Love At Second Sight
*Chapter 29*
"Hold it right there!" Jason yells out "Turn around!" he orders in a firm tone
Jack slowly turns around with his hands held up in the air; his mind was a buzz trying to come up with an excuse to escape the clutches of the mob hit man and the gun he had pointed dead straight at him.
Jasmine comes running up behind Jason "Jason what's…" she stops in place when she sees he has a gun pointed at some guy with his hands up in the air.
"Jasmine stay back" Jason tells her as he keeps his eyes trained straight ahead on the man in front of him "Who are you?" he asks
Coming up with a quick plan that he hoped to God worked, Jack stutters out "H-h hey uh I d-d don't know wha, what's going on here pal b-b but c-c could yy-y you not point th-that gun at me. Whatever, Whatever yo-you di swear I w-won't ccc call the cops. I I I dd didn't sss see nnnn noth nothing."
Placing her hand on Jason's shoulder, Jasmine says "Jason put the gun down…"
Not yet convinced of the act, Jason yells "I asked you a question! Who are you?" he repeats
"My, my, my name is Walter" Jack lies and quickly reaches for his wallet where he kept his phony license. He had many fake identities throughout the years of his profession along with matching fake passports and identification. "W-W-Walter Davison…h-h-here take my, take my w-wallet. Just p p please don't hurt me!" he holds out the wallet with the fake New York State license of a one Walter Davison inside
Walking closer to him, Jason snatches the wallet out of his hand and looks inside at the license. "What are you doing up here in the middle of nowhere Walter?" he asks
Jack quickly tells him a made up yet convincing story of how Walter was looking for the old make out spot he use to come to as a kid and that he was planning on bringing his wife up here to the place they use to come to when they were young and in high school. He goes on to say that it was him and his wife's anniversary and he wanted to surprise her by taking her back to the place where they fell in love when they were kids and which also happens to be the place where he proposed marriage to her.
"A-a-and that's the truth I swear! Please sir…d-don't kill me."
"Jason put the gun down…please" Jasmine pleads with him; she didn't want him to get in trouble because he held a gun on a innocent bystander for nothing
After listening to his story, Jason slowly lowers his gun down to his side "I'm not going to kill you."
Dropping down to his knees, Jack…well Walter says "Thank you, thank you, thank you sir!"
"Tell me what you heard back there…"
Shaking his head, Jack/Walter says "Nothing…I swear!"
Holding up his gun again, Jason yells "Don't Lie To Me!"
Raising his hands back up at his sides, Jack/Walter shouts "I Swear I Didn't Hear Anything! I was just coming up on the spot I was looking for but when I saw someone was there I turned around and started to leave."
"Why were you running?!"
"I don't know I, I, I panicked when I heard something following me so I, I, I just started to hurry back to my car and then that's, that's when you…" he leaves the rest of his well spun lie unsaid
Jason sighs as he lowers his gun once again "Stand up" he orders…once he's standing Jason walks over so he's standing right in front of him "You were never here…you never saw me or my lady friend here today. This never happened. Got it" he stares his ice cold baby blue eyes into Walter's frightened ones
Quickly nodding his head, Jack/Walter replies "Yes, yes sir. I got it."
"Good, because if I ever find out you lied to me and that you went around talking about things you know nothing about…" Jason pauses for a moment then says "I'm gonna come after you." holding up his wallet, Jason reads off his address "Walter Davison 1500 Broad Drive, Port Charles, New York. I know where you live and if I have to I have no problem in coming to pay you a visit. Understand?" he holds out the wallet for him to take
Keeping up his act of the frightened smuck, Jack/Walter slowly and carefully raises his shaky hand up and slips his wallet free from the hold of the menacing mob enforcer as he says "Yes sir"
"Leave…" Jason orders him
No sooner than the words were out of Jason's mouth did Jack take off running to his car and speed off leaving a cloud of dust behind him
Turning around to face Jasmine, Jason asks "Are you okay?"
With a slight nod, Jasmine walks towards him until she's standing right in front of him "Yeah…as fine as I can be after watching my boyfriend threaten the life of some guy that had the bad luck to pick this time to come looking for the old make out spot where he proposed to his wife."
"I'm sorry you had to see that…but I had to make sure the guy didn't hear anything. No one can know about what happened with…" Jason leaves the rest unsaid
"I know" Jasmine sighs "And believe me that guy was so scared he probably wet his pants as soon as he hopped inside his car."
"Yeah well let's get out of here" Jason says as he looks around making sure no one else was lurking "We got lucky this time. I'm starting to think it was a mistake to come out here to talk about this." Looking down into her eyes he says "Besides the one we need to be talking to is your brother; we don't want him slipping up."
"I'll call him and tell him to meet us back at your place…with all the guards we'll know no one will be around to over hear anything they shouldn't."
Placing his hand at the small of her back, Jason leads Jasmine back to where they left his motorcycle while she makes the call to Angelo.
*Sonny's Office at the Warehouse*
"Oh My God!" Carly says in a sharp whisper as she runs her hands through her already disheveled hair after hearing Luke's loud voice on the other side of the door.
This was unbelievable…here she was completely naked on top of Sonny's desk after just having had the most incredible sex ever and LUKE of all people picks this exact moment to show up! It's a good thing he didn't get there a couple minutes earlier; Carly was grateful for that much at least.
Giving Sonny's bare shoulder a hard smack, Carly asks in frantic whisper "What is he doing here?!"
Sonny's eyes are open wide in shock as he stares at the door wondering why Luke had to choose this moment to come trying to barge his way into his office.
"Ow!" Sonny yelps from feeling the sharp sting of Carly's swat on his shoulder "What was that for?" he asks in a sharp whisper of his own
"What the hell is Luke doing here?" Carly asks again in a sharp whisper
"How should I know? He's your crazy Uncle…"
"Yeah but he's your silent partner!" Carly counters back with and then adds "He certainly didn't come here to your office to see me!"
"Who the hell knows what Luke thinks?!"
"Well what the hell are we gonna do?!" Pushing at his chest for him to back up some, Carly hops off the top of the desk as she says "How long do you think Max is gonna be able to hold him off ?"
Sonny watches Carly as she searches for her bra and panties on the floor and then picks up her Jacket…he couldn't help but chuckle at the way she was running around like a teenage kid that was about to get busted by her parents.
"What are you doing? Calm down. Max is at the door, he won't let him in…" Sonny tells her as he puts his boxers on then walks over to where she stood clutching her jacket, bra and panties in her hand
"I can't believe you're laughing at a time like this!" Carly snaps "This is Luke we're talking about Sonny. You don't think he'll find a way to barge in here past Max?"
"HEY SONNY! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!" Luke bellows then adds "What the Hell's going on in there so important that Magilla Gorilla won't let me in?!"
Carly snaps a look at Sonny "You see! He's not going away…what happens if he does get past Max? I don't have any clothes to put on Sonny. He's gonna know what we've been doing. Look at me my hair is a freakin mess and I'm naked with only my bra, panties and a jacket to wear."
Trying hard not to laugh at her, Sonny replies "Baby calm down. I promise you Max won't let Luke get in here. He knows if he does that there'll be hell to pay later; don't worry Luke's not getting in here."
"You don't know that for sure Sonny…" Carly tells him as she looks around the office then asks "Is there another way out of here? Some way I can sneak out without Luke noticing me…"
Letting a small chuckle escape, Sonny immediately regrets it when he sees the death glare she snaps at him "Sorry" he quickly apologizes "But you should see yourself…you look so cute acting like a teenager about to get busted."
Swatting his shoulder again, Carly tells him "I can't believe you're making fun of me at a time like this! This is not funny Sonny! Now is there another way out of here? I know there has to be. You're a freakin Mob Boss for goodness sakes there has to be a hidden door or something somewhere in here."
Throwing her jacket down to the floor, Carly quickly starts to put on her panties but when she goes to put her bra on, Sonny grabs her hand stopping her from doing so; he keeps trying hard not to laugh.
Pulling her close, Sonny softly tells her in a low husky tone as he lowers his gaze down to her naked breast pressed against his chest… "You're not going anywhere. I'll handle it okay"
After flashing her a dimpled smile, Sonny places a quick yet tender kiss to her lips. As their lips part he winks at her then goes around picking up his clothes from the floor.
Watching as he gets dressed, Carly asks "What are you gonna do?"
After buttoning his shirt, Sonny tucks it into his pants and zips up his zipper…"I'm gonna get rid of him"
Carly stays silent as Sonny puts on his suit jacket; he walks over to her and takes her in his arms giving her a passionate through kiss.
As their lips part, Sonny tells her "Be right back…don't go nowhere"
With a little chuckle and a shake of her head, Carly replies "Oh yeah and where exactly can I go. I'm trapped."
Once again Sonny reminds her "Hey you're the one who came over in your little jacket to seduce me…"
Frustrated, Carly cuts him off… "And if you don't get rid of my pest of an Uncle I swear you're gonna be taking a lot of cold showers because you'll be sleeping on the couch. Now go…get rid of him!" Carly tells him with a little smirk of a smile although still serious to her word
Sonny flashes her a dimpled smile "Just stay quiet and out of sight. I won't let him get past the door" he tells her and then begins to walk to the door
Quickly putting her bra on and then the jacket, Carly decides she needed some sort of hiding place. An idea quickly comes to her as she practically runs over to his desk. Just as she's about to sit in the chair, Carly accidentally steps on the heel of one of her shoes that she'd kicked off earlier.
"Damn it…" she curses in a sharp whisper while hopping on one foot.
Looking over at Sonny as he stops in front of the door, Carly is on pins and needles as his hand reaches for the door knob. Sucking up the pain, she quickly slips the shoes on her feet then plops down in Sonny's black leather chair. Turning the chair around so the back is facing the door, Carly keeps herself as quiet as possible while she scoots down in the chair so that the top of head couldn't be seen.
Opening the door, Sonny wasn't able to get a word out before Luke pushes his way past Max and inside the office as he rants out… "Well it's about time Corinthos! What the hell took you so long?!"
Thinking to himself, Sonny inwardly says "Well so much for not letting him get past the door"
Exhaling a sigh, Sonny's eyes immediately go wide as he looks around the room wondering where Carly managed to slip off to…he closes the door while watching Luke pull out a cigar and lights it as he sits down in one of the chairs opposite of his desk.
"By all means Luke…make yourself at home." Sonny says in a flat tone.
Walking over to his desk, Sonny goes to sit in his chair but gets a surprise as he sees Carly scrunched down in his chair.
Halting in place as his mouth drops open at the shock of seeing her there "Whoa Oh…" Sonny was at a loss of words
Carly glares menacingly at him as she silently warns him not to blow her hiding place.
Luke suspiciously watches Sonny as he just stands there staring at his chair.
Biting down on the cigar, Luke grumpily asks "What's with you? Why don't you sit down in the chair, I don't think it's gonna bit ya…"
Carly gestures for Sonny to get the hell away from the chair before she strangles him with her bare hands…
Quickly covering his actions, Sonny clears his throat as he walks over to the mini bar "Whatever it is you want Luke just say it already…my time is valuable and I don't have time to waste arguing with you. I have meetings all day long so spit it out already…" he pours himself a scotch while discretely glimpsing over at his chair
Luke is about to address the issue of why he came over but he begins to take a look around the office…he sees that papers are scattered all over the floor and that the phone was lopsided practically about to fall off the side of the desk. He then takes a good look at Sonny…his eyes narrow as he notices that Sonny's hair is disheveled and curly instead of tamed and slicked back by gel.
Sonny notices Luke looking at him funny "What?" he asks as he takes a gulp of his drink and makes another quick glance over at his chair
"What happened in here? For a control freak that likes to keep everything in order this place sure is a mess" Luke says as he gestures a hand to the papers on the floor
Carly cringes in the chair as she curses herself for not picking up everything Sonny pushed off his desk before lifting her up and sitting her on top of it.
Making up a quick excuse, Sonny says "I uh, just uh I had a little accident and dropped some papers that's all. Don't worry about it I'll get it up later." he clears his throat some while making another glance to his chair then looks back at Luke "So uh you never told me why you're here Luke…" he tries to change the subject
Knowing that something was up, Luke wasn't about to let it go until he found out what "Yeah, we'll get to that in a minute. You're acting strange partner? I can't quite put my finger on why or what's going on but…"
Cutting him off, Sonny says "Nothing's going on except you for the fact that you're trying my patience. I told you I have a lot of work to do."
"And why is that? Because you blew everything off to go chasing after my niece…"
Sighing "Is that what this is all about? You're mad because I went out of town with Caroline?"
"The way I hear it she left with some girlfriends of hers and you and Morgan went crashing in like two whipped love sick lapdogs in heat!" Luke chuckles
"How I spend my time isn't any of your business Luke; and besides Caroline didn't mind much after she got use to the idea of me being there. Now if that's all then you can leave."
"You're pretty eager to get me outta here" Luke says and then takes a long drag of his cigar and blows out the smoke "What's that all about?"
"I told you I'm busy"
"Yeah, busy. Whatever…" Luke brushes off his comment not believing him one bit "What's with the hair? Where's the pound of gel you drench your lovely locks of hair with." he pauses for a moment then adds "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were…"
"Why the sudden interest in my hair?" Sonny interrupts then adds "If you must know since you're so nosey and won't let it go Caroline likes my hair in its natural state. I thought I'd surprise her when I meet up with her later…" he shrugs his shoulders
Laughing "If that's true then why are you being so defensive…" Luke asks. He then notices the smell of perfume and begins to sniff "You smell that?"
"Smell what?" Sonny asks getting frustrated
"Smells like women's perfume in here…" Luke says as he continues to sniff the air "Perfume mixed with something else I can't quite figure out yet…"
"How the hell can you smell anything through the fog of smoke coming from that stinky cigar of yours?" Sonny asks while gesturing a hand towards his cigar between his teeth. Luke just grins and Sonny gets more annoyed… "Anything else Luke?" he asks through gritted teeth and a forced smile
Standing up from his chair, Luke replies "Yeah I messed up the books at the club again. You're gonna have to go back over them…"
"You what?!" Sonny snaps
"Hey don't blame me it's your fault Corinthos!" Luke says after taking his cigar out of his mouth and gesturing his hand towards Sonny "You're the one that left without letting me know anything! And why was that…" he asks and then quickly answers "So my sweet little niece could have her whipped boy toy at her beck and call." he chuckles "You know this has got to be a first…a whipped Mobster. Although I gotta give Sweet Caroline credit…she's a true Spencer alright; she's got you more whipped than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest."
As Luke roars in laughter, Sonny just stares completely frustrated "You know what I'm gonna forget that last part of what you said…"
Laughing…"Why? It's true" Luke says butting in
Sonny continues on as if Luke hadn't said anything "And from now on you keep your paws off the books. In fact I'm gonna hire an accountant for the club"
"What for? Why should I pay money to some stuffy new accountant when I have you?"
"Because I said so that's why" Sonny tells him the way it's gonna be "Finito! End of Story. And heaven help the poor guy for being able to read through your chicken scratch and go through the rats trap you call a filing system."
"Hey I resent that" Luke chimes in defensively "Those are perfectly good shoe boxes. I've got everything in order and all the receipts over the years stuffed in their own box."
"Yeah…" Sonny scoffs "Shoe boxes that once held your old stinky shoes from over two decades ago."
"Why should I throw out perfectly good shoe boxes? Think of it as recycling" Luke points out
Walking him over to the door, Sonny says "Believe me Luke, the world and not to mention my nose can do without your lousy attempts of recycling. Why can't you recycle like everyone else?" he asks with a little chuckle
Grinning, Luke replies "Me be like everyone else…bite your tongue Corinthos." he smirks then adds "Luke Spencer is an original…a one of a kind…a jack of all trades…a"
"A pain in the ass" Sonny cuts in as he pushes Luke out the door and closes it in his face
Hearing the door finally close, Carly slowly and carefully peeks from around the chair and whispers "Is the coast clear?"
Seeing her peeking around the chair, Sonny flashes her a dimpled smile "Finally" he replies "Took forever to get him outta here…" he walks over to her still sitting in his chair
Exhaling a long sigh, Carly replies "As long as he's gone, I don't care. But hey, you almost gave us away to the suspicious Old Goat." she quickly points out as Sonny is now standing in front of her as she looks up at him while still sitting in his chair "With all questions he kept asking I almost thought he was gonna figure us out."
Carly wasn't surprised when Sonny pulled her up from the chair and into his arms; she expected him to and as he did she laughs playfully and wraps her arms around him. They stare lovingly into each other's eyes as she lightly wets her lips; she loved the feel of being in his arms again and of course the fact that her crazy uncle was finally gone.
"Shhhh" Sonny flashes her another dimpled smile then says "He's gone and that's all that matters…I don't want to think about him anymore; besides wouldn't you rather go home with me? Our home" he places a soft kiss to her lips "We can spend the rest of the day in bed" he whispers against her lips "Kind of like our own private house warming" he grins "What do you think?"
With a little giggle, Carly tells him "Well what about work? I wouldn't want to distract you any longer if you're busy…"
"Well I'm the boss so I get to come and go as I please…and right now I'm ready to go home with the wo…" Sonny is suddenly cut off mid sentence as the door bursts open
"AH HA!"
Both Sonny and Carly look at the door and see Luke standing there pointing at them; their jaws drop to the floor as they just stand in place with their eyes bugged out looking at Luke
"I KNEW IT!" Luke laughs at them "You can't fool Luke Spencer…do I look like I got stupid written across my face?"
Carly buries her head in Sonny's chest…
"Get out Luke" Sonny tells him as he still has his arms wrapped around Carly's waist; good thing she had the good sense to put her jacket back on earlier
"No wonder you kept looking at that damn chair every five seconds; you thought I didn't notice didn't ya" Luke chuckles
"OUT" Sonny barks
Leaning back from Sonny's chest, Carly says "Okay that's it" she takes off one of her shoes and raises it up as she shoots her uncle a look that could kill "Unless you want my heel print forever embedded in your thick skull I suggest you get the hell out of here right now Luke!"
Holding his hands up in the air at his sides, Luke says "Okay, okay you don't have to get violent I can take a hint when I'm not wanted."
"LUKE!" Both Sonny and Carly shout at the same time
"I'm going, I'm going…" Luke grumbles and then closes the door behind him
As the door closed, Carly closes her eyes shaking her head as she says "That…was so embarrassing…"
Framing her face in the palms of his hands, Sonny says "Look at me…" as she opens her eyes to look at him, he tells her "You have nothing to be embarrassed about." he places a soft tender kiss at her lips "You ready to go home?"
Smiling "Yeah…let's go home" she whispers and then adds "Before he decides to come back…"
They both laugh a little while stealing a glance over to the door just in case…hey you never know with Luke.
*Jake's*
Taggert walks inside Jake's bar and looks around only to see that the place was pretty much empty…just a couple guys over at the pool table playing a game and a few regulars that sat at the bar. He walks over to an empty table and sits down. Mac was suppose to be meeting him there; he'd called the commissioner after he found out some interesting news when visiting the rental car company that Eva rented a car from. He wasn't sitting for long until Mac came walking inside and over to the table he sat at.
"Okay so what's this important news that we had to meet here instead of back at the station?" Mac asks as he sits opposite of Taggart
The bartender comes over before Taggart can reply and asks "What can I get for you?"
Flashing his badge, Mac tells him "Nothing, we're on duty."
As the bartender walks away, Mac looks at Taggart and says "So…"
Answering his first question, Taggart replies "I called for you to meet me here because this place was closer instead of us having to come all the way back to the station. I found out something very interesting while investigating the Eva Heart case"
"Okay we're here so what did you find out?" Mac asks
"Well it occurred to me that she had to have a way to get around town…" Taggert replies
"Okay so you checked out the cab companies? Did they have records of the places she was dropped off at?"
"Actually I didn't check out the cap companies…I found out she had a rental car."
Mac nods then says "Okay so she rented a car…what else do you have?"
"Well here is where it gets interesting; after finding out which car company she rented from I went over there and found out that the car was never returned. Why would she not return the car unless something happened to her?"
Mac takes in the information with a nod and then asks "Hey don't those car rental places keep GPS systems on every car in case they're lost or stolen"
"I'm way ahead of you Mac" Taggart replies with a cocky grin then adds "I already checked in to it"
"So what did you find out?" Mac asks impatiently "Where's the car at?"
"That's just it Mac…there is no car." seeing Mac's confused look, Taggart adds "The GPS system was either disabled or destroyed because the guy at the renal place couldn't get a signal from it. So you know what that means right…"
"Yeah…something stinks"
"Right and I'm thinking the stinky fish is gonna lead me straight to Corinthos and Morgan. I have no doubt in my mind that they have something to do with this Mac. Come on think about it for a minute…Eva comes to Port Charles to track down this Angelo Vega guy and all of a sudden she winds up missing without a trace or a word to anyone. I don't think so! Eva could have seen Angelo out with my sister and got jealous…they meet in private where she confronts him and before he knows it he's got a dead body on his hands."
"You might be on to something…but everything you just said about Vega was circumstantial you don't have any evidence to back it up."
"Come on Mac, he's Corinthos and Morgan's new best buddy…Sonny's shark of a lawyer even came down to the station to represent him. Who do you think he's gonna go to for help; what better than to have your own friendly neighborhood Mob Boss and his Enforcer on speed dial. They certainly know how to get rid of a body"
"I understand what you're saying and I'm not disagreeing with you but until you have solid proof our hands are tied."
A few moments later, Jack comes walking inside Jake's…he heads over to the bar and takes a seat on one of the stools. After his little confrontation with Jason, he came speeding all the way back to Jake's while listening to his tape recorder of the conversation he was able to get before he just barely got caught in the act.
Throughout the whole ride back in the car, Jack was grinning from ear to ear as he listened over and over again to the tape. Did he just solve this case? If what he heard on the tape was true then he did. He now knew what happened, and why Eva disappeared.
"Hey can I get a beer over here" Jack calls out to the bartender
Once the beer is set in front of him, Jack takes a swig as he suddenly flashes back to how he cracked the case wide open…
*Flashback*
"How's Angelo holding up?"
"I don't know I haven't talked to him since last night…he stayed the night at Gia's."
"Do you think he'll be able to handle all of this? I mean…I know what went on in that safe house was something he'd never in a million years expect to happen. Eva kidnapping Carly and then her coming at him with a loaded gun. Even though the gun went off between them by accident…he's gotta deal with the fact that the bullet went in Eva instead of him."
"I know my brother and I have no doubt that he's holding everything in and feeling guilty. I know he was that night when you guys came back to the hotel after rescuing Carly. I tried to tell him then that what happened wasn't his fault…but I don't know, you know. After what happened yesterday with Gia's brother cuffing him and bring him down to the PCPD like some type of criminal I know it's got to be bringing up bad memories for him."
"But do you think he'll be able to do like we all promised and not speak of what happened. Everything was taken care of, Sonny and I made sure of that. The only thing that can bring us all down is Angelo slipping up and…" Jason quickly turns his head looking behind him as he heard a sound "What was that?"
"What was what?"
"I thought I heard something…"
*End Flashback*
Drinking down the last of his beer, Jack inwardly says to himself "You did it" he grins "You solved this case in no time at all…and why? Because you're the best that's why" he smirks "But there is just one thing I don't get…why would Eva kidnap Carly? She wasn't even dating that guy Angelo anymore; in fact he's supposed to be dating that Lieutenant Taggart's sister so why would Eva not kidnap the cop's sister instead of taking Carly? And for that matter how did she manage to pull it off?"
That's when Jack remembers the conversation he had with the cab driver that told him he frequently dropped Eva off here at Jake's. Maybe the rest of the answers he was looking for he'd find here.
Taking out the picture of Eva from his back pocket, Jack calls the bartender over "Hey can I get another beer…"
"Yeah sure" the bartender says and then places a new bottle of beer in front of him "Here you go…can I get you anything else"
"Yeah…as a matter a fact you can." Jack tells him and then takes a swig of his beer…the bartender waits impatiently for him to spit out what he wanted
"Hurry up pal, I don't got all day"
Holding up the picture of Eva in his hand, Jack says "Have you seen her?"
"What's it to you if I have?"
Jack pulls out his wallet and takes out a fifty dollar bill…he folds it in half and reaches out a hand placing the money in the shirt pocket of the bartender as he leans forward while speaking in a low tone
"Fifty bucks now and another fifty if you tell me everything you know about the woman in the picture."
The bartender takes the money out of his shirt pocket examining it to make sure it wasn't a fake…once he was satisfied he puts it back in his shirt pocket.
"I don't know who she is but I've seen her come in here before. I remember because she stuck out like a sore thumb; she didn't belong in a dump like this."
"What would she do when she was here?"
"A lot of the guys tried to hit on her but she'd turn them down in the most snobby way as if they were dirt underneath her shoe and she was superior to everyone in here…never understood why she kept coming back. Although…"
"Although what?" Jack asks in a snap
"Every time she'd come in here, she and Coleman would sit and talk at the table in the corner for a while and then she'd leave…sometimes by herself and others he'd go with her."
"Who's this Coleman guy?"
"He's the low life bastard that owns the place"
"Is he here?"
Shaking his head no, the bartender replies "Haven't seen him in a while."
"How long has it been since you've seen him?"
The bartender takes a moment to think about it then says "I don't know…a month; maybe a little longer"
Jack takes in the information and realizes that this Coleman person has been missing just as long as Eva.
"So this Coleman guy is missing? Have you reported it to the police?"
"Why? I'm not his keeper." The bartender says with a little chuckle
"Whose running the place while the boss is away?"
"That would be me…why do you ask?" the bartender says the last part defensively "You got some sort of a problem buddy? I thought you wanted to know about the woman in the picture; what's with all the questions about Coleman and why I haven't reported him missing?"
Shrugging his shoulders, Jack replies "Just trying to put all the pieces together to a puzzle I'm trying to solve."
"What kind of a puzzle? Are you a cop? You thinking I offed that bastard Coleman so I could take over this dive!" the bartender says raising his voice and slamming his fist down on the bar.
The vibration of his fist hitting the bar-top sends Jack's picture of Eva falling to the floor without him noticing since he was staring at the now very pissed off bartender
At that exact moment, Taggart and Mac come walking up to the bar; hearing the raised voice of the bartender they decided to go over and see if there was any trouble.
"Everything okay over here" Mac asks
"Just fine officer" says the bartender "Just a little disagreement that's all." With a glare to Jack, he walks down to the other end of the bar
Taggert watches as the bartender walks down to the other end of the bar; he wonders to himself what's really going on. Just as he turns back around to face Mac, he happens to look down and sees a picture lying on the floor.
Jack realizes that his picture of Eva is missing…he looks around and sees it lying on the floor; at the same time both Jack and Taggert bend over to pick it up. Their bald heads bump each other as they both reach out for the picture.
"Ouch" both Taggart and Jack say at the same time
Taggart picks up the picture but when he looks at it his eyes widen as he sees it's of Eva the missing woman case he's been working on. He wonders to himself why would this guy here have a picture of her.
"I'm sorry?" Taggart apologizes then asks "This yours" he holds out the picture to him while also letting Mack get a good look as he shows it to the man
"Yeah, thanks I must have dropped it." Jack replies and then that's when it hits him…these are the two cops he saw the other day at the police station when Eva's ex Angelo was hauled down to the PCPD. Inwardly cursing to himself, Jack didn't want to have all his hard work in solving the case be given credit to the cops when it was obvious they couldn't solve the mystery of melting ice. He had to think and come up with a plausible plan to cover his tracks.
"What do you know about this woman?" Mac asks
Clearing his throat some, Jack makes a quick glance to the bartender…he didn't want him to over hear what they were talking about.
"Gentlemen why don't we come over here and sit down and I'll tell you everything you want to know."
They all sit down at the table Mac and Taggart recently left…
"Okay we're sitting…now tells us what you know." Taggart says
"I know her name is Eva Heart and she's been missing for almost two months now. She's a fashion model from Paris and her sister Lisa reported her missing. I also know that she stayed at the Port Charles Hotel but hasn't been seen since she checked out. Oh and uh she rented a car that has yet to be returned to the rental company."
"How do you know all this? Who are you anyway?" Taggart suspiciously asks
I'm a private investigator; Eva's older sister Lisa hired me to come here and see what I could find out that you cops couldn't."
Mac and Taggart look at each other and then back at the man sitting with them "So what's your name?" Mac asks
"Jack Dawson, but Miss Heart knows me as Jacques DuPont" Jack says the last part in his phony French accent…
"So you're a phony" Taggart points out
"Hey I'm good at what I do." Jack defends himself then adds "I just find it more profitable to be Jacques DuPont than Jack Dawson. You see Jack Dawson was a practically out of work private dick stuck in a hole in the wall office in the Bronx whereas Jacques is the complete opposite."
"Yeah whatever, I don't care what you call yourself just don't interfere in my investigation." Taggart tells him point blank "Now seeing as though you're such a model citizen I take it that you've told us everything; if not then I'll have no choice than to book you for obstruction of justice."
"I told you everything I know already, there's no need for threats." Jack lies while looking Taggart straight in the eyes "Actually I don't think there's much of a case here; Eva is probably just laying low for a while to avoid her bitchy sister Lisa. Believe me if you ever met the woman you'd hide out just to get away from her too."
Mac groans as he remembers the few conversations he's had with Lisa over the phone…he couldn't argue with the fact that she was indeed a pain in the ass bitch. She's called his office numerous times demanding updates on her sister's case and every time he was always left with a throbbing headache.
"Well I can't dispute that…although I've only had phone conversations with her I can testify to her…attitude." Mac replies
"Quick question…" Taggart says and then asks "If you're so good why are you so quick to think there's no case. You yourself said that Eva rented a car and that it was never returned to the rental company. Now why wouldn't she return the car unless something happened to her?"
"Who knows? There could be a number of reasons…"
"You plan on tracking down those number of reasons?" Taggart asks then adds "I mean you said so yourself you're good at what you do. It'd think someone that's so good wouldn't be so quick to throw in the towel."
Jack forces a smile as he looks back and forth between Mac and Taggart "How's about you stick to your investigation and I stick with mine." he stands up from his chair "Good day gentlemen."
And with that, Jack leaves Mac and Taggart sitting at the table as he walks up the stairs to his room.
"I don't trust him" Taggart tells Mac as they watch Jack walk away from the table
"He's the least of our worries." Mac replies as he and Taggart stand up and start walking towards the exit "And hey I haven't heard from Lisa in a while so maybe he's good for something at least" he chuckles then adds "And that's keeping her from driving me insane with her daily phone calls. As long as Mr. Dawson doesn't interfere in the investigation then forget about him….right now you just focus on this case and keep me posted with anything new you get."
"Yes sir" Taggart replies as the leave out the bar
*Upstairs (Jack's room)*
Sitting on his bed, Jack laughs at the idiot cops that he now knew they were even more clueless than he thought before.
"How pathetic can you get?" Jack says a loud to himself and laughs "It's obvious those fools are worthless. They didn't even question our friendly bartender downstairs which means they didn't check out the cab driver." he laughs "It's a shame that this poor excuse of law enforcement is what the taxpaying people of Port Charles has protecting them. Oh well…not my problem."
Grinning, Jack takes out a cigar and lights it…
"Now all that's left is to report back to my client" Jack pauses for a moment while taking a drag of the cigar as an idea come to him…
After blowing out a puff of smoke, a wicked grin forms at the corners of his mouth…
"Or maybe not. An opportunity like this doesn't come along very often. I have the goods on a murder that just happens to involve two very powerful and rich mobsters." dollar signs flash in front of his eyes at just the thought "I bet they'll pay a lot money to keep what I got out of the eyes of those idiot cops."
Pulling out the mini tape recorder again, Jack rewinds it some and presses play…
"But do you think he'll be able to do like we all promised and not speak of what happened. Everything was taken care of, Sonny and I made sure of that. The only thing that can bring us all down is Angelo slipping up and…"
The tape stops as Jack presses the stop button… "Gotcha" he says with a wide grin as he thinks of the big payoff he was gonna get.
End of Chapter 29
By
Deonna a.k.a. DCORINTHOS
