Chapter 3
The guard watched as Sam McCall was hauled off to Mercy hospital. Then reaching out for the desk phone he called over to locate Alexis Davis.
"Alexis Davis."
"Miss Davis, this is Teddy over at the Towers, your daughter is on her way to Mercy hospital. She had to be sedated."
"What did Morgan do now?" she asked. Then seeing Harper in her doorway, she motioned him in and hung up on the man protesting that Mr., Morgan didn't do anything.
"Miss Davis. Is there someone I can call for you?"
"Just tell me what happened." she said sure that she was going to hear about death and mayhem.
"Ma'am, Sonny Corinthos was killed by this serial killer. They found him at the Harborview Towers in the delivery elevator."
Alexis sat down, shocked. She had always knew that Sonny would die a miserable death, but had expected gunfire to be the cause of death. "Was it like the others?"
"Yes, kept alive while body parts were harvested for transplant. We notified the transplant people, they are going to put a warning out, but the thing is there are some unscrupulous doctors who won't care and family members whose only interest is going to be in saving their loved ones."
"Do we have any lead yet?" she asked. "I have to get to GH, wait, Mercy to check on Sam, why was she there?"
"I don't know Morgan was answering questions elsewhere with Mac, so I have no idea what your daughter was up to." and he truly didn't care.
Alexis entered Mercy after calling Nik to see what he could do to get his cousin into a better facility. Seeing Mac Scorpio coming towards her, she said "My daughter needs to be at General Hospital."
"Alexis, I don't have time for this. I have a serial killer who in the last three days has killed three people. We have no leads and so far no idea why these particular people were chosen. Our only theory went up in smoke with Corinthos' death."
"I thought the FBI was handling the case?" she asked.
"They are, but I am looking into it as well. We are sharing information. Now according to the guard, Sam couldn't get up the express elevator and went to take the delivery elevator off to the side. She saw Sonny's body and screamed."
"If you know that why are you here?"
"Your daughter violated a crime scene tonight and the killer left a tape of that at the murder. She lied to the officers on the scene and I want to know why."
"I won't let you talk to my daughter." she insisted fiercely.
"Alexis, when Coleman died, there was a message left for Lucky Spencer. This time there was a message left for Sam. Spencer is dead, I am trying to prevent Sam from being found like Sonny was. So stay out of my way."
Storming down the hall, Alexis snarled as she went looking for Jason Morgan. He had to know something, why if he did wasn't he here protecting Sam. She knew exactly where to go to get answers.
Knocking on Carly's door, she waited until the woman opened it and said "Where is Jason?"
"Alexis, I don't know. Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."
"Sonny was killed tonight." she said bluntly.
"I know, why do you think we are still up. I just told Morgan after Agent Raynor told us. Jax took him up to bed just minutes ago. Have you told Kristina yet?" she asked trying to be nice for Jax' sake.
"No, did you hear who found him?"
"No, all they told me was that Sonny was found dead the same way that Lucky and Coleman were." she admitted.
"Sam did, she was on her way to Jason's. He should be protecting her but he is nowhere to be found. Where is he Carly, I won't lose my daughter because Jason isn't there to protect her."
Carly could not deal with Alexis, she had tried to be nice, but no more, not tonight. "Why don't you go home and worry about your other daughters, not the adrenaline junkie. She is in good hands at GH, just deal with Kristina."
"That's just it, she isn't at GH. Elizabeth Webber has a restraining order out on her and she had to go to Mercy. Nik is refusing to do anything more than arrange for better care at Mercy." she said about to cry.
Alexis saw the half smile in Carly's face and asked what was so funny.
"That for such a mouse, when she roars, Elizabeth can get things done. Sam is going to be fine. She always is." she said trying not to laugh in Alexis' face. She loathed Elizabeth more than Sam, but she had to admire the moves that the young mother had taken against Alexis' daughter.
Alexis stormed out, wanting to find help for her daughter. Arriving at the station, she saw Ric Lansing talking to Agent Raynor. When he turned and approached her, she said "Not now, Sam needs my help."
"NO, your other daughters need you. I have been looking for you, the press has this. How long do you think it will take them to show up at your place? Do you really think Viola is capable of dealing with that? Go home and deal with the girls."
"Sam nee..."
"So, she needs you more than Kristina, is that what you are saying, You are putting Sam's welfare over your two younger daughters. The same Sam who slept with your husband. She had sex with me to hurt you, but you are worried about her instead of the girls. Is that what you are saying?"
Alexis wanted to press on, but what Ric of all people was saying got to her. Sitting down in Lucky Spencer's chair, she sighed. "You are right. Thank you Ric."
"Go home." he said softly. "Stop avoiding Kristina. We both know that this is what your are doing."
Alexis hung her head, then went out the door and drove herself home. Arriving she saw that Milo was there clearing out her front lawn of reporters. entering quickly, Alexis gathered the girl and Viola. "We are going to stay with Nik, would you like that girls?"
Milo got them into the SUV and drove them to the docks where they took the shuttle craft out to Spoon Island. Arriving Alexis went looking for Nik who told her that he arranged for Sam to be transferred to Shadybrook.
"Why Shadybrook?" she asked.
"Alexis, she is catatonic according to Lainey. Plus it protects her from Mac. They found evidence from the Coleman murder on her when she arrived in the Emergency room. They want to know what she was doing with it. The killer went back to Jake's and left a message. They found a drawing in the trash and fresh blood on the pool table."
Jason thought about what Mac had told him. While Mac believed that it wasn't connected to Elizabeth anymore, Jason wasn't so sure. Calling Kurt he asked how things were going?
"Nothing much. They ordered takeout, but Mr. C's murder drew the reporters away. Mrs. Hardy seems to be a wreck while Miss Webber seems to be spending her time between her grandmother and the boys."
"How are they doing?"
"Playing in the backyard right now, but earlier Cameron went for a ride on his bike with the help of Dr. Drake's younger brother who showed up."
"Did you send them?" As Jason asked about the photos that he saw daily, not even Spinelli was aware of the site that Kurt's brother had set up.
"Yes. We saw some men arriving to visit the Drakes. I ran them, one of them is Mrs. Dr. Drake's cousin from Pine Valley, he was wearing a gun."
"Find out what you can, but remember..."
"Be discreet, Jason I have been here since last summer. Miss Webber has no idea who I am or that I work for you."
"She is a little upset with me right now, so if it looks like she is packing suitcases or heads to leave, let me know."
"I will, I promise Jason, I will take care of your family." said the guard before hanging up. Turning to his 'roommate' he said "Morgan is a little antsy."
"Well he publicly outed the secret he has spent the last eight months trying to erase from existence, what do you expect?" said the second guard. "I just don't understand, if he loves her this much, why not just get married? Wouldn't it be easier."
"Who knows what he is thinking." said the man. "For now, we just do our jobs and protect his family."
Arriving at the Corinthos estate, Jason walked in and saw Claudia talking on the phone. "You have two hours to pack up your things and leave."
"I am going nowhere's." she said sitting down and rubbing her stomach.
"Claudia, the only thing keeping me from killing you was Sonny. So I would get on a plane to Milan and I would do so now."
"I wouldn't threaten me, who knows what might happen to that little woman you have on the side." she said.
Jason looked at her and said "I know you were behind what happened to Michael, you should know that Ric isn't going to help you. He is out for himself, just like his father was. So, trust me when I say I will not hesitate to pull the trigger. One less child with Zachara DNA running around is perfectly fine with me."
"Even when its Sonny's? Somehow I doubt that." she said then hearing footsteps saw Johnny entering the room looking worried.
"Claudia are you okay?"
"No, she isn't. I have given you all the chances I am going to. Get her out of here and out of the country before I take her out. She just made one of the biggest mistakes of her life."
Johnny moved in front of his sister, holding a gun on Jason. "Don't event think of it."
"Your sister threatened my family, after Michael do you really think I wouldn't take measures to prevent that."
"She won't do anything, I promise." he said sweating as he saw Morgan looking at Claudia. The ice blue of his eyes seemed to cloud for a minute, then Jason reached down for the glass in front of him without ever removing the gun from it's target.
Picking it, he took a sip and gave Claudia a slow smile. "You had better hope that your brother is more forgiving than I am. Zachara, try this."
Wondering why Jason was making such a big deal about a glass of water, he took a sip and froze at the taste of vodka. Seeing the look in Claudia's eyes, he knew that Morgan saw it as well. "Vodka, strange drink for someone who is pregnant, wouldn't you say?"
Johnny recalled seeing his sister pouring the glass and remarking on how she loathed water. He felt his heart break as he realized his sister had used him to protect her lie. "Why?"
"Not another word." she hissed at her brother.
"Claudia, that offer. Take it now. Don't even dream of harming my family, you won't like my response. Zachara get her out of town before I take her out." with that Jason walked out the door.
"Why?"
Shrugging she said "I didn't want to ruin my figure. It was easy enough to do, I just faked the results and threatened the doctor. I was going to grab a dark haired and skinned kid and pass it off as his. Sonny's ego wouldn't let him believe anything other than it was his."
"We have to go." he said.
Claudia walked to the hallway still sulking and said "I can replace anything I have here. Too bad, I was starting to like this place."
At the airport, Johnny waited until she had gone to get another drink and sent the text. When his sister returned, he looked at her and wondered what happened to the woman who had saved his life so many times. "Claudia, why did you not just leave."
Chuckling derisively, she said "I fell for him the first time I saw him. Strange, he hated my guts, but I wanted to be part of his life. Then the paper doll took him back, what is wrong with me Johnny. Why do I always love men like our father. Men who will never love me back?"
Hugging her, Johnny said softly, "I don't know, but remember one things. I will always love you."
"You shouldn't. There are things I have to tell you, things that are going to make you hate me. It wouldn't have lasted with Lulu or even Maxie. There were deals I made while still in Italy, things that happened long before I came here."
"Claudia, what are you talking about?"
"I made a deal with Lorenzo Alcazar to help his son. The boy who killed those woman, Lulu and Maxie's friend and sister. I also helped get some drugs here that killed Lulu's nephews mother. Some blond, I never saw her photo at Nik's, but once over heard Lulu and some brunette talking about her."
Johnny asked why.
"The drugs were to create an epidemic, then to cure it. But they found a way around it. As for Lorenzo, we dated a long time ago. Honestly, he was good in bed and charming out of it." she said with a sad smile. "But I always knew that he loved another."
"What did you do for this Diego?"
"Lorenzo wanted his son taken care of, he had a doctor to do so, but wanted someone to insure that the doctor didn't abandon him, he wanted a nurse there as well."
Johnny watched as his sister seemed to grow sadder and sadder. Worried he almost suggested she stay, when her lips turned blue and she couldn't breathe. "CLAUDIA?" he reached over and tried to help her.
"Sir, let us in." said the medics. They checked on the woman and pronounced her dead at the scene. Destroyed, Johnny vowed that if Jason Morgan was behind this, he would kill the man. When he saw them taking the body away, the airport security gave him his sister's things.
Placing them in the back of his vehicle, he heard a phone ringing. Checking his, he saw that it wasn't the one. Grimacing and grabbing back he pulled the cheap phone out of Claudia's purse. He looked at wondering what his sister had been up to at the time of her death.
Hearing a chirp to indicate a text message, he pulled over and looked at the phone. Reading the message, he hit the code, glad that it was still set at the factory code.
"Did you like my artistry? Poison for the wicked witch. I can't remember did little Dorothy kill the witch with cold water or hot. Too bad by the time you arrive at the morgue it will be all over."
Johnny gunned the engine and dialed 911 at the same time. Reaching an operator, he asked to speak to Mac Scorpio, explaining that the serial killer had just called him.
Less than a minute later, he was telling the police commissioner what had been said. Mac assured him that he was on his way down to the morgue even as he was talking to the mobster. Arriving Mac asked where the body from the airport was.
"I don't have any bodies from the airport. No calls came in today." said the doctor. Mac called the FAA office only to be told they had been trying to reach him. "Two of our men were transporting a body, but when they went to load it into the vehicle, it was gone. The bag had a CPR dummy in it."
Johnny arrived at the station, followed by the officer who had gotten the message from Mac and led him there. "Sir, where is my sister?"
Telling him what they knew, Mac said "Give me that phone, it might be our only lead."
Listening to the message, Mac sent it to his own phone then called up to Raynor who was on the phone with Washington. They wanted to know who was killing random people, but now it was starting to look not so random.
Mac called Alexis, his men having tracked her down to Spoon Island. "You can relax about your daughter, the killer took out Claudia Zachara. I still want to know why she was at the Coleman crime scene and why she didn't notify us what she found there."
Alexis said "She was planning on getting her PI"s license maybe she thought solving this would give Spinelli and her a jump start."
"Alexis, I don't know why she would bother. Sam has a criminal record. New York State would never give her a license." then he hung up well aware that his little dig was inappropriate, but more than a little fed up with Alexis' blind spot for her daughter.
Jason got the message from his snitch at the police department and wondered why the change in methods. He was starting to realize how lazy he had gotten when it came to things. Doing his own leg work was showing how much he had been depending on others.
Elizabeth was sitting on her porch watching her two male neighbors planting flowers. Seeing Robin coming over, she scooted down so that she could join her. "So do you think they are gay?"
"I don 't know. I mean two healthy males, we have never seem either of them with a woman, but the guy the size of my garage has been checking you before." said Robin. "How are you doing, Elizabeth Truly?"
Resting her head on the back of the porch swing, Elizabeth said "Truly, I don't know."
"Talk to me, I know that I'm not Emily but how about we try." she said. "You have been there repeatedly for me, but never want to rely on any one else. Trust me I do understand. It took forever for me to admit that I needed to talk to someone."
"Fine, but right now my mind is on my grandfather and why anyone would dig up his body. Grams is a wreck, I am taking her to Gail Baldwin in Arizona."
"Are you coming back?" asked Robin well aware of what she had told Jason.
"I don't want to, but yes. I have friends here, a support system. I have had my heart broken before and survived, the difference is that this time I know better than to trust people."
"People or Jason?" she asked.
"People. Last time things went south for Jason and me, I trusted people, I was naive. Apparently I still am. Lucky has been telling people we were together again. I would never put my kids back in that situation. I let him stay in their lives but only in mine as a friend. At least that was what I thought."
"He has been over here a lot." said Robin gently. "Are you really surprised people believed you two had gotten back together."
"I shouldn't be. Grams told me that she had expected us to get back together as well. I finally sat down and told her the truth, about the drugs and how bad it was. About the verbal abuse." Seeing the shadow crossing her face, Robin asked what is it?
"Grams asked me if it was that bad why was I letting him in the boys life. Then when I told her that I wanted them to have a father figure. She said that no father figure is better than one that sees their mother putting up with someone like that. And then she asked if I wanted my boys to grow up like Lucky.
""Good question, did you?" asked Robin. She turned when she saw Aidan returning from his jog.
Elizabeth's eyes widened at the man running with only a muscle shirt on. "Who is that?"
"I know, it's hard to deal with. That is my cousin Aidan. The first time I met him, I was hoping he was adopted." the two women laughed, grateful for the lift from the gloom.
Elizabeth sighed then said "I screwed things up so badly. Grams is right, I do have trust issues."
"Try having your parents fake their deaths, then when you find your mother again, she is remarried to a man not much older than you with a new baby on the way." said Robin.
"True, that beats dealing with my parents. Robin, I don't know what I am going to do. I mean if Lucky was lying, maybe Maxie was too."
"Maxie?" asked Robin not liking the sounds of this. She loved her cousin but was well aware of her loathing for Elizabeth because Lucky had loved her.
"She came to me while I was still in the hospital a couple of months ago, told me that Sam and Jason went to Florida together. That she had seen them together, that they were sleeping together. Then something about a party that the four of them had at the penthouse for Spinelli."
"Elizabeth, why would you believe her, you know she wants to hurt you."
"Because I have no hold on Jason, he made that clear when he decided it was easier to walk away than to become a family with the boys and I."
"You know, I have seen Jason several times over the last few months. He seems like he is moving through life, not living it. Just like you are, Elizabeth. Have you tried to talk to him?"
"That's just it, Robin. I am always the one who makes the overtures, never Jason. I am the one always making compromises. Why can't he just do that for once."
"I don't know. But I know two things. First you have to calm down and find away to talk rationally to him when you see him next. Second you need to stand up for yourself with his friends. Carly and Sam they walk all over you. Why were you letting her near your boys if you hated her?"
"For Lucky, stupid wasn't it. As for Carly, I am waiting for what I know is coming and I am going to deal with that one." she said. Robin saw the look in her face and asked what do you have?
"Lets just say, Carly seems to forget I have lived here as long as she has."
"Elizabeth, my dear, do you have a minute?" asked Audrey from the living room where she was holding onto her cell phone.
After talking to Epiphany, Elizabeth grimaced then asked her grams about whether she would be fine doing that.
"Of course, Serena will me more than enough help to get the boys on and off the plane. When you join us in a couple of days, just bring yourself. We can take your suitcase with us."
Carly hung up the phone and smiled. Elizabeth should be getting the paperwork tomorrow all she had to do is make sure that Jason wasn't around until the afternoon.
She hadn't gone to Diane well aware that she would have gone straight to Jason, so instead she had called Lorenzo's attorney.
"Carly what are you still doing up." asked Jax as he encircled her waist.
"Just arranging for a surprise for Jason. Now that the truth is out about Jake, there is no reason for him to stay away from his son."
Jax got a bad feeling about this. "Carly what have you done."
"Nothing too bad. I think for once you will be proud of me, well eventually." she said. At least for part of it, she thought worriedly. She had listened to Jason and knew that her friend for some reason wanted his son and the baggage that came with it. So she would ensure that Jason got what he wanted. He as well as Elizabeth were being stubborn, and she wasn't going to let him lost what he wanted, she was sure that he would now take out the garbage, all that was left was to fix it so he got his new life.
She shuddered at the idea of dealing with Elizabeth Webber the rest of her life, but if that was what it took, she would deal. She had to, maybe help toughen her up. Groaning at how much work it was going to take to turn that wimp into someone who could live in Jason's world, she curled up next to Jax and went to sleep.
TBC