Chapter 4
The killer tosses the bloody gloves away then called his transplant contact. He was amused to realize it had taken the police/FBI one body more than he had expected to put a stop to his donations to the organ harvest center. But he had planned for that.
Arranging for one of the more unscrupulous doctors of his acquaintance to handle the transfer anonymously had worked. The doctor didn't care where the parts were from. He had kind of liked the irony of using a mob boss and molls body parts like they had come from an illegal chop shop.
Checking on the writing he saw that it was just about dry. Soon it would be daybreak and the police would get the call telling them about the gruesome discovery. Plotting his next victim, he wondered about how easy it had been to do this. When had he gone from future medical savior to using his skills to cause pain?
While he had come to Port Charles to meet his family, instead he had found no family truly left. His mother locked away in the looney bin, his father neglecting his family. He had been shocked to find that the little remnants left of what should have been his life were frayed under the pressure of living in this town.
The greatest shock had been when he discovered who his cousin was and what had happened to him. Removing those who had done the worst damage to those around them had seemed like a good idea, but the more he learned the more he realized that even the good had been turned by the seediness of this port town.
He did feel bad about Coleman, he had gone to the man looking for the proof the man had on Sonny Corinthos. He had been aware of the man's distasteful past and that he had been trying to clean up his act, but he had found the bar owners well hidden secrets and in a moment of anger had given him the needle meant for Corinthos. Rather than letting the man's organs go to waste, he had harvested them.
Walking away from the dark and dingy sanitarium, he made the call. "911 What is your emergency?"
"I was out walking my dog at the old sanitarium and he found a body inside. Yo-you might want to send someone out here. There is red paint all over the walls and someone was pulling away when I arrived. Am I in danger?"
Laughing after hanging up, the killer calmly waited for the cops to arrive. This was going to be fun.
Jason was woken up by the call from Kurt. "She is heading to the airport, but she is wearing scrubs."
Grabbing his gun and walking out the door, Jason stopped to call Diane. "Take care of what I asked you to do, please."
"Jason this is a bad idea." she warned.
"Just do it, that is what I pay you for." he said hoarsely as he got onto his bike and rushed to stop Elizabeth from leaving. When he arrived at the airport he was halfway to the door when he remembered his gun. Running back to his bike, he placed it in the seat well and ran inside.
Seeing Elizabeth hugging the boys and promising to see them soon, he stopped off to the side so that she wouldn't see him and waited. While he wasn't thrilled that the boys were leaving with only Audrey Hardy and some blond girl for help, he knew to keep his peace for now. Seeing two of his men boarding the plane, Jason was grateful that Bernie had arranged for tickets for every flight scheduled today.
When they had gone down the concourse after some more I love yous and promises to call right way, he walked over just as the process server arrived. "Elizabeth Webber."
"Yes." she said turning to the young woman.
"You have been served. Have a nice day."
Taking the papers with a shaking hand, Elizabeth read what they said and swore that someone was going to regret trying to pull this. What the heck could she have possibly been thinking?
Jason saw the anger and confusion on her face at receiving the paperwork from Diane. He had hoped she would be angry and come to see him, not stand in the middle of the airport looking befuddled. Seeing her take out her phone and making a call, he saw the moment something seemed to upset her, then her face clear then he saw her looking at something on the papers. Then she growled something. Thinking on it, Jason would have sworn she said Carly.
Freezing, Jason closed his eyes. Dammit what did Carly do now? She just couldn't stay out of his business no matter how many times he asked her to. Now she had done something that had blown his plan right out of the water. Hearing his phone ringing he was planning on ignoring it until he saw that it said Diane.
"What did Carly do?" he asked.
"You will not believe this one. She is filing a lawsuit against Elizabeth on your behalf for get this alienation of affection in regards to Jake."
"What is that?" he asked confused.
After explaining, Jason walked out to the parking lot and got on his bike to make sure that Carly knew the damage she had done. Stopping suddenly, he pulled out his phone swearing. "Diane, stop the papers."
"Its too late." she said. "I already tried to reach my server and she is looking for Elizabeth now. I have my assistant on it, but I am working on damage control in case it can't be stopped."
Jason sped away, hoping to make Carly take back whatever the heck she thought she was doing.
Mac looked at the man sitting on the fallen oak tree. He looked familiar but he didn't know from where. Walking inside he saw the number 4 painted on the wall along with now familiar list of sins. "Cruz, what is it?"
The man in question just went outside to toss his cookies. He would never be able to eat anything boiled again. Returning he took his boss to the room with Claudia's body and said "Organs were gone before this was done."
Mac barely kept down his breakfast when he saw the bloated and bright red body of Claudia Zachara.
"Mac more messages."
"What do these ones say?"
"Something about how keeping his friends close and his enemies closer. There was one strange thing, this place hasn't had electricity since they closed but the gas was still on. There are signs that someone was either held here or was living here."
Mac saw the music on the walls of the padded room and called Johnny Zachara. "Do you know where the old Roselawn Sanitarium is?"
"Yes, why?"
"We found your sister, but I get the feeling you have been here before. Who had you brought here."
"Corinthos." he said. "Morgan was the one who got me free. He believed I shot Kate and that my sister or I had something to do with kidnapping Michael when he ran away."
"Thanks." he said. "Your sister's body is being taken to the station. Zachara, it is going to have to be a closed casket."
Swallowing his pain, Johnny said "Thanks for looking for her."
Agent Raynor talked to the witness and put out a BOLO on the car he described. "We think you might be in some danger."
"I get that." he said trying to look worried. "You know my background, that I am in WitSec, what happens now? If I don't do my articles for that journal, someone is going to get suspicous."
Raynor thought about it, then recalled what the agents babysitting Spinelli had said. "Do you need to work on line or can it be done offline."
"Either way. But you know why I live where I do, what about my controller."
"I will let her know. We will make you disappear again after this."
Pretending to be annoyed, the killer said "Thanks, what about my dog?"
Looking at the Golden Retriever he said "Bring her along." He had to admit the dogs bouncing around reminded him of the kid he had locked up in a safe house.
Mac was back at the station, dealing with the press when Elizabeth Webber stormed in. "Mac, may I have a moment please?"
Walking into his office, he listened to her request, then thought about what Carly had done to Robin and ordered his men to give her anything she needed. "Thanks." said the petite brunette when she walked out.
Jason arrived at Carly's house and saw that she seemed to be home alone. Entering without knocking he asked "What did you do?"
"Jason, I am glad to see you." she said with a smile while inwardly wondered what happened to Max's delaying him. She had left a message for the Italian and he had never let her down before.
"Cut the crap, Carly. What did you do to Elizabeth, why are you suing her."
"I'm not suing her, you are." she said with a smile. "I have it all planned. Trust me."
"Carly, I have asked you repeatedly to stay out of this, but you just can't listen, you just can't leave things alone." Shaking his head in pain as he walked around the room, picking up the rubber ducky he was certain was for the baby she was carrying listened as she went on and on about how after her plan worked, Jason would be with his son and how it was a shame he hadn't been there all along.
Elizabeth was standing in the doorway, calming down when she realized that Jason hadn't had anything to do with what Carly had done. Walking in, she slammed the door to get their attention. "Carly, you really are obtuse aren't you. Don't you get that if you had kept your big nose out of Jason's and my business he would have been there all along. But no, you had to stick yourself into the middle of a situation that didn't concern you."
"Of course it con-"
"Carly, shut up and listen. Jason would have been told, I was on my way to tell him about Jake, but someone, interfered, before I could. Someone who was not involved. Carly, Jason isn't your husband, you had no business being involved. You have no concept of personal boundaries. Well you crossed them for the last time. I have HAD IT. HERE!" she said thrusting the blue backed paperwork into her hand. "I am counter suing you. You know, I wonder if Jax would like a business partner who is calm and rational, instead of one who is constantly causing a ruckus." with that she left.
"Carly?" asked Jason. The blond looked stunned as she read the paperwork. Furious at first, she soon started laughing as she read on. Then she started to worry. Whoever had drawn this up had been good. And it wasn't Diane she realized.
"Jason, I think I screwed up." she said sitting down.
"You think?" he said sarcastically. "Don't you get it, she was telling you the truth, if you hadn't interfered we would have been together years ago. Now you have ruined my plan, if you think she is going to win the case against you, wait to you see how your screw up is going to cost me."
"She won't sue you, Jason." she said looking up earnestly into his face.
Jason sat down, wondering how to straighten this one out. "You don't understand. I had a plan, I can up with it a few days ago, but now you have blown it." he said miserably.
"Jason?" she asked realizing that she had never seen him look this bad.
"I filed paperwork, it was supposed to make Elizabeth made and come to me to talk. Now she is never going to believe that I didn't intend to really do this."
"What did you do?" she asked unaware that Jax was standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He had arrived in time to see Elizabeth coming onto the porch and had rushed around to the back so that he could listen in.
"I filed paperwork first changing Jake's birth certificate, then I filed a lawsuit against Tracy for stealing Jake's inheritance. Then I filed one against Elizabeth."
"For what?" she asked knowing it wasn't for custody, if she knew anything at all, it was that Jason would have never done that.
"To force her to marry me." he admitted.
Jax walked in shocked, "How did you intend to do that?"
Seeing the stunned expressions, he said "I got here at the same time Elizabeth did. Now answer the question."
Hearing Jason's answer, Carly made a joke about rubbing off on him. "Jason there is no way that your plan wouldn't backfire. What were you thinking?"
"That I couldn't lose Elizabeth. That I wouldn't let that happen again. When I heard that I had been lied to, that Elizabeth wasn't back with Lucky. I thought I had gotten my life back. But she hates me for not fighting for her and our family."
"Not like she did much fighting either, now or in the past."
"Carly, you don't get it do you?" said Jax. "When I asked Elizabeth to be a surrogate, I did some research into her background after the whole mess with Courtney. All she did was fight for so long, my guess is that she saw Jason's willingness to do anything she asked as his not caring, as his not wanting to be bothered. She probably thought she was offering him what she wanted."
"Please, anyone could see that if she asked, he would jump off the docks for her." she scoffed.
"Anyone but Elizabeth." said Jax. Jason got what the blond was saying. Elizabeth and his relationship had always been plagued by both of their insecurities. She never had seemed to get that he felt like he was never good enough, and he was starting to get that she had spent too long fighting for too many things. They had been at cross purposes for so long, but it was time to stop that. Maybe his plan to show her what she meant to him had been too much of a Carly plan, but his own ways hadn't been working.
"What do I do now?" he asked then thinking about who he was asking said "Nevermind."
Walking out the door, he stopped and tried to figure out who there was left to help him. All the usual avenues had lead him to this moment, why not try all the unused ones. Racking his brain for someone devious enough to help and who had been similar situations, Jason shuddered but knew what he had to do if he wanted his life back.
Elizabeth was working on getting her files up to date when the woman who looked like Emily showed up. "Rebecca, is there a reason you are just standing there?"
"Can we talk?"
"Not right now. How about meeting me at Jak-wait, how about the bar at the Metrocourt."
"I want to avoid Nik, is there any place else?"
Thinking on it, Elizabeth said "The Recovery room, it is a small bar on the other side of the hospital. It tends to be a pickup bar, so expect to get hit on."
Hearing Alexis entering the area, Elizabeth debated whether applying for a restraining order against the DA would ruin her career, she said "Alexis don't start."
"I'm not here about Sam, do you know how to reach Dr. Winters? Kristina needs to see her."
"Check with Admissions, I think she has her group sessions today at the Community Center." with that Elizabeth went back to work, then heard Alexis sigh and say "I am sorry about Lucky, no matter what you were close to each other."
"I feel bad for the Spencers, I talked to Laura, she can't come home and with Luke disappearing, Nik is handling the burial."
"No service." she asked. Then hearing her phone ringing answered it and told someone thank you. "That was Shadybrook, Sam is going to be fine, they say she is well."
Elizabeth felt Lizzie rise and she picked up the phone to call Mac Scorpio, she had heard he wanted to talk to Sam about the crumpled picture she had drawn of Jason playing pool at Kelly's when the man had come to talk to her about it.
After finding out that he had been at the mental institution when she came to, when he told her that Sam claimed to have been threatened by the killer, Elizabeth realized that it was a ploy to get Jason's attention.
"Elizabeth, we have to talk." she looked up to see Monica standing there.
"Monica, I am behind on this paperwork, can it wait."
"No." she insisted. "How about meeting me after work at the house. I just want to talk about Jake and what is going on. No recriminations, I promise."
Looking at Emily's mom, Elizabeth reached out and said "Jason wanted to tell you last year, I was worried about others finding out. I am sorry about that."
"Don't be. I understand, trust me, of all people I do understand." she said thinking about her lies about AJ.
Agent Raynor hung up after talking to the man at Witness Protection. Both agreed that it was safer to keep him with Spinelli than for him to be walking the streets.
Seeing Maxie Jones coming in for her usual hissy fit, he wondered when Winifred would return. She seemed to be able to deal with the blond. "Miss Jones, save your breath, you are not going to see Mr. Spinelli, you are not sending food to Mr. Spinelli and you are not talking on the phone to him."
"But I-"
"Don't you have job to do? Someplace you need to be?" he said. Then looking at his phone saw the number and answered it right away. "Tell me you have good news."
"No, he disappeared, but I am working on getting his daughter to trust me." said the young man as he watched the blond talking to her ex-boyfriend. Zachara seemed upset, wondering if it was something he could use, he moved in closer then heard about his sister.
"The Zachara woman is dead?" he asked his boss.
"Yes, killer changed his M.O. a bit though. They are talking about sending in a VCT team, four dead and not a lot of clues."
Maxie walked away, annoyed at the way the man was ignoring her. Seeing the file on Harpers' desk she grabbed it wondering why he was looking at such an old case. "Detective Harper why are you looking into this."
"I don't answer to you, now I suggest you return that file to my desk and leave. Your father has told you repeatedly to keep your hands off those files."
Sam walked into Wyndamere fuming. "Why am I coming here?"
"It isn't safe and I can't reach Jason to protect you." said Alexis as she paced the room. Lainey Winters was in talking to Kristina and she was worried about all three of her daughters now.
"I can take care of myself." she insisted. "Now I have to track down Jason and tell him what I remember so that he can find Sonny's killer."
Jason thanked Cody and wondered why Max hadn't called him back. "Cody have you seen Max today?"
"No, I sent Milo to help at Alexis Davis' house but I never saw his brother."
"In charge just one day and already losing track of your men?" asked Ric as he walked into the office.
"Lansing what do you want?" asked Jason.
"Someone got to the judge and he sighed off on Elizabeth not getting charged with perjury then this afternoon, I received this." he said handing Jason the subpoena
Jason read it and wondering why Elizabeth had called Ric to court. Calling Diane he asked about the attorney who Elizabeth had hired and was surprised to learn that he had been sent a letter too.
Thinking back on his co-conspirator's idea, Jason just shrugged off Ric's digging for answers and suggested he ask Alexis to represent him in court, saying "I am sure you have heard the lawyer joke about a lawyer representing himself having a fool for a client."
Ric saw that Morgan didn't know anymore than he did, so he left and headed out to see Alexis.
Carly bit the bullet and waited on the porch. Seeing Robin arriving with her daughter, she swallowed the snark and said "We need to talk, I need your help."
"Of course you do, why else would you deign to come to my house. What do you want Carly, I am rather busy at the moment."
"I need your help to get Elizabeth and Jason together."
"Why would I help you with anything?" she asked. "Also what do you think will be the outcome? Do you not realize that Elizabeth would rather have Ric Lansing's help than yours and considering her dislike for him, that is saying something."
"Just listen to me. I screwed something up for Jason, he had a plan and I had a plan. He tried to get me to leave it alone and I really made things worse."
Seeing she was sincere, Robin sighed and said "Carly, our involvement will only make things worse. Don't you get that?"
"I owe Jason, Robin, you have no idea how much I owe him."
"Wow, Carly having a moment of unselfishness. Sorry. Elizabeth and Jason need to work through this one their own." with that she went to call Aidan and warn him that Carly was up to something. "Where are you guys?"
"Elizabeth is visiting Monica Quartermaine." he said. "She just arrived at the house."
Monica and Tracy looked at one another as they set up Elizabeth. "Elizabeth, I need a favor." said Tracy had overheard Edward and Jason, she knew their plan wouldn't work.
Doubting the older woman, she looked at Tracy as if to say what.
"You know about Monica's little problem, well I need some house wine and it tastes bitter to me. Since I don't drink cheap wines, I was hoping you would do a taste test for me." said Tracy hoping she had slipped in just the right amount of insults to make it believable.
"Fine, I will be glad to help." she said sweetly wondering about dumping the bottle on Tracy's head.
Monica waited until she left and then felt guilty about what she was about to do. Walking to the kitchen, she nodded at Alice who handed her the keys. Placing the bottles around, the maid left and went to ensure that Mr. Edward was far away.
Splashing the wine on herself, Monica placed the call.
"Morgan." Jason said when he saw it was Monica.
Hearing nothing, he went to hang up then heard the shallow breathing. "Monica are you okay?"
Then he heard the sound of a bottle breaking and then what sounded like crying. Finally he heard her voice but it was off in the distance. "Key, whas where are youse, where are you little key. I need you, I want to get sompin to drink. THERE, you ares."
Jason head what sounded like someone singing about bottles of wine on the wall and taking one down to pass it around, then another crash.
Walking out towards his bike, Jason listened worried when he heard the sound of a large crash then what sounded like moaning. Rushing to the mansion, he saw that there were no cars in the drive and went he parked around back that the garage was empty except for Monica's car.
Rushing in through the kitchen, he saw the mess and the bottles of wine. Hoping that Monica hadn't drunk all of it, he followed the trail of debris. Arriving at the stairs he heard the sound of crashing around and someone calling for help.
At first he was certain it was Elizabeth but that had to be wrong. Shaking his head, he tried to clear her from his mind as he rushed down to the heavy door that lead to the wine cellar. Seeing the key ring on the ground, he tried to find the correct one.
Getting it in the lock finally; he was pushing the door open. Seeing Elizabeth sitting on the bench holding her leg, he rushed in and then heard the sound of the door closing behind him as she shouted. "Stop it from closing, the inside handle is broken."
Jason went to push it open but felt it closing anyhow. Then the sound of footsteps leaving. "I think we are locked in here."
"What was your first clue?" she asked dryly. "I can't believe I let a Quartermaine trick me, what was I thinking."
"Elizabeth, are you okay?"
"No, I am an idiot. Like Tracy would have cheap wine anyplace." she replied. "The thing is what would give Monica and Tracy cause to work together? I know its not about Jake. They promised to stay out of it."
"What?" he asked then realized that Monica had set him up too.
"For the record I am counter suing you as well as Carly. Since Diane filed for you, I hired someone else."
Jason sat down and asked if she had talked to Diane today.
"Oh, she told me about the error and I don't care. I am not suing you about Jake. I am suing you and a few other people."
"I know Lansing told me."
"Ric came running to you, didn't he. What a weasel." she said.
"Elizabeth what are you counter suing me for?" he asked before sitting down, he got the feeling that this visit to the wine cellar was going to be a long one.
"Breach of Contract and a host of other things." she said with a grin. "I asked for four things. Your motorcycle, your leather jacket, your pool table and your memory box."
Jason raised his head and looked sharply at her. "Why?"
"I am going to burn the jacket and the contents of that box and donate that table to the community center. As for your bike, I am going to take it apart and sell it for parts."
Jason reached inside his pocket for his phone, in spite of knowing he would not get any bars. "How about a deal, I give you those items in exchange you listen to me, really listen. Not interrupting to interpret what I saw or stop me because you are afraid of what you might hear."
Thinking on her promise to Robin, she said "I will listen, but I am not canceling the lawsuit."
"Why not?" he asked. "Also why the restraining order on Sam, why didn't you tell Mac what she did?"
"Because, I won't give up my leverage." she admitted. "There is no way I am ever letting her near my children again."
Jason knew that he had to start telling Elizabeth what had been going on, and decided to start there. "That is why I have been letting her hang around. I knew that if she was there, I would NEVER allow myself to be near Jake or you."
Starting to say something, Elizabeth thought about it and sighed. "Jason, Maxie Jones has been visiting GH and Mercy telling others things for me to overhear. So once and for all, did you sleep with Sam or even think of sleeping with her during the last six months?"
"No." He said softly. "Don't you get how much I still love you. I made that mistake before, I was not going to do it again. I am nowhere near ready to even think of making that kind of mistake. Some part of me couldn't give up hope for us, in spite of everything going on."
"Then why did you walk away, Jason it hurt so badly. Our little boy was missing and you were off looking with the woman who had endangered him before. I was at fault, too. When you suggested sending us someplace safe, I was thinking of our safe house and in the middle of all that danger all I could think was that I didn't want her in our private refuge."
"That was why you accepted Lucky's idea, I had no intention of sending you there. I had this safe house where we sent Michael and Morgan, that was where I was going to send you. It was someplace new, that no one had ever been to. Dammit, Elizabeth, what were you thinking?"
"I wasn't." she breathed as tears flew down her face. "I just wasn't. It was so hard, you were pushing me away again and it felt like I was living in limbo. Then Jake was taken, I shot and killed someone to protect Sam, instead of being in the room to protect the boys. They were taken because I was protecting someone who had endangered them, what was I thinking?"
Jason saw the tears and realized it was more than likely the first time since the kidnapping she had dealt with killing one of the kidnappers. Pulling her into his arms to comfort her, he realized that his body didn't seem to get the message that now was not the time for reactions like that.
Rubbing her back and kissing her hair, Jason just kept saying it will be alright. When he heard the tears and sobs stopping, he kept holding her hoping that now they could talk about the past few months truthfully. Instead he realized she had fallen asleep.
Kissing her, he maneuvered them into a more comfortable position and was soon asleep himself.
Outside, Tracy was mentally breathing a sigh of relief that Jason didn't seem too angry about being locked in.. Turning to Monica she said "Where did you get this camera?"
"Its part of a system they want to install at the hospital to allow us to have consultations with other surgeons during surgery."
"You should buy it, it works fine. What about those two, are we going to watch them all night?"
"Tracy I haven't signed the letter keeping you from jail yet, you will help me until I say so. But no we are now going to keep Carly and everyone else away. Thank god for Epiphany."
"I thought Carly was your new pal." asked Tracy.
"No, but it was convenient to allow her to think that. Now by tomorrow morning we need to take care of some things. I can't believe Luke did a runner, for once we could have used his brand of help." said Monica as she led the way out of the cellar.
Spinelli saw that someone new had arrived. Ten minutes later he was giving his new roommate a headache. The killer didn't intend to kill the kid, just make sure he was terrified enough to have to flee town. But first he had to stage their escape and he wanted to set up his next victim.
Five minutes later, Spinelli took the secret phone from the man and tried to reach Jason. When he was unavailable he called Sam.
"I will come and get you." she assured him. Hearing about his friend, she grimaced until he reminded her that he was going to be wanted and that his new friend would be able to help them hide.
"He says he has a boat we can hide on." said Spinelli while petting the lumbering dog that was crawling all over the furniture. After hanging up, he said "Nice dog."
"Yes, she is. I acquired her not long before her owner died." said the man not telling him that the stupid woman had been his first victim. What had started in 2006 was now ending in 2009. But he intended to walk away a free man.
It had taken years to plot this out. The first insipid victim had been an accident, he had been working and things just happened, so he had just gave her a needle full of nothing but air.
Soon it would be all over. All those who had stolen his chance at happiness away would soon be gone. So there were a few extra deaths along the way, sometimes things just happened. He wished his grandmother was here to see this. She herself had died trying to return him to his family, thought Peter. Soon, soon it would be all over.
A hint: Steve Hardy hold the key to the mystery.