Rolling his neck around, Taggert sighed as he looked at the stack of papers in front of him. With Mac no longer Police Commissioner, things around the station had gotten more complicated. Everything seemed to go slower, more unorganized, and that mean more work.
His eyes drifted over to the file sitting on the side of the desk, away from everything else. The file containing Lucky's report.
He'd filed the report, making Elizabeth's disappearance an official case, but Taggert was getting a funny feeling about the whole situation.
Elizabeth was a special girl – he knew that for a fact. He'd seen her strength of character first hand, first with her rape, and then with the fire. The fact that she was missing didn't set well with him.
Sighing, Taggert took a long sip of his coffee before reaching over to pick up the file. Missing Persons cases were always hard for him. Reading over the information Lucky had given, Taggert sighed.
Something didn't feel right.
He'd send a couple officers over to Elizabeth's studio as soon as Lucky had left the other day but they had come up with nothing. Not that they were able to do much without a warrant, but they had ruled out the possibility of forced entry to her studio.
There was something he was missing.
His eyes drifted over the report of what Lucky had said, landing on a single name. A name that made him stiffen in his seat.
Jason Morgan.
As much as he hated the man, as much as he wanted to put him away, his gut was telling him that Jason didn't have Elizabeth. That didn't mean that Jason wasn't the reason Elizabeth was gone, but Taggert knew that Jason himself wasn't the kidnapper like Lucky had said.
Thinking back to the times he'd seen Elizabeth with Jason, he sighed. There was probably more between the two of them than he, or Lucky for that matter, knew about and he cursed Jason for getting involved with Elizabeth Webber.
Looking down at the picture of Elizabeth that Lucky had left, Taggert shook his head, feeling the familiar protectiveness he felt whenever he looked at her.
She'd gone through too much in her short life, and after the fire, he'd promised himself that he would keep her safe. It had been a promise he made more for himself than for her. He had needed to know that what he was doing was actually helping people and he had needed to know that innocence could be preserved, so he'd taken on the responsibility of looking out for Elizabeth Webber, checking up on her at Kelly's whenever he could, being nice to her...
And he'd failed.
His gut was telling him that something was wrong, and his gut was usually right. "You're going to be ok, Elizabeth…"
Picking up the phone to his right, Taggert put it up to his ear, rubbing his face with his hand.
"It's Taggert… I want you to put an APB out on Elizabeth Webber…"
"We have something, boss."
Jerking his head upward, Sonny sighed a sigh of relief when he saw Benny come rushing through the Penthouse door. "What did you find?"
Benny's eyes roamed around the Penthouse, a look that Sonny caught. "Carly's sleeping and Jason's not here, so just tell me what's going on."
Clearing his throat, Benny focused back on his boss. "I went with some of the men to Pentonville to… persuade Baker into spilling about his son. He gave us an address of a motel where they kid is staying at. It's down off of Charles Street. I've got men surrounding the place waiting for you and Jason."
Sonny let a small smile come to his face as he moved towards the door. "Call Jason on his cell and let's get the hell over there. To think… she's been right under our noses…"
The ride over to the end of Charles Street was short and Sonny frowned when he caught sight of the motel. They weren't in the best place in Port Charles and Sonny frowned at the thought of Elizabeth being held there. The motel was grungy and practically empty, meaning that if Jeremy did anything to her, no one was likely to hear her if she called out for help.
Five minutes after Sonny had gotten there, Jason rolled up on his bike. Stepping out of the limo, Sonny watched as his men slowly came out of their hiding spots. He walked up to his friend, noticing the frown on the younger man's face.
"She's not here," Jason said, his eyes scanning the building.
Sonny frowned. "This is a good lead, Jase… Benny checked it out. She could be-"
"She's not here," he said again, his voice hard. He turned to Sonny, lowering his voice. "You told me that I would be able to feel something in here," he said, motioning to his heart. "I don't feel anything."
Sonny paused for a moment before nodding. "But maybe we'll find something in there that'll help us."
Jason looked down at the man he thought of as a best friend, a brother, and a father. "What if we find something we don't want to."
Sighing, Sonny patted Jason's shoulder. "You're not usually a man who thinks about the 'what if' in life."
"I've never had to think about Elizabeth being hurt like this…"
Shaking his head, Jason looked back towards the building. When he looked back at his friend, Sonny saw that Jason's eyes were once again cold, but he recognized that as protection.
Jason Morgan was scared.
Slowly the two men made their way into the motel room, their men surrounding them. The lock on the door was quickly taken care of, and taking a deep breath, Jason stepped inside, flicking on the light.
The walls were covered with pictures and Jason sucked in a breath when he saw that all of the pictures were of Elizabeth. Bile rose in his throat when he caught sight of a set of pictures where Elizabeth was sleeping in her studio.
"Bastard…"
Sonny stepped inside of the room, his eyes scanning over the walls. "My God… he's sick."
Jason's jaw clenched as he looked around the room. Elizabeth's schedule at PCU lay on his desk along with information on her childhood.
Moving towards his best friend, Jason lowered his voice. "We have to find her Sonny… she can't stay with him any longer…"
Sonny nodded slowly. "I know… I know."
Jason's eyes bore into her. "Now… we have to find her now."
Rubbing her wrists, Elizabeth watched as Jeremy paced around the room. "What are you going to do with me?"
He turned to look at her, a confused look on his face. "We'll live happily ever after, Eliza… this is our fairytale."
She glared at him, not caring if she made him mad or not. "You call kidnapping a fairytale?"
"I rescued you, Eliza. The prince always rescues the woman in fairytales. I rescued you."
Elizabeth glared at him, biting her tongue to keep herself from saying anything else.
"Are you hungry?" Jeremy asked suddenly stepping towards her.
As much as she hated it, her stomach growled at the word 'hungry' and she absently wondered how long it'd been since she'd eaten.
"I can take you to the small café over there… if you're good. If you promise not to run away. Bad things will happen if you try to run away from me."
Elizabeth shook her head at him. "How can you say that you love me and then turn around and threaten me?"
Jeremy stepped closer to her. "I'm not threatening you."
"What do you call what you just did?"
His eyes softened and he brushed back a piece of her hair, ignoring the fact that she flinched under his touch. "I said that so that you don't get hurt. I've read all about you, Eliza. I know how much you treasure your friendships. I know you wouldn't want any of your friends to get hurt."
"What are you talking about?"
Jeremy twirled her hair around his finger. "Jason Morgan."
Elizabeth sucked in her breath, her eyes widening and Jeremy frowned at her reaction. "If you were to try and run away from me, something very bad could happen to Morgan."
Elizabeth bit her lip, not wanting to hear what he was going to say next, but unable to stop listening.
"Something very bad could happen… Mr. Sorel would see to it."
Elizabeth felt herself start to shake. "Sorel? Oh, God… you're involved with Sorel?"
"So you'll stay by my side? You won't try to run away if we go to the café?"
Mutely, Elizabeth nodded her head, feeling all of the fight ebb out of her body. Her eyes drifted over to Jeremy and she shivered. There was something very wrong with him. She knew that if Sorel was involved, she knew that Jason would find her…
She just didn't know if she'd be alive when that happened.