Hidden in Her Shadow Chapter two

Detective Marcus Taggert looked over the scene beside the Port Charles Hotel. What a mess. I turned to the officer. "Who's the victim?"

"Luis Alcazar. Someone pushed him over his balcony. I have two men positioned outside of the door to his suite. No one has gone in yet."

"Any witnesses?"

"No one has come forward. Time of death is approximately 12:35 am. He was found by a couple returning to the hotel from a bar up the street at 12:45am."

I looked at the man flattened against the pavement and the blood splattered around his body. I'm not surprised that someone killed Alcazar but couldn't they have found a less disgusting way to do it? I wonder how they will clean this stain from the pavement.

"Did anybody in the neighbouring suites hear anything?"

"Alcazar rented the rooms surrounding his including the rooms above and below his suite."

"This guy was either extremely paranoid or he liked his privacy. Have someone talk to the people in the building across the street. Talk to everyone who has a view of Alcazar's rooms. Maybe we will get lucky and someone over there heard or saw something. I'm going to have a look in his suite. Send forensics up when they arrive." Hopefully, whoever did this left a clue behind. This isn't going to be an easy case to solve. To many people in this town had good reasons for wanting Alcazar dead. Many of the citizens of Port Charles would say that the person who killed Alcazar deserved a metal. While Alcazar's death may not be a bad thing but we can't have citizens running around this town playing vigilante. Murder is still a crime last time I checked. I started mentally reviewing the growing list of suspects.

Roy Dilucca I have heard unconfirmed rumours that Alcazar was using him against Sonny Corinthos and Jasper Jacks. Supposedly Alcazar was blackmailing Roy to do is dirty work. I will have to have someone check to see if he really left town.

Felicia Scorpio-Jones. Ex-wife of the Police Commissioner. Alcazar took first her daughters and then latter her hostage in an effort to force Roy Dilucca to kill Sonny Corinthos.

Sonny Corinthos Local crime lord/mob boss. My favorite suspect. His claim to being an ordinary businessman is laughable. Alcazar started a local territory war with Sonny. Alcazar blew up his warehouse. One victim Christina Cassadine, sister to Corinthos's ex-lawyer Alexis Davis. Alcazar was supposedly holding one Brenda Barrett, Sonny's ex-girlfriend, ex-fiancé. I would love to be able to prove that Corinthos had something to do with this. But I better have evidence this time before I charge into his penthouse. The last time I went in to have Corinthos arrested it was during his latest wedding to Mrs Corrinthos. He brought police harassment charges against me when the latest charges against him didn't stick. How many times has he married her now anyways?

Jason Morgan Estranged mentally damaged Quartermaine. Sonny's enforcer. Recently married to Brenda Barrett. He would carry out any order Sonny gave. I have heard that Alcazar recently attempted to kidnap Mrs Morgan. That would give him enough reason.

Mrs Carly Benson-Carinthos. I wouldn't put it past the woman. She is very protective/possessive of her husband. I could see her killing a man who tried to kill her husband. I could also see her taking out the man who brought her husbands supposedly dead exgirlfriend/exfiance back to town.

Alexis Davis Brilliant attorney. God only knows how she kept Corinthos's ass out of jail. Her sister Christina was killed in that bomb that Alcazar placed in Corinthos's warehouse.

Ned Ashton Quartermaine gatekeeper. Now here is a confusing picture. His is Alexis's ex-fiancé. Alexis quite literally left him at the alter. She was half way up the isle when she turned around and ran. He was dating Christina Casadine. He apparently impregnated Alexis while dating Christina. He was trying to get Christina back when she was killed.

Brenda Barret Morgan Here is a picture I truly don't understand. The woman finds out that her mother is dying of some mysterious illness that slowly drives the mind into insanity. She apparently assumes that she has inherited the disease. She allows everyone in Port Charles to think she is dead including her current fiancé at the time Jasper Jacks. She runs off with Alcazar knowing full well what the man was. But then she had one time been engaged to Sunny Corinthos so I don't suppose that Alcazar's life style bothered her all that much. Alcazar falls for Brenda. Alcazar decides to get rid of Brenda's former loves Sonny Corinthos and Jasper Jacks. Why? Mrs Morgan claims that Alcazar didn't like competing with a memory. Alcazar claimed that Mrs Morgan asked him to. With Mrs Morgan's continuously irrational behaviour, I am sure there is more to the story. Brenda decides that she no longer wants to play dead, sinks Alcazar's ship in order to get off of it. First she runs to Corinthos and Morgan who try to hide her from Alcazar. Then she runs away from their protection to ex-fiance Jasper Jacks. Despite the fact that he had just gotten married, is more than ready to leave his bride and protect a woman who let him think that she was dead for the last 4 years. She proclaims her love for Corinthos and Jacks then marries Jason Morgan. She finds out she isn't dying, leaves her husband to shack up with her ex Jasper Jacks. Why the hell are all these men after her? Sure the woman is beautiful, but she is a pain in the ass.

Jasper (Jax) Jacks He has recently married Skye Chandler Quartermaine. He finds out his first love is still alive and is running from the man that until recently had willing stayed with. Alcazar shoots Jax. Jax recovers. He finds out that Mrs Morgan isn't dying and he abandons his spouse for her. I used to respect the man. He is rich, powerful and Corinthos's enemy. I used to think of the man as some sort of white knight. Lately however I have been questioning the man's intelligence. He left his gorgeous wife who obviously loves him for another gorgeous woman who apparently pays lip service to the word and if past behaviour is anything to go by, will leave him at the first opportunity.

Skye Chandler Quartermaine Jacks Her husband left her for a woman Alcazar brought back to town. Plus Alcazar shot her husband. The lady isn't known for taking betrayal well. Since coming to Porte Charles, she found out that her grandfather Edward Quartermaine sold her on the black market to the Chandler family. In retaliation, she took over Edward's company. Some people even said that she stole the company. She wasn't head of the company for long, but the lady sure did leave an impression. Beautiful, smart and cunning. She is definitely not someone who will sit back and let things happen around her. She likes to be in the middle of the action.

Detective Taggert walked down the hall to Alcazar's suite. He nodded to the guards as he let himself into the crime scene. At his first glance around the room, nothing seemed out of place. Nothing was broken. The room was slightly chilly due to the balcony door being open. There was no sign of struggle or forced entry. In the corner was a room service tray. He made a note to find out when it was brought up and who brought it up. Maybe they had scene someone in the room with Alcazar.

Careful not to touch anything, I went into the next room. The sight stopped me in my tracks. There on Alcazar's bed was Skye Chandler Quartermaine Jacks, lying face down and stark naked except for the blanket barely covering her rear. She lay there unconscious, unmoving, so pale, so still, at first I thought she might be dead. I moved swiftly to her side and felt for a pulse. It was there but it was faint.

"Call an ambulance. We have a second victim."

Unlike the previous room, this room showed definite signs of a crime. He quickly took mental notes of everything he saw in the room. The tipped over plant. Books on the floor. Her dress was missing buttons like someone had torn it open instead of unbuttoning it. Passion or Force? I glanced back at the woman sprawled across the bed. From the bruises I could see forming on her arms, I would guess the latter.

I knelt by her body and tried to wake her up. This deep sleep obviously wasn't natural. Whether it is alcohol or something else, she had either taken or been given something that kept her in this unnatural unconscious state.

I suddenly felt extremely angry. It is a dame shame that whoever killed Alcazar tonight didn't do it before he had gotten to this woman. I pulled the sheet up and around her to give here some semblance of modesty.

The paramedics rushed in at about the same time as the forensic team. The paramedics checked her vitals then removed her from the room to be taken to the hospital. I called for an officer to go to the hospital to keep me updated on her medical condition. "She is part of a criminal investigation. I want copies of her medical status and toxicology reports. Call me as soon as she is awake. Currently she is the closest thing we have to a witness. She may have seen or heard something before she passed out."

I turned to another officer. "Go downstairs and talk to room service. Find out when it was delivered and then find who brought it and find out everything he/she knows. Start questioning everyone in the lobby. I want to know if anybody remembers Mrs Jacks or Alcazar coming in. I want details. If anyone remembers anything out of the ordinary, write it down. I want to know about it."

Later another officer approached the Detective. "They are finished with Alcazar's body. It has been packed up and moved to the morgue. Forensics found a knife with blood on it. They are going to check for fingerprints. Maybe we will get lucky. We talked to the waiter who brought up the meal. It was delivered about 60 minutes before time of death. He remembers Mrs Jacks being in the room. He thought she was drunk. She was still fully clothed. The waiter said that she could barely stand up and couldn't walk without help. A few people remember then coming in. They all said the same thing. Mrs Jacks could barely walk without help."

"Anything else?"

"Alcazar apparently installed a separate security system in this suite. We are still trying to crack into his system to see if we can find anything but it will tack time. From what we can tell, no one was getting through those doors without setting off an alarm, not unless Alcazar himself opened the door. We haven't found any sign of forced entry."

"So whoever did this, Alcazar probably knew and let him/her in."

"We reviewed the security tapes of the entrances to the hotel. They place the people on your list that you gave to us as having entered the hotel before the time of the murder. We are still trying to place where in the hotel they were at the time of death."

"Who was here?"

"They were all here. That is the problem."

"All of them?"

"Between 11:00pm and 12:30am everyone on that list had entered the hotel. None of them left until after the murder."

I shook my head in amazement. "See if you can place where the suspects were in the hotel. We are going to have to call them all in for questioning and confirm their alibis. I am going to the Hospital to check on Mrs Jacks."