Chapter 41

Elizabeth walked through the courtroom doors as casually as she could. She raised a nervous hand to the blond wig covering her hair making sure it was straight for the hundredth time. She hoped this plan worked. When she'd left this morning, she hadn't been able to recognize herself, so she hoped no one here would be able to either. This was the lat day of testimony for the prosecution and Elizabeth wasn't going to miss it. Tom Madigan would be taking the stand. She wanted to hear exactly what he had to say about the shooting and about Jason.

She took a seat in the back row behind the prosecution. Even if someone looked in her direction, no one would expect her to be sitting there. The room was filled with all the family and friends of the two men involved in this murder trial - Jason and Lucky. During her testimony the day before, she hadn't really looked at the people in attendance. She'd been too afraid to. Plus, she'd already known what she was going to see - Luke and Laura would be disappointed she chose to defend Jason, Nikolas would be seething with control anger, the Quartermaines would be leery with suspicion of her connection to Jason, Emily would be sad, Sonny would be worried and Carly would be full of hatred.

The latter made her stop. No, she was wrong about Carly. Elizabeth wasn't sure what she would have seen in Carly's eyes yesterday but she was sure it wouldn't have been hatred. A day later and she still couldn't quite believe that Carly had apologized to her. They had agreed to a truce for Jason's sake. It made sense. He was the only thing they had in common. He was also the reason they'd hated each other in the first place, but she wouldn't think about it that way right now. They'd agreed on a truce and it made her feel good. Even a little optimistic. If she and Carly could put aside their mutual dislike for each other then it must be a sign that Jason was going to be found not guilty. She knew it in her bones. She just needed the proof.

"All rise, court is now in session ..." the bailiff continued as the judge entered the courtroom and brought in the jury.

"Is the prosecution ready to call it's next witness?"

Dara stood, "Yes, your honour. The prosecution would like the call Thomas Madigan to the stand."

Tom Madigan entered the courtroom from the same doorway Elizabeth had used the day before. He walked confidently across the room to the witness stand. If he was nervous, he didn't let it show. He didn't appear to have any reservations about testifying against one of the most feared men in the city. To Elizabeth, it just didn't seem right.

"Mr. Madigan, can you please tell the court where you were on March 14, 2001 around 5 in the afternoon?"

He nodded at Dara but directed his answer to the jury. "I was on my way home from work and decided to cut through the docks to save time."

"What happened when you got there?"

"I saw two men standing on the docks. One was holding a gun."

Dara retrieved a picture from her table and held it up for the witness to identify. "Was this the man you saw holding the gun?"

"Yes."

Dara showed the picture to the jury then addresses the judge. "Let the record show the witness has identified Lucky Spencer." At the judge's agreement, Dara turned back to her witness. "Is the other man in the courtroom today?"

Madigan nodded and pointed toward the defence table at Jason. "He was the other man I saw that day."

The DA turned to look at who he was pointing to. "Let the record show the witness is pointing to the defendant Jason Morgan."

"Were you able to hear what was being said between the gentlemen?"

Madigan nodded again. "Yes. The younger man, uh, Spencer yelled, 'She's mine. She belongs to me.' Then he started blaming Morgan for what happened."

"Did he say what had happened?"

"No, but Morgan then said, 'You're going to pay for what you did.'"

Dara looked over to Jason once more before asking, "Did Mr. Morgan appear nervous at having a gun pointed at him?"

"No, no," Madigan replied shaking his head, "far from it. He was calm. Spencer was the one who was nervous. His hand was shaking and I think he was crying."

"What happened next?"

The witness ran a hand through his hair giving the DA a dismayed looked. "It was amazing. Everything happened so fast. One minute the kid was holding the gun another he was on the floor and Morgan was standing over him with the gun in his hand. Before Spencer could do anything Morgan pointed the gun and fired."

"So at the moment the defendant pulled the trigger Lucky Spencer was not a threat to him?"

"No, he was sprawled on the ground. It didn't look like he was able to get up. Morgan had done a number on him."

Dara walked over to the evidence table and retrieved the gun she had earlier entered into evidence. "Was this the gun you saw Jason Morgan use to kill Lucky Spencer?" She asked handing the gun to the witness.

Madigan studied the gun for a minute then nodded, "Yes, this is the gun."

"Thank you, Mr. Madigan," the DA said taking the gun from him. "I have no more questions, your honour." She handed the gun to the bailiff then turned to Alexis. "Your witness."

Alexis waited for Dara to take her seat before looking up from the folder she was studying. She closed the file but remained seated to ask her first question. "Mr. Madigan, did you stay and speak to the police about what you saw?"

The witness shifted in his seat. "No, I didn't."

"In fact you didn't come forward for a week, isn't that correct?"

"Yes, that is correct."

Alexis stood and began walking toward the witness stand. "Why did it take you a week to speak to the police?"

"I was afraid," he replied looking at the defence table. "I knew who Jason Morgan was. Everybody does. He's Corinthos' enforcer. He kills people. I saw it with my own two eyes. I would have to be crazy to talk to the police."

"So why did you then? The police didn't find you, you went to them."

"I, uh, I," he stuttered having no answer. Finally he said, "I didn't think they would need me."

Alexis shifted her gaze from the witness to the jury and back confused at his response. "I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Why wouldn't the police have needed you, you were their only witness?"

Madigan shifted again. "The papers were saying Morgan shot the girl too. They said the police were sure that once she woke up, she would be able to identify her as her shooter."

He paused and looked over to the jury. "But that didn't happen. The girl said that Spencer shot her. Morgan was going to walk and I couldn't let that happen. I was afraid he would come after me. So I went to the police before he could."

Alexis opened her mouth to ask her next question but nothing came out. Instead she walked back to her table and reopened the file she'd left on the table. Keeping the file in her hands she turned back to the witness. "How did you know what Miss Webber said in her statement?"

"What?" Madigan hadn't expected Alexis to ask that question.

Looking through the file she said, "You walked into the PCPD approximately an hour after Elizabeth Webber made her statement to Detective Taggert and myself. How could you possibly have known what was said?"

"I, uh, I," he shifted uncomfortably not sure what to say. "I overheard Detective Taggert at the police station."

"You were already at the police station?" Alexis asked. "What were you doing there?"

"I was just checking things out. I wanted to know how the investigation was going. I was talking to one of the police officers when Detective Taggert came in upset and I heard him talking to another detective."

"And right then and there you decided to come forward. Just when things weren't going well for the police, you appeared. What an amazing coincidence! If I didn't know any better, I would swear it was planned."

"Objection!" Dara stood immediately.

"I'm sorry your honour, I withdraw the comment," Alexis said before the judge could respond to Dara's objection.

"Ms. Davis, I don't want to hear any more comments like that from you or you will be charged with contempt."

"Yes, your honour. It won't happen again," she replied innocently and turned her attention back to the witness.

"I told you, I was afraid for my life," Madigan insisted.

Alexis looked at him quizzically, "Why?"

He swallowed the lump in his throat. "If Morgan got out of jail, he would have come after me."

"But you said neither man knew you were there. You left the scene without talking to the police. No one knew you'd witnessed the shooting. Your life wasn't in danger until you spoke to the police. If you were afraid for your life, why did you come forward?"

"Morgan was going to get off. I couldn't let that happen."

"So you've put your life at risk for the sake of justice?" She asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yes, I have," he said insulted by her tone.

"What would you say Mr. Madigan, if I had evidence placing my client across town when you say he shot Lucky Spencer?"

Madigan was visibly shocked for a moment but recovered quickly. "I would say you were lying. I know what I saw."

Alexis raised her eyebrows. She didn't like being called a liar. "Really, then how do you explain my client's fingerprints found on the roof of General Hospital with traces of Elizabeth Webber's blood?"

"I,..., I," he stuttered losing some of his earlier confidence. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Alexis walked over to the defence table, put down the first folder and picked up another one. "An independent forensics lab was able to find my client's fingerprints on the door knob leading to General Hospital's roof. These fingerprints were made with Elizabeth Webber's blood. They could only have been placed on the door the night of the shooting. The night you say you saw my client kill Lucky Spencer." She paused and handed to file over to the witness. "Can you explain how these fingerprints got on the roof if Jason was on the docks?"

Madigan took his time reading the file. No one had briefed him on this new evidence. "I don't know. Maybe he went up on the roof after he killed the Spencer kid."

Alexis nodded in agreement. "That's possible but when the gun was found it had been wiped clean. How could my client do that then be able to leave traces of Miss Webber's blood on the door knob?" She brought a hand to her chin rubbing it as if she was in deep concentration. "When you were looking at the gun was there any blood on my client's hands?"

"I'm not sure," he said adjusting his tie.

"You're not sure? Didn't you get a good look at the gun?" She asked pointing to the gun on the evidence table. "You were able to identify it as the murder weapon."

"Yes," he replied a little louder than he intended, "I did get a good look at the gun but I didn't look at his hand. I only concentrated on the gun. If his hands were bloody or not I couldn't say."

"I can," Alexis confidently. "If my client had attacked Lucky Spencer the way you claim, then forensics would have been able to find Elizabeth Webber's blood on Lucky's body and they did not."

"Maybe he went to the roof before he killed Lucky Spencer," Madigan argued.

"And still be able to make it across town by the time you say you saw him?"

"Maybe he's a fast runner," he suggested, "or he took a taxi. I don't know and I don't care. It's not my job to figure out how he got there. I leave that up to the police and people like you. All I know is that I saw your client kill Lucky Spencer in cold blood that day. What he did before or after doesn't concern me."

Elizabeth wanted to stand up and call him a liar, but she couldn't. Tom Madigan was a great actor. She was sure the jury was buying every lying word out of his mouth. God, it made her sick. She couldn't listen anymore. She quietly stood and discretely made her way out of the courtroom.

She walked normally towards the witness holding room she had been in the day before. The policeman was not standing by the doorway. After checking both corridors for anyone watching, she entered the room and began searching for anything Madigan might have left and found a jacket lying across one of the chairs. She searched it but only found a match book from some bar just outside of town. Disappointed she replaced the jacket and turned to leave when she heard footsteps coming from the hallway. Without thinking she scrambled behind the window drapes in the far corner just as the door opened.

"I'm telling you, I was great. I had the jury eating out of my hand." Elizabeth couldn't see him but she knew the voice belonged to Tom Madigan.

"Would you keep it down someone might hear you," said another voice. Elizabeth could only assume it was the policeman from yesterday.

Madigan laughed. "You need to relax man. It's in the bag. I nailed it. Morgan won't be a problem anymore."

"Hey, Tommy, nothing's over yet. It's not done until the verdict is read. Morgan hasn't been convicted yet."

"You're exactly right, my man, and I am the only thing that's going to make that happen. Without me Morgan would walk."

It was quiet for a while making Elizabeth wonder what they were doing. She resisted the urge to take a quick look. It wouldn't help Jason if she got caught.

"Tommy, what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking I sold myself too short, Tony. Morgan's going to jail and I'm getting nothing. I think I'm worth a little more than that, don't you?"

"Are you insane?"

"Relax, I've got this under control."

There was another period of silence where Elizabeth thought she heard the sounds of a cell phone.

"Hey, it's me. I just got off the stand. Everything went great. Yeah, so great in fact I think we need to renegotiate our original deal."

"I want more money that's what I'm talking about. And I want it now not after the verdict."

"You think I'm stupid. Once Morgan's convicted, you won't have any need for me. I'll be disposable. There's no way I'm going to let that happen. I want $10 million now or else I'll go to the DA and tell them I lied about everything."

"Yeah, just try me. I've got nothing to lose and everything to gain."

"You try to kill me now and the police might actually figure out what's going on. Not to mention Corinthos. You wouldn't want that now would you."

"Well that's a chance I'm willing to take, are you? Tomorrow. The park. Midnight. Be there with the money or I speak to our favourite police detective."

"You're out of your mind, do you know that?" Elizabeth heard the other man say. It was the first time he'd spoken since the start of the telephone call. "Corinthos isn't enough for you, you have to go up against the boss, too."

"Tony, Tony, Tony," Madigan replied, "I told you. I have everything under control. This is my ball game now. He may be your boss but he isn't mine. In a few days this trial will be over and I'll be richer than I ever dreamed possible."

"The money won't mean anything if you're dead."

Madigan chuckled. "Tony, you have no faith."

Elizabeth could hear the two men moving around the room then opening the door and closing it behind them. She waited a few more minutes to be sure they didn't return before leaving her hiding place. She slowly opened the door and checked the hall. When she was sure they weren't in the hallway, she left the room and made her way to the exit.

She didn't stop until she'd reached her studio where she removed her wig and sat down on the couch. She should call Alexis. Or Sonny. Someone needed to know about she'd just heard. But it was only her word against anything Madigan would say. The DA wouldn't believe anything she said especially if it was something that proved Jason's innocence. No, she needed physical evidence, and the only way to get that would be to go to the park tomorrow night. If she borrowed her grandmother's video camera she could record the money transfer and then even Detective Taggert couldn't say anything against it. Jason would be free.

She smiled. Jason was going to be free. The nightmare was about to be over.