Without a price
Without a price
Chapter 13
Over another couple days, Lucky looked for the motive by asking all Murphy's friends, family, and acquaintances for possible secrets that can lead to murder. On the other end, Emily continued to trail the governor's wife but found a snag in their thinking. Apparently the boyfriend she was meeting that night was a new one, which meant that the affair they are probably tracing is the old one but finding an old one was a lot harder.
Emily was currently regrouping, planning another strategy to find the identity of the ex-boyfriend. Lucky in turn had a number of ideas but ones that seemed so slight that it was absolutely ridiculous that it could lead to the murder of a police officer. He was the one that said anything was possible yet it was nearing plain blasphemy.
He and Emily were working both angles and yet the murder case was still at a standstill. After working long hours, trying so hard to find the right connection, and looking at every possible clue they still had nothing. The frustration ate at Lucky's patience and it was when they met again at his apartment that it came to a boil.
"I hardly think a little lie about accidentally killing a hamster when the governor and his friend was ten would lead to murder." Emily commented as they reviewed his newest discoveries.
"I know. I hate to say it but this guy was a complete saint. He never lied, committed adultery, and his loyalty never wavered from the police department. He kept in contact with friends and helped them out whenever they needed help or were going through a hard time. He was great with kids and forgave every little thing." Lucky explained, not sure what any of them could do anymore.
"That never lied thing was probably the problem Lucky. Sometimes people are too honest for their own good." Emily pointed out, noting the tone of frustration in his voice. She was too but was too numb to feel anything at the moment due to lack of sleep.
"Too bad Elizabeth isn't one of those people. I just wish I knew where I went wrong. Cheating on her was wrong and I tried everything to make up for that but she never even considered actually forgiving me. When I worked long hours and she didn't like that, I took days off but she wasn't interested in spending time with me. Nothing I ever did was good enough for her. I trusted her but she didn't trust me." This confession came fast as Lucky could not stop his thoughts from coming out. He had been holding onto them for too long so it was probably time to spill.
"Exactly, so why do you keep punishing yourself? It takes two to make a marriage work and after one slip up she closed off her mind as she had for every other relationship she has had. While that shows you make mistakes it also shows that Elizabeth doesn't know how to handle the simplest conflict, or doesn't want to. She lives in an ideal world so when that is broke no one has a chance. What she hasn't taken into consideration is that her actions dictate how her relationships are to be. If she doesn't treat everyone else with respect, how is anyone else going to respect her?" Emily explained, "She is beyond anyone's help because like all her problems, she doesn't want to know that she has a load of bad karma following her in every relationship because of it."
"Then why can't I figure out this case?" Lucky accepted that Elizabeth was a lost cause but it didn't explain why he couldn't manage to solve that mystery. "For that matter, why can't you?" Lucky asked, flinging his arms up in the air, fuming with anger.
Emily looked at Lucky warily, replying "I sense an accusation in that last question." Her voice showed no sign of annoyance or anger, just a sense of calm that was enviable.
"It was an accusation. You were valedictorian, have many resource and talents, and seem to have everything going for you but you can't figure out one simple identity?" For some reason, this was her fault. He didn't even consider they were working to find a well planning mastermind when he said it.
Emily almost said something back and opened her mouth but shut it. She could say that things can be deceiving and that her life was not as glorious as it looks or even something that is an equally insulting but she chose to say nothing. Absolutely nothing.
As Lucky stood, seething with frustration and anger across the table the silence stretched on for a minute. A chair squeaked as it was scraped across the wood floor. Emily stood up, not making eye contact, looked down to find her bag, grabbed it and turned away starting to walk to the door. She looked back to see Lucky, hoping to see that he really didn't mean what he said but the hard, cold stare convinced her otherwise. He really did mean every word.
Yes, he was probably going to regret it and apologize and feel really guilty in a day or two but right now, at this moment, he was quite serious. Making a decision of her own, she opened the door and left, realizing that she didn't tell him what she wanted to tell him. Emily shook her head at doing so at this point, let him stew in his anger for a few days and then get suppressed by guilt. As much as she didn't want to admit, the words hurt, they really hurt.
As Jason got to the penthouse, he was exhausted and extremely depressed. As he entered he saw Eleanor's folder on the top of the desk. Reaching down to take the folder, he opened the drawer and put it inside, making a mental note to give it back to Stan. After all, the investigation was over and Emily was right. The place was overcrowded and the whole quick adoption was a way to meet a certain status quo. The social worker who would evaluate Eleanor and Sam would just be tougher than usual as a result.
The adoption was legitimate. Yes, the father was still alive but incapable of taking care of the child and his next to living family didn't want to. Overall, it was best that Eleanor was Sam's which meant he now had to be out of her life, fully. He thought it would be easy so why wasn't it? Why did he desperately still want to be in Sam's life? He wasn't one to bother this much usually. Jason shook it off though, placing it on shock of his actions and not a true realization it was over. It would come, he'd just wait.
He opened his cell to see he had a voice message from his sister. Jason listened to it, frowning. "Hey Jason, its Emily. There's no need to call me back I just wanted to tell you I'm going away for a week or so. I doubt I'll get any cell service so I will be out of contact. I'll call you when I get back. Bye."
That was fine and quite courteous of her but still, where was she going and why did she have to leave? He'd try and get the answer when she came back. Meanwhile, he had other work to do.
Lucky didn't know about Emily's absence though because of their argument. He did, however, find out when he talked to the governor. He had done some thinking about how to find the old boyfriend and decided the direct way was probably best. He didn't want to subject the Governor's wife to that, none of them did, but it really was the only option. It might be better for the Governor to ask though. It was his issue so Lucky requested some time.
It took a few days because of an important conference was taken place but got in nonetheless. Finding himself, back in the Governor's office, he first apologized for the possible trouble he caused.
The Governor waved it away with his hand as he spoke, saying "It's all right. This is an important matter. David's death must be dealt with. What did you want me to talk to me about?"
"Emily, I, and you were right in trying the indirect route to find the lover but once it came out that there was an old one and a new one…it stopped working. Because she uses a pay phone we can't trace the number, I believe it is best to be direct." Lucky explained, trying to use the best words for this type of persuasion.
"Direct?" The Governor asked before he caught Lucky's meaning and sighed. "I suppose your right. Asking my wife is awkward but necessary. I just wish I had a motive to show her that it would be the right decision to be honest."
"I think I may have that." Lucky said after the man paused. "Correct me if I'm wrong but your circle of friends is of high status right given your position in politics."
"That would be correct." The Governor nodded his approval so far.
"Assuming your wife met him at one of your functions, he probably would have to have a good paying job of particular importance. If it gets out that he was having an affair….you might just have the right to fire him and make him look bad in the public eye. This old lover maybe protecting his reputation and job, which he probably thinks is important enough to kill." Lucky had come to this conclusion a couple days ago. Why he hadn't figured that out before made him feel kind of stupid. Not anymore stupider than he felt for yelling at Emily that night though.
"That must be it but I don't believe my wife meant for it to go that far. My wife and I have our issues and she is no saint but she would never want the lover to resort to murder. That could be why she broke it off, because she suspected such a thing. All I ask is that you don't arrest her for keeping that information from you." The Governor still found it in him to stick up for his wife even with the lying and cheating.
"As long as she cooperates I won't have to." Lucky told him.
The Governor nodded, standing from his desk. "My wife is currently having lunch. Now might be the best time to ask her. I almost wish Emily was here, Maria likes her and she would probably understand better as a woman."
Lucky wished the same thing. It would be nice to hear a woman's point of view but since he didn't know where she was, not that she would be talking to him anyway, it didn't matter. He followed the Governor to the dining room, where his wife just finished eating.
Maria was in her 40's but still quite beautiful with her blue eyes, brown hair, and a mature figure she gladly showed off. She smiled as she saw her husband but it fell when he asked for a few minutes. Boyfriends or not, she still loved her husband so maybe there was just something missing from their marriage, which caused her to look for other male support.
Lucky let the Governor smooth out the conversation before getting to the point. "Maria, I didn't want to get you directly involved so I went by indirect means of finding out who your boyfriend was but….it is more serious than I thought."
Maria opened her mouth and shut it, grimacing. "I knew you would but I guess I'm not cunning enough. I have had two boyfriends but last night, I realized that I was just running from my problems so I ended things with the second one and had dropped the first last week."
Lucky hoped that would help her to cooperate. "Mrs. Mason, I believe that your first boyfriend killed Officer Murphy because he knew of your affair and wanted to protect his job and reputation. I need to know his name in order to follow on the lead." Lucky requested, stating just the facts.
Maria's grimace turned worse. "You think that too? When we started our relationship, it was just so nice. He listened to me and supported me… he was a really nice man but then after a while he started getting a little…erratic and I didn't know why. It scared me so I called the affair off." She displayed a small smile. "Scott."
Lucky's mind thought back to where he was informed of the relationship between the Governor and Officer Murphy. When Emily reacted to the perfume that came off the DA… "Was his last name Baldwin?"
Maria looked to him. "Yes, Scott Baldwin. He's the District attorney for the small town of Port Charles."