John and Marlena (Finally) Get a Q!

Chapter 89 - Limbo

It was sometime later that Roman had his arm around his bewildered daughter's shoulders as he gently guided her into the trauma center. Lexie was among those with him, and she quickly arranged for a room for Carrie.

"Don't leave me, Daddy," she begged with huge, haunted eyes as he helped settle her on the bed.

"It's all right pumpkin, I won't leave you," he promised in a soft voice as he stroked her hair. The truth was, he was afraid to leave her. She seemed to have no idea what had happened tonight, and her mood was swinging wildly. He was afraid that any further shock might be the catalyst that caused her to completely lose her grip on reality. If she hadn't already.

All he had every wanted to do was protect his family. His gorgeous wife and his beautiful babies. What a miserable job he had done of it.

"Roman, I need to talk to you," Abe motioned toward the door. Roman felt Carrie's hands clutch at him desperately and he felt tears in his eyes. He didn't know what to do, he wanted so desperately to be able to shield his family from this pain, but he knew that was impossible. Carrie had shot two people and the law was going to want to know why. He needed to know why. For all their sakes.

"It's all right Roman," Lexie touched him gently on the shoulder. "I'll make sure she's safe."

"I'll stick here Dad," Eric offered, taking Carrie's chilled hand in his. "You go and do what you have to do." Roman nodded.

"I have to go and talk to Abe, pumpkin. But I'll be right back, okay?" She nodded uncertainly. "I'll be just outside the room if you need me." He kissed her on the forehead and left her to follow Abe out of the room.

"Any clues partner?" he asked as he pulled the constricting bow tie from around his throat. Abe watched him pull the top two buttons of his dress shirt open and then shook his head.

"We haven't found a thing, Roman. The gun was unregistered and there's no lead to where it came from or how Carrie got it. We know Carrie went away for a couple of weeks. Austin even asked me to look for her because she hadn't contacted him. But we have no idea where she was or what she did."

Abe looked as guilty as he felt. If only he had done as Austin had asked, the young man might not be lying in the morgue right now. Roman had no time however to appease Abe's guilty conscience.

"So, Carrie was gone for at least two weeks, and we have no idea where. And then she pulls a gun on John and shoots her husband."

"She'd been back for a while." Abe appraised him. "You know that. We're talking to staff she works with at Titan now to see if her behavior since she returned will give us any indication as to whether there was something odd after she came back to Salem." He sighed; the weight of the night's events heavy on his shoulders. "Roman, you know that we are...-" Roman put up his hand to stop Abe from speaking.

"Don't say it, Abe. Just don't say it. It's not her. She didn't do this. There's something else going on and you know it as well as I do."

"I know buddy," Abe's sympathy was all too real. He had found himself in a similar position with Jonah at one time. And he hated to see the Bradys suffer through yet another tragedy. Wasn't enough, enough already? "But you know the procedure, Roman. Carrie shot John and killed Austin. That's all we know right now. A crime has been committed."

Roman could feel the scars on his back tearing at him. In times of stress, the memory of the pain that had been inflicted on him had an unpleasant way of returning to haunt him. He covered his eyes with his hand for a moment, trying to sort out his chaotic thoughts.

"Abe, she doesn't even realize that Austin is dead, much less know that she did it. Do you have any idea what arresting her might do to her mental state?"