Babble: Thanks for taking the time to reply it really does mean a lot.

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Her Greatest Mistake

Chapter 12

~Warehouse~

"I'm sorry Sonny, but I checked everything. There is no financial trail of either Lucky Spencer or Elizabeth Webber since yesterday at 2:45 when Lucky bought some rope from Bergman's tools." Benny kept his voice low but his eyes kept drifting away from Sonny and to his left, towards the other man in the room.

"Have you come up with anything else?" Sonny asked.

"We found Spencer's car, it was parked in one of the back lots behind Wyndams. We checked and according to security it's been there all night." Benny focused on Sonny again. "Is he alright?"

Sonny turned to look at Jason, who appeared to be more a statue than a man at the moment. Since they had seen the body on the dock over an hour ago, Jason hadn't said a word. He had totally shut down. He didn't speak, answer questions or even look at who was speaking. It was strange seeing this in another person, even stranger because it was Jason who was doing it. Jason had always been the one that had pulled him out of these states, now that it was his turn he didn't know what to do.

"Sonny?" Benny prompted him.

"He'll be fine." Sonny vowed, even though a part of him was unsure that his friend would be. He turned slightly so his back was to Jason and lowered his voice to a whisper. "The body on the docks, as soon as they ID it, we need to know," he shook his head. "No I need to know, give the information to me only."

Benny nodded quickly, reading the threat in his boss's dark eyes. "I'll get right on it."

Sonny nodded in dismissal and waited for Johnny to close the door before moving towards Jason, who was immobile by the window. He stood beside him and stared out at the docks. He could still see people moving around on them, but it was too far for him to make out any of their features.

The crowd had lessened somewhat, but he could still see a swarm of people near where the police had pulled the body from the river. What struck him the most though was the sight of the red flashing light on the police boat. It reflected off the water and caused the eerie red glow to radiate everywhere.

"I've been where you are Jason. I've been there so many times it's almost like I live there." Sonny kept his eyes on the window. "You've found the quiet place in your mind, and you want to stay there. Because as long as you are there you don't have to deal with anything else, you don't have to talk, you don't have to feel, you just exist."

He shoved his hands in his pockets and kept talking. "The dark is a safe place, and for me it is always in my mind, just waiting to pull me back in. And every time I slide into that abyss, a part of me wonders if I will make it out again. A big part of me doesn't even want to try, but in the end I always do."

Sonny turned slightly to focus on Jason's unblinking face. "You're one of the reasons why I fight to come back. For years now, you have dragged me out of hell, you kept coming back, kept talking, until I had to come back, you wouldn't let me give up completely. Sometimes your voice was nothing more than white noise in my head, but it was steady and it was constant. You pulled me out of that blackness lots of times, and now it's my turn to do the same for you."

Sonny waited desperately for some sort of response but wasn't too surprised when none was forthcoming. "You're not alone Jason."

Jason stared out the window and said nothing as the police boat finally killed its light and swiftly sped away.

~P.C.P.D.~

Taggert rubbed wearily at his eyes before opening the next file.

"Why don't you take a few hours?" Garcia asked. "You've been on duty for close to 20 hours now, you have to be drained."

"No." Taggert never even looked up. He closed the file and then reached mechanically for the next one.

"What are you looking for anyway?"

"The girl we found at the boxcar, she looked familiar to me." Taggert explained briefly.

"How could you tell, she was pretty messed up?" Garcia hated any loss of life. But to see the tortured body of one so young really made him angry.

"The tattoo, I know I've seen it before." Finding the body in the boxcar hadn't surprised him, discovering it wasn't Elizabeth, and seeing the damage in the boxcar, had. If Garcia's theory needed any supporting evidence they had definitely found it. Lucky's hotspot was everything Garcia said it would be. The only difference was, instead of the brown-haired body of the girl being Elizabeth Webber, it was a stranger, and one he thought he knew.

"Lieutenant."

Taggert looked up into the pug-nosed face of the Police Commissioner. "Sir," he was too tired to even try to banish the distaste in his voice.

"I think your shift is over Lieutenant." Commissioner Backus stated the obvious. "You should go be with your family."

"My family?" Taggert leaned back in the hair and studied the officious idiot. "If you mean my sister, she's in the morgue, I really don't think I need to go there." He saw his boss squirm and continued on. "I have several open cases on my desk, and you might not be aware of it, but the first 12 – 24 hours in an investigation are the most critical."

"Yes well," Backus hesitated. He had never been an investigative cop. He'd ridden a desk for most of his career, perfecting the art of politics and ass kissing in an effort to move his career along. He realized that the only reason he was the Commissioner right now was because Mac Scorpio had resigned. He was also very aware that the Mayor and the City Commissioners asked Mac daily to return to the job.

Because of that he knew he needed to solve some high profile cases, and do it quickly and efficiently. The Spencer boy's killing spree, was just the ticket he needed to solidify his position. "We have rules for these situations. Procedures that need to be followed. You can not be primary on the murder of a family member."

"I'm not." Taggert interrupted the man, he was well prepared for this discussion. "Detective Garcia is primary on the murder of Gia Campbell and the attempted murder of Nikolas Cassadine. I am primary on the murder of Calvert Rogers and the attempted murder of Audrey Hardy, as well as the as yet unidentified girl that was discovered in an abandoned boxcar. I have no familial relations with any of these victims, therefore there is no justification for you to pull me off my cases."

Backus looked from Taggert to Garcia then back again, before he could reply the people exiting the interrogation room behind Taggert's desk caught his attention.

"Thanks again for getting here so soon Commissioner." Officer Andy Capelli held out his hand to Mac Scorpio before shifting to look at the two girls that followed them out of the room.

Georgie Jones' red and blotchy face, bore the grim reminders of the horrors she had seen today. Her hand was gripping her sister's tightly, the same way it had been ever since he had first talked to the girls on the docks. He could still see the sparkle of unshed tears in her eyes right now. He knew that she would never forget what had happened.

Maxie Jones was in direct contrast to her younger sister. She hadn't cried once, she answered the questions that she was asked in a mechanical voice, with no feeling at all. The only movement she seemed to make independently was in rubbing at a large stain on her once clean shirt. Her eyes were wide, and empty, and by focusing on a grape colored stain on her shirt, he knew that she was trying to avoid dealing with what she had seen.

"Thank you for your help, Georgie, Maxie."

Georgie nodded and tugged on her sister's hand to get her to move. She used to love to visit Mac at work, but now all she wanted to do was to be out in the hot sunshine again.

"I'll be right there girls." Mac told them, hanging back a step to talk to Capelli.

"Mac." Felicia Scorpio-Jones' voice announced her presence long before the slim blonde came into view. Her blue eyes swept the squad room, stopping when she saw her daughters and she rushed to them. Georgie let go of Maxie and charged her mother.

"Mommy it was so bad." Georgie whimpered.

"Shh baby, you're okay." Felicia rocked her, while she held out a hand to her other daughter. "Maxie?"

It was the sound of her mother's voice that finally pierced the fog she was in. "I'm sorry mom, I'm sorry we fought and I'm sorry I borrowed your shirt," Maxie cried suddenly tugging on her shirt. "I was trying to be so careful, I got through lunch and we even had spaghetti." She began to rub at the stain the snow cone left on the shirt. "But I got something on it after all."

"Maxie, it's okay." Felicia reached out for her daughter, but she backed away.

"Maybe Grandmother can get it out, she always knows how to do things like that." Maxie's voice began to rise. "Or I'll buy you another one. Yes that's what I'll do I'll by you another one, because I shouldn't have taken it from you. I won't do it again, I won't borrow your clothes anymore."

"Maxie it's okay." Felicia reached out and held on when Maxie tried to pull away again. "I don't care about the shirt. I care about you and Georgie."

"I'm sorry we fought this morning," Maxie whispered tears finally sliding from her eyes. "You're right mom, I'm not old enough to get a tattoo, I'm still a kid. Mom I want to be a kid, I don't want to be an adult."

Felicia felt the tears sting her eyes when she realized that adulthood had already claimed her oldest daughter. Her eyes met Mac's and he inclined his head to the door.

"Officer Stallings is going to drive you home." Mac moved over to join the family he still loved. "I'll come over as soon as I get things squared away here."

Felicia nodded and turned towards the door, keeping an arm around each of her daughters.

Mac waited until they disappeared, before heading to Taggert's desk. "Marcus."

Taggert nodded.

"Mac," Backus extended his hand. "I didn't know you were here. I'm sorry about your stepdaughters it was a shame that they had to see that. Oh I guess I should say ex-stepdaughters shouldn't I?" He smiled slightly then continued on. "We will make every effort to solve this case as soon as possible."

"Oh I know we will. And you should get used to seeing me here again, Backus." Mac patted him on the shoulder. "I think you need to check your voicemail."

Backus paled. "What do you mean?"

"I didn't want to be the one to tell you this, but I'm the Commissioner again." Mac took his arm to lead him away from the desk. "Don't worry I think the Mayor has some information for you about a new job."

Backus walked away slowly, this wasn't going like he had planned.

"Oh man, I am so glad your back Mac." Garcia held out his hand. "Maybe we'll actually get some work done now."

"I wouldn't be that optimistic Garcia." Mac focused on Taggert. "Can you handle this Marcus?"

"Yes." Taggert kept his eyes level on Mac and his answer brief. Mac's eyes were shrewder then Backus, he needed to stay in control.

Mac tried to read Taggert, but his eyes were hooded at the moment. "You remember what happened to me during the Stefan Cassadine murder, and how personal I let it get, because of Felicia and Luke."

"You were following the evidence." Taggert reminded him. "Granted it was fake evidence, but you were following it. That is all we're doing, only this time the evidence is real, incontrovertible, accurate, and it leads to only one person."

Mac debated with himself for another minute before going with his gut. "For now your still on the case, but there are conditions. You don't do anything alone, Garcia is with you every step of the way." He saw Garcia nodding and continued on. "The minute I think you can't handle something, I'll pull you. We need to do everything by the book. So if you can't handle that I need you to tell me now."

"I'll be fine." Taggert said coolly.

"Alright." Mac nodded and turned away. "Then bring me Spencer, alive."

Taggert immediately turned back to his files without acknowledging the last part of Mac's statement.

"Thank Christ Backus is out." Garcia settled in his chair.

Taggert nodded and opened another folder. "Bingo."

"You found something?" Garcia pushed on the floor and sent his chair rolling over to the desk.

"You remember that missing person's case that came in about 3 weeks ago?"

"Yeah." Garcia searched his memory for the details. "A 17 year old, Jane Morrison."

"Jane Morrissey," Taggert corrected, reading a sheet in the folder. "You were right she was 17, she also had a rather descriptive tattoo on her right shoulder. A tattoo of a unicorn. Sound familiar?"

Garcia leaned forward. "The girl in the boxcar had that tattoo."

"That's not all, I remember when her photo and description were first circulated, I thought she sounded familiar," he opened the folder. "Jane Morrissey 5'3" and ¾ inches tall, 130 lbs, with brown curly hair and green eyes."

"I remember." Garcia nodded.

Taggert held up the photo, of the smiling Morrissey girl. "Does she look like someone we know?" He held up a photo of Elizabeth Webber.

Garcia whistled. "They could be sisters." Seeing the photo's side by side, the resemblance was so apparent he wondered why he hadn't seen it before now.

"And one of our 'sisters' is more than likely in the morgue and the other one is missing." Taggert put down the photos and laced his fingers behind his neck. "We're missing something here."

"Like what?"

Taggert moved over to a chalkboard and studied the diagram he had written on there a while ago. Lucky Spencer's name was in the center and there were several names written around it in a circle, he erased the name Jane Doe, and wrote in the name Jane Morrissey. "Someone, more than likely Spencer killed her, the coroner's early estimate on the time of death is almost 24 hours ago, so she is our first victim." He circled her name and wrote number 1 on it.

He moved on to focus on the name Kelly's and wrote a 2 beside it. "Neither one of their rooms show any overt signs of violence, but with what we found in her room, there has been some violence done there in the past."

"Next we have the studio, that belongs to Elizabeth Webber." He wrote the number 3 beside it. "The studio was destroyed, something violent obviously happened there, and Elizabeth Webber is missing."

"Don't forget the cat." Garcia reminded him while he studied the board.

"I don't think I can." Taggert muttered, before focusing on the next word on the board. "We know that sometime after 2:00 Calvert Rogers was attacked here on the docks, and later died from those injuries. Next we have the Hardy house, where Audrey Hardy was shot around 4:30 in the morning."

The arrows and circles were going around the name Lucky Spencer in a clockwise motion, and there wasn't a lot of space left to write on.

Taggert hesitated then went on writing the #6 beside the word cottage. "Next we have the cottage, here there was a murder and an attempted murder, which happened around 8:00 this morning."

"That's all we have so far." Garcia admitted.

"Right so what's missing?" Taggert stepped back and studied the board. "Tammy confirms that Elizabeth got off at 12:30 and left Kelly's then, she was due back at 7:00 and never arrived, she also said the last time she saw Lucky was yesterday around 2:00. Given the coroner's estimate, Lucky must have gone straight to the boxcar after leaving the diner. The Morrissey girl died between the hours of 2:00 and 4:00."

Garcia consulted his notes. "Spencer made a stop first though, we have a credit card receipt from Bergman's at 2:45, remember he bought some rope."

Taggert nodded. "Elizabeth was last placed at a coffee shop on Harbor Drive around 4:45 yesterday."

"Where are you going with this?"

"I'm trying to get a rough time line. Spencer went from Kelly's, to the hardware store, to the boxcar, then more than likely the studio. Initial reports say the blood there is about 18 hours old." Taggert twirled the chalk in his hand. "With where the studio is located it makes sense for his next stop to be the docks, where he found and murdered Rogers." His words began to come out faster, an idea was slowly forming.

"The next place he shows up is Audrey Hardy's, next the cottage, when Gia and Nikolas return from the hospital, he's waiting. All of these places show evidence of his attacks, each one getting more violent, but what else do they have in common?"

"I don't know," Garcia shrugged. "Maybe Elizabeth?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "It looks like Lucky might have been searching for Elizabeth." He moved to the desk and pulled out a notebook. "Nikolas admitted that Lucky alternated between wanting to know where Elizabeth was, and saying that he hurt her. If she were running wouldn't it make sense for her to go to the studio, her grandmothers, or even her friend's house? Those would be places she felt safe, with people she would feel safe with."

"Yes, but there's someplace else she would go."

"Yeah were missing someone." Taggert smiled slightly. "When the mess with Tom Baker happened, there were 4 involved. When the rave happened there were 4 involved. So where is the 4th one now?"

"Emily Quartermaine should be on the board somewhere." Garcia studied the board with new eyes. "Whenever there has been any sort of trouble with the others, she's been involved so why isn't she here? There's been no reports of anything unusual at the Quartermaine's and there are enough staff there, that we would have heard something."

"Morgan." Taggert whispered.

"What?" Garcia asked.

"Who showed up in town before dawn this morning? Why did Corinthos meet him, instead of just going to the penthouse himself? Why is Morgan here at all? Since Sorel's been in prison, Corinthos has solidified his power. There's no threat to him now, there's no reason for him to bring Morgan back." For once the anger that he normally felt when he thought about Corinthos or Morgan was gone. In its place was cold logic. "There's no reason unless Morgan didn't come back for a professional reason, and instead he came for a personal one."

"Elizabeth Webber and him are friends. She even had a bomb in her studio because of him. It would make sense for her to contact him." Garcia admitted, then shook his head. "But how would he know? It's a good theory, but how would he know to come back now? Especially if she's running."

"Lieutenant can I speak with you?"

At the soft-spoken request, Taggert turned around and stared into the battered face of Emily Quartermaine.

~GH 4th Floor~

"Excuse me." Laura Spencer pushed her way off the elevator and looked around for any sign of her soon to be ex-sister-in-law. But there was no sign of the redhead. With a huff of breath she headed for the nurse's station. "Can you page Bobbie Spencer for me?"

Gabriella nodded. "If you'd like to wait in the lounge, I'll direct her there."

Laura moved towards the small waiting room on the side of the room and took a seat. It had been a hectic few hours. Ever since she had gotten Bobbie's phone call she had been racing. She wasn't used to racing anymore, the last time she had done it, was when her and Luke had been searching for Lucky over a year ago.

At the thought of her son, she closed her eyes. Bobbie had to be mistaken. Her little boy would never hurt anyone, much less shoot Audrey in the back. He just wasn't capable of that kind of violence, it all had to be a terrible mistake. She debated on trying to reach Luke again, but decided to wait until she had more concrete news. Hopefully she could get this whole mess straightened out without having to track Luke down.

"So you have finally decided to return to town." Stefan's voice was cold, as was his expression. "A little late, but that is normal for you is it not?"

Laura opened her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

Stefan tilted his head and studied the woman he had once been obsessed with. The woman that no other in his life had ever been able to measure up too, and for once his blinders were removed. What he had always considered a warm and caring face, now struck him as cold. The eyes that were so expressive, and so capable of tearing up at a second's notice, now seemed calculating to him. "This is the time you play devoted mother is it not? You always like to show up, when someone is hurt, you just can never be bothered on a day to day basis."

"Stefan I really have no desire to speak to you about my son. I have no doubt that you believe what you've heard about him, but I can assure you that this is all some misunderstanding and I will clear it up."

"A misunderstanding?" Stefan repeated. Laura's failure to grasp the obvious was never so apparent to him. "It was more than a misunderstanding."

"No it's not." Laura snapped. "Lucky would never do what he is accused of. He would never shoot anyone, especially not Elizabeth's grandmother."

She didn't know, the realization hit him. She didn't know about Nikolas at all. She wasn't sitting here, being concerned about Nikolas, she was here to defend her other son. She had returned from where she had been, because of Lucky. Whatever feelings he still harbored for her vanished in that instant.

"I would never call murder a misunderstanding," Stefan corrected her stiffly. "Or attempted murder for that matter."

"Lucky didn't murder anyone." Laura shot to her feet, like any mama bear would, anxious to defend her cub. "I know my son. He wouldn't hurt anyone, and anyone who says he did, is either lying or is confused. I know that you would love to believe that he is capable of this. That way you could blame his failures on Luke's genes, but you can't because that would be a lie. Luke and I raised our son better than that, he would never hurt anyone. This is all a mistake or an outright lie, no doubt orchestrated by the Cassadines."

Stefan studied her, her temper was fiery as usual. Her eyes were dry however, more than likely because no one was around to see the show. To him she had never looked more like Helena then at this moment. "So you are calling Nikolas a liar?"

Bobbie paused a few feet away when she heard Stefan's question.

"Nikolas?" Laura looked confused.

"Oh that's right, you don't know about Nikolas. He's only your son, but he isn't a Spencer, and you must have your priorities."

"What about my son?"

"Which one are you worried about Laura? The one who is in the hospital? Or the one who put him there, after killing the woman your forgotten son loves right in front of his eyes?" Stefan crossed his arms and waited for her reaction.

Horrified the only thing Laura could do was shake her head.

"What? Do you think Nikolas is lying when he says that Lucky shot Gia in cold blood?" Stefan inched closer. "Or maybe he's lying when he says Lucky attacked him and tried to beat his head in with a gun."

Laura backed away from Stefan and the horrible words she was hearing but Stefan followed her.

"Maybe Audrey Hardy was lying when she told the police that Lucky admitted to beating Elizabeth, and she must have been lying, when she told them, that Lucky shot her in the back." He gripped her by the arms, holding her up, when she began to slump. "Maybe the police are lying too, when they announced to the world that Lucky beat another man's head in last night, and killing him."

"No," Laura moaned.

"That's right Laura, deny it, all of this must be a lie, because your precious son would never do anything like that." Stefan let her go abruptly and she sunk in the chair. "And because you are so unwilling to see the truth about your beloved son, two people are dead, one is missing, another might be paralyzed, and Nikolas." His voice got even colder. "The son you could never be bothered with, the one you had no problem walking away from, and disappointing again and again, is lying destroyed in a hospital bed, because his love died in his arms, after being murdered by his brother."

Stefan stepped away from her before he did something he would regret. "Your beloved son has tried to destroy Nikolas, and I won't let him be hurt again. You are not to go near Nikolas, the last thing he needs is more of your guilt filled love, if that is what you call it." He lowered his voice. "You have no power or influence with me anymore, if you or anyone else in your family goes near him again, I will destroy them."

He turned and paused when he saw Bobbie standing there staring at them, he saw no anger in her eyes, so he simply nodded at her, and hurried to check on Nikolas.

Bobbie sighed and moved wearily to the couch and a now sobbing Laura.

~Warehouse~

Sonny had been talking so much that his throat actually burned, but he kept going. He knew that some part of him was getting through to Jason, so he had to keep holding out that lifeline. He only stopped when his cell rang and moved away from Jason to answer it.

"Sonny it's me."

"Carly is there something wrong with Emily?" Sonny was worried as soon as he heard her voice.

"She's gone."

"What? How?"

"I was with Michael and when I went to check on them, she was gone, so was Zander. Pete says they never went by him, so they must have went out the side door."

"Damn." Sonny groaned.

"She left a note." Carly read it quickly. "Sonny she went to the police station. She said she's going to turn herself in."

~Morgue~

"Man I hate holidays." Dr. Alvin Linkletter grumbled to his assistant. "4 bodies in less then 24 hours, is not how I wanted to spend my 4th of July."

"Well then next time, you probably shouldn't hit on the boss's wife." Michele Peters taunted him. "If you controlled your hormones, you probably wouldn't get assigned holidays."

"I told you I was drunk." The Doctor replied shortly, trying to offer a defense, after all, his boss's wife could be a model for all of those before photos' the diets always showed.

"Sure." Michele rolled her eyes and picked up her clipboard.

"So what do we have?" He asked while pulling on his latex gloves.

"3 women, all late teens, early 20's, all murdered." She consulted her notes and pointed to the far table, and the sheet covered body there. "Bachelorette #1 has been identified as a 22 year old model by the name of Gia Campbell. Cause of death is a gunshot wound that nicked the heart."

Dr. Linkletter pulled down the sheet and took a cursory look at her face before looking at the wound. "My daughter went to the salon trying to get her hair to look like hers. It wasn't a good look for her."

Michele couldn't help but agree, she'd met his daughter, the braids would have looked ghastly on her, but wisely she held her tongue. "Bachelorette #2, was just tentatively identified as a missing 17 year old by the name of Jane Morrissey. I printed her and sent them off to forensics for comparison. As for the cause of death, torture comes to mind."

"I'm guessing it was because her kidneys were rather crudely removed." He took another look at the jagged incision on the girl's chest, and then pulled the bloody sheet back over her face.

"Probably, basically she bled to death, again that is only preliminary." Michele finished quickly before the doctor could go into lecture #3, which was don't put the cart before the horse. That was his annoying way of saying not to assume, of course it took him 10 minutes to say that.

"Bachelorette #3 is our mystery guest." She moved closer to the table and the body of a girl, still hidden in the red throw. "We know she's a female, but were waiting to unveil her, until forensics were done, and you were here."

"Okay." Dr. Linkletter looked at the girls on the tables, and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "I love a mystery, lets begin with her."

Michele nodded and picked up her camera to record the body, as it came into view.

~GH~

"Laura will you stop please? Crying won't do anything, except give me a headache." Bobbie rubbed at her throbbing temples.

"Don't snap at me Bobbie," Laura hissed, wiping the mascara from under her eyes, and sitting up straight. "I can't believe Stefan, did you hear what he was saying?"

"I'm afraid what he said is true Laura." Bobbie admitted. "It's all over the news and I heard eyewitness accounts both from Audrey and from Nikolas. It is Lucky who did this." Numbness had set in so deep that discussing the fact that her nephew was a murderer didn't even faze her at the moment.

"I can't believe that, I won't." Laura was desperate to find a way to save her son. "He wouldn't do this."

"Laura I know what you want to believe. I once thought Tony was incapable of kidnapping a baby, and refusing medicine for an HIV patient, but he did it."

"That was different, he was only your husband, this is my child were talking about."

"Yes your child. The child who has never been the same since he was kidnapped. Your son who had been sliding more and more out of control for months now. While you have been to damn busy to notice. Hell while I've been to busy to notice." Bobbie snapped.

"Why are you yelling at me?"

"Because I'm angry. You saw him every day, how could you not see how bad he was getting? Was it because you didn't want to see it?"

Stung Laura fired back. "He lives at Kelly's why didn't you see it?"

Bobbie sighed in defeat. "I think a part of me did, but I didn't follow up on it. I was like you, remembering the boy that was, instead of the man that returned. Elizabeth's hollow eyes and nerves, are readily apparent in hindsight, all the signs were there, and I didn't want to see them, anymore then you did."

"What signs?" Laura asked nervously.

"Elizabeth getting sick all the time, they way she wouldn't look anyone in the eye, how she jumped it you touched her, and barely even spoke at all when Lucky was around. All those classic signs of abuse that I've counseled women on for years. All the signs I ignored because I knew my nephew Lucky would never do that." Bobbie had a bitter taste in her mouth one she knew wouldn't be gone anytime soon.

"Are you saying Lucky hit her? He would never hurt Elizabeth like that." That was one thing she was sure of. "He has been devoted to her ever since the rape."

"Wrong Laura, Lucky before the fire was devoted to her, the Lucky after the fire was angry and controlling." Bobbie got to her feet. "It hurts me to say this, and even more to believe that he is capable of this. But I have too, I can't pretend everything is okay when it's not. Lucky has been in trouble ever since he came back, and I'm not going to bury my head in the sand anymore, and neither should you."

"Are you saying that's what I'm doing?" Laura demanded.

"Laura it took over 20 years and the rape of Elizabeth before you even admitted that what Luke did to you was rape. You are the Queen of Denial. Look around you," she gestured around the lobby. "There are people in this place right now because of that denial. Including Nikolas, whom you have yet to ask about."

"Mommy," Lucas tore away from Roy and made a beeline for his mother, the instant the elevator doors opened.

Bobbie caught him and held on in concern when she felt his small body shaking with sobs. "What's wrong honey?"

"I s-ssaw a b-b-b-…" he broke off and began to cry again.

"Roy?" Bobbie looked at him with questions in her eyes, and an accusing look on her face.

"We found a body of a girl in the river, it shook the kids pretty bad."

"Oh baby." Bobbie rocked her son. "Let it out, your safe now."

Laura studied the picture they made. Mother comforting her son, how many times had she held Lucky like that? Her little boy rarely cried but when he did, when he was frightened he had sought her out. His innocent belief that there was nothing his parents couldn't make better, sustained him through the first years of his life. How long had it been since he had let her comfort him?

It had been years, she frowned as the memory of a meeting in the park came to her. Not long after returning to town, and after he had found out what had happened between her and Luke so many years before. Fear had been driving Lucky that day. Fear that one day he would hurt a woman the way his father had. Everyone had said he was just like Luke, and he was terrified that he would be. He had let her reassure and comfort him, and she had tried to convince him that he would never hurt any woman like that. That what had happened between her and Luke had occurred more because of the situation, not because of a flaw in Luke.

"He beat Elizabeth."

Laura covered her mouth when Stefan's words returned.

"How do I know that I don't have a monster locked inside of me mom? One that is just waiting to break free?"

Lucky's words from that long ago day came back to her, and terrified her.

~P.C.P.D.~

"So after I told them what happened I was exhausted and I hurt so much that I took a pain pill and went to sleep." Emily took a sip of water to soothe her raw throat.

Garcia looked up from his notes. "Do you know how long ago that was?"

"No." Emily shook her head, and immediately wished she hadn't. "I slept for hours, then when I woke up, we watched the news, and I realized I had to come here."

"You can understand her disorientation." Alexis interjected. "She was very confused, upset, terrified, even hurt, on more than one level. Her oldest friend had suddenly and very violently turned on her, and she needed time to process that. Given the fact the suffered a fairly serious beating in her own right, it's perfectly understandable that she needed some time to let that sink in."

"I never said she didn't counselor. I'm just trying to get the facts so I can narrow down the time frame, and isolate Lucky's movements." Garcia replied easily.

The whole time Emily had been speaking Taggert had kept his eyes on her face. Her bruised face was a stark contrast to the smooth features of his sister. But while Gia was beautiful in death, he would much rather see her bruised and alive. The horror in Emily's eyes as she recounted her tale of abuse at Lucky's hands made him wonder about his own sister's last moments. Was she scared? Was she in pain? Did she know what had happened to her? Was she alone? Did she call for him?

"It was probably close to 7:45 or 7:50 before I got to the studio," Emily paused and tried to remember more. "Elizabeth was supposed to be at work at 7:00 and she didn't show. I remember looking at the clock right before I splattered grease on myself and it was 7:30."

"So roughly 20 minutes later you were at the studio," Garcia began to guide her back over her story again, this time hoping to fill in a few blanks. "And you saw Lucky attacking her."

~Morgue~

"Alright let's cut this rug off of her." Dr. Linkletter said when they'd photographed it from every angle and pulled samples from it. He frowned at the rope that was wrapped around the rug. Although it was damp there was very little fraying. "The rope looks new." He commented for the record before making a swift downward cut, severing it.

Michele set the camera down and slowly they began to unfurl the carpet, exposing the girl within.

~*~

"Yes he had his hands around her throat and was choking her." Emily took Zander's hand, seeking his warmth and strength. "I stood there, frozen, for a long minute staring. When finally I could move, I ran over to him and tried to get him to let her go."

"Was she still moving at this point?"

"Yes she was struggling. She had blood on her face and her hands, but she was scratching at Lucky trying to get him to let her go."

~*~

"There's tissue under her nails, she definitely struggled." Dr. Linkletter set her hand back down and stared at the girl who was lying face down on the table, while Michele finished photographing her. "There's bruising around her wrists, she was probably restrained at some point."

"Finished." She set the camera down. "Do you want to turn her over or swab her first?"

"Let's roll her, and finish the cursory exam, then go back later for the details." He shifted so he was at her head, while Michele went down to the girls boot clad feet. "On my count we'll roll to the right, one, two, thr…"

~*~

Garcia could see the glazed look in Emily's eyes and could feel the warning glare of Alexis as well, and decided to back off for a bit. "Do you remember what she was wearing?"

"Brown pants, hiking boots, she had on a green short sleeve t-shirt, that was how I saw the bruises on her arms. Then she put a long-sleeved sweater on over it."

"Good Emily, you're doing fine." Garcia kept his tone friendly.

Alexis couldn't help but admire his deft touch when it came to guiding Emily through her statement. She could see how he'd earned the reputation as the best victim interviewer in the department. He was sympathetic, and at the same time forceful. This enabled him to get the information he needed from the victim, without them feeling pressured.

"How about jewelry? Was she wearing any?"

"She always wore a simple gold ring on the ring finger of her left hand, and a bracelet that was made of cubic zirconium on her left wrist. They were gifts from Lucky," she faltered. "She never took them off."

~*~

"Now this is a mess." The doctor frowned at what was left of the face of the girl.

Michele moved closer and took another close-up of the face. "Looks like the boat's propeller, caught her across the face."

"Yes, most of her teeth and her features are gone. We'll have to ID her from her prints, or her DNA if we get a lead on her. Hopefully we'll get lucky."

"You want me to cut away the clothes when I'm done?"

"Yes."

"Okay." Michele began by unfastening the bracelet from the girl's wrist.

~*~

"Okay you said Lucky was choking her and you tried to stop him." Garcia began again. "Do you remember what happened next?"

She knew she would never forget it. "Elizabeth went limp at the same time I hit Lucky with the stool. Her eyes were open and she wasn't breathing. I began giving her mouth to mouth." She could still see the ugly red handprints that had left welts on Elizabeth's pale throat.

~*~

"Possible cause of death is strangulation." He examined the throat. "It looks like a crushed larynx."

"Do you think she was dead before she went in the water?" Michele asked as she put the blood stained green t-shirt in an evidence bag and set it in a basket with the rest of the clothes, that were heading to forensics.

"I don't know, and won't until I cut her open and see if she has water in her lungs or not." He frowned at the petite woman on the table, inventorying the welts, and bruises that lined her skin. With the lividity of the body, the bruises really stood out on her fair skin. "Regardless she put up one hell of a fight, even though a lot of these bruises are days old. She has defensive wounds everywhere, she didn't go quietly."

"Too bad she didn't go the first time he hit her." Michele shook her head, she was tired of seeing what happened when women stayed with men who hit them. She fed the print card into the scanner and hoped she would get a match, so this Jane Doe didn't have to go to Potter's field, like so many other women had.

~*~

"Thank you for coming in Emily." Garcia leaned over the desk. "I know this was very hard for you, but I want you to know that you did very good. I know you've been examined, but I still think you should get checked out at the hospital."

Emily blinked in surprise and shifted her focus to Taggert who hadn't said a word. "You mean I'm not in trouble?"

"Of course your not Emily." Alexis looked at Taggert in warning. "They know you were in shock and as soon as you were able you reported what you witnessed."

Garcia nodded in agreement, there would be no purpose in tormenting Emily further with reprimands over not coming to the police sooner, he could see she already felt miserable as it was. "She's right Emily."

Emily got slowly to her feet, and swayed slightly. Zander immediately slipped an arm around her waist and tried to move her to the door, but she resisted. "Lieutenant."

"Yes Emily." Taggert asked roughly.

"I'm sorry about Gia. I didn't know what he was going to do. If I had known, if I had any idea that he would go after Nikolas or Gia," she trailed off and swallowed hard. "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner."

Taggert got to his feet and moved away, the last thing he wanted to hear was condolences about Gia, that would make her death all to real for him.

"Come on Emily." Zander glared at him but kept his voice soft, trying to lead her away.

Tears slipped unheeded from her eyes, but she refused to budge, instead she addressed Taggert's stiff back. "Can you understand that what I saw scared and shocked me so much, that I needed to find the one person who always made me feel safe no matter what?"

"So you waited until you could tell Morgan and others paid for it." He couldn't keep the bitter accusation inside any longer.

Emily felt her stomach turn at the words and touched Zander's arm before he could speak. "I don't expect you to understand this. I know you hate my brother. That you think he's nothing but a worthless criminal, who should be locked away for the rest of his life. But he's so much more than that, especially to me. He's been my protector ever since he let himself get to know me. I needed to find him, because I needed to make him understand that I didn't mean to let him down again," her voice broke and she struggled to go on. "And even though he was hurting, I needed him to make it okay for me, because that is what he's always done. When I'm scared, my brother makes it okay."

Her words triggered a memory that sent him straight into hell.

"Why didn't you tell mom?" Marcus demanded and fished in the trunk of the car for a first aid kit.

Gia scowled. "She wouldn't understand, she'd just get mad at me for fighting. She wouldn't even listen to why I was fighting."

Marcus picked up her hand and looked at the bruised knuckles. "Is there a reason?" He asked the defiant looking 14 year old.

"Yes there was. Macy Widdoes and her crew were at it again." She jerked at her hand when he applied the medicine. "Watch it that stings."

"You shouldn't be fighting then." Marcus told her.

"Like you can talk," Gia pointed to the still healing black eye on his face.

"This is different."

"Why because you're a guy?" Gia demanded.

"No because I don't cry when I get hurt." Marcus answered with words that were wiser then his years.

"Do you see me crying?"

"Not anymore." But he could see the tracks her tears had left on her face. "So what was the fight about?"

"Joel Fellers, a boy she liked asked me to go steady with him."

"Did you say yes?"

"Yes to fish-face Fellers? Please I have taste." Gia fired back insult in her eyes.

"So if you turned him down why did you fight?"

"Because she said the only reason he asked me out in the first place was because I would have been an easy score, considering I was nothing but a slut."

Marcus cursed liberally under his breath. "She is nothing but a lying cow. She has been jealous of you since she met you when she was 5. Jealous because she could have a 100 surgeries and never look as good as you do on your worst day."

Gia smiled widely at that. "You have to say that, you're my brother."

"Not true. Most brothers call their sister's frog-face or something like that. I can't say that because you're beautiful." He placed the band-aid on her knuckle. "All done."

Gia leaned against him. "Thanks."

"All I did was put on a band-aid." And tomorrow he would find fish-faced Fellers and give him a permanent pucker.

"It was more than that," she corrected him. "You made me feel better, as usual you made me feel safe."

"I won't let anyone hurt you Gia."

"I know, I guess that's why I find you when things happen. I know you'll make it all right for me. No matter what, you'll make it okay."

"Why do I feel like this is a setup?" He asked warily.

"It's not." Gia frowned at him. "I do rely on you." The frown changed into a sly smile. "Of course it doesn't hurt that you're so good at running interference with mom."

Taggert clenched his hands into fists and tried to banish the sound of her voice.

"I just needed to see my brother. If I could undo what I did, I would." Emily finished weakly, feeling drained. It was wrong for her to want him to forgive her, but she did. Blinded by her tears, she turned into Zander and moved towards the door.

"Emily it wasn't your fault." Taggert's words stilled her progress. "You did what you had to do to survive both mentally and physically, I don't blame you."

Emily turned back and smiled weakly in relief. "Thank you."

Alexis waited by the desk while Zander helped Emily from the squad room. "You said the right thing Taggert."

Taggert ignored her words. "How's Nikolas?"

"He's in shock, he doesn't want to believe she's gone." Alexis informed him. "He'd give anything to trade places with her."

"I know that feeling." Taggert turned away again.

Garcia trailed Alexis to the doorway. "Counselor your clients have a head start in this matter."

"Detective are you going to use this to further the PCPD's vendetta? Because if you are let me warn you…"

"Let me finish," Garcia interrupted her. "They have a head start, but we're in the game now, and this game is personal," he glanced over a Taggert, "very personal. If your clients get in the way, we'll take them down too. You might want to pass that on to them."

~Morgue~

"We got a match on those prints from our Jane Doe," Michele crowed in triumph.

Dr. Linkletter placed the girl's heart in a scale to weigh it. "That's good news. I also have some news, she was definitely alive when she went into the river. The water in her lungs proves that she drowned."

"That's a rough way to go."

"Yes it is." He glanced over at her. "So will the mystery guest please sign in?"

Michele looked down at the readout. "Her name is…"

~Yacht~

It was pitch black, but the darkness wasn't frightening, in fact it was soothing in a sense. It helped to keep the pain at bay. Pain had become a constant factor in life, each day harder to get through then the last. But in some ways the pain was a friend as well, it was a constant presence in life when little else was.

The gentle rocking of the yacht was soothing as well. The swaying brought back memories of a more restful time, because peace was the prevailing emotion at the moment.

Peace and pain, pain and peace. They shouldn't go together but they did, especially here in this dark, cramped room.

Noise sounded on the other side of the door, and tension joined the peace and pain. It was almost time to start again. The brief respite was almost over. The noises came closer and a new emotion entered. This one was fear and it wiped out all the other emotions with the force of its power.

~Penthouse 4~

"Jason get mad at me, scream, yell, throw things, just don't stand there like a statue." Carly ordered.

"Carly." Sonny called from the other side of the room.

Carly frowned at Jason again the joined her husband. "Sonny this isn't right, he doesn't act like this. You act like this." She accused him.

"I know." Sonny poured himself a straight shot of scotch. "I will never forget the look on his face when they pulled that body from the river."

"Do you think its Elizabeth?"

"Jason does, that's what made him freeze."

~*~

Jason stared out into the sloping sun, he could hear the low murmur of his friend's voices, but made no attempt to make sense of their words. He didn't think he could make sense of anything ever again. He had been holding out hope that Elizabeth was still alive, because he had needed her to be. So he ignored Emily's accounting, ignored what Francis had told him, he ignored it all because he wanted her to be alive.

A part of him even believed he could feel her. He'd never felt that kind of connection before now, but he believed it today, because the alternative was something he didn't want to face. The alternative was that Elizabeth was dead. And one of the reasons she was, was because she couldn't reach him when she needed to.

He'd never lost anyone close to him before. Lily was the first person he'd known who'd died. Even though he liked her, he wasn't devastated by her death. He'd lost men that he worked with as well, but again it really wasn't that personal.

"But I am in love with you."

Elizabeth was personal. She was so personal that the thought of breathing in a world that she was no longer in was too painful to think about. He didn't know how he was supposed to move on if she was dead. Would he slide back into his old pattern of only waking up because his eyes opened?

He ran a hand over his face. He'd been prepared to die, and to die young. He knew his life expectancy, given his career choice, was not very long. But he'd only let himself think about the possibility of her dying just once. That was when Sorel had planted the bomb in her studio.

That thought had scared him enough that he tried to end their friendship. He would rather have her alive and hating him, then dead. But he couldn't stay away from her and in the end he had left town. His leaving had as much to do with her, as it did with Carly, Michael and Sonny.

But now, unless there was some mistake, and it was someone else wearing that bracelet and ring, she was dead. Hope he didn't know he was capable of, hope that refused to die, welled up in him again. He didn't know for sure that is was her, and until he did, he was going to believe she was still alive and waiting somewhere. He turned away from the window and focused on his friends. "Sonny…"

The shrill ring of the phone cut off his words and three pairs of eyes locked on the desk. Sonny set his scotch down and picked it up on the third ring. "Yeah?" he paused and kept his back to the others. "What did you find out Benny?"

Jason moved closer and Carly stepped beside him and took his hand. The tension and fear in the room had tripled in the space of seconds, while they waited to find out the news.

"Thanks Benny." Sonny's voice sounded normal and he hung up the phone before turning to face them.

Jason took one look at his face and the hope that he had finally mustered up again, vanished.

"I'm sorry Jason." Somehow he got the words past the lump in his throat. "It was Elizabeth in the river, her prints confirmed it."

"Christ no." Carly gasped.

The penthouse door opened and Alexis came in. "Sonny, Jason, thank god you're here." She turned around. "Zander, Johnny bring her in."

Sonny's frown turned into a look of concern when Emily came inside with Johnny supporting her on one side and Zander on the other. "What happened?"

"Move her to the couch gently." Alexis ordered. "Carly she said you have her pain medicine, can you get it?"

"Yes." Carly flew towards the stairs.

Sonny crouched by the couch. "What the hell happened?"

"She pushed too hard. She collapsed when we left the station." Zander explained worry evident in his dark eyes. "She wouldn't let us bring her to the hospital, she insisted on coming back here."

"I need to see Jason," Emily forced her eyes open. "I need to be here for him."

Jason. Sonny looked for him when she said his name. But he was gone, the open door to the penthouse was the only thing he saw.