Chapter 18

"It takes balls, Morgan, I'll give you that," Taggert sat across from Jason and slapped a thick file on the table, "to walk right into Sorel's compound with dozens of guards and take him out." He paused to make sure Jason was listening. "But I think you're getting cocky in your old age because you made a stupid mistake and now you're going down. Maybe that brain damage is finally showing its ugly head." Taggert was trying to get a rise out of Jason but so far nothing. Not a sound, not a raised eyebrow, not a blink, Jason never faltered from his stone cold expression.

"Let me see if I can guess about how it went down last night," Taggert stood and began to pace around the room. "You took out the guards at the gate each with a single bullet to the head preventing them from signalling the alarm. You were able to enter the house without being seen and made your way to Sorel's bedroom. There you killed the guard by the door with a knife to the throat before entering the room. Everything to that point pretty standard for Sonny Corinthos' go to guy. It's inside that I'm confused about." Taggert stopped briefly to sit back down and face Jason head on. "You didn't just kill Sorel. You took the time to beat him senseless before finally ending his life with a bullet." He gave a curious expression, "Why? Why risk getting caught when you didn't have to?"

If he could have, Jason would have smiled. Taggert wasn't as stupid as Sonny thought. He'd pretty much described what had happened last night, but he wasn't going to let Taggert know that. He leaned closer to the table, "I want my phone call."

Taggert feigned surprised and made his way to the door, "You want to call super attorney Alexis Davis or the Godfather Sonny Corinthos? Neither one can help you this time. What you may not be aware of is that the police had Sorel's compound under surveillance last night," he said with a sadistic smile. "Everything that you did was caught on tape."

Taggert walked slowly to his desk and wondered when he would take the phone in for Morgan to use. No rush, he thought, let him sit and squirm for a while. Jason Morgan was finally going to jail. He felt such a rush that he could kiss the next person that walked through the precinct doors.

Elizabeth entered the PCPD with determination. She wanted to see Jason and no one was going to stop her. She headed straight for Detective Taggert's desk.

He gave her a wide smile, "Miss. Webber, what can I do for you?"

"Jason did not kill Joseph Sorel," she got right to the point.

Taggert was grateful he was already sitting in a chair. If he hadn't, he probably would have landed on his ass. "You want to run that by me again."

"Jason was with me last night. He couldn't have killed Joseph Sorel."

The detective was speechless. This couldn't be happening. Elizabeth Webber was not standing in front of him attempting to give Morgan an alibi. "Well, I have video surveillance that tells me otherwise."

Elizabeth face never changed, "Well your video tape is wrong. Jason was with me."

Taggert stood knocking his chair over. He was losing his patience. "Look, I don't know what you hope to accomplish but let me tell you this is not a game."

She didn't flinch and stared straight into his eyes, "I'm not playing."

He stared at her dumbfounded. When would anything dealing with Corinthos and Morgan ever be simple? He rubbed his temples with his hand. He was beginning to get a headache. He took a deep breath and looked back to Elizabeth her stance unchanged. He needed to make her see that she was only going to cause problems for herself by lying about Morgan's whereabouts at the time of the murder.

"Taggert," Detective Capelli called to him. "The preliminary forensics report is in."

Taggert gave an impatient look towards Elizabeth. "Don't go anywhere," he said before conferring with Capelli.

Elizabeth looked around the squad room to where Taggert and Capelli were huddled going through the file in Capelli's hand. She may appear confident but inside she was shaking. A video tape? How was she going to argue with a video tape? She scanned the room again to make sure no one was paying her any attention. Everybody was diligently working on other things. She began to wander nonchalantly closer to the two policemen hoping she didn't cause any suspicion. She had never been very good at the cloak-and-dagger stuff. As she got closer she pretended to look through the window on the near wall and was surprised to see Jason. She'd thought he'd be in jail. She took one more casual step and strained to hear Taggert and Capelli.

"Sorel was killed about midnight last night. One bullet to the head," Capelli spoke with no emotion. Sorel was not the typical murder victim to warrant any sympathy. "Not that it mattered. The coroner says the beating would probably have killed him. He had several broken ribs and a skull fracture along with numerous bruises covering his face and torso. The coroner thinks the skull fracture was caused maybe by a boot. He's not sure until he does a few more tests."

"The gun?"

"Nothing. It wasn't left at the crime scene and we found nothing at Morgan's room above Jake's. I mean nothing. It doesn't even look like he lives there," Capelli said. "Morgan didn't even have any personal items like pictures or mementoes. How can a person live that way?"

Taggert didn't care about that. Morgan wasn't a real person anyway. "What about the surveillance tape from Moore and Henderson?"

"I don't know," Capelli answered.

"Well, find out," Taggert yelled and glanced back to his desk to see Elizabeth standing a few feet away from them. He grabbed her and practically dragged her back to his desk. "What are you doing? This is police business not some adventure. You need to go back to Kelly's and forget about this childish hero worship you have for Jason Morgan."

Elizabeth yanked her arm from his grip. "I am not a child."

"Taggert, will I be needing to file a police brutality charge against you on Elizabeth's behalf?" Alexis was standing by the wooden gates to the precinct. She had just witnessed the exchange and couldn't understand the anger Taggert had projected towards Elizabeth Webber.

Taggert took a quick look at Morgan before facing Alexis. "Did your trusty lawyer sense tingle warning you that the boy wonder had been brought in?"

Alexis walked up and placed her briefcase on his desk. "Emily called me and told me you arrested Jason at Kelly's for the murder of Joseph Sorel."

Good news travels fast, he thought. "That's right. And I guess you're here to try and use your legal skills to twist the evidence and try and get him off."

Elizabeth jumped in before Alexis could reply. "Alexis, Jason didn't kill Sorel. He was with me last night, but Taggert won't listen."

Alexis looked knowingly at Taggert, "Really?"

"She's lying. We have him on tape," he insisted.

"We'll see," Alexis countered and turned her attention back to Elizabeth. "Elizabeth, I'll take care of it. Why don't know you go back to Kelly's?"

Elizabeth wouldn't hear of it, "I'm not leaving until I see him."

"Okay, have a seat then," she waved towards the seats along the wall. "I need to talk to Jason and find out exactly what is going on. Taggert?"

He sighed and pointed her towards the interrogation room.

Jason was startled out of musings. He'd been thinking about Elizabeth and her face last night in the alley. She was hurting, and it was his fault. He didn't want her to hurt because of him. Even though he hated it, he would honour her wishes and stay away from her. Maybe then she could be truly happy with Lucky.

"Alexis, how did you know I was here?"

Alexis was about to respond when she realized Taggert hadn't left the room. "Thank you, Detective." She waited for him to leave before taking the chair across from Jason and sitting down. "Emily called me. So tell me what I'm in for this time."

He smiled. He liked Alexis. She never asked if he did the crime or not. He didn't think she wanted to know. It was her way of ignoring what he did for a living. If she didn't know he had committed the crime, she wouldn't have to feel guilty about getting him off. "Sorel was killed last night."

"I know that. What I don't know is why you got Elizabeth involved. You don't usually bring outsiders into this."

"What!" He couldn't have heard her correctly.

Alexis looked over her shoulder through the window, "Elizabeth is out there. She's adamant that you were with her when Sorel was killed."

He couldn't believe it. A part of him was excited. Why was she here when last he knew she was going to avoid him? What did this mean? The other part wanted her to go away. He didn't want her involved in this. "Alexis, she doesn't know what she's talking about. You need to tell her to go before she talks to anyone else."

Alexis could see the concern in his eyes. He loves her, she thought amazed at seeing this new dimension in Jason. "I don't think I can, Jason. She was already here when I arrived and it looked like something had happened between her and Taggert."

"What! What did he do?"

"He was holding her arm and telling her to stay out of police business," Alexis replied sorry she had told him when his expression became cold and business like. If Taggert had been in the room, Jason would be charged for assaulting a police officer as well as murder. "Jason, you need to focus on why you're here. Is Elizabeth right? Were you with her when Sorel was killed? Because if you were, then you have an alibi and I can get you out in fifteen minutes."

"I don't need an alibi. They don't have any evidence that I was involved." He didn't want to use Elizabeth even if it looked like she wanted him to.

Alexis was worried. Why was Jason refusing to admit to an alibi? Then it came to her. Maybe Lucky had something to do with it. Last she knew Elizabeth was with Lucky. Was Jason trying to protect Elizabeth from Lucky finding out? As much as she admired his intent, she couldn't believe he was willing to take the risk with his life. "What about this tape Taggert says they have?"

"That won't be a problem," he said with confidence.

"How do you know? Did you … you know I don't want to know. Let me get Taggert in here and find out exactly what they have against you." She stood and singled the Detective through the window.

"Well, I guess it would be too much to hope your client is going to confess," he grinned walking into the room. "Not that we need it. We have everything we need to put him away."

"Detective, I suggest you save your victory dance until you get a conviction and show me what you have," Alexis was not amused by Taggert's little show of confidence. She'd been through this too many times to know that if Jason said the tape wasn't a problem then it wasn't a problem.

Before Taggert could begin, Capelli stuck his head in the door, "Taggert, I need to talk to you."

"Not now," yelled Taggert.

"You'll want to see this," he said holding up a file.

"What is it?" He grabbed the file and scanned the contents. His expression became darker with each page he read. He couldn't believe this was happening. He closed the file and gave it back to Capelli. He needed to calm down or he knew would lose it.

"I'd like to see that, Detective," Alexis knew the file had something to do with her client. Capelli hesitated but handed over the file. Alexis was quiet as she read file. When she was done, she took off her glasses and turned towards Taggert. "So let me get this straight. You dragged my client from Kelly's causing me to leave an important business meeting and you have no evidence. Is that what I am to understand?" She handed the file back to him. "The tape you were so sure would convict my client came up with nothing, just snow. Ballistics matched one of the bullets found in Sorel to an unsolved murder where one of Sorel's guards was the prime suspect. There was no physical evidence placing my client at the crime scene and his alibi is sitting in a chair outside," she paused in her listings to look at Elizabeth. "Let me tell you, Detective, you better uncuff Jason right now and let him leave or else you won't be happy with what I do next."

Taggert looked like he would argue. He knew in his gut that Morgan did it, but he couldn't do anything. He felt like punching his hand through the door. Every time, he thought. Morgan got away every time. Every time he thought the law would win and Morgan would be put away for his crimes, there would always be something to get him off. He didn't understand how Morgan did it. He sighed in defeat and nodded towards Capelli to remove the handcuffs before slamming the door as he stalked out the room. He couldn't stomach seeing Morgan be released one more time.