Steph's Babble: Well it doesn't appear that very many people are interested in this fic, so I don't know how much longer I'll post it here. For those who have read and replied thanks for your interest. The scope is widening now, as more and more people find out about the aftermath. I'm working in a lot of Port Charles' citizens.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the madness.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Her Greatest Mistake
Chapter 7
~GH E.R.~
Taggert moved wearily up to the Nurse's desk, he was tired of being on nights, but he saw no end in sight. This was the new Commissioner's punishment for continuing to go after Corinthos.
"Vendetta's like yours may have been tolerated under Scorpio's regime, but not mine. Mr. Corinthos is a law-abiding member of the community and until there is concrete proof otherwise you will cease in your harassment of him."
The words the fussily anal politician had said to him still made him angry. He wished harder than ever that Mac would come back, at least he was willing to work to get things done.
"Can I help you?" A big-eyed, dark-haired nurse interrupted his dark thoughts.
"Yes." He showed her his badge. "I'm Lieutenant Taggert. I am investigating the shooting of Audrey Hardy, I need some information as to her condition."
The nurse's eyes filled with tears. "Just a minute…"
"I'll handle this Gabriella." Nurse Melissa Bedford said waving the younger and more distraught nurse off.
"Thanks." Gabriella hurried away.
"Audrey is special to everyone here at GH, but she oversees the nursing program, so it is real hard on the newer ones." Melissa explained.
"She's a great lady." Taggert said.
"Yes she is." Melissa agreed softly before turning to the task at hand. "Audrey is in surgery right now. The bullet is lodged near her heart. Dr. Monica Quartermaine is operating trying to remove it now." She glanced at her watch, 5:57 a.m. "She's been in surgery for almost an hour, and probably has at least another hour to go."
"How severe is it?" Taggert asked.
"I didn't work on her, Bobbie Spencer was with her, and now she is in the O.R. but I hear it was pretty bad." She looked past him. "Eve did you work on Audrey Hardy?"
A pregnant doctor nodded, handed a file to an orderly and moved over to the desk. "Yes." She said eyeing Taggert coolly. "Taggert."
"Dr. Lambert, is that still your name these days?" Taggert asked seeing the familiar banked hostility in her eyes.
"It'll work." Eve said arching a brow in his direction. "Audrey was in pretty bad shape. The E.M.T.'s brought her in and after a quick exam and x-rays she was rushed into emergency surgery."
"Was she ever conscious?"
"No." Eve led the way to a x-ray rack by one of the exam rooms, flipping on the light to illuminate the x-rays still hanging there. "We x-rayed her first off, to see the path of the bullet." She pointed to the film. "It entered here about the middle of her back and traveled until it came to rest here." She tapped the film with her pen, "at the base of her heart. It's applying pressure to the artery there, slowing the flow of blood."
Taggert put his hands on the back of his neck and frowned at the x-ray. He couldn't understand what he was seeing but from her tone, he knew that Mrs. Hardy's chances weren't good. "Do you know if she was conscious at any point?"
"She wasn't the E.M.T.'s said so."
"Could you tell what caliber of bullet?"
Eve glared at him. "We haven't retrieved the bullet yet, so it is all speculation, but judging from the size of the entrance wound, it's a smaller caliber maybe a .32 or .38"
"What are her chances?" he asked wearily.
"I don't like too…" she hedged.
"Ballpark, I'm not family I won't hold you to it Dr. Lambert." He interrupted her.
Eve sighed heavily, then spoke the truth. The truth that she had been trying to deny, ever since Audrey had been wheeled in here. "Not to good. She was shot in the head a few years ago and had a rather unorthodox surgery." She shook her head banishing the image of the power drill. "It saved her life, but she had a minor heart attack in reaction, so the heart muscle has already been damaged once. You factor in her age and the length of time it took before she was treated…" Her voice trailed off and she took a minute to go on. When she did, Taggert could hear the tears in her voice. "Maybe 40%."
"40% chance of survival?" he needed to be clear.
"Yes. If that's all I have other patients." She snapped wanting to get away from him before she lost it completely. It didn't matter that he was only doing his job, she really hated Taggert, because of the way he had treated her before, so the last thing she wanted was to cry in front of him.
"Yes thank you." Taggert stepped back letting her pass. "Dr. Lambert." He called after her. "Congratulations on your baby."
Taggert rubbed on his neck trying to work out the kinks and headed outside, to use his cell phone. "It's Lieutenant Taggert, have you found anything else?" He rubbed his hands over his eyes, blocking the brightening dawn while he listened. "I'm at GH so let me know anything you find." He glanced at his watch. "Start the door-to-door questioning around 7:00, because its the 4th of July, and a Friday, a lot of people might be going out of town, so if someone starts packing a car, question them right away." He ordered closing the phone and moving back inside to wait for word.
He glanced around the quiet E.R. for a minute before heading for the small waiting area, he slumped heavily on a couch, and closed his eyes. He was just beginning to drift when he felt someone beside him.
"Marcus is that you?" A feminine voice asked him.
~Studio~
Jason had thought he had braced himself for seeing her studio. He knew it was destroyed that there was blood and paint everywhere. He knew from the looks that Johnny and Sonny had exchanged that it was bad. So he thought he was ready…but he wasn't. One of the blessings of his accident was that he couldn't imagine things, but this time it was a curse, because hearing what was done to her studio, did not prepare him for seeing it.
The canvas's, some of which he had probably stretched for her, were no longer stacked neatly against the wall. Instead they were twisted, broken, and spread throughout the small room. The only piece of furniture, that looked the way it should, was her cluttered table. Parts of her easel were on the floor, a leg of it peeking out from underneath the overturned sofa.
The sofa that was so uncomfortable, that he had spent weeks lying on had had its back broken on one side. He could see paint, at least he hoped it was paint, dripping off the edge to the floor.
The floor was littered with debris, bits and pieces of her stuff was strewn over it, mixed with a variety of colors of paint. The brightest color, the one repeated throughout the room was red. He stared hard at one particularly large stain of red. He couldn't tell if blood or paint had made it, he didn't know if he wanted to know.
"It's paint."
The voice jarred him and Jason looked up at the tall blonde man talking to him. "What Francis?"
Francis was unprepared for the loss he could see in Jason's eyes. "That spot is paint. In fact quite a lot of what I originally thought was blood is actually paint."
Jason nodded, stopping his motion abruptly when his attention landed on something behind Francis. The handprints on the closed closet door, those he knew were made by blood.
"Tell us what you know Francis." Sonny ordered softly watching Jason when he seemed to freeze in his tracks.
"Most of the blood is centered over here, between the sofa and the window." Francis started in monotone. He kept telling himself over and over that it was just a report, like any of the countless others he had given. But it wasn't just a report. He had done things like this before, both when he was a cop and for Sonny, he had even known the victim before, but this was different. She was an innocent in this, and this time he wasn't just explaining to his bosses what had happened here. He was also explaining it to people who cared about, and even loved her. Trying to remain professional in their face of the grief, and also feeling it himself, was difficult.
"I found three distinct blood trails, I took small samples from each one, and will type it later. But I think each trail was made at a different point in time, so I believe there were separate victims." Francis moved carefully to stand beside a spot of blood on the floor, roughly the size of a soup bowl. "This one here, you can see moved to the couch and, the person used it to leverage herself up." He moved with the trail to illustrate what he was saying. He was trying to remain objective but he had already slipped into calling the victim a woman.
"From there she moved to the door, there were drops along the way." He continued on. "She paused by the door, that's where the streak comes from by the door, more than likely from her head, I found a piece of long brown hair, in the blood. She also left the handprint on the door when she left."
Had he really thought that he had no imagination? Because it wasn't true. While Francis was speaking Jason kept picturing Elizabeth, then Emily, then Elizabeth, doing what Francis said. He stayed rooted to the floor trying to banish the images from his mind.
"Judging from the height of the blood stain it was more than likely Emily who left the mark." Francis finished.
"So." Sonny said moving over to stand beside his immobile friend. "What you're saying is this victim, probably Emily walked out of here on her own steam?"
"Yes, I don't think she was leaning on anyone, the trail weaved but there was no missing spots, that would have occurred if she was unbalanced. She left on her own." Francis agreed.
"Walking out is good." Sonny said. "Right Jason?"
Elizabeth, Emily, Elizabeth, Emily, Emily, Emily. Jason closed his eyes tightly to banish her from his head.
"Jason." Sonny's voice was low but srrong, demanding a response from him.
Jason heard him and couldn't ignore the command in the voice, he backed away from the edge his mind was taking him to, and opened his eyes. He nodded briefly at Sonny, the only thing he would allow himself to give Sonny in thanks. "What about the other two trails?"
"Well one of them, this one, leads from the closet." Francis said reluctantly.
Jason took a step towards the closet, only to stop when his foot came down on something lumpy on the floor. He squatted down, pulling carefully at some papers, to expose it. He took a deep breath when recognition crashed into him.
~December 24, 1999~
Jason stood ramrod straight in the elevator, he couldn't believe he had walked willingly into the hospital. This was going to be hard for him, but he would do it, for the chance to see Michael. He knew Elizabeth was going to be here too, maybe she would help him get through this, she always seemed to help him with everything else. She had raced out of the studio an hour ago, talking a mile a minute. So he knew something had either upset her, embarrassed her, or there was something going on she wasn't ready to talk about yet. He knew this holiday was going to be rough on her, it was going to be hard on him too. He never really got the big deal with holidays, until Michael, and knowing he wouldn't see him on Christmas Day to open his present, he finally understood that not being with someone you loved on the holiday could hurt. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad for either one of them because they would be together.
The elevator came to a stop, he took a deep breath and got off of it. His eyes scanned the room, coming to a stop on Elizabeth, at least he thought it was her. "Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth turned around the surprise and delight evident on her face. "Hey, I can't believe you're here."
He shrugged. "Yeah me either." He could hear the sounds of the party becoming louder and knew it was only a matter of time before the Quartermaine's arrived.
"Are you okay?" She asked in concern.
"Yeah." His eyes roved over her body, what was she wearing? "I thought I'd just stand back and maybe watch Michael."
"Oh."
He looked at her again and couldn't help but smirk. That explained why she had kept her coat on after getting dressed earlier.
"What?" She demanded her eyes glinting in a dare.
"That is the funniest outfit I have ever seen." Jason told her with a laugh.
"Ok, Ok." Her face went red before she retorted. "I'm supposed to be an elf. Can't you tell?" She finished snottily.
He stepped closer. "Yeah." He plucked the hat off of her head. "It's a nice hat." He pressed it to his chest. "I used to have one just like this."
"Jason." She grabbed for the hat but he held it out of her reach. "I need the hat back."
He could tell she was trying to be angry, but he could see the humor in her eyes. There was something about her that brought out his need to tease. He was oblivious to the other people that had entered the lobby, he kept the hat out of her reach. He felt better than he had in a long time. "Relax." He told her when she tried to grab it again.
"I know, but I need the hat back." She managed to grab the end of it. "Give me the hat back." She tugged on it, the laughter in her eyes. "I need it back now."
"Emily must have given it back to her." Jason said roughly. The hat was stained blue with paint. "She forgot it after the fight, and wondered what happened to it." He got to his feet, putting the hat back where he found it. "I guess we know now." He shook the thought away and began to move again.
Johnny moved over to stand in front of the closet. "You don't want to see this."
"Move Johnny." Jason ordered.
"Just let Francis tell you about it, there is no reason for you to look inside." Johnny said refusing to budge.
"Johnny." Jason's voice was low, the warning clear.
"Francis continue." Sonny ordered trying to head off the confrontation. He didn't want Jason to see the closet either. There was an edge in Jason he wasn't used to seeing, he didn't know how Jason would react and that worried him. Sometimes he was calm and unflappable as usual, other times, he seemed angry and almost out of control, even though he never raised his voice, or made any sudden moves. He knew that Jason's control was hanging by a thread, and he didn't know what would finally snap it. He couldn't help wanting to protect Jason from that happening.
"What's in the closet is blood, no paint at all. Along with the bag with the cat in it, there were a few other things. There is smear on the floor, and footprints, actually two sets of footprints. One is from a man and the other ones were a lot smaller, more than likely from a woman." He went on reluctantly. "Also the handprint on the door, is blood, and it's from a man."
"What else?" Sonny asked, while Jason continued his staring war with Johnny.
"The smear on the floor, is more than likely from a person while they rested there. There were some scratches on the inside of the door, around the handle, I found a … a part of a fingernail embedded in the wood." Jason had no reaction to that, but Francis still hurried on. "There are also some items in there, that I don't think belong, but they don't give us a lead on what happened here, or where Elizabeth is now."
"I've been in that closet, I'll know what belongs and what doesn't." Jason said quietly.
Sonny rubbed a hand over his jaw. "Move Johnny."
Johnny reluctantly stepped out of the way.
"Here." Francis held out some gloves before Jason could move forward.
Jason tugged on the gloves, took a deep breath and opened the door.
Sonny closed his eyes when the stench hit him, it was stronger than it had been a few hours ago, and it was severe enough that it made his eyes water. He leaned on the table focusing on the clutter he found there, while he blinked the moisture away.
His eye was caught by a piece of a sketch he saw there, he edged a jar filled with brushes off of it with the flat of his hand. He was surprised when he saw Michael's face looking back at him. She must have drawn it when he was at the park, he was sitting in the sandbox, his mouth was open in what Sonny recognized as the gleeful laugh he always made when he flipped his dump truck.
Elizabeth had captured him so completely that he thought he could hear Michael's squeal of delight. He didn't know when she had drawn it, but he thought it was pretty recent. The shirt she had drawn him in, was a new one. It was yet another bribe attempt from Mike. It amazed him to think that she could see beauty in light of the pain she had to have been in. He carefully folded the sketch and tucked it into his breast pocket, turning to look at Jason who had moved inside the closet.
Jason realized that being numb could be a good thing. After the first rush of odor he had managed to block it out. He saw the bag that probably contained the cat yet made no move to open it.
He couldn't help remember the last time he had stood in this room, it was because of Lucky then as well. He remembered the frustration and jealousy he had felt, listening to Lucky and Elizabeth in the studio. He had never been jealous before, not until Lucky had returned, and it took him awhile to identify it. Carly had once explained jealousy to him as a feeling you got when someone hit you in the stomach and there was nothing you could do about it, but feel the punch every time to saw them. He had ignored her description, but now he realized that it was like she said, and he had been feeling it whenever he thought about Elizabeth with Lucky.
He looked around the bloody room, before crouching down, to see the scratch marks, Francis had mentioned. He ran his hand lightly over the marks.
"Why don't we dance instead? It would be a shame to waste our favorite song." Lucky's voice had come through the door, and he recognized the song, that Elizabeth had once asked him to dance with her too.
How could Lucky have changed so completely, that he could do this to her?
"Jason he doesn't know about that time that you and I danced together and how I…how I pretended that it was him and it didn't work because it was you, he wouldn't understand, he would feel betrayed."
He knew Lucky had problems, but he never thought he was capable of this. He had underestimated Lucky and it had cost Elizabeth and Emily. He would never make that mistake again. He noticed a familiar looking black book on one of the shelves, it didn't have a speck of blood on it. Next to it was a plastic bag, with something black inside of it. He reached for both of them, wondering what else Lucky could have destroyed that belonged to her.
~Penthouse~
"Mike why the hell do you have Cal's cell phone?" Carly demanded.
"That's what I need to talk to Sonny about." Mike whispered moving into the stairway of the hospital. So far none of the cops had recognized Cal as someone who worked for Sonny but it was only a matter of time.
"Are you still at the hospital, is Cal?"
"Look Carly I need to talk to Sonny about this." Mike cut off her questions, keeping an eye on the waiting room, while he talked. "I'm almost done here, then I'm coming to the penthouse, make sure he is there."
"Mike you need to tell me what is going on before I decide whether to bother Sonny or not," she told him. She needed to get to the bottom of this and talk to Cal. "Look let me talk to Cal."
"Cal's dead." He snapped. He swallowed a curse when he saw Taggert enter the small waiting room. He needed to leave and now.
"Dead?" Carly repeated slowly. "How?"
"Look I'm on my way, and I'm serious Carly you need to get Sonny there. I need to talk to him, before, the police figure out who he works for." Mike said before closing the phone and heading down the stairs, he would go out through the service entrance.
Cal was dead, she didn't have to worry about what he would tell Sonny or Jason. Cal was dead, he wouldn't be bringing Michael all day suckers anymore. Cal was dead and her secret was safe. Cal was dead and she wasn't happy about it at all.
~Studio~
Jason stepped out of the closet, being careful not to add his own footprint to the one's already there. The plastic bag had traces of blood on it, so he set it on the back of the couch carefully and untied the knot at the top. It took him a minute, to recognize the contents of the bag, as black leather, it had been completely shredded.
He pulled some of the material out of the bag, the pieces were very precise and ordered. Each piece was the same size, but the cuts were jagged, like someone had sawed on it with a knife.
"He must have been very determined to shred leather like that." Johnny commented. "You got to be kidding me." He muttered when Jason pulled a retractable box cutter from the bag.
Jason dimly heard Johnny, he was trying to remember the last time he had seen her wear the jacket he had given her.
"No. I'll see you later." Elizabeth said with a teary smile, before springing to her feet and hurrying away.
She hadn't worn it once, that he'd seen last winter, he knew she had loved that jacket. So not wearing it must have been yet another concession she had made for Lucky. He wondered if Lucky knew it was a gift from him, or if he destroyed it because it was black leather. He dropped the material into the bag and turned his attention to the book.
~February 6, 2001~
"I just think that people." Jason frowned. "Even Nikolas should do what they want to do."
Elizabeth paused in putting things on her overcrowded table. "Well you say that but you don't. Carly and Sonny are living in the penthouse with cars and guards, and they have each other while you're stuck in this place." She turned to face him. "That can't be what you want."
He crossed his arms over his chest, studying her. "How do you know?" He asked softly. He saw her pale and begin to worry her bottom lip and went on. "Sonny and Carly are where they belong, I don't like penthouses. Not to live in anyway."
She turned back to the table. "I just don't think it's fair that you should be lurking around, guarding them."
He watched her straighten the same brushes for the third time, she was definitely nervous. "Are you sure that's what I'm doing?"
Her movements stilled, but she kept her eyes averted. "Well it's the only reason I can come up with as to why you are staying here."
He smirked to himself. There were dozens of reasons to stay here, the majority of them wrapped up in the bundle of nerves, standing beside him. "Well try not to think about that, except for me staying here, it has nothing to do with you."
His words caused her to turn and their eyes met for a long minute, before her nervousness took over again, and she tried to disguise it by moving quickly. She picked up a box from the table. "Whatever you say." She started for the couch only to drop the box, spilling the contents to the floor.
Jason crouched down immediately to pick things up. "I'll get it."
Elizabeth squatted as well, "No it's okay I've got it." She told him, her eyes met his when their hands closed over the same photo. She froze in place for a minute before tugging on the photo and looking down again.
"What's all this?" He could smell the subtle scent of her perfume.
"It's." She stopped, hurriedly shoving the photos back in the box. "It's what I was doing when you were meeting with Sonny." She stood setting the box on the table and taking a step back from him. "It's a scrapbook for Lucky of everything that happened the year he was gone."
He moved a step closer dropping a photo on the table. "So he knows all he missed?" It was so like her to do something like this. It shouldn't bother him because she was doing it for Lucky, but it did.
"The only thing I couldn't put in here was you." She looked up at him, her big expressive eyes drawing him closer, like they always seemed to do. Her voice even seemed to sound huskier when she went on. "I can't tell Lucky how it felt that night at Jake's when you rescued me and you listened." She paused her eyes searching his. "How it helped every time you took me riding. You're the one person who made me feel better and I can't put that in this book."
He edged closer still glad that it had meant as much to her as it had to him. That it meant enough to her that she didn't want to share it with another person, he only wished it meant more to her. "Well you don't need a book. You know how it felt, so did I."
She looked down at her hands for a long minute before focusing on him again. "Do you ever think about it?"
"All the time." He said honestly and it was true. When he and Sonny had discussed his return to Port Charles, one of the motivating factors that drove him was the realization that he would be able to see Elizabeth again. He needed to see if she was happy, to see if the feelings he'd had for her since last summer were still there, and if the glimpses of return feeling he'd thought he saw in her were there or not.
After he had said that she'd nervously left the studio. He wondered what would have happened if he had pushed that day. He knew now that she had been feeling the same things that he'd been feeling. He had suspected it then, but he hadn't wanted to pressure her, he wanted her to realize things on her own. Looking back was something he never allowed himself to do, but he couldn't help but wonder. If he had kissed her that day, where would they be now?
He opened the book, the inside front cover had been damaged. The words Elizabeth and Lucky, Permanent Lock, Now and Forever had been painted across the pages in red. He knew instinctively that she hadn't done it. His suspicions were confirmed when he thumbed through the pages of the book.
Every photograph had been marred, if it was a shot of Elizabeth with someone else, the other person had been cut out and a picture of Lucky inserted. There were no pictures of other people, only Elizabeth and now Lucky, at the Nurses Ball in 1999, at Kelly's, her college, even a photo of her and Lulu had been changed. At the bottom of each page, painted in red, in childlike lettering were the words. Permanent Lock.
The back of the book had about 5 empty pages, only they had been filled with writing, small writing, that continued over every square inch of the page. Jason squinted at the book, trying to bring the words in focus. He couldn't help the anger he felt, when he saw it was the same word repeated over and over again, hundreds upon hundreds of times. MINEMINEMINEMINEMINEMINEMINEMINEMINEMINEMINEMINEMINE there were no spaces in between the words only a continuous list.
"I'm guessing this isn't supposed to look like this." Sonny said from his side. Johnny had moved to the other side of the room and was talking with Francis, but he kept his voice low anyway.
"She had made him a memory book, to tell him all the things he had missed the year he was gone." He tilted the book so Sonny could see the writing. "It didn't look like this. He said he loved her, but all he wanted was to own her."
"We will find her and we'll find him Jason." Sonny said quietly. "I promise."
Jason shook his head, taking a step towards the closet, only to stop when Sonny grabbed his arm.
"I said I promise Jason, and there is no way I'm letting this one go." Sonny vowed.
Jason looked in his eyes and saw that Sonny meant what he said. But he couldn't help remembering the other times he had promised, and a sense of anger that it awoke in him. He wasn't used to feeling so much anger towards Sonny. When Carly and him had happened, he had felt betrayed, hurt, and maybe a little angry, but nothing like this. "I can't do this with you now, I got to think of her."
Sonny nodded reluctantly and dropped his hand.
Jason put the book and bag, back where he had found them, then shut the door, closing out the smell again. He couldn't help but bring his right hand up and lay it beside the imprint of Lucky's right hand. His hand was bigger and no doubt stronger than Lucky's, but Lucky's was big enough to inflict damage on someone as small as Elizabeth, or Emily.
His eyes were drawn to the floor, following the trail of blood Francis had mentioned. He saw that there was another trail that looked bigger than the other. "You said there were three trails, Francis, what about the third?"
Francis had been hoping that Jason wouldn't remember that fact. He glanced at Sonny who nodded. "The third also originates from the closet, and is fairly heavy, I think it comes from the same person who was resting in the closet." He stopped, the words the woman who left the fingernail in the wood, went unsaid but were heavy in the air anyway. "The trail stops here." He pointed to a space in front of the couch. "After that spot the trail vanishes."
"What do you mean vanishes?" Johnny asked.
"There's nothing past that spot." Francis hoped he wouldn't have to go on.
Jason followed the trail to the spot on the floor, being careful to step only where he would leave no prints. "What he is trying not to say, is that from this point on, she either stopped bleeding, or was carried in something, so she didn't bleed anymore."
Francis nodded reluctantly, he didn't need to explain that it was more than likely she had been wrapped in something before being carried out of the studio. Because any other way would have left a sign of some sort. He didn't need to say it, because he watched the realization settle on Jason's face.
The ringing of Sonny's cell phone shattered the deafening silence in the studio, causing three of the occupants of the room to jump. The fourth remained immobile staring at the floor.
"Yeah?" Sonny said.
"Sonny you need to come home."
"Carly are you okay?" Sonny asked.
"Yes, but you need to get here now."
"Is Emily worse?" he questioned he could hear the worry in her voice.
"No, its…I heard from Mike." She admitted reluctantly. "He…"
"Mike?" Sonny interrupted. "The last thing I want to hear about right now is Mike."
"Sonny listen to me, Mike called from the hospital, and he said that Cal is dead."
"What?" Guilt pierced him at her words, and he scrubbed his hand over his eyes. "Are you sure he said Cal?"
"Yes, he's on his way here to explain things."
"We'll be right there." Sonny said slowly switching off the phone.
"What happened to Cal?" Johnny asked.
"He's dead." Sonny kept his eyes on Jason, who had no reaction to the words. "We need to get to the penthouse."
"Jesus." Johnny muttered. Reynaldo brought in Cal and him at the same time, they liked to play the horses sometimes. Cal was a lot like Mike Corbin, looking for a win in gambling. But he had been different too, he only bet so much, and when he lost that, he walked away and never looked back.
"Cal's dead … I want you to find Lucky Spencer and sit on him … Cal's dead." The thoughts ran through Sonny's head while he crossed to Jason. He remembered the Donald Duck voices Cal would make too make Michael laugh.
"Jason." Sonny said moving in front of him, putting his hand on his arm, to get his attention, but Jason never even looked up. "Jason?' He tried again. The irony of the situation hit him, he wondered if this is what Jason saw, all those times he had tried to reach him, when he shut down.
Jason wasn't even aware Sonny was in the room. He had been thinking about Lucky carrying her out of the studio, when he realized something. The red drape she had used to hide the hideous and stained green of the sofa was gone. It wasn't anywhere in the studio, so that meant…. He tried to banish the image of Elizabeth wrapped in the drape, while Lucky carried her out of the studio, but he couldn't. He closed his eyes trying to clear his head, but she stayed there. Her pale face, so much paler, while Lucky closed the drape over her.
"Jason?" Sonny tried again shaking his shoulder, trying to get a reaction.
"I have to help him, I might be the only one who can. … She's dead."
In desperation Sonny yelled at Johnny. "Hit the memo button on her answering machine."
"Are you su…"
"Do it Johnny." Sonny snapped.
Johnny hurried to the table and hit the button on the machine.
"Hi. You've reached 555-6789 I'm probably ignoring you so leave me a message and I will call you back so you can yell at me."
Elizabeth's voice entered the studio, causing Jason's head to jerk up in response, and search the room for her. He didn't see her, and let his eyes rest on Sonny again. "You shouldn't have done that."
Sonny kept the relief from his face. "We need to leave."
Jason nodded but made no move to leave, his eyes drawn to the floor again. As bad as the studio was, he could still feel her in here, and he didn't want to walk away from that.
"Look I thought you said she was alive." Sonny pressed.
"She's not dead." Jason glared at him coldly.
"Well she might die, waiting for you to find her." Sonny challenged him, trying to make him angry again. He knew anger was a great motivator to keep someone moving. If he had to make Jason angry with him, to help him, he would do it. "Are you punishing her by making wait for you?"
"I am not punishing her." Temper had caused his voice to sound harsh.
"Well then let's leave, because she's not here, so that means she is somewhere else." Sonny taunted him, hating what he was doing to his friend, but knowing it was necessary. "Stay if you want Jason, but I'm not giving up on her, so I'm going to look elsewhere."
"I will never give up on her. Never." Jason vowed. The momentary doubt and unaccustomed fear that had paralyzed him, was gone and he was in control again.
Sonny headed for the door, giving orders the whole way. "Francis finish here, and run those tests. Let me know what you find out as soon as possible. Johnny contact Adam, and bring him up to date, and have him get on Lucky Spencer, wait have him pick up Max, and they both can look for him."
Johnny was pulling out his phone when he followed Sonny out of the door.
Jason paused in the door and turned back, his eyes sweeping the studio a final time. "I know a place that'll be more private. Will you let me help you? … Gram rented this place for my birthday so I would have a place to work, almost no one knows about it. … Most of the blood is centered over here between the couch and the window … Snow doesn't smell … You have to hide here on some sofa from a flea market … I bent over the sink and actually I kind of fell in … She was more than likely carried out of here … Uzbekistan? Uhm it rains there when you forget your umbrella … More than a friend is okay that's how I feel about you … having you around was kind of like switching on a light switch … We found a decapitated cat … Elizabeth there's a bomb … Her studio destroyed, blood everywhere … You really matter to me, we're clear on that right? You helped me discover the wind … It's perfect here … There are three distinct blood trails … Sometimes the thing you had, no matter how good it seems, isn't right for you anymore … When I imagine seeing Italy I imagine I'm with you … I will lean on you as long as you let me … What's in the closet is blood no paint at all … I won't come to you again, but I won't turn you away if you come to me … I found a part of a fingernail embedded in the wood … I hope I never see you again."
"Jason."
Sonny's voice pulled him from the memories he sighed heavily and shut the door, his eye lingering on the streak of blood before moving down the hall.
~GH E.R.~
Taggert opened his eyes. "Gia why are you here? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine it's Nikolas." Gia explained dropping down beside her brother.
"What's wrong with him?"
"Some firecrackers spooked Sheba and when he was trying to get her back in the stall, she kicked him. He's here getting x-rays." She explained. "You look tired."
"I am," he scrubbed his face. "Are you coming to the picnic? Mom wants to see you."
"Don't you mean she wants to lecture me?" she corrected.
"Gia you know how she is, if you bend a little so will…"
"Don't give me that you moved to another town to get away from her lectures." She interrupted him her eyes flashing in temper.
He was opening his mouth to retort when he saw Monica Quartermaine coming down the hall. "Excuse me for a minute." He said leaving her to cross to the doctor. "Dr. Quartermaine?"
Monica looked up at him with a frown. "I'm busy Taggert." She said briskly continuing to the Nurse's desk and requesting a chart.
"I'm investigating Mrs. Hardy's shooting, I need to know how she is." Taggert explained following her. He knew he was tired, so he was probably punchy, but he was getting damn tired of people's reactions to him.
"She made it through surgery, the next 24 hours will be critical, if she can make it through them her survival rate increases dramatically." Monica told him using her lecture voice, not even sparing him a glance.
"When can I see her?"
"Talk to me after 24 hours," she walked away.
"I need to question her as soon as possible," he continued to press her.
Monica turned on him. "And I need her alive. Guess what? My needs outweigh yours."
He stepped closer to her. "I'm just doing my job here."
"So am I." Monica retorted.
"Isn't it time you got past this anger. What happened was a few years ago. How long are you going to carry a grudge?" He asked her back, when she walked away.
She whirled around, tiredness forgotten, as she tool a step towards him in anger. "A grudge? Is that what you think I'm carrying? You blackmail me, by using one of the worse things that my husband had gone through, so you can try to arrest my son." She poked him hard in the chest. "You expect me to forget about that?"
"I was doing my job." Taggert said stubbornly. "Your son is a criminal."
"So are you." She cried before lowering her voice. "You hold yourself out to be this above reproach cop, yet you blackmail me to try to get me to turn on my son. You're nothing but a criminal and a hypocrite." With that she stalked away.
He bowed his head, he wasn't exactly proud of what he has tried to do with her. But sometimes the ends had to justify the means.
"That looked intense." Gia commented from behind him.
Taggert turned around and focused on the man who had come up behind her. "Nikolas."
"Are you okay?" Gia went to his side in concern.
"Yes like I told you, no ribs were broken, only bruised." Nikolas slipped an arm around her and kissed her lightly.
"Nikolas do you know where I could find Elizabeth Webber?" Taggert asked trying to ignore the image of his sister with her live-in lover.
"Elizabeth?' Nikolas repeated. "Why?"
"I need to speak with her as soon as possible."
"Did the perfect princess jaywalk or something?" Gia asked cattily.
"Gia." Nikolas frowned at her in warning. "Why do you need to talk to her?"
"Mrs. Hardy was shot last night." Taggert said finally.
"God how bad is she hurt?" Nikolas demanded.
"It doesn't look good." Taggert admitted. "That's one of the reasons I need to find Elizabeth. There is no answer at her apartment at Kelly's."
"She went out of town." Nikolas murmured, trying to comprehend the fact that Mrs. Hardy had been shot. "She hasn't been feeling well lately, so Lucky took her out of town for the weekend, they were supposed to leave last night."
"Do you know where they went?"
"No. She was so sick, I wasn't sure they would go at all. But Lucky left me a note last night, saying they would be back on Monday. I don't know where they went, he didn't tell me." Nikolas explained. Gia had taken his hand to offer comfort and he squeezed it gratefully.
Taggert sighed. "Do you think you could find out?"
"Yes." Nikolas nodded trying to focus. "I'll check with Emily and Laura. I'd ask Luke." He stopped himself with a frown. "But he left town a few weeks ago and as usual no one knows where he is. I'll check their rooms and the studio, maybe they left some information there."
"Good, let me know if you find out anything." Taggert said.
"How bad is she hurt?"
Taggert faced him and told him the truth. "I'd hurry Nikolas, I'd tell her to hurry."
~Lucky~
Lucky studied the building carefully from his spot in the bushes across the street. He needed to be careful not to get caught. Something wasn't right here, he could feel it. He needed to have a clear head before he made his move.
His hand tightened reflexively on the gun, when a car drove by. Now was the time. He quickly left the bushes and sprinted across the street.
~Penthouse~
"Jason." Carly cried rushing to hug him when he walked through the door. She realized he didn't bring his arms up to hold her back, and that made her cling even tighter, trying to offer comfort.
"Is Mike here yet?' Sonny asked when she stepped back.
Carly looked at him, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "Not yet." She tugged on Jason's coat. "Come on let's get this jacket off, it has to be 86 degrees already." Jason made no effort to speak but took off the coat willingly enough. She took his hand and he let her pull him to the couch. She had never seen him like this. Even those times he had been shot, he had shown a lot of life, but this was like he had shut down entirely. That was how Sonny dealt with things not Jason, and it worried her.
"Johnny stay inside." Sonny said when Johnny began to close the door.
Johnny nodded and let Pete close the door behind him, before heading further inside the room. He didn't know what he was supposed to do, should he sit or stand? He realized he had just gotten a promotion, the only thing was, he didn't want it, not like this.
~GH~
"Bobbie, if she wakes up someone needs to be there, to take down anything and everything she says." Taggert explained for the fifth time.
"No. I won't have her recovery jeopardized by questions." Bobbie snapped looking through the window of I.C.U. to watch an orderly settle Audrey in the room.
"The last thing I want is for her to die," he said honestly. "I just want to know who did this to her. Can't you understand that the only way I can help her, is to find that person?"
She sighed tiredly. "If she wakes up a nurse will be with her, and will write down whatever she says, but we won't question her."
"Fine," he knew enough to quit while he was ahead. He turned and walked out of I.C.U. heading for the elevators.
"Hey Lieutenant."
Taggert turned at the hail. "Johnson," he said recognizing the officer. "What are you doing here?"
"We found a guy who was beaten to death on Elm." Jason said falling into step with the Lieutenant. "Does the name Cal Rogers mean anything to you? I know I've heard it but I can't place it."
Taggert came to a stop with a lurch, his hand hovering over the elevator call button. "Yeah he's hired muscle for Corinthos."
"That's where I knew it from." He saw the interest in Taggert's eyes, and realized his case just got a lot more interesting, and his work load a lot heavier.
"Why?" Taggert demanded.
"He was the victim." Johnson told him.
"Anyone else?" The streets had been quiet ever since Sorel had been put on death row, but they were never quiet for long, not where the mob was concerned.
"No. But there was something interesting." Johnson drawled, milking the attention of the Lieutenant, knowing he would never rise to that rank himself, he liked to make the brass wait. "He had a holster but no gun."
~Studio~
Francis picked up the bag, slung it over his shoulder, and opened the door slightly, seeing that the hallway was empty he stepped out leaving the door slightly ajar like they had found it. He pulled off his gloves and headed for the still darkened stairs.
He wanted to get the tests done as soon as possible, so he could help find Lucky and Elizabeth. Jason thought she was still alive and that was enough for him. He popped the trunk on the Buick and put the bag, in the trunk, before heading for his driver's door.
He had just opened the door, when his spider senses tingled in warning. His hand moved for his gun, the same time he felt a gun press to the back of his head.
"I knew it was only a matter of time before one of his flunkies showed up."
"Lucky?" Francis asked recognizing the voice.
Lucky reached around him and pulled the gun free dropping it to the pavement with a thud. "Turn around."
Francis turned slowly, training kept his eyes and face placid, when he took in Lucky's appearance. There was blood on his clothes and scratches on his face, but it was the eyes that concerned him. His ex-partner had eyes like that the day he snapped, killing his family, and 6 other cops, before a wounded Francis had finally managed to kill him. Madness had its grip on Lucky Spencer, and that wasn't good for anyone.
"What's wrong Lucky?' Francis asked keeping his voice casual.
Lucky pressed the gun to the bottom of Francis's chin. "You don't ask the questions here, I do." He moved Francis with the gun, before backing slowly in the car, keeping a hand on Francis's shirt pulling him down as well, so the gun never broke contact with Francis. "Drive." He ordered once Francis was seated.
"Where?"
Lucky tapped Francis's temple with the gun hard enough to make his eyes sting. "I told you not to ask questions."
Francis blinked clearing the pain and started the engine. "I just need to know which way to aim the car Lucky, that's all."
That seemed to confuse Lucky for a minute, his eyes went hazy, but the hand holding the gun to his temple, stayed firm.
Finally a slow smile slid over Lucky's face. "We're going to see Elizabeth."
Francis felt a surge of hope at those words and put the car in gear.
~Penthouse~
"Has he said anything?" Carly whispered to Sonny, looking at Jason who had moved to stand by the window. "I've never seen him like this, not even when Michael was kidnapped."
"This has hit him hard Carly." Sonny answered softly. "He's hanging on by a thread."
"What are we going to do to help him?"
"Be here in case he starts to fall." Sonny told her.
"J-jason?"
The soft voice pulled Jason from his thoughts, and he turned to look at his sister who was on the stairs. He saw the effects of Lucky's violence staring back at him through bruises, and haunted eyes. "Emily." He said crossing to her. For that minute his concern and guilt over Elizabeth was forgotten, while he pulled his trembling sister into an embrace.
"It's okay I'm here." He repeated running his hand carefully over her hair, taking her weight, when she leaned against him.
"I'm sorry, so sorry." It was all she could say. She was afraid to look in his eyes, afraid to see the hurt and anger that had to be there.
"Emily." Jason heard the words and pulled back, lightly taking her chin to force her to look up at him. "You did nothing wrong."
She saw nothing but love and concern in his eyes, both of which were directed at her, and the tears started. "Yes I did, I let her down, I let you down, I let her die."
Jason shook his head. "No you didn't. None of this is your fault. I'll find Elizabeth and no one will ever hurt you two again."
Emily stared at him in horror. "Oh God, you don't know?"
"Know what Emily?" Jason asked.
Sonny moved closer, he had a feeling that this was going to be bad.
"I saw." She stopped and took a deep breath. "She's dead. I saw Lucky kill her." She moaned and slid to the floor when Jason let go of her abruptly. "I saw him kill her."