Chapter 43

Rick awoke around 6 am worried that he had yet to hear from Lucky. He was also surprised that he did not get a call overnight from the PCPD informing him that another Corinthos property had exploded… or that Jason and or Sonny were dead. The fact that none of this happened had him worried. He kept brushing off the thoughts thinking that had something gone wrong Lucky would have notified him and perhaps Lucky and Sam were in hiding due to the danger.

He finally decided to head in to work early to see what was going on. He got dressed and opened the door to leave and found Mac and Cruz on the other side about to knock.

"Commissioner, Detective Rodriguez, what can I do for you gentlemen?" Rick said in an uncertain tone.

Mac extended his hand with a folded up piece of paper. "Lansing, we are here to search the premises. You should also be aware that there is currently a team searching your office."

Rick's expression changed from uncertainty to shock as he read the search warrant. "This is preposterous."

"Take a seat Rick." Cruz said as he and Mac entered followed by 2 other uniformed officers.

"You are wasting your time. You are not going to find anything because there is nothing to find." Rick stated smugly.

Cruz chucked, "You may think so, but it does seem as your time has just opened up… so since you have nothing else to do you might as well humor us."

Rick gave him a questioning look.

"You have been placed on a paid leave while we conduct our investigation. The mayor will be calling you this morning to explain the circumstances of your leave, or you can stop in and visit him. Once we are done here we need you to come down to the station to answer a few questions, Baldwin will be temporarily filling your position." Mac said. "We will keep your suspected involvement out of the press for now but if we find something I cannot promise anything.

"You guys are opening yourselves up for a lawsuit here, but I will let you have your fun for now. Can I ask what the nature is of this investigation… or are you going to deny me my rights?" Rick asked.

"You are suspected of conspiring with organized crime." Mac stated.

Rick sat unsure of what they knew. Had Lucky and/or Sam flipped? What possible evidence would they have, Rick was faultless when it came to covering his tracks. He made sure that there would be no trail that would lead to him.

After nearly two hours of searching the team was complete and the men exited the house followed by Rick and all made their way down to the station.

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Emily sat in the study looking through a photo album containing pictures of the four musketeers. So much had changed over the years, now Lucky was gone. Tears fell from her eyes as she reminisced of the times they had all spent together.

It had been hours since Mac had called Nicholas and told him about Lucky and Sam. He went to comfort Alexis but Emily knew that Lulu would need him too. Alfred entered the room, "Miss Emily, is there anything that I can get for you?"

Emily sniffled and wiped the tears from her face, "No thank you Alfred." Alfred turned to leave the room. "Wait!" Emily shouted.

"Yes, what is it?" he asked.

"Could you possibly make a few calls and push back the honeymoon a few days?"

"Absolutely Miss Emily, I will do that right away. Let me know if you need anything else." He turned and exited the room.

A short time later she got ready and headed off to work. She had two shifts left before she leaves on her honeymoon, today and she was on the New Years eve shift tomorrow night. She called Nick's cell phone on the way to work and left him a voice mail to stop by the hospital if he has the time. He was going to be spending all him time comforting Alexis and Lulu, someone had to be there to comfort him.

Emily had been at work for an hour before she had the chance to head down to the nurses station and see if Elizabeth was on shift. Emily approached the desk and found her staring at the desk. Eventually she looked up and saw Emily standing there. They immediately pulled each other into a hug. Neither wanted to back away from the hug, both having flashes of the Lucky they once knew in their thoughts.

"No one may believe this but I will miss him Em." Elizabeth confessed. "Maybe not the Lucky that we have been with for the last couple years, but the Lucky I fell in love with… it seems so long ago."

"I know Liz, I am going to miss him too. He got so messed up."

They stood there for a few minutes, talking about some of the things they used to all do, the memories. "I have to get back to the O.R… my mom needs me to scrub in on a surgery."

Elizabeth nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Umm… I don't mean to change the subject or anything but I need to talk to you about a few things. Are you available for lunch?"

"Yes, I will meet you in the cafeteria at 1… sound good?"

Elizabeth nodded and Emily pulled her into another quick hug before disappearing into the elevator.

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"Hello Rick." Scott Baldwin said as he walked into the interrogation room.

Rick smiled, "Let me guess, you set me up so that you can have my job?" Rick said.

Scott shook his head. "Can we just get on with this Lansing." Scott walked over and took a seat at the table across from Rick. Seconds later they were joined by Mac.

"The situation being what it is I feel that I should sit in rather the lead detective." Mac stated.

"I agree Mac." Scott replied. "Ok, lets get down to this shall we. First things first… Mac."

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand your rights?" Mac recited.

"Thank you for that beautiful rendition Mac, yes I do. Also being that I am a fabulously trained lawyer, I am waiving my right to have another present."

Scott rolled his eyes. "I will be recording this. Ok, are you aware of the events that unfolded last night, December 29th?"

"No." Rick stated simply looking around the room, seeming bored.

"So you do not know that Lucky Spencer and Sam McCall are dead?"

Rick's head jerked up and he glared at Scott. "No."

"Have you ever heard of the Perez crime family, namely Joseph "Joey" Perez?" Scott asked.

Rick felt his palms go sweaty. How did they know, how did Lucky and Sam die, what had happened. How did Scott tie the Perez's into all of this. He had to find this out. If they got word that they were tied to any of this then Rick knew that he was a dead man.

"Rick, do you need me to repeat the question?" Scott asked.

"No and no." Rick sucked in a deep breath. "What are you implying Scott, do you think I am involved with organized crime?" Rick stood from his chair.

"Sit down Lansing, I am the one asking the questions here." Scott looked down at his notepad. "Uh… when is the last time that you spoke with Mr. Spencer?"

"Luke or Lucky?"

"You know I am talking about Lucky!" Scott snapped.

"Well I just want to make sure I answer every question truthfully and if it was Luke then the answer would be different. He stopped by my office the other day."

"And what was the nature of his visit?" Scott asked.

"Nothing, he just happened to pop in my office the other day. He asked me about a case he had worked on before his leave that is about to go on trial."

"What case?"

"Freddie Davidson… he was arrested for multiple armed robberies. He was asking how the case was coming along and when the trial was set for."

Scott nodded, "Ok, he came all the way down here for that?"

"I cannot assume why he was at the station that day, I only know why he stopped in my office. As you well know Scott, I cannot assume what someone else is thinking."

"We have reason to believe that you have been the middleman, for lack of a better word, of a deal between Lucky and Sam and the Perez family. Until further notice you are on leave and let us hope that the information that we have does not pan out, for your sake at least." Scott said.

"Is that all you have for me Baldwin?" Rick stood from the table. "I will be in the mayors office if you need me. This whole line of questioning and theory of yours is ridiculous and fabricated."

"Do not underestimate me Rick, if you are guilty I will take you down… and yes, that is all I have for you… for now." Scott said. Rick smiled and released a half chuckle from deep in his throat then exited the interrogation room.

"What do you think Mac?" Scott asked once Rick was gone.

"I think you could have been a little harder on him." Mac said.

"No, I don't want him to think we have anything on him. I want to wait to see what we find in his place, and watch him for a couple days. We'll get him." Scott said as he and Mac left.