CHAPTERTWELVE: THE TRUTH

WhatParacelsus said about your past . . . .

BeforeI left, Father told me something that I am just now beginning tounderstand. He said that there is a truth beyond knowledge, beyondeverything you'd ever hoped .. . . . That truth is love.

--- ToReign in Hell (Written by Gansa & Gordon)

As the planeneared the small landing strip, Elliot Burch glanced out the windowand felt a surge of emotion at the sight of Pinewillow. Memories ofthe past collided with the present with shocking intensity, and oddlyenough, they centered not on the virtually superhuman comeback he’dachieved since Gabriel had so ruthlessly dismantled his empire.Rather, his thoughts were on the two women whose absence in his lifestill left a gaping hole in his heart. Yet, the memories werebittersweet, for it was their love, courage, and wisdom that hadshaped him into the man he was today — a better man who, hehoped, had finally lived up to their expectations of him.

In the laststages of his mother's illness, she had finally fallen into a coma.Stubbornly refusing to concede to the medical team's professionaljudgement, he'd refused to allow the doctors to turn off the machinesthat had kept his mother’s heart beating. And in those lastheart-wrenching months, he'd had her transferred to Pinewillow. Nowseeing the convalescent facility again in the distance from hisvantage point high in the sky, it seemed larger than he'd remembered- but then that had been some time ago but still not long enough tostop the flow of memories . . . .

Ten years in thepast — following his mother’s passing and the scorn ofhis father who unfairly blamed him for the cancer that had taken herlife — he had given a sizeable donation to the facility. Later,he had consented to serve on the Board of Directors and had becomeone of its most influential members. The private, modern facilitywith its exclusive clientele of long-term care patients was not onlythe best of its kind, but had the kind of reputation, with Dr. DanielTallenger at the head, that was well deserved. Elliot had knownTallenger for some years and had come to respect his expertise in thefield of long-term convalescent care. His gut feeling, when he'dfirst met Daniel Tallenger over ten years ago, was that he was firstand foremost a good doctor who put his patients first. His attempt toassuage the grief over his mother’s death had prompted hisdonation to the center in an amount unprecedented in its history.Thus, Tallenger now headed up the administration of a private,well-endowed facility where the care of his patients could takepriority over fiscal considerations. In this environment, a doctor ofTallenger's abilities had flourished, and so had Pinewillow. Elliotcouldn’t imagine what emergency with Catherine would haveprompted the doctor’s call after nearly two years of silence.If she hadn’t passed away, and Elliot recalled that the doctorhad said that she was fine, then what was the problem?

Shaking off hisuncertainties, Elliot schooled himself to relax. Whatever Tallengerneeded to tell Elliot, he felt certain the man would give him thebottom line. Up until now, that bottom line had held little hope ofCatherine's full recuperation.

He had gottenher the best care money could buy, but that hadn't brought her back.Leaning his head back, he took some comfort in that, but he knewtrouble when he heard it. Something was definitely wrong: wrongenough for Tallenger to risk calling him, he mused. Tallenger hadbeen given explicit instructions to call only in case of a direemergency. Elliot also knew that although the doctor had deduced theseriousness of the danger that had necessitated Catherine’shidden identity at Pinewillow, he was still unaware that the threatto her had been eliminated over a year ago.

With Catherine'scondition remaining the same day after day, Elliot had seen no needto remove her from the facility. Not once in all the time thatCatherine had been at Pinewillow had Tallenger called. There wasdefinitely a problem. He’d heard it in the man's voice, andover the years he had learned to trust his natural sense ofapprehension. Elliot Burch was a man of means, wealth, and power overother men, and in dealing with those who took his orders, he knewwell the sound of hesitation and regret. Why would Tallenger feel anyof that about Catherine? Certainly she could not be worse than thediagnosis of a semi-comatose state.

Still, she wasalive even though she was as close to death as one could come---butshe wasn't dead. She couldn't be dead. He couldn't go through thatagain. Passing his hand through his hair, he leaned toward thewindow. Staring into the white mist of clouds, his handsinstinctively clinched the arm rails of the chair as he once againrelived for the hundredth time the horror of that day more than ayear earlier. He had found Catherine's body outside the privateentrance of his office suite. He still had no idea who had broughther there. Hell, he didn't even know how anyone could have managed toget her body to the 17th floor without being seen by the securitypersonnel or surveillance equipment that infiltrated every corner ofhis office building. In his mind he kept seeing her still, brokenbody curled up in the doorway covered with a heavy black cloak, andwhen he pulled back the cloak, there had been so much blood. Hethought she was dead. At that moment he had hoped she was dead, neverto awaken and realize the horrors she must have endured at Gabriel'shands.

Gabriel. Hediscovered only later the extent of evil that one man could wieldagainst an entire society. The evil embodied by that man had reachedout and stolen Catherine away for so long that even Joe in the D.A.'soffice had given up hope of ever finding her alive. On that nightwhen first he'd found her, all he had known was that somehow the lifehad been wrenched from the woman he had loved once, and who he stillloved now.

He had pickedher up and taken her into his office. She was so cold. As he carriedher body into his office, he felt a weak tremble. God, he had almostdropped her then, and as he watched her struggle against death, hisheart broke into a million pieces. He thought he heard her whispersomething. It sounded like Vincent, and then the trembling subsided.

She was still,so deathly still. Only a short while back Cleon Manning, now hischief of security, had asked him about the name Vincent. It was backthen on that tragic night that Elliot finally put the pieces togetherand faced the hard truth of his love for Catherine — thatwhoever this Vincent was, it was he, and not Elliot, who had capturedCatherine's heart. He knew she was calling out to him with her lastconscious breath. He knew that as long as there was a Vincent,Catherine would never be in love with him. And still it didn't matterto Elliot. She could call out to whomever, he had thoughtdesperately, as long as she continued to live.

"Keep fightingCatherine and live..." he whispered as he stopped with her in frontof his desk. He had to act, and act fast. His mind now kicked inwhere his emotions had just taken hold. He held her in his arms whilehe called first for his personal physician, Carl Jameson and nextsummoned Cleon Manning. Thank heaven they were both still in thebuilding. He was afraid to lay her down, afraid that if he let go ofher, the life force which had risen for only seconds would fade awayforever. As though his will could keep her alive, he held her tightlyin his arms, hoping against hope that she could feel the beating ofhis heart, take strength from him, and stay alive while help arrived.And she did hang on, though just barely.

He never lefthis office that night, and neither did Jameson or Manning. Silentlyhe stood watch over her as Jameson made arrangements for the medicineand equipment he needed and Manning had it all transported to hisoffice without incident. Not for the first time Elliot witnessed theextent to which money was transformed into power which could sidesteprules and remove obstacles, and he felt grateful that he’damassed enough to make such power his. It was this power that openeddoors without questions at nearby St. Vincent Hospital and permittedlife support equipment to be transferred from the hospital to hisoffice building. Once Dr. Jameson had given the guarded opinion thatCatherine would survive, he allowed himself to hope again. It wasalso then that he turned his thoughts to what should be done next.

In the earlymorning hours, the three men - Burch, Jameson, and Manning - plannedwhat to do with what was left of Catherine Chandler. It was difficultfor Elliot to stay focused, for within Jameson's report to him onCatherine's condition, he had announced that the blood was not from abullet wound or injury as Elliot had initially assumed. She hadrecently given birth and hemorrhaged. Catherine had been pregnant.That revelation was a bomb shell by itself, but it was the nextobvious question that caused Elliot to break out in a cold sweat.Where was the child? With no plausible explanation, Elliot concluded that the child musthave died at birth. Anything else was too horrible to consider whenfaced with Catherine's abused condition. He felt his heart crushagain under the burden of imagining what she must have gone through.

It was Manning'spresence and singular focus on the crisis at hand which yanked Elliotback to reality. Suppressing the images from his mind, he broughthimself back to the issue of Catherine's safety. There would be timeenough later to heal the wounds that this night had brought into hislife. Not once did it occur to him back then that the emotionalwounds might never heal.

First, he neededto find a place where Catherine could be cared for in her condition.Burch knew that it would not be enough to just hide her. Whoever hadleft her at his door had thought she was dead; and indeed when he'dfirst seen her, so had he. Jameson's medical opinion was that aftergiving birth, the lack of post-natal care and loss of blood hadspiraled Catherine into shock. That, in addition to whatever she hadbeen subjected to for the past six months, had caused her comatosecondition. He was frankly amazed that she was alive, since he'd alsodiscovered from a quick blood test some unknown properties that hecouldn’t identify, along with one that he could. She had beenadministered a huge dose of morphine, enough to induce death throughthe slow shutdown of all vital systems. The bottom line was that sheshould have died.

Yet, it seemedthat whoever had tried to take her life had also tried to insure hera merciful death through a sleep from which she was never intended toawake. That, along with her weakened state from childbirth shouldhave been enough to kill her. Elliot remembered how Jameson hadshaken his head in genuine puzzlement, and then told Elliot with thehonesty of a doctor who knew his client would settle for nothingshort of the truth that for all practical purposes, CatherineChandler should have been a corpse.

That she wasn'tspoke volumes about her will to live, but the hard cold facts werethat her condition was still very serious. As for recovery, she wascomatose, and while she might recover to a normal life, there wasnothing more that he could do for her under the circumstances.Furthermore, Dr. Jameson couldn’t say when, if ever, she wouldawaken.

"Her mind hasshut down, Elliot," Jameson told him gently. "It was the only way shecould survive this. Whether she has the strength to come back fromwhere she’s hiding is out of our hands. For now, this coma maywell be saving her life by slowing down her metabolism and giving herthe time to heal inside where I suspect there is more damage thanwhat I’m able to assess under these conditions."

Manning thenstepped in and, leaning forward, simply said, "Mr. Burch, I believeyou've just received your second greeting card."Elliot looked at the man long and hard after those words. He, ofcourse, understood completely his chief security officer's meaning.Manning viewed Catherine's body, tossed like a rag doll at thedoorstep of Burch's office, as a second warning for Elliot to backoff from his inquiries into Malloy, Davidson, and Hanover Trust.Months earlier, Elliot had agreed to assist Catherine ininvestigating references made to these conglomerates in a code bookshortly before she had been abducted. The first greeting card, as Manning called it, had come with thetotal destruction of the Burch Grand Hotel and Casino by arson. More than two hundred people haddied in that fire, and instead of backing him down, it had infuriatedElliot in a way that Manning had never seen before, or since.

By bringing thisup, Manning once again rescued Elliot from his emotions. Catherinewas in a coma. He had to accept that and trust her to find her wayback. More than his pity, she needed him to give her a safe place andthe time to navigate back to this life. Burch was not foolish enoughto think that he could hide Catherine forever as she was in hisoffice. In fact, with the flagship of his empire torched the weekbefore and the security to his Manhattan office penetrated tonight,Burch was sure there would be no safe haven for Catherine if she wasdiscovered to still be alive. His only remaining hope of protectingher was to make her as dead as whoever sent her body to him hadthought she was. That would mean staging her funeral and erasing thename of Chandler from the world of the living. Elliot knew this washis one chance to save Catherine, and her only chance to survive.

He gave a quick,anxious glance at the still figure now lying peacefully on a portablebed in the center of his office and then began to lay out his plan toprotect Catherine Chandler as only he knew he could. It would takeboth his wealth and power, but if she could live through thisnightmare, there was the hope that one day he could bring her back.He wondered to himself, though, if she would ever want to return to aworld which had treated her with such malice and cruelty.

Once they haddecided upon Pinewillow, Manning had adamantly insisted that untilwhoever had threatened her life had been eliminated, Elliot could notafford even a brief visit or phone call to the facility. Thus, it wasJameson and Manning who accompanied Catherine to what would becomeher home for the next two years at the Pinewillow ConvalescentCenter. It took Jameson only a phone call to make the arrangementswith Dr. Daniel Tallenger, and while Tallenger and Jameson werefriends, as well as colleagues, it didn’t hurt that Elliot wasa major player on the Board in charge of the facility. Then it wasonly the matter of getting Catherine and the necessary equipmentloaded onto Elliot's helicopter which stood ready on the roof of thebuilding. Manning took over the controls and along with Jameson, flewCatherine to Pinewillow where they left her in Tallenger's hands.

After thatnight, neither of the three men ever mentioned Catherine Chandler'sname to one another again. There was no need. They knew that the samedark force that attempted to murder Catherine would have no qualmsabout killing them all. Then there was loyalty to Elliot Burch.Despite his money, power, and ambition, Elliot had retained theability to inspire his closest associates, rather than alienate them.He knew back then that Manning and Jameson would keep Catherine'ssecret, and they had. It was now nearly two years later, and with theexception of the three men, no one knew that Catherine Chandler wasstill alive.

Right before thehelicopter carrying Catherine departed, Jameson had gripped Elliot'sarm and told him to have faith. It was possible that she would comeout of the coma. But over the months of waiting with no change in hercondition, Elliot had frankly lost all hope. For her safety, he tookManning's words to heart and never went near Pinewillow after thenight she was admitted as a Jane Doe. He couldn't take the risk ofher being discovered through him, and certainly in Catherine'scondition it would take little effort to finish the job of killingher. So from that day, funds were transferred from Elliot's accountsto cover her care. His only reminder of Catherine was a monthlystatement from the facility with a note scribbled on the bottom whichalways read the same: No Change.Thus, no one from the outside world ever inquired about the Jane Doeat Pinewillow, and no one ever visited her....not even the man whoseunrequited love had saved her life; that was, until today.

Lost in thepast, he didn’t notice that his plane had landed. As the roarof the engines died, he looked up and pulled himself to the present.Manning stood ready to disembark the plane, but hadn't disturbed him.Mindful of what this trip meant to Elliot Burch, he didn't interruptthe thoughts of his employer and friend. Elliot smiled. Manning was agood man, and Elliot was glad to have him at his side. Well, whateverhappened now to Catherine, at least Gabriel was no longer a threat.With his death, Catherine Chandler ceased to be a pawn in his sickgame.

Perhaps now wasthe time to bring her back with him to Manhattan, comatose or not. Atleast then he would have her near where he could personally watchover her condition. There were still so many unanswered questionsabout how Catherine had come to be outside his office door thatnight, but then, Catherine's entire adult life was filled withunanswered questions. That thought caused Elliot to pause beforestanding up to leave the plane. Of one thing Elliot was certain:almost worse to him than her death would be Catherine's agony inreliving those months. Perhaps that was the new development thatTallenger alluded to. If so, Elliot didn't quite know how he wouldface those memories with her. Still, he had never been a man to backaway from life's good or bad. So with some reluctance, but the samepresence of character that Elliot Burch carried as a shield againstthe world, he stepped down with Cleon Manning onto the flight ofstairs leading from the plane and saw the solitary figure of Dr.Daniel Tallenger waiting for him.

For Dr. DanielTallenger, it took less time to tell Burch what had happened than hehad originally imagined it would - but then, it really doesn't takemuch time to unravel a ball of yarn, peeling off the events layer bylayer. Dr. Daniel Tallenger now sat at his desk gingerly nursing apainful, discolored jaw which had already begun to swell. He tastedblood, and he knew several teeth were loose. He also suspected fromthe excruciating pain that the jaw was broken. Across the room stoodElliot Burch. Breathing raggedly in an attempt to regain somesemblance of calm, he leaned forward in front of the large bay windowthat overlooked the courtyard below, staring silently at somethingbeyond. His hands rested on the window ledge, the right hand stillclenched in a fist. For the first time Tallenger noticed that Burchhad large, worker’s hands, something he wouldn’t haveever expected of a rich man. At least now the man’s hand wasstill, halted from its forward motion into Daniel Tallenger's jaw.

Beside Burchstood Cleon Manning, Burch's security man. Thinking back, Tallengernow recalled him as the pilot of the helicopter that had brought thewoman to his facility. Odd how one remembered such details when allhe supposed he should have been thinking about was the acute painshooting through the left side of his face and how to get the hellaway from Burch. In a very real sense, though, he was grateful theother man had been here today. Though Manning stood off to one side,appearing relaxed and unconcerned, Tallenger knew it was a facade.Just moments earlier, the only thing that had prevented Elliot Burchfrom continuing the assault on his face was the quietly controlledpresence of this black man. Manning was solidly built butunobtrusive. It was Manning who had pulled Burch away from Tallenger,but not before a right hook had slammed into his jaw with the forceof granite.

Tallenger hadnaively imagined that he would quickly explain and apologize for thesituation; Burch would show some justifiable irritation at theirfailure to keep the woman at the facility; and that would be the endof it. He had been wrong. His aching jaw was testament to the degreeto which he had misjudged the man standing silently across the roomfrom him. Burch had become more than irritated, he had becomeviolent.

Once again hethought of how little time it had taken for all hell to break loosein his office. It had only taken five minutes for him to greet Burchand Manning at the private airfield; five more minutes for them toreach his office. Then five minutes into their conversation, Elliothad casually leaned toward the desk and asked to see her. Tallengerremembered now that he had called the woman Catherine. Was that herreal name, he wondered? If so, it was amazingly close to the name shehad chosen for herself, Caitland. It was then that he had repliedtruthfully that she was gone.

`Gone where?’ had been Burch's guarded inquiry. IfTallenger had known Burch better, he would have been familiar withthe low, dangerous tone of the man's voice. Ignorant of the nuance,however, he never saw the impending danger of his reply. He had justfinished saying "We don't know where she is. . ." when Burch hadcrossed the space between his chair and Tallenger's desk. With aquickness that caught the doctor completely off guard, he yankedDaniel up with one hand and connected his right fist with the leftside of Tallenger's face. It happened so fast he hadn't even seen itcoming. Then all he remembered was fighting for his life to get awayfrom Elliot Burch.....rich man gone raving mad as far as he wasconcerned. If Manning had not been there, he was certain that Burchwould have killed him. It was Manning who had held Burch's fist afterthe first punch connected...who had pried loose his grip fromTallenger's collar...who had literally thrown his boss away from theterrified doctor.

Remembering themurderous rage in Burch's eyes, Tallenger knew he had to find a wayout of his office. As he continued to hold his jaw in place as besthe could, his eyes shifted warily to the door leading from his officeinto his secretary's work station. Slowly, he stood on legs that felttoo weak to support him, but before he could quite formulate a planof escape, Elliot Burch turned away from the window and walked backover to once again face the doctor. Tallenger was now very much awareof the slim control this man had over his emotions concerning thewoman. Even more, he knew now that for all practical purposes, he wasfar from safe....even with Manning standing there to keep hisemployer from committing homicide.

"Would youplease be so kind, Dr. Tallenger, as to explain the details of howthe woman who I placed in your care for almost two years has nowended up missing from this facility." It was not a question, it was acommand for the truth. Tallenger knew that this man would just assoon smash his face in again rather than listen to him explain howthe woman had eluded them all - but what choice did he have? With hisjaw burning a hole in the left side of his face, he commencedtalking. "It's been a little more than four days since she wasdiscovered missing, Mr. Burch. We have no idea how she could haveescaped. The internal security system was on, as well as the alarmfor the outside gates. I suspect she got help from one of ourpart-time, weekend employees. We think that she actually left thepremises....

"NO!" shouted Burch as his hand slammed down onthe desk. In response to this latest outburst, Manning silentlywalked over to the edge of the desk where the two men faced eachother, strategically placing himself between Tallenger and his boss.

Tallenger lookeda Manning, but intuitively sensed that this man was far from hisally. In fact, he had no doubt that Burch’s man was fullyprepared to kill him if he thought in the slightest that the doctorhad acted with duplicity in arranging Catherine's absence from thefacility. Manning stared at the doctor and could read his thoughts asclearly as if he were an open book. Seeing his fear, he determinedthat perhaps the doctor was not as stupid as he’d first beenled to believe, since the man obviously now understood that his verylife was on the line. As for Manning, he was one of the few men whoknew the extent of Elliot Burch's concern for the woman who had beenCatherine Chandler. Tallenger was now visibly shaking, and Manningwould not have thought it possible, but the doctor actually seemed toshrink in on himself under their ruthless perusal. Manning suspectedthat before this meeting was over, he would have to restrain Elliotagain, and more than likely pick the doctor off the floor.

Elliot's voiceechoed through the room, his words distinct and cutting. "You willbegin, doctor, from the moment that she opened her eyes. . . .unlessyou're trying to convince me that she came out of a two-year comatosestate and just skipped out the next day."

"Of course not,Mr. Burch," Tallenger heard himself say. His words sounded garbled asthe swelling in his mouth slurred his speech, but Tallenger did nothesitate in his account, and this time Burch did not interrupt. Hefinally concluded by explaining that Caitland had emerged from thecoma, but had required several months of extensive rehabilitativetherapy. It would have been premature to notify Burch before she hadfully recovered.

Of all thepossible problems that Elliot had imagined on his flight up toPinewillow, that Catherine would have left the facility was one hehad not considered. He had hit the doctor, but now in reflection, heknew his anger was as much directed at himself as it was atTallenger. Gabriel had been dead for more than a year, and he'd nevercome to see her. . . .even this trip had been undertaken because ofTallenger's unprecedented call. After all the planning to keep hersafe, she was out there, somewhere, with no friends or family, noknowledge of her past: nothing. How would she survive?

Elliot wasprepared to accept what he knew was a flimsy excuse from the doctorwhen suddenly the truth dawned on him. He gave Manning a look thattold him to stay back, and once again Elliot aggressively leanedacross the wide desk to stare unblinkingly at the doctor. Though thelarge mahogany desk separated the two men, both knew that if Elliotdidn’t like what he heard, the desk would be no deterrent toElliot if he chose to go after the man again.

Like a predatorgoing in for the kill, Elliot’s face was within a breath ofDaniel Tallenger. He gazed directly into the eyes of the old man asif he had opened a window to his soul. "You lousy son of a bitch," hesaid in a deadly calm voice. "You kept her here without telling mefor the money, didn't you. As much as this place makes . . . as muchas I give here annually . . . you couldn't resist the temptation tobleed every dime from her condition, even after it was obvious thatshe had recovered. So right now you’re going to tellme.....the TRUTH!" hehissed through clinched teeth. "Tell me now, or so help me nothing onthis earth will stop me from choking the life out of your worthlessbody."

Tallenger hadbroken into a cold sweat, and even the hand which held his jaw inplace trembled violently. Looking into Burch's eyes, he knew the manhad just made him more than a threat, it was a promise. In a small,scared voice he stammered. "It's...it's true. She was completelyrecovered a couple of months ago, but I kept telling myself she stillneeded more time. I had no idea she would run off. You've got tobelieve me. I had no idea...."

Perhaps it wasfinally hearing the truth in Tallenger’s confession whichbrought Elliot back from the brink of murderous rage to the realm ofsanity. Perhaps it was seeing the doctor collapse into a pitiful heap- white with fear, shuddering from head to toe, and weeping inhumiliation. Whatever it was, Elliot suddenly felt the anger drainout of him.

A hand touchedhis arm, and Elliot turned to find himself facing the cool,appraising eyes of Cleon Manning. Manning whispered a few words toBurch, and Tallenger once again watched as Burch transformed himselfinto a mask of calm. He looked down at Tallenger and in a voice thatwas emotionless, he began giving orders.

"Dr. Tallenger,you will make arrangements for Mr. Manning to stay on for a few daysand further investigate Ms....Caitland, did you say?" Tallengersimply nodded, not trusting his voice any further. ". . . toinvestigate Ms. Caitland's mysterious disappearance. I expect you togive Mr. Manning your full cooperation. He is to have free access toyour all records — patient, personnel, treatment, and fiscalrecords for the past two years. As for your office, you’llre-locate yourself somewhere else. Mr. Manning will use it as hisinvestigation headquarters . . . and by the way, he is to havecomplete access to all of your records, as well. Have I made myselfclear?"

Tallenger stillfelt the cold knot of fear in the pit of his stomach, and rather thanpushing his luck any further, he answered miserably, "Yes, sir.Everything will be at his disposal, sir."

"Wise decision,"dead panned Elliot. "I take it you have nothing more to addconcerning Ms. Caitland's disappearance?"

"Nothing,"mumbled the doctor who was finding it increasingly more difficult totalk.

“Then getthe hell out of here and have someone look at your jaw. I assume youhave a physician on staff?”

Tallenger mutelynodded and made his way out of the room.

With that ElliotBurch dismissed Daniel Tallenger from his thoughts. He wasn't throughwith the man, but he was finished talking to him. "Cleon," he said ashe turned to Manning who had still stood alert at his side. "I'm outof here. I'll send the copter back for you as soon as I return, butcall me the minute you have any information. Who knows, with any luckwe may still be able to locate her."

He reached outhis hand and gripped Cleon's shoulder. The look Elliot gave Cleon wasenough to convey his thanks to the man. While Cleon silently acceptedthe gratitude of his boss, he could find nothing to say that wouldmake things any better . . . and there was nothing that Elliot didnot already know. Both men knew that it would be virtually impossibleto find a woman with only the first name of Caitland: a woman who hadno memory of her past and who could have fled to several dozendifferent places bordering the perimeter of Pinewillow: not tomention the very real possibility that she had even left the state ofNew York altogether. So both men silently communicated, and even ifBurch couldn't, Manning could face the truth that the chances werehigh that Elliot would never see the former Catherine Chandler again.

After seeingthat Tallenger made good his word to inform the staff of Cleon’sauthorization and access to the facility, Elliot Burch leftPinewillow. The entire meeting had taken less than an hour. It washis first visit to the facility since he had entrusted them withCatherine's care, and it would be his last. On the short flight backto his Manhattan office he made two phone calls: one to his lawyerand the other to a close friend in Buffalo, who also happened to beChairman of the Board of Directors for Pinewillow. Later that day,authorization was issued to his bank to discontinue the transfer offunds from the account of Elliot Lloyd Burch to the PinewillowConvalescent Center; and soon after, Daniel Tallenger received aphone call in which he was summarily relieved of all duties as chiefadministrator without pay, pending an in-depth investigation. TheSenior Nursing Supervisor - a Betty Carlisle - was then promoted tothe position of Acting Chief Administrator.

As the planeneared the familiar skyline of Manhattan, Elliot looked out thewindow at the clouds and thought of Catherine. There had been fewoccasions in his lifetime when he had made unconditional promises. Hehad learned early on that promises were empty unless one had themeans to back them up; unless one could tip the scale to make thepromise come true. He had promised to help Catherine as she lay inthe coma, too helpless to protect herself. He had kept the promise toher, but he had then made one to himself: to do whatever it took tofinally make things work between them. He knew it was a long shot,but in truth, he was still in love with her. Thus, it was no simplematter when, in the privacy of his plane, he was now forced to facethe fact that he would probably never see Catherine again. To havewealth and power and still not possess the one thing he most desiredwas a bitter pill for a man like Elliot Burch to swallow. He hadalways believed that if she ever came through the coma, theirs wouldbe a new beginning. Now that she had left Pinewillow, the promise ofa life with Catherine was all but lost to him, unless somehow sheremembered and chose to seek him out. It had taken her nearly twoyears to wake up. How long would it take her to remember her past . .. to remember him? And what guarantee did he have that she would seekhim out first, rather than her beloved Vincent.

With infinitesadness, he closed his eyes and contemplated the fact that he shouldnever have made that promise. The odds had never been in his favorwhen it came to loving Catherine Chandler.