"The door to the mausoleum lied directly ahead of Lee and young Adam Junior. Lee continued to urge the young boy to go inside the crypt so that he could see "the ghost." If Dixie hadn't come along, Lee could very well have... done something unthinkable. Dixie grabbed a hold of her son and pulled him out of the unknown man's clutches. She blasted Lee for being near her son and asked him who he was and why he was lurking on the grounds. Lee, somewhat taken by Dixie's forcefulness, took a few steps back and explained that he was a groundskeeper. Dixie seemed satisfied by his answer, but she warned him that he could get himself into a lot of trouble by hanging around young children. She also noted that taking a child into a spooky, old mausoleum could cause the child to have nightmares. Lee bowed his head and said that he hadn't thought about that and that he was "just funnin' the boy." Lee headed off to get back to work, or so he claimed. That left Dixie to scold her son for talking to strangers. Junior promised that he'd never do it again.
Since she'd been away and not been able to keep up-to-the-minute, Belinda dropped by Trevor's house for a little pre-trial tete-a-tete. As she entered, she overheard Trevor ending a phone call with Edmund. Edmund had phoned to say that he failed to dig up anything incriminating on Jim's brother, Bob. Belinda flashed a puzzled look and stated that she didn't know that Jim had a brother. Trevor filled his partner in on all the juicy details about Bob's sudden appearance and how he'd made Jim look like a modern day saint. Belinda frowned and wondered if there was anything that they could do to counteract Bob's testimony. The doorbell rang several times before Amanda appeared and asked if anyone was going to answer the door. Amanda opened the door and looked curiously at a slender gentleman wearing a bowler-type hat and glasses. She must have thought that the man was another Albert and asked her father if the man at the door was "for real." Trevor introduced the man, a long-time acquaintance, as Alfred Vanderpoole. The man said that he was now a branch manager at the local bank, the same bank at which Trevor had his account. Trevor worried that something was wrong with his bank account---or possibly one of the checks that he'd cashed. That was not the case; a house call warranted something bigger than a bounced check. Alfred said that his new position as branch manager landed an interesting account on his desk: a safe deposit box given to James Thomasen. Alfred explained that he hadn't looked at the box, but that none of Jim's relatives had come to claim the box either. Alfred stated that he was worried about what he might find in Jim's box. Trevor's mind whirred into overdrive. He raced to the phone and placed an urgent call to another of his old friends. Janet pulled her husband aside and asked him what he was up to. She knew that whatever it was wasn't going to be something that she wanted to hear. Trevor confirmed that what he had planned wasn't exactly legal. In an attempt to reassure his wife, he told her that, "there's illegal and then there's illegal." Later, Derek arrived at the house to discuss Trevor's phone call. Derek refused to cooperate with Trevor's plan. He said that he could get into serious trouble and that helping Trevor wouldn't exactly endear him to Keith McClean. Trevor begged Derek to help him. He reminded him that Brooke's future was at stake and asked him to reconsider. Meanwhile, Amanda told Janet that Harold was still refusing to eat his food. The problem had gone on for at least several weeks and Amanda was becoming more and more concerned. Janet promised to take Harold to the veterinarian if Harold wasn't better by the next day.
Tad dropped by Brooke's to pick up Jamie and take him to Wildwind for some swimming. His clothing was wrinkled and Tad generally looked like he'd gotten little sleep the night before. Phoebe noticed Tad's appearance and accused him of partying all night while the mother of his child faced another day in court. Tad didn't explain. He simply said that he had not been partying. Dimitri showed up a few minutes later and, needless to say, he was not at all pleased to see Tad. Tad told Dimitri that he thought it was best for him to leave. Phoebe piped in that she was in total agreement. Dimitri stated that he wanted to see if Brooke was okay. Tad immediately assumed that Dimitri had done something to upset Brooke. Brooke walked down the steps and explained that Dimitri had actually saved her. She told the tale of her encounter with Bob in the witness room.. Jamie dashed down the steps and announced that was ready to go swimming. Jamie dashed out the door. Tad followed his son to the car and Phoebe went to check on her luncheon plans with Juanita Ramsey. Brooke thanked Dimitri for all the help he's given her over the past few weeks. "You needed help and I wanted to help you," Dimitri replied. It was, perhaps, the most sincere explanation ever to leave Dimitri's lips. Brooke asked Dimitri to stay for lunch, but Dimitri felt that neither Phoebe nor Juanita would want him in their company. Brooke suggested that they could have lunch by themselves. Dimitri smiled meekly and told Brooke that he'd lied. He hadn't just lied to her---or himself, for that matter---he lied under oath. "I said that I didn't love you," Dimitri said softly. "The truth is, I do." He told Brooke that she shouldn't feel obligated to say anything in return. He just wanted to set the record straight and stop the lies. Dimitri flashed another semi-smile and told Brooke that he'd see her later in court.
When Phoebe returned to the room, she found Brooke sitting on the sofa in a daze. If the eyes are the window to one's soul, Brooke's soul was on the verge of crying. She asked her aunt if it was possible that a person could become so numb that they no longer had feelings. Phoebe nodded and said that after all that Brooke has been through, it was only natural for her to be feeling out of synch. Brooke likened herself to "an amputee," in that she was trying to reach for something and did not have the ability to use her arms. The only thing that Brooke could feel, she said, was fear. Phoebe sighed and urged her niece to hang in there and to not let anyone try to force her to feel anything.
Tad and Jamie arrived at Wildwind and bumped into Dixie and Jamie just a few feet away from the mausoleum. The two boys scurried to the swimming pool, where Junior bragged that he'd just gone off the high dive. Dixie's heart still pounded as she thought of her son hurling himself into the water from several feet in the air. Like Phoebe, Dixie could see that Tad had had a rough night. She assumed that he'd been up all night working on a strategy to nail Bob. Tad said that he'd made some phone calls and that nothing had panned out. Dixie insisted that Tad must have an ace up his sleeve. She told Tad that she'd seen the way he's been acting lately, something that intrigued Tad. He joked that he might start thinking that Dixie still had feelings for him if she continues to keep such close tabs on him. Dixie headed to the pool to check on the kids, but when she returned she heard Tad finishing up a phone call. "I owe you one," Tad said with a smile. Dixie strutted towards Tad and asked him if the man on the other end had given him good news. The person on the other end was a woman, Tad said correcting his ex-wife. He also claimed that the woman was someone from WRCW who agreed to take his calls and do some of his work so that he could be at the courthouse when Brooke's trial reconvened. Dixie feared that unless there was some type of divine intervention, Brooke was going to end up in jail. Tad smiled slightly and said that he guessed that Dixie was right.
The drama at Cortlandt Manor continued. Mike blasted Palmer for giving him the slip. Opal didn't like the way that Mike was talking about her errant husband and began defending Palmer's good name. Mike explained that Palmer had feigned blindness so that he could get the painting out of the mansion. It seemed like an obvious setup, but Opal refused to believe Mike's scenario. Mike asked Opal for fifteen minutes to prove that he was telling her the truth. He began feeling the wall and tapping it in several locations. Opal rolled her eyes and mused that Mike was "[becoming] one with the wall." Mike hit a spot on the wall and suddenly one of the panels swung open. Inside the secret compartment was a stash of old picture frames. Opal's eyes bulged and her mouth dropped open. Mike gasped when he realized that Palmer had cut the paintings from their frames. He surmised that Palmer must have snuck the paintings out in shipping tubes or rolls of carpet. "Windowshades," Opal gasped. She recalled seeing about half a dozen shades outside the secret room. There were no windows in the basement and slowly reality began to rain down upon Opal. Mike examined the frames and somehow determined that one was from a Rembrandt painting and another from a Reubens work. "He lied to me, his wife," Opal said in shock. Mike quickly raced over to Opal and helped her into Palmer's chair. Mike vowed to track down Palmer so that the paintings could be returned to their rightful owners. Opal had been convinced of her husband's guilt until she realized that he could be facing fines and jail time. She painted on a warrior's face and raced to her husband's defense. She blasted Mike for telling lies about her husband. She also ripped into him for turning Erica's life upside-down with a plethora of lies. Opal insisted that her life had been happy until Mike returned from the dead. Mike told Opal that he knew that that was not true. Opal responded by slapping Mike across the cheek. "I'm not the enemy," Mike responded. He left Opal and said that he would send someone over to collect the frames. Opal waited until Mike left before breaking down. She sank into the red leather chair and sobbed uncontrollably. "No one has ever loved you as much as me," she said aloud. How, she asked herself, could Palmer had hurt her so deeply.
Palmer took one last look at his pictures which, as Opal suspected, were wrapped up in windowshades. He then tucked the pictures into a old pipe somewhere in the secret passage.
Derek succumbed to Trevor's pressure and agreed to go to the bank to investigate the safe deposit box. Derek remained worried that he could get into some type of trouble. Trevor handed Derek a "lucky pen" and asked him to use that pen to sign the log file. Derek told Trevor that he hopes he finds what he's looking for. Derek opened the box and he, Belinda, and Trevor gasped simultaneously. The contents of the box prompted a stunning reaction from Trevor. "That son of a... if Brooke hadn't shot him, I would have," Trevor snarled."
- Soap Central