Chapter 38
"Would you please stop pacing. You're making me dizzy."
Elizabeth stopped and looked at the man whose testimony could send Jason to prison. There was nothing suspicious about him. He looked just like the average everyday man. A little over weight, slightly balding, he didn't look like someone being paid to lie on the witness stand. Although, she thought, what did someone willing to perjure themselves for money look like? Did she really think he would be wearing a sign saying 'I lie for money'? If it was that easy, they wouldn't be in this mess.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm just nervous about the trial. I've never been a witness in a murder case before."
Tom glanced over to the officer standing by the door before replying. "Yeah, well pacing isn't going to solve anything."
"I know," she admitted, "but when I'm nervous, I have to do something. Usually I paint, but I very well can't do that here." She smiled indicating the empty room but for them and the officer. "Moving around helps me."
She started then stopped and eyed him again. Upon second look she did see something suspicious about him. "Aren't you nervous?"
"No," he replied without hesitation.
She raised her eyebrows. "Not even a little?" That didn't seem right. She was petrified, and she knew the all the people in the courtroom. She knew Alexis would treat her well on the witness stand. She knew Sonny would not be plotting her death to protect his employee. How can this man be so calm about his testimony?
"No," he responded again without looking at her.
She moved to sit beside him on the bench. She wanted to see just how far she could go with this. "I wish I had your confidence. Alexis Davis worries me. She's probably the best attorney in the state, maybe even the country. I just know she'll be able to twist everything I say and make it sound like the opposite."
Tom shrugged and glanced at the officer again before speaking. "Alexis Davis doesn't scare me. The only way she could make you change your story is if you weren't 100 sure of what you know. I know what I saw, and Miss Davis isn't going to make me change my mind."
Elizabeth didn't know what to say to that. She quickly glanced at the officer and then back to Tom. Was he telling the truth or was he just playing up the officer? Or maybe he was playing up to her. Maybe he knew about her connection to Jason and was just playing a game with her. Whatever he was doing, she knew she couldn't back down. She needed to push a little more to see just how far he would go.
"What about Sonny Corinthos?" She asked as timidly as she could.
He didn't even flinch. "What about him?"
She couldn't hide the shock she felt at his attitude. "You're not afraid he might try to kill you before you can testify?"
Tom looked straight into her eyes. "Corinthos can't touch me," he said with such conviction she believed him.
Before Elizabeth could reply, Tom stood and walked to the officer. The two spoke softly by the door preventing her from hearing anything that was being said. At one point they both turned and looked at her causing a chill to run down her back. The officer then nodded and Tom left the room with the officer trailing behind.
Elizabeth sat motionless unsure of what had just happened. Was Tom Madigan sure Sonny wouldn't be able to touch him because of police protection or was there something or someone else involved? She shook her head. Either way, she couldn't believe Madigan was so confidant. Sonny was very powerful. He was able to take out Joseph Sorel even with all of Sorel's security. How could Madigan not worry about Sonny doing the same to him?
No, she thought, Sonny didn't kill Sorel. Jason did. Was that what this was all about? Was this someone's way to remove Jason and leave Sonny vulnerable to attack? If so, how could they know? How could they anticipate that Lucky would go after Jason that day? Were they following Lucky? Were they following her and Jason? How long had it been going on? Did they know that Jason had stayed in her studio looking for the traitor? Did this go all the way back to that? Was it possible that Sorel wasn't the person that bombed the warehouse?
She looked back to the closed door. Was the officer involved? Was he working for the person trying to take down Sonny? Were they plotting to get rid of her? Was this all in her head? Was she seeing things that weren't there? God, she didn't know. Maybe she was. She was beginning to think she wasn't cut out for all this mafia business. She wished she could talk to Jason. He would tell her if she was being paranoid or not. He would also tell her to not get involved and let Sonny deal with Madigan. She knew Jason wanted to protect her from his world, but he was in jail because of her not his business. There was no way she was going to sit back and do nothing to help him. She could go to Sonny, but she knew he wouldn't talk to her about business. No she would just continue with what she was doing. Madigan was the key. She was sure of it.
Carly sat quietly beside her husband as the DA's next witness took the stand, but she wasn't interested in the testimony. Nothing the forensics specialist had to say would convince her that Jason was guilty of what he was charged with. The jury, on the other hand, was a different story. They were riveted to the man's every word. Carly hated them. She had never seen these people before, didn't even know their names, but she hated them. These people would soon be deciding the fate of her best friend and they had, yet, to look at him. Maybe if they did, they knew they would see that he was human and not the monster the DA would like them to believe.
A movement in front of her took her attention away from the jury. Alexis had leaned over the speak to Jason. In the past month, Carly had treated Alexis terribly. She was finally willing to admit that but only to herself. She had given Alexis such a hard time over every little aspect of the case. She was sure Alexis would be given sainthood for all the patience and restraint she'd shown against Carly's attacks. Her only excuse was that it was Jason, her best friend, the man who saved her from herself, the man who had accepted her for who she was stupid mistakes and all. Jason had protected her and her son when she needed it the most.
Carly didn't even want to think about what her life would have been like without Jason. She probably would have lost custody of Michael and run out of town by the Quartermaines. Even worse, she would have ended up in jail for shooting Tony Jones. Instead, she had the family she'd always wanted; a loving mother, a rich husband that she loved and who loved her, and a wonderful son. Carly unconsciously rested her hand on her stomach. Soon there would be another addition to her family. She couldn't wait to tell the news. Michael, she knew, will be trilled, and Sonny - Sonny will be over-protective and second guess everything she ate until the baby was born. She couldn't wait. Everything in her life was perfect, except for one thing. The man responsible for everything she had was fighting for his life.
Carly felt helpless, and she didn't like that feeling. The only thing stopping her from taking her husband's gun and attempting a prison break was Sonny's confident demeanour. He insisted Jason would not be convicted and even though Carly was sure he was only saying that to calm her down, it was working. Rather than obsess about losing Jason, she tried to concentrate on their lives after the trial. More importantly, she tried to come to terms with Elizabeth Webber's place in Jason's life.
God, Elizabeth Webber. What could Jason possibly see in that whining little girl? Jason needed a strong independent woman not some weak cry baby who ran when the chips were down. Carly didn't care what Sonny said about Elizabeth taking a bullet for Jason. She knew the painter wouldn't be able to handle Jason's life. At the first hint of danger, Elizabeth would run. She just wished she could convince Jason of that. If she could do that, then there was a lot of swamp land in Florida she'd like to sell. No, she was never going to be able to get Jason to see Elizabeth for who she really was.
Carly was faced with the same problem she had over a month ago; either accept Elizabeth as a part of Jason's life or lose his friendship. The latter she was unprepared to do. Elizabeth Webber was not going to take her best friend away from her. That she was sure of. What she wasn't sure of was how to accomplish the former. How could she accept a person she hated with a passion into her life? She'd done it before, she mused. She hated Sonny when she first met him and now he was the love of her life. She hated her mother when she first arrived and now they were closer than mothers that raised their daughters. In fact, Bobbie was her closest female friend.
God, she wanted to barf just thinking about being friends with Elizabeth Webber. She could just imagine the heart warming talks at Kelly's while drinking hot chocolate and fixing each other's hair. Carly didn't think she could take all the sugary sweetness that constantly came out of the other woman's mouth. It was enough to make even the healthiest person sick not to mention a pregnant woman.
But she was going to stomach it, pregnant or not. She would do anything to make Jason happy, and if that meant being nice to a girl she detested, well then so be it. If Elizabeth made Jason happy then Carly was happy. She could only pray that Jason's infatuation ends quickly, so she won't have to spend too much time pretending to be nice.
Alexis stood ready to cross examine the forensics specialist the DA had just finished questioning.
"Mr. Lee, you've testified that the gun found in my client's room had recently been fired."
The young Asian man nodded before giving a verbal yes to Alexis' indirect question.
"Also, that the bullet from this gun matched the bullets recovered from Miss Webber and Mr. Spencer." Alexis paused again as the witness agreed to her statement. She glanced at the jury before asking, "Were you able to find any gun powder residue on my client?"
Kevin Lee shifted comfortably in the witness stand. "No, but ..."
"Not on his hands, or on his jacket or jeans?"
"No, it's ..."
"Wouldn't it be difficult for my client to have fired the gun you retrieved from his room and not have accumulated powder residue on his person?" Alexis attacked not wanting to give the man a chance to catch his thoughts.
The witness shook his head, "Not if he was wearing gloves."
Alexis jumped at his answer. "Did you find gloves in my client's room during your search?"
Lee shook his head again. "No, we concluded the suspect must have thrown them away."
"I see," she said quietly. The defence attorney brought her hand up to her chin in a calm and cool manner as if she was pondering some universal paradox. After a few moments, she asked the question she hoped the jury were wondering. "If Mr. Morgan, threw away the gloves he used while shooting Lucky Spencer, why do you think he kept the gun?"
"Uh, I'm..." Lee stammered, "I'm not sure." He looked to the prosecutor's table for guidance but received none.
Alexis nodded sure she was getting the jury thinking. "That's okay. We'll come back to that question. When you examined Lucky Spencer, his arms and side were covered with bruises, isn't that correct?"
"Yes."
"You were able to determine that those bruises were only a few hours old."
"Yes."
"You concluded that Lucky Spencer struggled with his killer before getting shot."
"Yes."
Alexis nodded and leaned against the jury railing. "Did you find any DNA evidence on the body that matched my clients?"
"No, I did not."
The attorney looked at each member of the jury to make sure they were understanding what the witness was telling them. "Did you find any bruises similar to Lucky Spencer's on my client?"
Lee shook his head. "No."
Alexis straightened and stared directly at the witness. "Is it possible for the victim to sustain those bruises and not injure his assailant in anyway?"
The forensic specialist nodded. "Yes, if the attacker were wearing a jacket."
Alexis looked back to Jason before continuing her questions. "When my client was arrested, he was wearing a leather jacket."
Lee nodded again, "Yes, he was."
"Did you examine the jacket?"
"Yes," he replied hesitantly.
Alexis sighed at having to pull the information from the prosecutor's witness. "What did you find?"
Lee paused to take a drink of water before answering the question. "I found blood matching Elizabeth Webber on the cuffs and arms."
Alexis raised her eyebrows in mock surprise. "Was that it? No trace of Lucky Spencer's blood, no hair follicles that might have landed on the jacket during the struggle?"
"No, I wasn't able to find any evidence of the victim on the jacket," he admitted.
Alexis walked up to the witness box. "If my client fought with Lucky Spencer, shouldn't you have been able to find something on his jacket?"
Lee squirmed under the defence attorney's scrutiny. "Yes, there should have been..."
"Were you able to find any of Elizabeth Webber's blood on Lucky Spencer's hands or clothes?" Alexis continued without letting the witness finish his thought.
Lee looked slightly flustered by the change in question but was able to reply. "No."
"If Lucky fought with Jason, wouldn't some of Elizabeth's blood rub off onto Lucky?"
"Yes, it should have."
Alexis took a step back and faced the jury once more. "Okay, Mr. Lee, let me see I understand this. You are trying to tell this jury that my client fought with the victim then shot him in the chest, yet you have no evidence to support your conclusion. My client did not have any bruises consistent with being in a fight. There was no DNA of any kind found on Mr. Morgan's jacket that matches Lucky Spencer, and the DNA that was there was not transferred to the victim during the struggle. And you were unable to find any gun powder residue of my clients hands or clothes." She paused in her listings to catch her breath. "Have I left anything out?"
"I ..." Lee tried to answer but Alexis continued.
"Besides where the gun was found, do you have any physical evidence connecting my client to the murder of Lucky Spencer?"
Lee took a moment to collect his thoughts. "No, I don't."
"Thank you," she said trying to keep herself from smiling. "Your honour, I'm finished with this witness." Alexis returned to her seat without looking at the prosecutor's table. She could only imagine what the DA must look like as her specialist stepped down from the witness box.
Dara sat wondering if she had made the biggest mistake of her life. Alexis was killing her, but she knew that was going to happen. From the beginning she knew they didn't have any real strong evidence against Jason. She just wished at this moment it wasn't that weak. The physical evidence hurt her case, but that wasn't all she had. Dara had a strong witness, and she was sure the jury would believe Tom Madigan over forensic evidence any day. She wasn't down for the count yet.
"Councillor? Councillor?"
Dara stood to answer the judge. "I'm sorry, your honour."
"Is the prosecution ready to call their next witness?"
Dara nodded. "Yes, your honour. I would like to call Elizabeth Webber to the stand."