EMERALD CEMETERY

Breathe in...breathe out.

Father Thomas Grady uses long breaths to keep calm. Otherwise, these people would drive him insane. As a man of the cloth, he is expected to keep a respectable demeanor and remain forgiving and understanding.

But at times that proves impossible. Like now, for instance.

Father Grady checks his watch. It's been over an hour since they converged on the cemetery just beyond St. Thomas Church. Or Emerald Church as it had been nicknamed by the early Irish settlers.

The first half hour was waiting for Robert Bale to arrive with a court order allowing the exhumation of Kyle Maddock's grave. Even a man of God would find it impossible for someone to quite literally rise from the grave — but living in Marquette Cove, Father Grady had grown to expect the unexpected.

"Once this coffin is open, we'll finally have the proof we need to expose this man as the liar he really is," Valerie Holden says, staring first at the dirt-covered casket just a few feet from her, then directing her gaze to the man claiming to be Kyle Maddock.

"This was all your father's fault," Kyle says, aiming his glare at Valerie, Felicia, and Michael. "He knew that my father had an affair with his wife, and so he's known since I was child that I was related to you all. But I wasn't a Hanley...I wasn't his blood. So I was never anything more than a bastard child he wanted to forget."

"And with good reason," Michael says, arms folded. "This is utterly insane. Kyle Maddock is dead. He hung himself after he discovered that he knocked my sister up."

"I remember," Felicia says, nodding. "We were all at your funeral."

Aaron steps toward the hospital bed, unnerved by the beeping machines and tubes for the first time in his life. The confidence he'd exhibited throughout medical school was quickly fading. "I spoke at your funeral. It was open casket. You were dead."

"I only appeared to be dead," Kyle says. "After I slept with Valerie...Kevin Hanley wanted me out of the picture. He didn't want my true identity leaking to the press, so he had me taken care of. He gave me something...had me drugged. I was out cold. The next thing I remember...I was waking up in some mansion halfway across the globe."

"And why now? Twenty years later?"

Kyle shrugs. "He died. His guards were less loyal, and I was able to escape."

She stands next to Robert, all the while trading awkward glances with her husband Simon and son, Matt. It's awfully telling that Valerie is spaced as far away from her immediate family as possible, even Felicia is grouped next to everyone else.

Father Grady has had the "pleasure" of listening to Valerie's confessions for as long as he can remember, and she's made a career out of breaking every single rule in the book. Her recent bout in prison was inevitable after burning down her father's storage building and the slew of other crimes she'd committed against people she considered her own family.

"Well, let's get it open then," Father Grady says. "And perhaps we may then be able to lay some of these claims to rest."

The two men hired to exhume the body approach the casket, preparing to open it. As they rest their hands on the mahogany frame, a booming scream interrupts them.

"Wait!" Kyle says. "Aaron isn't here, we shouldn't open the coffin without him."

"He doesn't need to be here," Robert says. "I have a court order."

"Well, let me see that, just to make sure none of this is illegal," Kyle says, craning his head toward Father Grady. "We wouldn't want to make St. Thomas liable, would we Father?"

"No, of course not," Father Grady says. "Let me see the document, Robert. Just to make sure."

"This is ridiculous," Valerie says, grumbling as she pushes Robert toward the priest. "Let's just get on with it! We already dug the damn thing up!"

Father Grady takes the court papers from Robert and looks at them. He takes a few minutes to glance over the signatures, as Kyle moves behind him and peers over his shoulder.

"There!" Kyle says. "Aaron didn't sign the document. We don't have his say."

"Judge Anderson signed the goddamn papers," Robert says, snapping. Realizing his poor choice of words, he turns to Father Grady and mouths an apology.

"Let's just call Aaron and get his permission," Felicia says, interjecting.

Matt nods, agreeing with Felicia. "Yeah, let's get this damn thing over with already."

Robert shrugs his shoulders and removes his cell phone. "Fine. I'll call Aaron."



BALE & MADDOCK LAW OFFICES

Aaron Maddock paces back and forth in Darren Reynolds' office, staring at the document in his hands. To say that he's shocked and confused is an understatement. He's also incredibly pissed off.

"Go over this again," Aaron says.

"I'm sorry," Darren says. "But you're not included in Melissa's will."

"That's ridiculous! There's no reason for her to cut me out of her will."

"Shut your goddamn mouth," Melissa hisses, sliding into the seat across from Aaron. "I know what you did to me, Aaron. I know you've been lying to me about my son!"

Melissa's outburst draws glances from other patrons in Emerald Square. She doesn't care.

"Your son? I don't know what...is this about your miscarriage?"

"You know what this is about," Melissa snaps. "Go back to your office and listen to the tape I left there. The one where you talk to Hugh Rogers about the son he was keeping from me?"

Aaron's face goes white. "Melissa —"

"Know where I was, Aaron? For Thanksgiving?" Melissa demands. "Rather than celebrating with my husband, with my child, I was in Atlantic City get blood tests done. To prove that Tyler Rogers was my son."

"You broke into my office?" Aaron asks indignantly. "Melissa, you had no right to break into my office. Those files are personal and confidential!"

"Don't you dare stand here and lecture. You want me to raise my voice? Talk about you abusing your position and disregarding the Hippocratic Oath in order to keep that secret from me?"

Fine. Aaron knew of a possible reason, but there was no reason Darren needed to know any of that.

Darren shrugs. "I don't know, Aaron. All I'm going off is the most recent document that I have. It was in Robert's office."

"Robert must have altered it."

"There's barely anything left to Robert, he has his own money," Darren says. "Except for the house. Most of her money is directed toward some of those women who spoke at the funeral, like Sydney Melrose. Oh, and...any children she may have had. But her only child is Hunter, which means that Robert will have control over Melissa's fortune until Hunter turns 18."

"He what?!"

"Yeah, I know, it blows," Darren says. "But it is what it is. Melissa doesn't have any other kids."

"No...no she doesn't," Aaron says quickly. "But this is —"

Aaron stops speaking when Darren's office phone rings. Darren raises a hand to put their conversation on hold as he answers. Aaron takes a step back and angrily stares at Melissa's will.

"There is no way he's getting away with this," Aaron hisses, speaking out loud to himself in a hushed whisper. "No one knows that Melissa does have a daughter...Alexis Lopez. And once I'm able to get her out of that psychiatric ward and under my full custody, I'll take all the Maddock money that should be mine."

"Did you say something?" Darren says, lowering the phone.

Aaron stares at Darren confused. "Huh? I wasn't...I wasn't saying anything...to...I think you're hearing things."

Darren frowns. "Um, ok. Robert's on the phone. You're needed at the cemetery."

"Christ. I'd nearly forgotten about that whole freakshow."



HANLEY HOME

The front door flies open as Michael Hanley storms into the mansion, bellowing his son's name. He turns the foyer corner and enters the living room where he finds his daughter Ariel painting her toenails on the couch.

"What is with all the shouting in this place?" Ariel says.

"We have a very tense home," Michael says. "Where's your brother?"

"Upstairs jerking off to porn. I heard the moaning through the wall, which is why I came downstairs."

Michael rolls his eyes. "Thank you for sharing."

Michael turns toward the stairwell, but Ariel stops him by clearing her throat first. Sighing, Michael returns his attention to her.

"Yes, Ariel?"

"I need money. I have to go shopping."

"You just went shopping yesterday! The bags were littered across the floor."

"Yes, but I need to go shopping for a big event."

"A job interview?"

"No, a court date," Ariel says. "Oh, and by the way...I may need money to pay the ticket I'm contesting."

"I don't have time for this," Michael says.

"You never have the time! But you always have time for that freak upstairs. You know he had me kidnapped, right?"

Michael's eyes widen. "He what?"

"Back in London."

"What? You never mentioned any of that when you came home before," Michael says.

"When I what?"

"Three years earlier? You came home because you needed money. As usual."

"I never...he hired an impostor, that jerk!"

"Ariel! I do not have the time for this," Michael says, snapping.

Ariel angrily leaps to her feet and points an accusatory finger at her father. "All right! I'm not an idiot. I know what's really going here!"



EMERALD CEMETERY

"Aaron gave us the okay," Robert says, returning to the open grave. "He's on his way to sign the papers and make it official. Which means you can go ahead and open the goddamn casket now."

Kyle stands nervously next to everyone else, shoving his cell phone into his pocket. As he hopes the text message he sent arrives at its recipient in enough time to help him, he's startled when someone grabs his arm.

"Kyle."

Kyle turns to see Felicia Bale. "Yes?"

"Is this...is this really you?"

"Yes, it is," Kyle says, nodding.

"I sincerely hope you're telling the truth," Felicia says. "Because otherwise, what you're doing to Kyle's family is cruel and unusual."

"It's my family. I'm Kyle!"

"Are you really? Why are you so nervous then?"

"Who's to say that Kevin Hanley didn't prepare for this? He could have planted a decoy in the casket with my DNA."

"I highly doubt that," Felicia says. "You make him sound like some criminal mastermind."

"Of course," Kyle says, agreeing in a sarcastic tone. "Because no Hanley is capable of diabolical evil."

Robert lets the door swing shut behind him as he follows Felicia into a large laboratory. Somehow, he'd found himself in the middle of a Vincent Price film. Or at least a recent episode of Days of Our Lives. "Felicia — what is all of this?"

"Just what I feared," Felicia says, picking up documents that were stacked on a nearby table. "Michael had...Michael had something to do with Sean's death."

Robert narrows his eyes. "What?"

Felicia hands him one of the documents. "Look at these dates. The name of the files. It's Sean's name, and these dates are during the time Sean died. And look at all of these restraints in here...oh my God."

"You don't think Michael had Sean killed, do you?"

"I don't know what to think," Felicia says. "Maybe Michael will have answers if I —"

"Are you kidding me? You've got secret passageways, secret labs, secret documents...all of that adds up to a big ass secret that Michael obviously wants to keep secret. We need to talk to Leslie. And the police."

"The police?! We don't know that Michael did anything wrong!"

"His last name's Hanley, what other kind of evidence do you need?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Huh?" Felicia says.

"You were staring off into space like you were having a huge flashback run through your head," Kyle says. "Can you go away and mind your own business now?"

"Matt's a good person," Felicia says, ignoring him. "I can't say the same about his mother, but Matt? The boy who's supposed to be Kyle's son? He doesn't deserve this."

"What will it take to get you to shut up?"

"I'm here," Aaron says, finally arriving at the scene. "What do I need to sign?"

"Sign the damn document in Robert's hands," Valerie says. "I want to get that fucking casket open!"

Aaron obliging signs the court order and hands it back to Robert. Robert takes a deep breath and waves the document in Kyle's face.

"Are you satisfied?" Robert says.

"I suppose," Kyle says.

"Good, then hurry it up," Matt says. "So then me and my real Dad can get the hell out of here."

"Did your mother instill all that rudeness in you?" Kyle says, rolling his eyes.

"Maybe I just object to being stalked by weirdos in the park who then show up and lie about being my biological father," Matt offers.

"Enough," Valerie says, cutting between them. "Casket. Now."

The two cemetery workers, ecstatic to finally get to their job and get the hell away from these people, reach for the casket lid and prepare to open it. Everyone stands impatiently, waiting to see what's in the casket as...

"Stop!"

"What the fuck?" Valerie says. She spins around to find an Asian woman hurrying toward them, nearly stumbling in the grass with her five-inch stiletto heels. "Who is this?"

"Rebecca?" Aaron says. "What are you doing here?"

"You can't open that casket!" Rebecca Li says, gasping for air. "I won't allow it!"



HANLEY HOME

"You what?" Michael says, hoping against all hope that his daughter doesn't know the specifics of the Sean Moore situation.

Victor quickly turns away from Michael and heads to his desk, as if he doesn't want to make eye contact. No idiot, Michael picks up on it.

"What is going on between Eric and Sean?"

"I don't understand what you —"

"What is going on, Victor?!"

"All right!" Victor says, slamming his hands down on his desk. "I'll tell you! It was Eric!"

"What do you mean, it was Eric?"

"He knows all about you faking Sean's death. And he knows about...the work I did for your father, when he wanted Elizabeth to leave you. He was in the laboratory, and he altered the machines. Eric is the reason why Sean believes he is Elizabeth Hanley."

"This is about Darren Reynolds, right?" Ariel says. "I knew Eric was still obsessed with him. I think he's going after Darren's ex-boyfriend now."

"Ariel, take my credit card," Michael says, reaching into his pocket and removing his wallet. "Buy whatever you want. Just...go."

"Daddy, I love you," Ariel says, beaming.

Ariel snatches up the credit card from Michael's wallet and hurries up the stairs. She runs smack into Eric as he's bounding down the steps.

"You're wanted in the living room."

"Oh, yay," Eric says. "What did I do now?"

"What haven't you done?"

Eric nods in grudging agreement and trudges down the stairs, finding his father pacing in the living room.

"Is this about the hospital earlier?"

"No," Michael says quickly. "It's about...wait, yes. It is."

Eric raises an eyebrow. "Are you on something?"

"You know about the basement," Michael says, hissing. He moves toward his son, speaking in a soft conspiratory tone. "And I know that you're the reason Sean Moore thinks he's your mother."

Eric crosses his arms. "Whatever. You're not going to make me feel bad for bringing my mother back to us. You're the one who should feel bad for keeping her in that hospital, locked up."

"Eric, I'm afraid you need some serious psychological help."

"I don't need any help," Eric says. "If you want to blame someone, blame Doctor Moreau for getting all Clockwork Orange on her in the first place. He wiped out mom's mind and then tried to do the same thing to Vince. I might have found out your secrets, but I didn't have anything to do with Victor's games. Who knows who the hell else he's done it to. Maybe you."

Michael remains silent. Despite the very fucked up nature of Eric's mental state, Michael knows who is really responsible for this. Victor was supposed to work for him. Not Eric. And certainly not Michael's own bastard of a father.

"Get out," Michael says.

"Gladly. I have work to do."

"Oh, you're finally going to step foot into the office I gave you?" Michael says, barely registering his son's presence anymore.

"I didn't mean actual work," Eric says, muttering as he leaves the room. "Nobody in this family ever seems to go to work anyway."

Michael shakes thoughts of Eric out of his mind and goes into his study. Closing the door behind him, he draws the blinds and turns on his desk light.

He swiftly removes a key from his pocket and uses it to unlock the sole locked drawer on the edge of his desk.

As he jerks the drawer open, his solution to his Victor problems glimmers in the overhead light. Michael reaches in and wraps his hand around the cold handgun.

"This ends, Victor," Michael says aloud, almost to himself, almost to a non-present Victor. "You've become a liability I no longer wish to afford...but this time, I think I'll be handling things personally."



BALE & MADDOCK LAW OFFICES

Darren opens the door to Robert's office and goes to the safe where he originally retrieved Melissa's will. He crouches down and unlocks it, sliding the metal door open. As Darren shoves the document inside, a manilla folder slides out from underneath it, falling to the floor.

"Oh...what's this?"

Darren curiously picks up the folder, clearly labeled "Kevin Hanley's Will" in crude, permanent marker. Ignoring the oddness of the folder's labeling, he sets it on the desk and gets his Nancy Drew on, flipping through the pages.

As he reads, he notices something odd in the will. There's money left for Michael Hanley and his Aunt Felicia.

"But they were cut out of the will," Darren says.

"Are you sure about this?" Robert asks, seated across from Valerie on the couch, staring at the papers now lying on the coffee table.

"Of course I'm sure," Valerie snaps. "You asked for my help, didn't you?"

"Yes, but…maybe I should let Felicia have her father's fortune," Robert says. "It would help her get back on her feet."

"That old bastard isn't dying anytime soon. And this is your guilt talking. I already gave back my share because of what that bastard did to me…Felicia should do the same."

"Maybe I could just ask her to."

"Coming from you? She'd take the money just to spite you."

"But what about —"

"And unfortunately, she's still upset with me over revealing her secret to you and Michael," Valerie says, anticipating Robert's next question. "This is the only way."

"Is this..." Darren returns to the safe and removes several other documents. One of them is the version of Kevin Hanley's will that was read one year ago. "This is the changed will."

But from the looks of things...Kevin had nothing to do with the alteration of his will. Which means that all of the changes belonged to Robert. Darren can hardly believe it, but now he's beginning to wonder exactly what lengths his uncle would go to in order to get revenge on Michael and Felicia.



EMERALD CEMETERY

"He has something to hide," Valerie says, staring at Kyle as he speaks with Rebecca and Father Grady.

"Everyone has something to hide, Valerie," Robert says, whispering.

"If anyone were to find out that we were responsible for altering Kevin Hanley's will and cutting Felicia and Michael out of their inheritance, we would be ruined."

Valerie hits Robert in the arm. "Why the hell are you bringing that up? What's wrong with you?"

Robert shrugs.

"And for such a diabolical plan, you sure never told me about me getting cut out of the will."

"Kevin had me add that in before he died," Robert says. "Sorry."

Valerie rolls her eyes. "Stuff your sorries in a sack, asshole."

As she speaks in hushed tones to Robert, both adults notice Simon, Felicia, and Matt staring directly at them. It's almost as if they can read Valerie and Robert's minds with the death glares they're receiving.

"Wave to your wonderful family," Robert says.

Valerie forces a smile. "The last thing I need is Felicia and Simon joining forces. I can't catch a break."

"You're telling me."

Robert cranes his neck toward Rebecca and Kyle. "I wonder what's going on with those two."

"Stop!"

"What the fuck?" Valerie says. She spins around to find an Asian woman hurrying toward them, nearly stumbling in the grass with her five-inch stiletto heels. "Who is this?"

"Rebecca?" Aaron says. "What are you doing here?"

"You can't hope that casket!" Rebecca Li says, gasping for air as she stops to catch her breath. "I won't allow it!"

"Everything's fine," Aaron says, drawing everyone's attention. "Rebecca was a bit confused, she thought we were digging up her husband's grave."

"He just died recently," Rebecca says, fanning herself. "I've been so heartbroken."

"Why the hell would you think we were digging up your husband's grave?" Valerie says. "Are you some kind of idiot?"

Rebecca leans in to Kyle and whispers, "I will scratch that bitch's eyes out."

"Calm down," Kyle says. "Your stalling plan has failed miserably."

"Then I guess it's time for you to pay the piper," Rebecca says. "You couldn't expect to slink around town for months hiding out without anyone finding out, did you?"

"I just didn't expect it to be so soon."

"Let's get this casket open," Father Grady says. "Then perhaps we can all have a peaceful day. Somewhere else."

Everyone nods in agreement as Valerie rushes on the casket by herself. Growing tired of all the waiting, she just wants to see for herself. She wraps her fingers around the head of the casket and lifts the lid, peering inside.

As she does, she gasps at the sight and drops the lid almost immediately. She first turns to Kyle and Rebecca, as they stare at her nervously. Her eyes then meet Father Grady's, moving along to Aaron, then Simon, Felicia, and Matt, the cemetery workers, and finally Robert.

"Oh God," Valerie says, her voice escaping from her lips in a grave tone. "No one will ever believe what I just saw in the casket."

"What is it?!" Everyone says loudly, almost in unison.

Valerie clears her throat and faces everyone. "Inside the casket, it was..."