how at home Lucy seemed at Southfork. She easily slid into a chair in the living room as they waited for J.R. to return from the Ryland’s. He didn’t know why a ‘meeting’ was necessary in the first place. Ann Smith was a relative of theirs and they needed to treat her as such. Especially now that they knew that Matthew Blaisdel and not Fielding Carlyle or anyone in the Ewing family, had killed poor Dottie Smith.
He sat on a couch and stared at the portrait of his late father. He wished there was as huge a picture of Miss Ellie, his beloved mother. He had failed her as much as he had failed Val and Lucy.
The sounds of scurrying caused him to turn his head towards the stairs and he saw John Ross and a slightly older blonde boy, running down the stairs with bath towels stuffed in the back of their shirts, to make capes! Lucy turned and giggled, then looked at her father, who looked somber. Yes, Leif Ewing was now here to stay. And Lucy would have to learn how to deal with the idea of his existence as well.
Sue Ellen ran after the boys and used a stern tone with them, before asking the new nanny to take the boys outside. J.R. arrived, walking in past them and touched the top of John Ross’s head and smiled at Leif. He then sighed, walked into the room, followed by Sue Ellen, and tossed down his hat before going to the bar. He fixed himself a drink before turning to face them.
“I just got back from the Ryland estate. Judith says Blaisdel killed Dottie Smith. Blaisdel is saying that Judith bashed her over the head in self defense and he helped dump the body and your little friend’s birth certificate, on our land. And you know something, I believe Blaisdel!”
Lucy rolled her eyes!
“Are you speaking to me, J.R.?”
“I did say ‘your little friend’, didn’t I?” was his retort.
“Lay off her, J.R.!” Gary snapped, standing up. “Now I got to know Ann pretty well when she and Lucy were in California. So if this is some kind of ‘meeting’ in which we all agree to stab her in the back for trying to claim what’s hers…”
“Yes. It is, little brother. And let me be more blunt! I want some testing done on that girl! And since both of you are so close with her, it’s going to be your job to convince her to do it! And if she doesn’t, then Gary, I’m going to have YOU tested!”
“What?!” Lucy yelled, jumping up.
“You heard me! You never fit in here, Gary! Not one damned bit and when I think about it, you don’t look that much like a Ewing…”
Sue Ellen stood up from the chair she had been!
“Stop this, J.R.! Now you know good and well that Ann will get tested, because the Rylands will also want to know for sure that she’s a Southworth. I can smell their greed from here.”
Lucy spoke.
“Why don’t we just ‘find’ another birth certificate? One that says that Ann’s father is someone else?” she suggested. Gary gaped at her!
“Lucy!” he admonished. J.R. smiled at Gary.
“I apologize, Gary. You may not seem like a Ewing but your daughter is definitely one. Who did Ann think her father was in the first place?”
“She never talked about him because I don’t think she knew him. She said he ran off when she was little.”
J.R. then grinned!
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. We’re going to come up with a birth certificate that names Digger Barnes as her father! Let Cliff deal with her!”
Gary glared at J.R. before looking at Lucy.
“Are you going to go along with this?”
Lucy realized she had to be careful. She could not have her father suddenly thinking that Ben Gibson or Abby could have been right about her.
“No, Daddy, of course not.” she said and walked over to sit with him. Sue Ellen spoke.
“Gary, we are raising your son. The very least you could do is show some family loyalty.” she said primly.
“Jesus, Sue Ellen, you were married to Barnes! You would hurt him like this?” Gary asked in disbelief.
“Gary, Barnes doesn’t have anything Ann Smith can take from him. But we do. She will have a right to the very land this house sits on and the oil that’s on it! She could cut into your inheritance!”
Gary stood up and walked out of the room. Lucy hurried after him and found her father in the kitchen, standing against a counter.
“Daddy, I know J.R. seems…”
“J.R. seems like what he always seems like.” he said bluntly “It’s you I am having a problem with. Ann is your friend, honey and she is a nice girl who’s mother was either murdered by the same man that assaulted Abby and shot Adam Carrington. Or she was killed by your future mother-in-law. And knowing how things work in this state, I’m betting that Judith Ryland never sees a day behind bars. Do you really think Ann, after suffering a loss like this, deserves to be cheated out of her due as well?”
“Daddy, we can’t just hand over Grandma’s land without more proof. You don’t think it’s strange that Ann’s mother is found dead on our land with her daughter’s crumpled birth certificate in her hands? Whoever did this to her, meant for someone in this family to take the blame!”
Gary nodded slightly.
“I do agree with that. I suppose if Blaisdel and Judith weren’t busy pointing the finger at one another, then someone in this house would be up on charges.” he admitted. Lucy rubbed his arm.
“Look, why don’t we go riding? We’ll take the boys with us and I’ll get to know my little brother.”
“The riding part I like. But not with John Ross and…Leif.” Gary said in a strange tone.
“What is it?” Lucy asked.
“Lucy…I barely remember sleeping with Sue Ellen! Something about this whole thing just seems off! You’re going to tell me that Bobby or Pam never suspected a thing? You never saw Sue Ellen around here pregnant, did you? Before John Ross? Not to mention your grandparents! They never noticed anything?”
“Daddy, I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t. J.R. is the one that’s driving this whole thing and Sue Ellen seems to be going along with it. Leif does sort of look like Sue Ellen.”
Their conversation was interrupted by a maid that told Gary he had a phone call. Lucy excused herself and left the kitchen and Gary picked up in there.
“Hello?”
“Gary, it’s Abby.”
“Abby,” Gary said in a tight tone, “where have you been? Karen said you left Olivia and Brian with her and that you had out of town business.”
“I called to check in with her.”
“But you didn’t tell her where you were! Abby, we’re still married. You didn’t think that I might want to know where my own wife was?”
“I didn’t think you’d care. I called the ranch and Val answered. I hung up.” Abby said coolly. “But none of that matters now. I am at the Dallas airport and I am on my way to you. I had a layover and switched my flight.”
“What?”
“That’s right. When I called Karen she told me that Lucy and you are at Southfork. Ben apparently is on his way to Dallas as well…now that his theory about your new child has turned out to be true. I can’t wait to meet my new ‘stepson’.”
“Why don’t we meet somewhere?” Gary offered.
“Is that your way of saying that I am not welcome at Southfork?”
“I am trying to adjust to being in the same room as J.R. and a son that I didn’t know existed. I can’t referee between Lucy and you as well. Call me when you get checked in someplace.” Gary said, hanging up.
Abby hung up on her end and tried not to slam the phone down! Ordinarily, an insult like this would have left her head pounding. But not today.
Abby left the phone booth and stared up at a TV in one of the waiting areas. The news was replaying Matthew Blaisdel’s arrest at the Ryland estate. Matthew was in jail, here in Dallas.
She was here and still looking like Krystle Carrington. Abby planned to visit him in jail and get him to confess to working with Lucy. After, she was going to Southfork to confront her husband and step-daughter and after…her and Gary would be going home. Alone.
****
Yes, Ben Gibson had had the nerve to return to Dallas. But this time, he was not here to talk to Dottie Smith.
No. That would be impossible.
But he sensed the saga of the lost Ewing Child was not over. And Dottie Smith’s death was proof of that as far as we was concerned.
He walked into a specific women’s dorm at the University of Texas—Dallas. Ann Smith had been staying with the Rylands and now she wasn’t. Now she was living in a dorm even though her and her mother had lived in a very posh condo. Paid for by Harris Ryland.
From what Ben could piece together, the night J.R. had had him escorted out of Dallas, Dottie and Ann Smith had dinner with Judith and Harris Ryland. Ben knew that there was some talk that even though Harris was supposedly engaged to Lucy, he had been seeing her friend Ann.
But something happened during the dinner and Dottie left the estate without telling anyone but the chauffeur, who told the police originally, that Mrs. Smith asked to be taken home because she felt unwell. She did not inform her Ann, Judith or Harris of this because she didn’t want to ruin the evening for them. And when the chauffeur returned, he informed Ann that he had taken her mother home and she insisted that her daughter stay and have a good time.
But when Ann got home that evening, she found her mother nowhere in sight. She called Harris who asked the chauffeur if he was sure he had dropped Dottie off at home?
Well, it was now well known that the ‘chauffeur’ was none other than fugitive Matthew Blaisdel in disguise. And flimsy proof had been dredged up that Florida Senator, Fielding Carlyle, who had moved here to run for governor against Donna Krebbs, had killed the poor woman and dumped the body on Ewing property.
Ben could not get past the fact that J.R. had run him out of town to keep him from speaking with Dottie, the same night that someone else killed her. Killed her someplace else and then dumped her body in another location, three weeks later to frame gubernatorial candidate, Fielding Carlyle.
And Dottie had had her daughter’s birth certificate in her hand. And Ben had been unable to find out just why that was significant.
Then Blaisdel and Judith Ryland began pointing fingers at one another. Now Ann Smith had given up her condo and was staying in the dorms here.
There was a story here, Ben knew it.
He also knew that Gary and Lucy were at Southfork, trying to help the rest of the Ewings come up with lies they could sell to keep themselves out of prison. He had tried to reach out to Valene again, before coming to Dallas, but she wouldn’t take any of his calls. And he suspected that was because she didn’t know what to say to him or how to feel about Gary’s newest child. After all, she was pregnant herself with his twins.
Ben found out Ann’s room number and weaved in between students in the hallway, before arriving at her door, which was partially ajar. Ann was inside, unpacking boxes. He knocked softly and Ann looked over at him curiously.
“Ann Smith?”
“Yes?” she asked, folding a sweater.
“My name is Ben Gibson. I’m a reporter for…”
“I think you should leave.” Ann said firmly.
“Miss Smith, I am not here to bring anymore harm to your family than has already been done. The night your mother disappeared from the Ryland home, I was in town to meet with her. J.R. Ewing had some of his men threaten me and throw me out of the state. He did not want me meeting with your mother.”
Ann said nothing for a moment.
Then she did.
“My mother didn’t disappear from the Ryland home. She asked to leave. She wasn’t well.”
“And Matthew Blaisdel took her home. You didn’t recognize him?”
Ann shook her head, just as Harris walked in behind Ben to move to Ann’s side. He peered at Ben.
“Who the hell are you?” Harris asked. “Annie, is he bothering you?”
“You must be Harris Ryland. Lucy Ewing’s fiancee. I’m Ben Gibson. I…”
“You’re the one that tried to rape Lucy.” Harris said smugly. Ann’s eyes widened and she backed back a bit.
“Those charges were false and they were dropped.”
“Of course they were.” Harris smirked. “J.R. Ewing did not want poor Lucy to be put through the embarrassment of having to say what you did in open court! Now get out of here before I call campus security, the police AND J.R. Ewing! I’m sure he’d love to know you’re back in the state!”
“Ann,” Ben said, ignoring Harris, “do you really think your mother would not have let you know that she wasn’t feeling well?”
Harris moved so that he was now in front of Ann, essentially blocking her from Ben.
“I’m going to give you one more chance to get out of here before you embarrass yourself. Lucy’s mama is very fond of Annie. She would not want to hear of you bothering her during this difficult time so you can write trash.” Harris told him.
Ben reached inside his jacket pocket to get out a card but Harris snatched it from him! Ben looked at Ann.
“I’ll be in touch.” he told her and turned to walk out. Harris slammed the dorm room door behind him, ripped up the card and threw it in the trash. Ann went back to unpacking.
“Annie, honey, what are you doing here? Come back to the house and let me take care of you. I understand that the condo has too many memories. But you need someone to look after you now.”
Ann didn’t say anything and Harris moved so that he was within her field of vision.
“Tell me you don’t believe my mother killed your mother?”
Ann looked at him.
“No, Harris. I know she wouldn’t have done something like that. I just feel sick that I didn’t recognize that Lyle was Lucas who is…” Ann began to cry and Harris enveloped her in his arms. Lord, he hated lying to her like this! The past three weeks had been living hell!
The night Dottie had been killed in self defense(Harris did believe his mother about that), Lyle the chauffeur removed his disguise, told them who he really was and made it clear that not only did he want no part of covering up a murder, and that he had every intention of taking Ann out of the house!
Meanwhile, Harris had left Ann on one of their terrace’s, telling her he’d be right back and that he just needed to handle some business.
But Judith had been astute and had sized up Matthew right away. She told him that the woman had come at her with a fireplace poker, even though she supposedly couldn’t walk all that well, and that she did it once Judith told her that she knew Ann was being cheated out of money from the Ewings.
That made Matthew calm down a bit and a plan had been formed. One in which Matthew took the body away. Specifically to the walk in freezer they had in the kitchen, until they thought of how to explain this whole thing. And it was decided that the cook would be given some time off, Ann would be told that her mother had been feeling unwell and that their chauffeur, ‘Lyle’, drove her back home.
That story was fine—for the rest of that night.
But of course, when Ann returned home and found no sign of her mother, she called Harris, who told her he would call the police and have his men look into her disappearance. Matthew, as Lyle, stressed to Ann that he had helped her inside the condo and everything seemed to be fine when he left her.
Judith told the police that Dottie had a slight drinking problem and had probably gone off on her own someplace with some of her drinking buddies. That of course, put the search for her, down a few pegs, while a plan was worked out as to how to frame the Ewings for this murder and make it clear that the motive was to keep Ann from getting her rightful due.
But things got crazy and Fielding Carlyle suddenly came into play and before Harris knew it, Judith had aligned herself with Governor Donna Krebbs, who was being primaried by Carlyle. Dottie’s dead body suddenly became useful and Annie was suddenly gone from their home, where Harris had insisted she stay, and back in this godforsaken dorm!
Harris set Ann away from him and frowned. He touched her forehead and realized she was warm. Ann tried to shy away from his touch.
“I’m fine, really.” she sniffed.
“No, you’re not. You’re coming down with something and you’re not staying here. I want you to get your things together and I’ll take you home.”
“Harris, I don’t have a home anymore! I can’t go back to the apartment.”
“I bought a different condo. A townhouse. It’s already furnished and we’ll have movers take your things there.” Harris told her, pulling her back into his arms. But Ann looked at him with confusion.
“You bought another place for me to live in? Why? I don’t understand.” she questioned.
Harris could not tell her that he did not trust his mother. He could not tell her that she was the one that has bashed Dottie over the head and that he did not trust her not to do the same to Ann, if he took her back to his home and put her back in the guest room she had been staying in!
“I knew the condo held memories. Now we can make some new ones. Together. It will be our place. I’m going to take you there so you can get some rest, alright?” Harris said in a tone that was not actually asking.
Ann nodded and Harris kissed her like a sex starved teen going through puberty! Ann responded to his mouth shamelessly as she allowed his lips to sear hers possessively. There had been only one other man she had ever lost this much control with and it irked her to think that she would even think of him now, in this moment. Harris, sensing something, broke off the kiss and stared into her eyes.
“What is it?” he whispered.
“I just am feeling unwell, I guess.”
“Darlin’, I’m sorry, I just can’t help myself when I’m near you. Let’s get you out of here and to our new home. You’re going to go to bed and get some rest.”
“Harris, I’ve taken enough from you. I’m just going to stay here…”
“Annie,” Harris interrupted, “You have to start thinking smart here. Now your birth certificate says that you’re related to Ellie Southworth. Lucy and you are related. That means you have just as much of a right to have what she has. The Ewings could be responsible for what’s going on here and I’m not willing to take a chance that they could hurt you over this.”
“I don’t think Lucy would do anything! And we don’t really know that any of this is true.” Ann protested weakly.
“Lucy isn’t the one I’m thinking of that could hurt you, Annie! And of course it’s true. Why would your mother have lied about something like that? Now let’s go and get a move on. I’m getting you out of here and someplace safe.”
Ann struggled not to tear up! She had met other members of Lucy’s family and heard stories about Jock and J.R. Ewing. Was it possible that she was related to the Ewings in some way and her mother had hidden it from her, all of these years? Could they have hated her mother enough to kill her? And could they come after her too?
Without knowing anything for sure, she realized she would just have to trust that Harris knew what he was talking about. He told her he would send someone back to her dorm to pack up her things as she left with him. Harris was thinking that that red headed girl that he had been forced to take on as an intern, would be the perfect person to do it. And for a brief moment, Harris finally remembered that her name was Muriel.
****
TEXAS FBI HEADQUARTERS-
Agent Joshua Rush entered Assistant Director Jeff Cunningham’s office and closed the door behind him. Jeff was already standing against his desk when Joshua helped himself to a chair, while straightening his tie.
“How was Denver?” Jeff asked, now folding his arms.
“Culhane needs to be kept in line. I don’t get where the idea came from, to make him an informant. He knows nothing.”
“No,” Jeff said, “but he can get near people that might learn something.”
“Sir, with all due respect, how is Michael Culhane’s romancing Blake Carrington’s daughter, going to tell us whether Jock Ewing faked his own death in that helicopter crash? Culhane cannot tell us where Ewing is now or if he’s talked anyone.”
Yes. The FBI had a theory that Jock Ewing was really alive and had faked his helicopter crash in South America, once it became aware that he and Governor Donna Krebbs were being investigated over a the suspicious financing of a proposed Florida pipeline. Meaning, Donna Krebbs used political contributions to buy into the pipeline and Jock knew she had and accept the funds.
Once Jock supposedly died, it became more difficult to prove anything against Donna Krebbs. And every clue or lead seemed to dry up. It was then that they realized that Jock was helping Donna. But that could not be proven conclusively. They needed people that had seen Jock. Dottie Smith might have been one of those people.
“Yes but Alexis Barnes can.” Jeff said. “There’s a sense that she knows something. If she does, then she’ll confide in someone. Culhane needs to be in that world. Especially now that murder charges have been filed against her.”
“And what world do I need to be in?” Joshua asked wryly. “I have gotten to know my birth mother, as requested, since she knew Lute Mae Sanders. She does not want anyone to know about my existence which is fine with me, but that made it hard to fend off my ‘niece’ when I was undercover…”
“Okay, okay! Look, we’re only meeting so I can bring you up to speed. I’m being taken off of this whole thing. My ex-wife is a Ewing, besides being a heartless bitch. I’m too close to this thing so you’ll be meeting with someone else. But your instructions are to reconnect with Ann Smith. It’s possible her mother knew Jock was alive.”
Joshua raised a brow.
“You think Jock Ewing came back to Texas to kill Dottie Smith? Really?”
“No. But her possible knowledge of what he’s been doing could very well be the reason she’s in the ground now. We now know Ann Smith is related to Ellie Ewing.”
“The birth certificate was real?” Joshua asked.
“Yes. We ascertained that. There’s a connection here, Agent Rush. We’re close to finding it.”
Joshua rolled his eyes!
“I don’t think we’re close at all, sir. And I really don’t want to go back to pretending to be a theology student. That red headed friend of Ann’s…I forget her name, but she’s been trying to contact me about Ann. I handled that whole thing badly. So if you could just assign someone else…”
“Agent Rush, I can’t just send someone else at this late date. Now YOU are the one that messed up by getting too close to Miss Smith and blowing your cover! She knows you’re with the FBI?”
“Yes.” Joshua said shortly.
“Then you’re going to have to do something different. And be aware that now you have a rival for your affections. If Ann is wary of you, Harris Ryland is going to be doubly suspicious of you. Now, I suggest you get moving and figure out a way to get back into Ann Smith’s life again AND bring in Jock Ewing.” Assistant Director Cunningham told him.
“I still don’t get the correlation, sir? How will rekindling things with Ann Smith bring us any closer to finding Jock Ewing?” Joshua asked.
“Because Dottie Smith is not just any murder victim. She was an FBI informant as well.” Jeff revealed.
