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It looks like the next lead in the search for Days of Our Lives‘ John is going to take Steve and Marlena to Minsk. Yes, they seem to be willing to let the ISA take over at this point, but we can’t see them actually abandoning the search without finding John. The duo got this next big lead on Thursday’s episode after grilling Orpheus for information. Not that he was much help… Or was he?

Steve and Marlena thought they could appeal to Orpheus’ humanity by claiming the nuclear device he was working on would harm not just strangers, but his kids and grandchildren. It had seemed to work, with Orpheus agreeing to give them the info they wanted, while asking an extra favor of Marlena to help his son, Christian, in his custody fight to see his kid.

Christian terrorized Ciara, too, since she was determined to prove he killed Jordan, instead of Ben.

Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI

It’s not entirely clear which kid, though. Christian Maddox (who went by the alias Evan Frears for a time in Salem) actually has two sons — David, with the late Jordan Ridgeway, whom he murdered, which ended up getting him tossed into jail — and Shawn Christian, with Jan Spears. In fact, the last we saw of Christian back in 2022, Jan pushed him into the water at the Salem docks, swiped their son and ran off. Her attempts to pass the baby off as Shawn’s failed, but she wasn’t about to let Evan/Christian have him.

We’ll admit, we lost track of Orpheus’ son a bit after that, but we guess he’s back in custody since dad asked for Marlena’s help with him being allowed to see his kid. And we’re guessing, since Jan’s almost certainly on the run (and shouldn’t and likely wouldn’t be granted custody of any child), the kid in question is Christian and Jordan’s. His big sister, Zoey got custody of the tot and is raising both David and her son together in Switzerland.

Orpheus’ favor was all well and good until we learned he was lying about what he knew of the black market in Latvia. He then called Marlena black, admitted he lied and told her he could take her to John if she got him free. Marlena was sure Orpheus was also lying about that as she and Steve had figured out where the black market selling the nuclear device was on their own.

Could Orpheus have actually been telling Marlena the truth for once?

But what if Orpheus was telling the truth? The villain seemed oddly sincere when he called after her and Steve saying they were making a mistake and that without him, she’d never see John again. Maybe he did truly want help for Christian — he just also wanted to get out of ISA custody. Help Marlena and he could have secured both those things.

What makes us truly wonder if he could have led Marlena to John, though, is the fact that she didn’t take him up on his offer. Because we all know Marlena won’t, sadly, see John again. At least, not alive. This could have been the make or break point that decided whether she’d make it to John in time or now.

Knowing we won’t be able to see John again is bad enough, but the thought that Marlena might have had the chance to save him and it slipped through her fingers? That would be heartbreaking.

But, as we learned back when executive producer Ken Corday said the show was telling this story, the hope was always that Drake Hogestyn would recover. A way to bring John back was written into the farewell story. Perhaps this was it. But sadly, if so, the show will never have the chance to use it.