Chapter 19

Elizabeth sat nervously watching the policemen going about their business. With each passing minute, her bravado slipped. The video tape was worrying her. If Taggert had a tape of Jason at the crime scene then he would know she was lying. Well, she wasn't really lying, she figured. She had been with Jason last night – just not at the time of the murder. From what she had overheard, Jason must have left her and gone to Sorel. She didn't know how she felt about that. The idea that he could leave her and go and kill someone, made her a little uneasy. The entire time he was with her he was thinking about what he was going to do later. She actually felt guilty and a little selfish. Sonny was still in the hospital for God's sakes. Jason had a lot to deal with and all she had done was cause him more stress by telling him she couldn't see him anymore. She thought about the beating Sorel had suffered. Was that her fault? Was Jason that angry that he could do something like that?

She snapped back to reality when Taggert slammed the interrogation room door.

He didn't look happy. She cautiously stood unsure if she should approach him. Then Alexis and Jason exited the room with Detective Capelli following behind. Jason was rubbing his wrists. She rushed over to him.

"Jason, are you all right?"

"Of course he's all right," replied Taggert angrily. "Why wouldn't he? He commits a crime and then gets off scot-free."

She looked at Taggert then back to the three people in front of her. "What? How?"

Alexis touched Jason's arm, "Why don't you take Elizabeth back to Kelly's and fill her in while I finish up here, okay?"

Jason nodded and guided Elizabeth out the police station without a backward glance. They walked for a while in silence. Both were uncomfortable and didn't know what to say. It was strange. Talking to each other had never been a problem for them before. Elizabeth knew she responsible for the change.

When they reached the docks, she knew she couldn't wait any longer. "Are you okay? I don't know how I would feel if I was just arrested for murder."

Jason stopped walking. "I get arrested a lot."

She gave him a weak smile, "Yeah, I guess."

Jason pinched his nose, "Why did you come down to the station?"

"I couldn't let you go to prison, Jason – not if it was in my power to help you." She couldn't believe Jason even questioned it. "You're still my friend. I still care about you. That hasn't changed."

"Why are you doing this, Elizabeth?" His tone a harsher than he intended. He didn't like this back and forth game she seemed to be playing.

She looked confused, "I told you. I could give you an alibi. I wasn't going to let you rot in prison when I could help."

He sighed, "I don't mean that. I mean what are you doing here? We could have parted at the police station. You didn't need me to walk you to Kelly's."

She didn't know what to say to him. Why was she still with him? "I wanted to make sure you were okay," she said weakly.

"Well, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me."

"I'm sorry you're angry," she cried. "I didn't want to hurt you."

"You're hurting more," he said. He could see the dark circles under her eyes. He could see the pain she was trying to hide. "Why are you doing this to yourself? You don't want this life." He took her face in his hands. "You don't want to be a model. You don't want your picture taken and looked at by strangers. You want to paint and feel free. You want to feel the wind in your face when you're on the back of my bike. Why are you living a life that you don't want?"

She stepped out of his reach. "Love," she said wiping the tears from her eyes. "When you love someone you do what they need, even if it hurts, and I love Lucky."

Jason couldn't take it anymore. "Then what about Lucky?"

She was confused, "Lucky?"

"He keeps telling me he loves you every time I see him. Why isn't he sacrificing a part of himself for you? Why isn't he changing himself to make you happy?"

She stared at him in bewilderment. She didn't have an answer to his questions. She tried to think of something Lucky had done since his return to make her happy. Something, anything, that he hadn't wanted to do but did anyway because it was something she wanted. She couldn't.

"Elizabeth?" A voice called from behind her. She turned to see Lucky standing by the stairs.

"Lucky! What are you doing here?"

He walked closer to them gripping his hands together, "I was looking for you. Isn't it interesting that when I find you, you're with Jason."

She hesitated, "You know that I went to the police station to help Jason. I told you. He was released, and we just going back to Kelly's."

He stopped and stood purposely between them. "I see," he said shifting his gaze from Elizabeth to Jason. "Well, I'm here now. Jason can go back to whatever rock he crawled out of and leave us alone."

"Lucky, please don't be that way," she pleaded. She didn't want Lucky to start anything with Jason. She was worried he might end up in the hospital.

"What way? Don't I have a right to be upset when I find you with the one person I asked you not to be around? Don't you think I have cause to be angry?"

"Hey, Lucky, just relax," Jason said trying to keep Lucky's attention on him and not Elizabeth.

Lucky turned his angry stare on him, "This conversation is between me and her."

"I'm just telling you, take it easy." The subtle warning did not escape Lucky's ears.

Lucky laughed, "Oh, that's right. You're Elizabeth's big defender. What are you going to do, Jason - make me disappear?"

"Lucky…" Elizabeth tried to take control of the situation, but he ignored her and kept his eyes on Jason.

"You trying to impress her? You know, I don't want you hanging around her anymore."

Jason was so tired of Lucky and his demands, "That's not your decision."

"Really? Because we discussed it and Elizabeth has already agreed," he turned back to her. "Unless, of course, you lied about that."

Elizabeth felt lost. She didn't know what to do or say to fix this problem. "You know I didn't, but…"

Lucky didn't let her finish. "Then tell Jason goodbye and let's go," he ordered. He walked towards the stairs fully expecting Elizabeth to follow.

Her legs didn't want to move. She just kept staring at Jason. She couldn't tell him goodbye. He mouth wouldn't form the words. Jason reached out to touch her arm, but dropped his hand when she took a step back.

"Elizabeth, you don't have to do this," he said quietly so that Lucky couldn't hear.

"Elizabeth!" She turned to see Lucky standing impatiently by the stairs.

She looked back to Jason. As much as it hurt her, she needed to let him go. "I'm sorry," she whispered so softly Jason wasn't even sure she'd said anything. She wiped a tear from her face and walked away leaving Jason standing alone on the docks.

Jason wasn't sure how long he stood there but knew it had been some time. He'd made a decision. He would do what she wanted. As much as it killed him to do it, he would find a way to stay away from her. He wanted her to be happy even if she couldn't be happy with him. If being with Lucky was what she needed to be happy then he would not get in the way. He glanced at this watch. He needed to see Sonny before visiting hours were over. He gave a final glance to where he had last seen her and walked in the opposite direction.

Carly was in with Sonny when he arrived at the hospital room. He almost turned to leave knowing he couldn't deal with her right now, but she saw him before he could go.

"Jason? Where are you going?" She got off the bed to grab his arm and drag him into the room. "You need to hear the good news," she smiled. "Sonny is getting out of this hell hole tomorrow. Isn't that great?"

"Yeah, it is," he said.

She looked at him concerned. "What is it? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I just need to talk to Sonny about business."

She shook her head. "No, no, the doctors just gave us good news. He doesn't need to hear anything bad right now. Just leave it for tomorrow, okay."

"Carly," Sonny took her hand to calm her down, "it's okay. I need to talk to Jason. Why don't you go and see Bobbie for a few minutes."

She started to argue but knew she wouldn't win. "Okay, but you have only twenty minutes before visiting hours are over so I'll be back then to say goodbye." She picked up her purse and left the room.

Sonny waited a few moments before asking, "How did it go?"

"Our problem has been eliminated."

Sonny nodded his understanding, "Good. What about the warehouse?"

Jason shrugged, "The fire marshal gave us the okay to start rebuilding. A crew will arrive first thing tomorrow to remove all the debris and start the reconstruction. Our shipments are being sent to the empty warehouse we have on pier 52. Our customers were quite understanding about their delays, especially when I agreed to give them a discount on their next shipment."

Sonny nodded again. He liked everything he was hearing. "Roscoe?"

"He got away, but I'm not worried. He doesn't have anywhere to go. With Sorel gone the little power Roscoe had is gone too. He can't hurt us."

Sonny agreed, "Taggert?"

Jason paused unsure if he should mention Elizabeth. "He arrested me around lunch time."

Sonny looked concern, "How did it go?"

Jason shrugged, "Same as always. Taggert confident that he's got me until Capelli came in to break the bad news."

"Who did you use as an alibi? Johnny?"

"Uh, no, I was going to, but Elizabeth showed up at the police station and said she was with me." He waited for Sonny's reaction.

"She did, did she?" He smiled, "Were you with her, or did she just make that up in her head?"

Jason almost blushed under Sonny scrutiny, "We went for a ride and then I dropped her off."

Sonny's smile became a grin, "A ride, huh?"

"It wasn't like that," he replied. "In fact, we're not friends anymore."

Sonny's grin vanished, "What are you talking about?" When Jason remained silent he tried again. "Jason, what happened?"

Jason was quiet for a moment then blurted out, "I kissed her."

"What? When?" He knew Jason had feeling for Elizabeth but he'd never thought he would have acted on it.

Jason got up and began pacing the room. "In her studio on Valentine's day. Last night she said it was a mistake. That she loved Lucky and she couldn't be my friend anymore. Lucky is jealous about our past relationship, and she wants to make him happy," he said the last word as if it was a curse.

Sonny stared at his best friend and hated when he couldn't control the world. He didn't know how to make this better for Jason. The woman he loved was in love with another man. It couldn't get any worse than that. And he wasn't going to make it any better. "You know I'd let you take off if you wanted to, but I need you here. The five families will be sniffing around looking for any weaknesses. I need you here as show of strength. I'm sorry."

Jason struggled to keep his face expressionless, "I understand." He nodded and moved to leave.

Carly jumped away from the door and quickly made her way around the corner. That bitch, she thought. She'd warned that little nobody to stay away from Jason. Elizabeth was obviously too stupid to listen and now she'd hurt her best friend. Carly's anger grew. She wasn't going to let that goody-goody muffin face get away with it.