Jack calmed Zander down, and though it took a while, he finally got the details of that night. The night that Zander mistakenly shot Emily, the night that has haunted him for a very long time. "So what happened afterwards? I mean, what happened to Nikolas?" Jack asked looking for more details hoping that talking about it would help Zander get passed it all. "Nikolas?" Zander looked up at Jack who genuinely seemed concerned for him. "Yeah, Zander. Nikolas. Is he still living here in Port Charles? What happened between the two of you? I mean, you obviously didn't spend any time in jail for this. Care to tell me how you got out of it?" Zander stood up from the floor and walked towards the bed. He sat down on the edge and held his head in his hands. Jack stood up and kept his distance.
"Nikolas just wanted it all to go away. He didn't want the media to have field day with the incident and as far as he was concerned he knew I didn't do it on purpose. He was upset and quite angry with me, but mostly at himself for allowing it to happen, cause he could of stopped it before it happened. He blamed himself for it more so then he did me for pulling the trigger. As far as I know he moved back to Greece shortly after the funeral. I wasn't charged with anything, with Nikolas gone and not willing to press charges or to say what happened in that room that night, there was really nothing that could be done to me or to anyone else." Jack stepped closer and sat down on the chair, he still had concerns for his partner, this was alot to bear for someone, especially for Zander. "What about her family? No one ever questioned it?" Zander looked up at Jack. "Sure there were questions, plenty of them. But Nikolas ran and so did I, there was really no one else to ask. Jack, this incident just disappeared. For all who knew about it, well, they are either gone from this world or they have disappeared so no one can find them." Jack raised an eyebrow. "Till now."
"Well what about Emily's friends? They for sure were upset with you and with Nikolas, no?" Jack seemed to get answers but it just raised more questions for him. "It's been 8 years, Jack. I was heavily into the mob at that time, working for Faith who had connections with Lorenzo Alcazar, a known International criminal ... Jack all this disappeared in a matter of hours. There was no proof of anything. Emily was dead. End of story." Zander was getting annoyed with all of Jack's questions about that night. He just simply wanted to forget that night, he didn't want to re-live it over and over again.
"Okay. end of story." Jack got up off the chair and threw Zander his clothes that laid across the back. "Here, let's go get some breakfast. I think you need it." Zander caught the clothes thrown at him and looked at Jack. "Sure, as long as we can put your interrogation about that night to rest?" Jack started to walk towards the door and turned to look back at Zander. "Okay, no more questions. Just get dressed, I'll meet you downstairs in 10 minutes." Jack left Zander alone in the room and closed the door behind him. Zander fell back on the bed and sighed heavily. He rubbed his hands over vigorously, he couldn't believe this was happening to him. After 8 years, that night was back. He just wish it would just disappear again, like it did the first time.
Zander got dressed, grabbed his keys and his jacket and went down stairs to meet Jack. The two of them left Jake's and headed for Kelly's. The only place that Zander knew they could get a good breakfast. The two walked into the diner and took seats at the closest table to the door. Jack could see that the conversation about that night took alot out of Zander, he knew he'd feel better once he had food in his stomach. After all the alcohol he prolly consumed, it was a wonder he was even standing and walking around. Zander took a menu and opened it. He stared at the items listed, not even looking up when the waitress came and poured them 2 cups of coffee. He had much on his mind, too much to even think about eating anything, but he knew if he didn't Jack wouldn't be happy. Jack was one person Zander could always count on, he trusted him with his life and right now, he needed that to help him get through this. He had no one the first time, and it was pure hell to go through it alone, he never wanted to that again.
They ordered breakfast, neither saying more then two words to each other, Zander could feel the tension, but he certainly couldn't blame Jack for it. After the story he told him, he expected it. There weren't but a few who were still in Port Charles who knew the truth about that night and Zander wanted to keep it that way. It had disappeared 8 years ago, and he had hoped it wouldn't resurface, it was bad enough it haunted him for so long, he couldn't deal with everyone in town knowing about it.
"Hey Jack, I would like our conversation before to stay between us, okay?" Zander said as he took his last bit of his breakfast. Jack looked up from his plate. "Yeah sure. Whatever you want, Zander." Jack dug in his pocket and pulled out a $20 bill. He laid it down on the table and grabbed his jacket. "Come on, partner .. we got a criminal to catch." Zander took one last sip of coffee and with jacket in hand, followed Jack out the door.
They stood outside of the diner for a few minutes and Zander's cell phone rang. He reached in his jacket pocket and answered it. "Detective Lewis." he answered as he waited for the voice on the other end to reply. "Great, we'll be seeing you in a few." It's all he said and then flipped the phone closed. "Our back up is here. They're gonna meet us at the PCPD." Jack nodded. "Let's go meet the team then, shall we?" Jack and Zander walked to the short few blocks to the police department.
They walked into the squad room, and a familiar face to Zander was waiting for them. "Zander? Wow it's been a long time." the middle aged gentleman firmly shook Zander's hand and pulled him into a quick embrace. "It's great to see you, man. How have you been?" Zander replied as they broke apart. "Can't complain. You?" he said as Jack stood there hoping for some introductions. "I'm doing good." Zander glanced at Jack. "Sorry. Jack this is my brother, well, half brother, Ric Lansing." Jack extended his hand to the distinguished gentleman. Zander noticed the look on Jack's face when he mentioned Ric being his brother. "Don't ask. It's a very long story." They all chuckled. "Hi Jack. Nice to meet you." Ric replied as he pulled his hand from Jack's. "So what are you doing here at the police department? I thought you were in Miami." Ric asked as he pulled out a chair for Zander and one for Jack. "Well, Jack and I are here on official business. We're working a case that involves Lorenzo Alcazar." Ric adjusted his wire framed glasses. "I see. Any luck so far?" Jack shook his head. "Not so far. We were hoping someone in this department could help us catch him. We're waiting for some back up from Miami to arrive. They're coming in today... they should be here soon." Jack turned and glanced towards the doorway of the room.
It was only a few minutes till their back up team arrived. Two female officers and four male, dressed in street clothes, all undercover officers working the Narcotics unit. Zander was hoping that the team would be enough to tackle such a criminal as Alcazar. The boisterous group made themselves known as they walked into the squad room. Zander and Jack both stood up from their seats and greeted the team. Zander introduced all of them to his brother and asked if there was a room available where they all could sit and talk about the case for a while. Ric showed them to an empty interrogation room and offered his help to them. Zander anxiously agreed, they needed all the help they could get. Lorenzo would not be one to go willingly or quietly, it would take some strategy to bring him down. They gathered all the files they could on Lorenzo and all his criminal activity for the past 5 years. It would be alot of work and it would be a challenge, but they were all up for the fight to bring him down.
The team worked most of the day, and way into the night. It was close to dawn before any of them even asked for sleep. Zander finally agreed that after the day they all had had, they all needed a good night's sleep. He took one last look at the chalk board they were using and his mind was just filled with scenarios to catch Alcazar...none of them good. He stood in front of the board, crossed his arms and stared at the writing in white chalk. The pictures hung up by scotch tape, in each instance, none of the proof that was there held Lorenzo accountable for any of it. He turned and slammed his fist down on the table in frustration. "Damn it Jack! We gotta catch this guy!" Jack knew that frustration that Zander had all too well. "We will Zander. We will." Zander began to pace back and forth. He was too wired to sleep now, Lorenzo had him running on adrenalin. He ran his hands through his hair once more and stared at the board again. His mind went through each crime, in every detail. "There has got to be some thing here Jack. We're just missing it." Jack approached him and leaned his backside against the edge of the table and stared too at the chalk board. "We'll find it Zander. We'll find it."