I own nothing and have taken to borrowing other people's toys. Especially since they are not using them.
Prodigal Son
Chapter 4
Audrey woke up to the very worried blue eyes of Jason Quartermaine, smiling weakly at the young intern she asked to speak to Keisha. He told her that she had gone home but that Monica had taken the phone call earlier and needed to speak to her.
When Monica joined them she monitored the equipment, while telling Audrey that she had talked to the Boulder, Colorado police. "They said that Elizabeth has been living at the house since she returned from a ski trip in early April, without heat but the electricity was still on since they were attempting to sell the house."
"She went to school, finished out the year with good grades but her teachers made a note in her file to talk to her when she returned this fall in regards to her apparent loneliness and possible depression. No on at her school noticed she was on her own. She ran out of food in early June and had been getting fed when babysitting for her neighbors who had been paying her as well."
"The house was sold this week; Elizabeth found out, she also somehow located some money in a box at the house. A few thousand dollars, she left Boulder on a Greyhound bus headed this way. The reason any one knew she had left or anything about this was that Elizabeth left notes for the neighbors, apologizing for stealing a little bit of food here and there; she also left each of them a hundred dollars to pay for the food and using their showers. "
Monica saw Audrey looking bewildered and started to stop when the elderly woman said with a surprisingly strong voice, "What else?" seeing Monica's hesitation, she grabbed her hand saying "Please I just need to know."
"According to the police there is absolutely no record of Jeff's death, in fact the same neighbor's up in arms about Elizabeth told them that Jeff was supposed to be working out of town a little bit more this summer and they didn't usually run into Carolyn during the summer anyhow. Carolyn had told them that Sarah was moving to Port Charles to be with her sick and frail grandmother, to help comfort you in you time of need."
Seeing the fire in Audrey's eyes, Monica knew she would be fine if she continued. "The house was put up for sale, but the agent never meet with Jeff, Carolyn sent all paperwork back to her with it signed and notarized. The notary has turned out to not exist; the paperwork faxed back from Europe, with his signature is turning out to be a fake."
"Where are my stepson and my granddaughter, now?"
"They are tracking down Carolyn. Audrey they took Sarah into custody, she is being held as a material witness. Sean Donnelly called me when he found out about you and told me what they have. I sent Justus down since he is a little younger than Lee Baldwin; I am hoping he can get us some information."
"Thank you. Jason could you please do me a favor and go home and tell your grandmother that I need her to call me right away, tell her it is about an old friend, she will understand. Monica when can I leave this place?"
"In the morning, I will let you out, but your heart rate climbed over a hundred and fifty so for tonight you need to stay here."
"May I come in?" asked Justus. Seeing their nods, he suggested that Jason leave, after the blond left he sighed and sat down in the only chair not sure how to tell the woman what he had learned.
"Mr. Ward, just tell me, now." she said firmly.
"Okay the police have located Carolyn. She claims that Jeff went missing this spring after telling her he wanted a divorce, his luggage exited the plane from Boston but he never did. She also said that Elizabeth ran away from home around the same time. The police know that this is a lie; they found a note under a sofa from Carolyn to Elizabeth. Here is a faxed copy."
Justus saw Audrey and Monica's faces darken at what they read and Audrey's start to crumble. "Do you want me to keep going?" Seeing them nodding yes, he continued.
"Okay, the same day that Elizabeth arrived home from her class trip, she called your house; records show that she made a twenty-five minute phone call, since you were at work that evening they are assuming she talked to Sarah. The police arrested Sarah today for interfering in a police investigation. She lied to them again this morning when they questioned her and the Boulder police have a nice little file on Sarah."
"For what?" asked her grandmother stunned, Terri hadn't pressed charges for the theft so what else had Sarah been into.
"An ex-boyfriend, she tried to get him arrested for stalking, the problem was that she had made the calls to him, left him notes, and he basically kept every single one at his mother's orders, then Carolyn tried to press statuary rape charges in March only to find out that Sarah had been involved with others in similar situations, normally they would have looked further into it, but Sarah was sixteen, the guy at the time of the relationship was 19."
"I knew nothing about this, what did Sarah say about Elizabeth?"
"She told the police that she thought Elizabeth had runaway from home, like her mother claimed. We can't prove differently. I wish we could. I hate to say this but she is lying about something Mrs. Hardy. She would not say what they talked about on the phone."
"She won't need to; Justus I need you to go to my house, there is a device in my bedroom. If it is still operational then it should give us the information. As you know my late husband was the chief of staff here. We would miss calls sometimes and after the lawsuit that claimed he ignored the calls in regards to the case all incoming calls are taped. Lee advised us to tape all of them, not just the ones in regards to the hospital in case of another lawsuit. I just never thought I would need to use it to get my granddaughter to tell the truth. Monica I need to get to the jail, today."
"Fine, I will drive you myself."
"I arrived right on time then." asked Lila as she was rolled into the room by Reginald.
It was just about noon, when Elizabeth exited the bus in Kansas, she had no intention of getting caught and sent where ever they sent runaways. So she had exited the bus in Topeka instead of Kansas City. It looked like a nice enough sized city that changing her hair and clothes should be possible without drawing attention.
She went into the first bank she saw. "Hi, may I help you?" asked the teller.
Acting exasperated she said "Yes, my dad gave me some money for shopping but he told me to have it changed to small bills, since he didn't want people to know that he gave me this much money. I think he was afraid I would get robbed. Can I get some small bills?" With that she handed over five hundred dollars.
"Certainly miss, enjoy your shopping spree."
Going to the nearest mall, she went straight for the kind of place that Sarah would shop, and then purchased an item here and an item there, always using the hundred dollar bills; this was the last stop where she would use them.
The first thing she did was take the local transit bus to a central location, then with the map that the driver had provided she picked a different route that didn't run close to the bus station and got on it until she found a hair salon, when she saw it. One of those hair mills where they did twenty clients a day, she would be just one more head of hair there.
Walking out the door, she wasn't too thrilled with the vibrant red hair, but it would work with her pale coloring. Stopping to buy some lunch she stopped at the local thrift store and purchased a suitcase, nothing too big but a little worn out.
As she walked around the area she found a few more items that she could use in her plans then went back to the bus station, using a fake name since they hadn't asked for id she caught the next bus to Atlanta, which should confuse anyone looking for her. She promptly got on the bus and fell fast asleep.
Audrey entered the station and quickly found Sean talking to Mac Scorpio; she had called the private investigator as soon as she had finished talking to Lila.
"Mr. Scorpio, can you do this for me?" she asked urgently.
"I will do my best. Do you have any idea where she would go?"
"No, but there is something I think you need to hear. Sean can we do this in your office with Sarah there?"
Tiffany entered the room; she asked Audrey if she wanted her to make a public appeal for information.
"At this point no, Tiffany there are things you don't know, please just come in and listen to what I need to tell your husband and Mac here."
Justus entered as they waited for Sarah to be brought into the room, the blond burst into tears when she saw her grandmother, saying "Grams, they are saying I broke the law, help me. You know that I wouldn't do that."
Audrey suddenly felt her age, Sarah's jealousy over Elizabeth had caused so many problems over the years but this time, she didn't know what could be done for her eldest granddaughter. Turning to Justus she asked him to play the recording he had found at her house, when she had heard it's contents earlier, it had broken her heart.
"Oh grow up Elizabeth. Obviously they aren't there. Mom and Dad took a job in Bosnia."
"What am I supposed to do?" she asked.
"Can't you take a hint, just go away, that is what you are supposed to do. Didn't you read the note, for god's sake Lizzie, no one wanted you anyhow. You were just rubbish that dad found behind the hospital here in Port Charles. They felt sorry for you so they took you in, but let's face it. You have been nothing but trouble since you were brought home.
Mom and Dad are sick of dealing with you, so why don't you return to the rubbish heap you came from."
The silence in the room after that was stunning, Audrey turned to Sarah and asked if she wanted to tell the truth now.
"I'm sorry Grams, but she is such a drama queen, Mom had made plans for her to join her in Europe but Elizabeth ran away, she didn't want to go."
Audrey was frustrated she was still lying. "Why then did you come here and say she was with your mother and also what do you know about your father's whereabouts?"
"DAD is dead; Mom said he died in Boston. As for the drama queen, she got what she deserved. She should have just gone with Mom."
"She was on a school trip, she didn't runaway. Now why don't you explain why you lied to Sean?"
"I was just sick and tired of Miss little perfection, getting all this attention, which is why she does things just to get everyone's attention."
"Sean I don't think she knows anything." she said wearily. "For the record, Sarah your father is missing he isn't dead and Elizabeth was living at the house, until she heard it had been sold. Now she is missing."
"Mrs. Hardy I'm not going to press charges, I think you have enough to deal with right now. I will inform the Boulder police of Mac's private investigation, and what we heard on the tape. "
"Thank you, Sarah I need you to wait outside, sit down and don't even think about moving or that convent school in Canada is going to be a real possibility."
"Now that she is gone there is reason we need to keep this quiet, Tiffany I need you to promise me that no matter what this doesn't get out, even if we need to release the missing persons report locally." Seeing the former actress nod, Mrs. Hardy handed over the file she had to Mac and Sean.
"Holy Mary, mother of god, how the hell?" that was all that Sean could say.
"Sarah told the truth, Jeff did find Elizabeth behind the dumpster at the hospital, and someone had tossed her there. When we found out that there were only those particular relatives alive, we kept her and this secret for thirteen and a half years."
"Audrey, I will burn this as soon as we finish. Does Elizabeth know?"
"No, but knowing the stubbornness and pride of my granddaughter, I guarantee she goes looking for answers. She CANNOT find them. Jeff was waiting for her fifteenth birthday. Now he is missing, he accidentally stumbled across something earlier this year and was concerned this could become open fact."
"Audrey I will get started right away, the girls are going over to Bobbie's. I have no idea where Felicia is. If you need me or get any kind of clue, call me on my cell phone, here is my card with all my numbers on it."
"Mac, find her first, then find out what happened to Jeff. If you can't find me and need a question answered try Monica she used to be married to my son. Strangely enough they are closer now that they are divorced then when they were married. Lila and she are the only other two who know of this, Alan knows there is a secret but doesn't know the contents. That was his idea."
Watching as the detective left, she turned to Sean "I hope he is as good as you say."
Jason watched AJ from the shadows of the stairs; he waited until his brother left then went straight to his room, quietly searching it. Something had been wrong with his brother for months, then today he had eaten strawberries, no one had been at home except Emily and the servants, so he had thought no one was watching him.
As he methodically searched he found nothing more suspicious than a brochure for the clinic he had attended with hangmen drawn all over it and the name Billy repeatedly under the noose. Giving up on the room, he tried his briefcase, inside were the usual papers, including the business in Italy he had been pressing his grandfather on buying.
As Jason started to leave he grabbed the memo pad and wrote down the number for the clinic maybe something happened there that had set his brother off down this new path in life where everything needed to be blamed on others. The old AJ had been a screw up but he had owned his mistakes not like the stranger that had came home.